The Skills and Characteristics
The entrepreneurship process entails the ideation and implementation of a novel or unique version or way of performing an existing process or system. According to Hameed & Irfan (2019), any successful entrepreneur needs to possess the requisite educational qualifications to have a high-level understanding of the technical requirements of the business. Additionally, these individuals must be willing to continue learning beyond their school years, enabling them to remain innovative and competitive. Another characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is building a strong social network (Hameed & Irfan, 2019). The process component of entrepreneurship is largely social. Therefore, entrepreneurs must develop the ability to connect with people within the community by creating systems that actively facilitate collaboration and cater to their needs.
Some of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs in the tourism and travel industry are passion and the ability to develop a vision. Passion is a key attribute for an individual in entrepreneurship (Holloway & Humphreys, 2019). Since the process of entrepreneurship is often long and hard, the entrepreneur must possess passion, drive, and determination to enable them to stay committed to the journey. Entrepreneurs develop resilience and persistence by channeling their passion, which builds their entrepreneurial capacities. Another notable characteristic is developing and implementing a clear vision and strategy for the entrepreneurial venture (Holloway & Humphreys, 2019). A successful entrepreneur follows up a great idea with a clear and strategic plan for implementing the idea, which allows them to plan for potential obstacles in the process and make critical managerial decisions in the interest of the business.
Successful entrepreneurs are also creative, innovative and open-minded individuals who are always looking to explore new ideas and experiences. Firstly, a successful entrepreneurial venture requires that the entrepreneur presents a unique selling proposition that highlights their creativity in coming up with unique solutions (Holloway & Humphreys, 2019). Entrepreneurs must remain flexible in thinking by allowing themselves to borrow from the ideas and experiences of those around them to help them improve their idea or pivot in the entrepreneurship process.
Self-Appraisal of My Entrepreneurial Skills
In evaluating my entrepreneurial skills, I focused on five key characteristics: educational qualifications, social networking capacity, passion and drive, strategy development and implementation, and creativity and innovativeness. With regard to educational qualifications, possessing an undergraduate degree in business provides me with the great foundational knowledge necessary for running a business, including financial management, strategic planning, and funding. However, to effectively compete in the tourism and travel sector, I would benefit greatly from additional training to develop knowledge on how to exploit market trends and cycles.
Since I am a very social individual, I have the ability to develop a strong network capacity that comes naturally. Moreover, I am a good communicator, which allows me to share ideas and connect with like-minded people freely, which is valuable in entrepreneurship. However, I would benefit from developing a more strategic approach to building working connections with investors and fellow entrepreneurs by targeting entrepreneurship events.
In evaluating my passion and drive, I am passionate about technology and its use to create lasting solutions for the community, on top of my interest in the business. Therefore, I feel better suited to entrepreneurial ventures that allow me to explore my interests while considering their viability from a business perspective. In addition, I feel it would also be very beneficial for me to develop a persistent mindset to enable me to get through the tough components that come with entrepreneurship, as I often struggle with important things that do not interest me.
Thanks to my educational training, I am well-equipped to develop a clear and strategic implementation plan for the entrepreneurial venture.
Due to my business background, I have the ability and understanding that is necessary to break down an abstract idea into actionable business steps. I also take pride in my ability to commit to a plan to completion, which is valuable in entrepreneurship. With regard to my creativity and innovativeness, I possess an analytical mindset that enables me to perceive things with a view of how they can be improved or simplified to improve user experience. Consequently, I am always open to new ideas and fresh perspectives from people around me while I always look to learn new things to help me stay updated on new trends and technologies that I can adopt.
Process of Developing an Enterprise in The Travel and Tourism Industry
To understand the process of developing an enterprise in the travel and tourism industry, it is critical to understand two approaches used in forming ventures. According to Janiszewska & Ossowska (2021), causation and effectuation are the two central approaches upon which most ventures are formed. The concept of causation revolves around developing enterprises on an experimental basis and reacting based on new information that an entrepreneur gains in their journey. Some key characteristics of this approach are that it focuses on the end goal, the expected returns, an analysis of existing competitors and the ability to have control of the future. In contrast, effectuation evaluates opportunities based on the entrepreneur’s willingness to lose the investment, ability to develop pre-commitments through their networks, and flexibility to react to unexpected events to control an unpredictable future.
