Description
Event: Seminar about entrepreneurship
Date: February 16, 2019
Organizer: PNU
Presenter: Ms. Shahad AlNasser
Location: College of Business and Administration at PNU
As a business student, I believe that joining workshops and seminars about business entrepreneurship is very important. Because joining this kind of activities will absolutely help me understand more about business and administration. And that is why I joined the entrepreneurship seminar. Even though the seminar was only one hour long, the presenter and the guests talked about a lot of important and interesting things such as the challenges and the competition in the Saudi market. The main speaker Ms. Shahad AlNasser had invited Ms. Hanan AlSmari who represented Deem AlManahil program in the seminar. This program is created by princess Madhawi Al-Saud to support Saudi entrepreneurs and funding their creative projects. Ms. Hanan talked about how Deem AlManahil program supports Saudi entrepreneurs and what services does Deem almanahil provide. Ms. Shahad had also invited tow entrepreneurs who’ve been supported by Deem almanahil program. The entrepreneurs are Ms. Alanoud AlMugairen, the owner of Flamingo. And Ms. Moudi AlShami the owner of Healthy Dose restaurant. Both entrepreneurs Ms. Alanoud and Ms. Moudi talked about the start-up challenges they’ve faced and the hard competition in the Saudi market.
Analysis of learning
Deem AlManahil and supporting entrepreneurs
In the seminar, Ms. Hanan said that Deem AlManahil Fund is a private non-profit program that is created to support Saudi entrepreneurs. She has explained what does deem almanahil program exactly do to support Saudi entrepreneurs. It funds Saudi creative projects with 300,000 SAR at least. It also creates real and renewed work opportunities. Moreover, Deem AlManahil train and qualify Saudi entrepreneurs in the field of business [1]. Ms. Hanan has also explained the challenges that Saudi entrepreneurs were facing to get into the market. She said that it was rare to have small businesses then. Some projects were difficult to implement because of culture and strong competition especially between Saudi projects and the global and international competitors.
The challenges that Flamingo was facing
Ms. Alanoud who owns Flamingo have explained the challenges she has faced when she started making her business. She said that when she started to make her business, there was almost no competition in the flower arrangement market. But she was very scared about if the project will succeed or not. She said that the most thing that scared her about making her project is that Saudi people don’t believe in crafting. They don’t have passion about it.
The challenges that Healthy Dose restaurant was facing
As for Ms. Moudi who owns the Healthy Dose restaurant, she said that when she started making her business, there was a lot of competitors in the market. She has mentioned that she was very scared about taking the risk and starting the business. But her strong passion helped her exceed the things she feared. When she started making her business, she focused mainly on building her brand identity because she believes that brand identity is one of the most important things about any business. Brand identity is the message that the consumers receive from the product. It connects the products to the consumer’s mind.
The importance of competition
Both entrepreneurs Ms. Alanoud and Ms. Moudi agree that the competition helped them know their strengths and weaknesses. They said that knowing their strengths and weaknesses helped them develop their businesses. Moreover, competition also reminds business owners to focus on their key customers [3]. And that’s how their businesses became successful. They both mentioned in the seminar that making a business plan is very important. Because when you determine your budget and determine the marketing and human resource strategies, your business will be more likely to be successful.
Evaluation of learning
To sum up, the seminar was very interesting and beneficial. I have learned a lot of things about entrepreneurship. And I believe that knowing more about entrepreneurship and the challenges of making a business is very important especially for business students. I have learned in the seminar more about brand identity and how important it is. And I totally agree with the two entrepreneurs Ms. Alanoud and Ms. Moudi on having a passion is the most important thing to make a business. Because passion is the real motivation in my opinion. I was so happy when I knew about Deem AlManahil program because it’s a non-profit program and it was created just to help Saudi entrepreneurs and provide them financial and technical support. I feel so happy because the number of Saudi entrepreneurs is increasing. And that means that our economy is getting stronger. Ms. Hanan, Ms. Alanoud and Ms. Moudi have inspired me and made me think more seriously about making a business. Joining the seminar was such a great experience and I will absolutely join more seminars like that in the future. And I will apply what I have learnt from the seminar in my future businesses.
References
Deem AlManahil [online]. Available at: https://deem-almanahil.org/e [Accessed: 19 February, 2019].
The balance small business [Online]. Available at: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/brand-identity-and-marketing-2295442 [Accessed: 18 February, 2019].
Business Gross blog [Online]. Available at: http://businessgross.com/2013/01/21/business-competition/ [Accessed: 1 March, 2019].
THE ART OF BUSINESS 