A niche market is a specific group of people within a larger market. These people have specific needs and often need specialist companies to fulfil their needs. When you think of a niche market what springs to mind?

Teen Entrepreneur Foundation is a good example of a niche market (if we say so oursleves). We fall into a niche market because we are a specific group of people with a specific set of needs and cannot just be bunched with all teenagers or all entrepreneurs. We have managed to identify this need and are now looking to cater to it and provide a service, which is not provided anywhere else.

Research is the key to any successful business, no matter what industry you fall into. However, in a niche market you have to ensure that necessity for your product will continue to stay around into the near future. One of the biggest problems with marketing to a specific niche is that they become trends or fads for a little while before dying out or shrinking drastically. This could mean failure in the long term for your business.

Industries that have been identified as being niche – vintage clothing, pet accessories, and green products are red hot right now (a positive or negative, depending on what you identify as your business idea). Tourism has been around for many years but because it is a massive industry there are plenty of smaller industries within it – countries and tour operators are offering specialised tours like charity tourism, festival tourism and home stay tourism all of which could be very popular in South Africa.

Researching and conceptualising an idea, which targets specific segments of your market is well worth it. Once you have identified your product or service and its up and the running the rewards will start to flow in.

Lydia Zingoni

Founder and Director of SA Teen Entrepreneur Foundation

Don’t forget to also watch the video from our Spring Academy

[View with PicLens]

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26-30 March 2012

Cape Town Science Centre, Main Road, Observatory

Deadline for registration is Friday 23 March 2012, but to avoid disappointment early registration is encouraged.
Simply download and complete the registration form below and fax it back to 0865 489 9766 or email it to accounts@teenentrepreneur.co.za

What the Academy includes:

During the five day academy, teams of 4-5 students will develop an entrepreneurial idea and begin building the structure for the success of their idea. The students will participate in lectures and hands-on learning sessions along with the creative problem solving tasks within each team. On the final day, each team will pitch their idea to local business professionals for a chance to win part of the R5,000!

Day 1-2: 9:00am – 3:00pm

The first day is an introduction to the program and a time for students to form groups with other students from local high schools. Learning program will cover the following

(a) Innovation Cycle and Business Idea generation
(b) Business Planning
(c) Mastering Finances
(d) Project management

Day 3-4 : 9:00am – 3:00pm

Students will be divided into business groups of 4-5members. Mentors will aid teams while the Business idea brainstorming process begins. Ideas start to take shape and resources are made available to research and investigate the reality of each team’s scenario. During the second, third and fourth days, each team dives into the issues surrounding their business. Students will discover that teamwork is crucial to develop a successful idea!

Day 5: 10:00am – 1:00pm

The final day is focused around team presentations. Finishing touches are made to team props, speeches and slide presentations in the morning. Parents and student advisors are welcome to attend each team’s final presentation in the afternoon.

Snacks, juice and lunch is provided each day.

Contact us:

9-13 July 2012

Cape Town Science Centre, Main Road, Observatory

Deadline for registration is Friday 6 July 2012, but to avoid disappointment early registration is encouraged.
Simply download and complete the registration form below and fax it back to 0865 489 9766 or email it to accounts@teenentrepreneur.co.za

What the Academy includes:

During the five day academy, teams of 4-5 students will develop an entrepreneurial idea and begin building the structure for the success of their idea. The students will participate in lectures and hands-on learning sessions along with the creative problem solving tasks within each team. On the final day, each team will pitch their idea to local business professionals for a chance to win part of the R5,000!

Day 1-2: 9:00am – 3:00pm

The first day is an introduction to the program and a time for students to form groups with other students from local high schools. Learning program will cover the following

(a) Innovation Cycle and Business Idea generation
(b) Business Planning
(c) Mastering Finances
(d) Project management

Day 3-4 : 9:00am – 3:00pm

Students will be divided into business groups of 4-5members. Mentors will aid teams while the Business idea brainstorming process begins. Ideas start to take shape and resources are made available to research and investigate the reality of each team’s scenario. During the second, third and fourth days, each team dives into the issues surrounding their business. Students will discover that teamwork is crucial to develop a successful idea!

Day 5: 10:00am – 1:00pm

The final day is focused around team presentations. Finishing touches are made to team props, speeches and slide presentations in the morning. Parents and student advisors are welcome to attend each team’s final presentation in the afternoon.

Snacks, juice and lunch is provided each day.

Contact us:

If your teen has shown signs of being entrepreneurial, and you have taken the wise and brave decision to support him or her in this direction, you may be wondering how to proceed from this point. One of the first things that your teen will want to do is explore the idea of being an entrepreneur, and find out what is involved. Internet research and speaking to business owners can provide some of this, but the best way of learning is by doing. So, what is to be done?

In June/July of this year, SA Teen Entrepreneur will be hosting a Winter Academy for aspiring young entrepreneurs. From June 27th to July 1st teens will receive training and work in groups, learning how to develop a business idea from the ground up.

During our Winter Academy, a variety of topics will be covered. The first two days will be dedicated to teaching participants about the generation of a business idea, how to plan for successful entrepreneurship, the fundamentals of finance, as well as project management.

Days two and three will see participants working in groups to develop a business idea entirely. Our expert team will assess the business ideas for viability and the participants will learn valuable skills including analysing important issues surrounding the business they are developing and of course the invaluable skill of teamwork.  The final day has been reserved for presentations, where parents and student advisors will be welcome to attend.

Through our Winter Academy, aspiring teen entrepreneurs will be given an opportunity to explore their entrepreneurial potential, and lay the foundations for their future success.

What are the reasons for the technology craze?  None of us can deny that technology plays a huge role in everyday life in the 21st century. Today’s teens spend a great deal of time on social media websites while others spend hours playing computer games or taking part in gaming tournaments. Whether or not we agree with these trends, they are here to stay and are beginning to have an impact on the business environment too.