Although causation and effectuation are different terminologies, most entrepreneurs have been identified as using a combination of these approaches to make the best of their unique situations. Janiszewska and Ossowska, in their study of the tourism industry, noted four main categories through which enterprises are developed. The first group is pure causation alists who largely depend on causation by analyzing opportunities and developing strategies to exploit the opportunities. Pure causation alists are also known for their unwillingness to experiment.
The second group are the pure effectuation alist, who are those entrepreneurs that mainly rely on effectuation. These entrepreneurs are keen on retaining flexibility, keeping investments low, and progressive growth through experimentation; hence they rarely develop long-term strategies (Janiszewska & Ossowska, 2021). The third group are the ambidextrous entrepreneurs who combine both causation and effectuation approaches to allow them to exploit the benefits of both approaches. The final group are the passive founders who do not use either causation or effectuation.
Factors Contributing to A Successful Business Plan
The factors that can lead to the success of a business plan are commitment, ability and willingness to change, a clear organizational structure, ability to measure progress, and a clear understanding of priorities. For a business plan to be successful, everyone involved in the project needs to be committed to the plan for each component to be implemented effectively. While implementing the business plan, an entrepreneur should be willing to embrace change and new ideas to adapt effectively to emerging and shifting demands. It is also important that the business plan is implemented within a sound organizational structure where control is centralized and the responsibilities of each member are clear. The ability to measure progress is also a key factor since an organization should measure what it means to succeed by identifying measurable goals and milestones. Finally, a successful business plan also requires a clear understanding of priorities that guide the decision-making process to ensure the plan is not derailed by distraction.
A Business Plan
Formulating a business plan entails several components, including evaluating the opportunity, an execution plan, organizational structure, and a financial plan. Evaluation of an opportunity involves exploring the problem the entrepreneurial venture looks to address along with the viability of the solution it proposes from a business perspective. This component also involves an analysis of the demographics of the target market as well as the competition in the sector. Another component is the execution plan which explores marketing and sales strategies along with performance milestones and metrics to monitor progress. The organizational structure covers the team’s composition, while the financial plan explores financial forecasts and the sources of financing to fund the daily operation of the business.
Sources of Funding for Businesses in Tourism and Travel
The most common funding sources for businesses in the tourism and travel sector include development banks, foundations, donors, and the government. Examples of development banks offering to fund are the InterAmerican Development Bank, a geo-tourism initiative that funds tourism-related programs promoting sustainability, and the International Finance Corporation, which funds ecotourism projects. In addition, foundations such as Tourism Cares, Planeterra Foundation, and the Geotourism Development Foundation are some foundations offering to fund entrepreneurs in the tour industry. Funding is also offered by the government to entrepreneurs, usually as grants, mainly done at the State or Provincial level, which is a strategy to ensure everyone has access to the funds. An example of this is the Agritourism Loan Program, accessible to farmers in Vermont.
Existing Gap in the Market
The niche market I have identified for my tours and travel business is agritourism, where I will place special emphasis on the integration of technology into agriculture to improve farm productivity and improve food safety. Food security remains to be a major concern in America as countries continue to grapple with the problem of climate change which is making it difficult for farmers to produce adequate food using traditional farming methods (Dillinger, 2017). Additionally, America ranks highest in terms of the value of food exports in dollars, highlighting the external pressure that the agricultural sector is likely to face if the current climate conditions continue to deteriorate.
Technology provides viable solutions that farmers can adopt to improve their farm productivity, with advancements in robotics, image and data processing, and genetics proving especially useful. However, although these technologies exist in the country, their usage has been limited to certain regions, and farms are yet to be adopted widely across the country and other parts of the globe. Therefore, there is a need to integrate technology to ensure an adequate supply of food.
