Dr. Ahmed Saber Abo Khadra started the session by giving a brief speech about his own entrepreneurial career since 2016 till now, then he explained that any start-up goes through few steps:
Step 1: Idea generation and the idea should be smart (specific, measurable, attainable and time framed). He clarified that after generating the idea(s) the entrepreneur should test it through SWOT analysis.
Step 2: The planning process, followed by budget forecasting, and formulating the marketing strategy.
(The previous two steps could be applied under the umbrella of incubators and accelerators)
Step 3: Finding lenders and investors (Angel investors and Trust funds)
Step 4: Implementation.
The session was very well-informing as Dr. Ahmed discussed the importance of creativity and explained that the key of entrepreneurial success is the constant innovation and creativity which protects the business from being obsolete and from duplication. Furthermore, he identified four key success factors:
- Never give up
- Invest in people
- Attaining experience never ends
- Smart up-to-date marketing strategy
By the end of the session, Dr. Ahmed opened a very fruitful discussion with students’ attendees, as they got to have answers and advices related to starting their own business and were happy to know how startups reach success and more valuable information.