Exploring Entrepreneurship - Essay Example

Exploring Entrepreneurship Every established and successful business is an inspiring story in itself, usually with a humble beginning and its rootslinked to different life experiences. Learning that is achieved throughout one’s- life can be a great source for entrepreneurial qualities. Based on Caan’s narration of his life experiences, socialization and learning aspects will be identified and analyzed to understand the possible events that can be compared with entrepreneurial qualities. James Caan, originally Nazim Khan from Pakistan, a well-known entrepreneur in the UK has founded the Alexander Mann Group and Humana International, both multi-million companies in the recruitment industry, after a numerous other struggles.

His present private equity firm, the Hamiton Bradshaw, is yet another daring venture in the investment world.1 Caan started his entrepreneurial venture much earlier, but with some help, some losses and also failures. From his autobiography in The Real Deal2, it can be deduced that as a school-dropout at sixteen, Caan has performed various jobs to make a living, but every activity that he did and observed was a learning experience for his future ventures. His learning through observation began when he was just a child, when he would observe his father make and sell leather jackets at prices that were only sufficient to earn a living.

Caan has always held his father’s teachings as the base for his principles, character and personality3. His mission to be a successful entrepreneur began when he stepped out of his house and continued ever since4. An interest in managing business was instilled, of course, by his father; however, this interest was triggered off when he managed to sell the leader goods, like jackets, made by his father to some of his classmates at prices higher than his father sold, thereby making much higher profits.

Caan was always mindful of the fact that he would not take up his father’s business and wanted to accomplish something on his own5. Successful entrepreneurs have qualities such as being opportunistic, innovative, self-confident, proactive, self-motivated, visionary, and risk-taking6. Undoubtedly, Caan was a strategist, or learnt to design strategies, as evident from his way of managing the boutiques along with his wife Aisha. His keen observation also helped to improve the way their business was being managed.

His understanding of dynamics of leather business, its shortcomings and benefit areas, which he had gained during childhood, helped in his business later by making the quickest turnaround for his celebrity customers. As a strategist, Caan took the initiative of dividing their work activities based on their strengths. For instance, he allowed Aisha to do the designing, merchandising, and decorating activities as she was good at these and also had good knowledge of the trends, while he managed the finances, accounting, and other logistics7.

Socialising helps business people to meet with like-minded people that can be potential business prospects8. Caan made use of his socializing skills to meet like-minded people and also to learn about people’s likes and dislikes very early in life and eventually benefited at various stages. For instance, Caan was able to identify the potential market to sell his father’s goods for higher amounts; secondly, his idea of marketing some of the products from his boutique through pop stars in order to increase demand shot their sales by an unimaginable margin.

Thirdly, using fashion shows, and designer boutiques to market his products also reaped good profits. Caan always focused on identifying the niche market for his goods and a unique selling point (USP) that would benefit his business, which is evident from his approach used to start the Alexander Mann9. Caan’s childhood experiences and observations have been helpful in looking for opportunities in the toughest times, which he applied especially during recession10. Caan’s evaluation of his time, based on opportunity and the need, and how to put it to the right use in order to derive greater profits also helped.

Identifying the right person for the job with the right skills was probably what Caan learnt from his initial job at the recruitment firm, which he continued to harness even at Hamilton-Bradshaw and through his Dragon’s Den show to network with like-minded people and also to acquire the right investees. To conclude, Caan’s journey to successful entrepreneurship is full of learning experiences that have also been the steps towards success. His abilities to identify the right market, at the right time, and to sell his ideas (and products) to the right people have been the outcomes of his learning experiences.

Bibliography AZHDAR KARAMI, Strategy Formulation in Entrepreneurial Firms, (Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 2007). BOLTON, BILL AND THOMPSON, JOHN, Entrepreneurs: Talent, Temperament, Technique. (Burlington, Massachusetts: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004). In googlebooks.com, accessed 02 Mar 2013 CHRISTINE ZIBAS. ‘Biography: James Caan. Entrepreneurship,’ 10 Jun 2012. In Helium (http://www.helium.com/items/2336424-biography-james-caan). Accessed 02 Mar 2013. JAMES CAAN. The Real Deal. (London: Virgin, 2010).

In abebooks.co.uk, accessed 1 Mar 2013.