It should come as no surprise that teens today aspire to create the next big thing in social media or gaming and retire at the age of 27 with billions of dollars in the bank. Sadly, not everyone achieves this level of success quite so soon, and teens that don’t have a passion for the internet may feel like they can’t be entrepreneurial. Fortunately, there are many options for teens wanting to start their own businesses.

A teen entrepreneur with a talent for all things technological should of course be encouraged to explore the world of software and websites. Similarly, teenagers who are artistically gifted can start small businesses with minimal finances, like producing cards for birthdays and Christmas or painting portraits for a small fee. Teaching extra lessons to younger teens is an excellent way to start a small business, as is babysitting or starting a carwash on Saturdays, not to mention the age-old boerewors stand!

A variety of options exist for entrepreneurial teens, and the guidance of a parent can be key in determining their success!

To those strict disciplinarians who may be reading this and rubbing their hands in delight, there is good news and bad. While discipline is a key to success in business, most successful entrepreneurs are not only disciplined people but free thinkers too.

The question many parents of entrepreneurial teens will ask is – how do I instil discipline in my son or daughter in a constructive way? If there were a clear answer to this question, parents around the world would be celebrating as we speak! However, there are ways of keeping an entrepreneurial teen focussed and responsible while allowing him or her space to dream those big dreams that are typical of a teenager!

The best form of discipline, so the saying goes, is self-discipline. With an entrepreneurial teen that is probably quite free-spirited, this approach may be worth exploring. After all, the key to running a successful business is discipline – meeting commitments, providing high quality service to customers and the like. Making it very clear to your son or daughter that the final responsibility for his or her business does not rest with you is an important step.

Once your budding entrepreneur takes responsibility for running their own affairs, you can keep an eye on things without feeling burdened by an additional responsibility. Of course, your input will always be welcome and you may find your teen more receptive to mom or dad’s advice once he or she has shouldered some responsibilities for a while!

Drawing the line.
There is always a trade-off between encouraging teenage dreams and letting them be blown out of proportion. Fortunately, your life experience as a parent will provide an excellent measure of how realistic and attainable your son or daughter’s ideas may be. The last thing any of us wants is to crush the dreams of a young, aspirant person while encouraging an idea that is likely not to succeed and which may lead to unnecessary upset later on.

How to support your teen entrepreneur.
Once you’ve listened to his or her idea, try to be open-minded about its prospects of success. A lot of successful business ideas were initially written off, only to prove highly successful. If you have your doubts about an idea, the best action to take is constructive criticism. Explain to your budding entrepreneur that the idea has potential, but it needs to be shaped in order to work. You can make suggestions, giving reasons at every step, and you may find your son or daughter more open to listening when his or her idea is being supported and not dismissed.

The spectre of financing.
A major cause of concern to parents of entrepreneurial teens is the basic fact that they are financially responsible for them. With current economic conditions not yet perfect by any means, the last thing some parents want is to finance a venture that could flop. Fortunately, you can always say no or agree to provide some financing on your own terms. The less money is required to start a small business, the better. For that reason, if your son or daughter isn’t expecting a large amount of financial assistance he or she will probably make better business decisions.

Whatever you parenting approach and attitude to finances, the most valuable contribution you can make as a parent is love and support. Financing and ideas can come from many sources, but your teen’s confidence will be boosted dramatically through your encouragement and advice.

So, what is crowdsourcing anyway? Let’s say you want to start a new business but you are having a hard time finding the cash you need. Crowdsourcing websites allow you to write up some details on your business, just like a blog post, and add a photo or video to show the world what you are up to. If the peeps out there like what they see, they could donate money to your business so you can get the wheels rolling! If you can buy and sell stuff online, why not put your ideas out there and get them funded?

If you like what you’re reading here (and who wouldn’t?) then you can check out some of the crowdsourcing websites out there. Right now there aren’t any major crowdsourcing website in South Africa – maybe that can be the business you start! Even if you don’t use the web to crowdsource you can always send out an email to friends and family explaining what your business idea is all about and see if anyone can help with a donation – don’t forget those rich uncles now!

Crowdsourcing is working wonders overseas for entrepreneurs in developing countries too. Just because you are in SA doesn’t mean that someone on the other side of the planet won’t be interested in helping out. Besides financing, crowdsourcing is being used to find people with skills so who knows, maybe you’ll find customers overseas for your awesome business!

Crowdsourcing is the latest way that people are coming together to get things done, and that is a great thing to remember as an entrepreneur – the more people you know, the better!

Most of us hear the word ‘sales’ and we think of a salesman. These dudes can be seriously lame, always trying to push a product in your hands and tell you how awesome it is. Most of the time they sound like they are reading a speech instead of talking to you anyway! OK, so we know you are totally not going to be like that when you start your own business, and great salespeople aren’t like that anyway – they just know how to make their customers excited about their business and provide products and services that their customers really need. Here’s how you can do this in your own business:

Be confident!
One thing people love is someone who is confident. You don’t have to have too much swagger, but remember that your customers don’t know you yet when you meet them for the first time and you want them to see you as young, smart and full of drive. Confidence tells your customers that you are sure of yourself and believe in your products – that’s a great first step in selling anything!

Don’t be pushy.
Confidence is great, but once you get too pushy with customers it can seriously put them off. The best way of selling your product is by showing your customers how it can benefit them, and if you share your excitement with them too, they’ll have a hard time saying no!

Benefits, benefits, benefits.
Nobody is going to buy something or use a service if they think they don’t need it. The trick to selling anything is to show your customers how awesome your products or services are and how they will benefit from buying them! Show your customers why they need to do business with you, and that’s just what they’ll do!