Solution
To solve this problem, I propose the creation of tours and travel business venture whose main goal will be to facilitate the travel of individuals and companies practicing agriculture to expose them to state-of-the-art technologies currently being adopted by farms across the country and abroad to increase food productivity, according to a report by the U.S. Travel Association. (2018), the travel and tourism industry is a $1,036 billion industry and rakes in $165 billion in tax revenue. The industry’s size represents a great opportunity for new entrepreneurship opportunities to emerge, with the agricultural sector currently proving very enticing. These emerging opportunities are evidenced by the growing popularity of agritourism as farms offering recreational services accumulated a lot in sales, highlighting the possibility for the proposed solution to generate income.
Target Market
My target market comprises large-scale farmers and companies currently living in the United States or abroad. While the venture will look to expose farmers to new technologies being used in agriculture, there will be no limitation to the technology adoption levels of the farmers to allow those with experience using technology to diversify. For example, the main aim of this business is to promote the exchange of ideas among farmers across the globe. As a result, various individuals and groups in the farming industry are willing to travel to other destinations to tour and mainly to source information.
Competitor Analysis
A majority of the players who are currently in the agritourism niche market are individual companies that offer farmers tour services around their farms to expose them to the food production process. This is advantageous as it provides a lower barrier for entry since there is no existing dominant force that would hinder entry into the market. Additionally, the fact that most players in the market are individual farms creates an opportunity for us to implement a system that brings together multiple farms to maximize the diversity of the travel experience. Therefore, a good understanding of the rivals helps to develop appropriate strategies.
Marketing and Sales
To effectively market the business, I intend to develop targeted campaigns highlighting the specific benefits farmers can gain by using our services. This will include improved farm productivity, increased profits, improved quality of products, and a strong network of like-minded farmers, all of which are aided by the use of technology. I will rely on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, which provide great user segmentation capabilities to facilitate targeted marketing. I will also rely on platforms such as YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon to reach the target audience through video content and short advertisements. To boost sales, I intend to develop strategic partnerships with government and non-governmental organizations interested in adopting technology in agriculture to reach farmers who are actively looking for assistance to grow their businesses.
Operations
To minimize initial costs, the company will operate remotely, where all its employees will work from home before an appropriate location is identified. However, the business will require storage facilities for its vehicles and other equipment that the business or its clients may require. With regard to technological requirements, the business will require an online presence in the form of a web application that will facilitate communications between interested clients and business representatives. The business will also require a CRM solution to manage customer relationships and generate marketing leads.
The key metrics that will be used to evaluate our success will include the total transaction value of all bookings, the gross profit margin, the customer retention period, the customer referral rate, and customer complaints. These indicators will provide a good estimate of the business’s overall performance along with its perception by clients to inform on ways to improve our service offerings. For example, the business will be considered successful if it can make a profit and run effectively. The metrics depend on the effective performance of the business in the sector.
Forecasting
Based on current market trends in agritourism, it is anticipated that the majority of the revenue will be made from on-farm sales, which will be facilitated by the strategic partnerships developed with the different farms to be toured. These sales will include farm produce, farm merchandise, on-site training, technology equipment, and software. Other areas where we foresee good revenue income include outdoor recreation activities, agritainment, and educational tourism. We also forecast that most of our revenue will be from the North American region as it is the most dominant in agritourism. However, we also intend to explore other regions to create greater interest in agritourism with a special focus on technology adoption.
The Selection of Funding Source
The primary sources of funding for the project will be a combination of development bank funds, foundations, donors, and government grants that target projects that are involved in tourism to promote environmental sustainability and food security. Considering the niche nature of my market, I believe these funds provide the most plausible avenue for funding. I also intend to implement crowdfunding drives to help bring together like-minded individuals who would be willing to raise funds to support the business venture. These funds will be used to finance daily operation costs and invest in new growth opportunities.
References
Hameed, I., & Irfan, Z. (2019). Entrepreneurship education: a review of challenges, characteristics and opportunities. Entrepreneurship Education, 2(3), 135-148.
Holloway, J. C., & Humphreys, C. (2019). The business of tourism (11th ed.). Sage.
Janiszewska, D., & Ossowska, L. (2021). Food festival exhibitors’ business motivation. Sustainability, 13(9), 4920.
U.S. Travel Association. (2018). U.S. Travel’s ‘made in America’ report highlights value, and importance of promoting tourism. Web.