AMMAN — Designing a business model, having a team, writing strategy, and value creation, these were some of the advises that Mostafa Shams El Din, VP, Sales and New Business Development, MENA, PepsiCo gave to startups business during the last day of AMWAJ 2016 forum. He mentioned that it is always one of the best experiences watching young people working on their passions and businesses. He presented several tips to the youth during an advisory session which was held after 10 finalists entrepreneurs have been selected as part of the PepsiCo Social Impact competition. One of the vital tips that he provided the youth was designing a business model that can addresses a problem or show a need for a product or a service. Then questioning if this product and service could be copied and does not have a special feature to grab the consumers or not. He added that talent is the single biggest determinant for new businesses. "The most talented in the world, the best entrepreneur is the entrepreneur who failed three times," Shams El Din said. He explained that many successful people have failed not only in their work and business, but also in other aspects of life several times to reach their success. He advised "never think you can do everything by yourself. There is no superman and I have never seen. Successful startups do need three sets of skills, there is the designer or driver which is the creative person, the guy that comes with the ideas, the one responsible about marketing makes things works, and the financial person. My advise for startups if you do not have one of these skills, is go out and get it because you well never succeed." While making the business model, the entrepreneurs need to define if there is a financial risk or not. He explained that financial risk in his opinion means questioning if the business model is sustainable. Can it sustain itself? Or is it relying on ideas that may or may not materialize? Does the business plan lead to sustain itself financially or not? Shams El Din added that for investors having an answers for these questions is vital since they focus on the return. He advised that other questions that startups should focus on would be how big is the market size and its scale. And if it scales, how big can it go? Shams El Din further mentioned that defining a clear strategy is a smart step. "Strategy is not about what you want to do actually. The biggest mistake that people fall into writing strategy is they write the things they want to do and achieve. But the most important thing in writing strategy is about what you are not going to do. The most important decision we do is what we are not going to do because it is very easy to know what you want, so strategy is what you are not going to do," Shams El Din said. His next advise was value creation and it has two parts. The first one focuses on whether a small local business can go beyond or not. Since people want to invest in a business that will not always be small, they want to invest in a business that create value not only in small scale but also in a large scale. The second part in value creation is questioning if the business would add value or not which means not only buying and selling. It means adding something to the process so the person can create an incremental value. In the evening of the last day of AMWAJ 2016 forum, the names of the three winners in PepsiCo Social Impact Awards were announced. The first winner was a startup from Aswan that focuses on producing bags from recycled material and showcase Aswan culture. AMWAJ is an international sustainability and entrepreneurship forum organized by PepsiCo and Revolve Media focused on offering socially innovative ideas, sharing best practices and finding practical solutions to build inclusive societies for a sustainable future in the MENA region.
