Business management graduates can pursue various career paths. Have you considered starting your own business instead of working for someone else? If not, you must learn from the experience of Toronata Tambun, the Founder and Director of Aren Energy Investment Pte Ltd, in a virtual class held by SBM ITB, Tuesday (28/9/2021).
According to some literature, only a few startup companies can survive in the Indonesian ecosystem. Many businesses must adapt to current conditions, especially in the event of a Covid-19 pandemic.
In general, the strength of these startups is influenced by five essential components in the innovation ecosystem model: entrepreneurial factors, background knowledge, government participation, corporate management, and capital risk understanding. Startup companies are expected to survive and even grow to be larger companies if there is a good synergy.
When starting and growing a business, numerous factors should be considered. An idea motivates an entrepreneur to start a business, where it is expected to have a broader impact on the community.
“In essence, it is usefulness. If you want to be wealthy, don’t become an entrepreneur. The primary goal is to make the world a more comfortable and secure place to live. The Rahmatan Lil Alamin project is the goal,” said the Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Management, Said Business School, University of Oxford, and Monash University graduate.
Toro, as he usually known, also explained that while the core is to benefit many people, startup companies cannot solve all of the world’s problems. Starting a business is like finding and selecting fruit in a vast world. You must be able to conduct market research to determine which business ideas you will pursue. As a result, we can add some value to the greater society.
Although ideas are important, they must also be reviewed and updated regularly. Because in a lot of cases, canvas business can become obsolete after it has been printed.
“Ideas must be viewed through the lens of iteration, and we should not be overly confident in the ideas we present. We can get caught up in the bias in the business run if we glorify ideas. Don’t focus on products and features, but rather on the benefits,” he advised.
Entrepreneurship and the environment
Entrepreneurs usually have a supportive work environment, in addition to ideas, and entrepreneurs are typically born into families with business-owning parents and relatives. However, in today’s open environment, we must have supportive friends to become entrepreneurs, whether from people working in the same industry, colleagues, or work teams.
Finally, Toro encouraged the participants to keep on fighting. He stated that being an entrepreneur is more than just reading success stories in biographies. The journey will not be easy because there will always be obstacles. Entrepreneurs must have a strong sense of purpose, a diverse team, and a supportive network. Always get your hands dirty during the planning and execution process. Make mistakes, be patient, persistent, and tenacious, and keep growing. That is the essence of an entrepreneur.
