Potential entrepreneurs in Kiambu sub-county have been advised to identify their market niche before settling on any venture in order to enable them sustain the ventures to maturity.
Speaking on Wednesday in his office in Kiambu, the area trade officer Samuel Otieno said those starting businesses for the first time fail to evaluate their opportunities something that made most of them flop.
He attributed business failure to lack of proper market research saying it should be the first assignment.
He urged the business fraternity to always know their target customers as they were people who make up the market.
He cited proper research as key to entrepreneurial achievement and business success.
“People have great ideas and opportunities that they could invest in but evaluating them is a challenge as most of them rush into starting business without considering whether the existing market was viable or not,” he said.
The officer advised any entrepreneurial minded person to always consider factors that make their businesses to be successful.
He said businesses should be located in areas where security was guaranteed and availability of supportive services like banks.
He noted that the gap between prosperous entrepreneurs and unsuccessful ones depended on strategies each laid at the initial stage of conceptualizing their business ideas.
The officer further said upcoming entrepreneurs lacked originality as some of them were copying and setting up similar business like those already existing.
He challenged them to venture into areas that were yet to be tapped or those that have less competition.
Otieno also urged entrepreneurs to be patient as they took risks saying those were the traits required as so as to succeed in business.
Speaking on the same issue, Evans Mburu, a resident in Kiambu town said the first time he ventured into business, it failed because he had not done research.
He advised upcoming entrepreneurs that no matter how brilliant their business ideas could be, analysing their viability was crucial as it determined the future of the business.
“I always research and evaluate my ideas before starting any business,” he said.