Halfway through the workday on Monday I headed home again with what had now turned into a nasty head cold. I spent the next two days in bed resting, trying to recover. This was terrible timing not only because I had a pile of work to get through at work, but also because my GMAT test was scheduled for less than two weeks time. I made the decision to postpone my exam until November 2nd because without the ability to study hard and maintain my mental fitness, I would not be capable of getting a score that accurately reflects my ability.
The time recovering gave me some time to think about what I want to be doing in 2 years time, 5 years time, 10 years time etc. I have always come up with business ideas that I’ve thought have had great potential. Some have been small from simple low-maintenance websites to the enterprise-sized eBay-type ventures. Why haven’t I pursued any of them? A number of reasons. One of them has been my visa situation in the UK and the fact that I’m not ready to return to Africa yet. The biggest and most pressing reason is I lack the business knowhow to start my own company – raising capital, writing a business plan, accounting etc.
I definitely have the desire to be an entrepreneur. One of the major reasons I switched from being a programmer to being a business analyst was because I wanted to be closer to the business processes and decisions that were driving the company, and learn more about “business”. The rest of the skills need to start and run a business I need to learn. The next part of the puzzle is working out how to get to there – to the point of starting my own business.
The entrepreneurs I’ve read about who went to business school either started their own businesses straight out of business school, took business development jobs at major companies, worked for startups or took other types of jobs in fields they were interested in starting businesses. Since I am probably going to have a loan to payback at the end of my studies, starting a business outright does not seem like an option, unless something amazing happens: angel investor or winning a business plan competition.
I have read about and come into contact with ex-city bankers who have started their own businesses and done really well. This seems to be a common trend and does make sense because these people are usually highly motivated and very switched-on.
I dislike the idea of working for a major corporate, so I believe the best option for me to work for a startup once I’m finished with business school. A good alumni network of entrepreneurial people will make finding a job at a startup a little easier.
Another thing I’ve realized from my research is I find venture capitalism highly appealing, but I need to do some more research into it and it does sound like you need some entrepreneurial experience.