THE continued growth of our SMEs should reflect real, measurable business prosperity. It should be based on data rather than estimates, with systems and processes that drive focused innovation and deliver market results that are accurately determined in advance.
Rather than sticking to the tradition of spending a lot of time on simple foundational matters that are also costly and do not deliver the anticipated viability.
Most of these non-programmed business models are on a record of failure.
This even raises questions about whether there can be any growth from our indigenous business models.
Yes, growth is achievable if the foundation is strengthened by engineered innovation.
We should be proactive to overcome the global myths among entrepreneurs who misallocate their scarce resources, as these myths are baseless from inception.
Most of our promising entrepreneurs rely on historical precedents for business settings rather than looking far ahead into the future and working backwards through a reverse-engineering model inspired by innovation.
This minimises the risk of applying obsolete principles when developing business ideas in this dawn of innovation.
Our SMEs have the capability to predict and design compatible business models, especially when they are capacitated by themselves and others.
Remembering that charity begins at home, our potential entrepreneurs should start reverse-engineering themselves, even when guided by others.
As informed in our various entrepreneurial philosophies and curricula, idea ownership is critical for a business to take off and grow sustainably.
In this case, we see the future first in terms of product/service acceptance rather than relying on an idea that can be overtaken by events before it hits the market.
Most of our businesses remain in this zone of planning forever, with minimal action. In addition, we are not conclusive but sharing some of the nitty-gritties to spice SMEs' business success through a reverse-engineering approach rather than moving in a traditional life cycle that follows the evolution of humankind, where an idea will always die.
Of course, rejuvenation and succession planning have been part of strategic bundles for continued existence, but here we go further into reverse-engineering.
To start with, our small businesses need to reconfigure their supply chains and production processes, breaking them into separate components for analysis.
This will then help the entrepreneur rebuild these components innovatively, based on an anticipated prototype that is born out of a repeatable business model.
The reverse engineering will set its turbines in motion for sustainable competitive innovation.
The ideal innovation is to start with the outcome rather than focusing on an idea.
The time for boardrooms that repeatedly sit on “cool ideas” is coming to an end, especially for those driven by innovation.
Businesses are facing painful problems, and these should be quantified as if they have already happened, rather than waiting for them to arrive and then reacting.
Reverse engineering promotes a proactive approach to future problems.
If well done, this approach should expose problems, uncontrollable pressures, necessary adjustments, solutions, and strategies.
These can then be summarised to act quickly, rather than spending more time on brainstorming.
There is a need to thoroughly understand the markets we intend to serve before any venture is created.
Most of our potential entrepreneurs produce first, before they really understand the problems in the targeted markets.
This usually results in production at a loss, with market frictions not well exposed, making it difficult to develop both defensive and offensive strategies.
Also, some market gaps may already have been addressed by other players.
The early bird gets the worm, so the only market share left will be shared among the remaining competitors.
Real entrepreneurship should aim to start and end as a monopoly, driven by innovation that creates barriers to entry for competitors.
Across all sectors of our global economy, entrepreneurs are constrained by limited resources, which should drive them to innovate and sail into the blue oceans.
There is a need to start with a minimum but specific set of resources, especially those that are locally available, so they can easily replicate and modify them over time, based on experience from ourselves and others.
Most of our entrepreneurs wait a long time to bring an idea into action, as they mobilise capital and seek networks to ship machinery from other nations far across the oceans.
At the same time, they face ongoing problems securing spare parts after breakdowns when this machinery is in use.
Let’s stay close to home through innovation and leverage global best-in-class designs to prototype and produce our own indigenous machines and equipment that perform just as well as the global best from any corner of the world.
It is therefore imperative for our promising entrepreneurs to refocus their foundational strategies from merely relying on idea quality to experimentation.
This is the same reason why even established large corporates have restructured and invested their resources in innovation hubs for entrepreneurial experimentation rather than relying on the founding business idea(s).
The future success of all our enterprises lies in engineered decision-making that embraces simulations and reverse processes, especially by engaging with customer satisfaction first rather than initiating with production and then looking for a customer.
Hence, there is a need for our entrepreneurial businesses to continuously embrace the revolutionary digital configuration inspired by artificial intelligence for reverse engineering.
In this way, the future for the business, in relation to quantities, numbers, and instructions as the basis for innovation, is known well in advance with precision in meeting the desires, needs, and wants of future customers (even those we will serve 50 years from now).
We leave you to reflect on reverse engineering for entrepreneurial success
- Dr Farai Chigora is a businessman and academic. He is a senior lecturer at Africa University’s College of Management and Business Sciences and a global business modelling practitioner. His doctoral research focused on Business Administration (Destination Marketing and Branding, Major, UKZN, SA). He is involved in agribusiness and consults for many companies in Zimbabwe and across Africa. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted for feedback and business at fariechigora@gmail.com, www.fachip.co.zw, or via WhatsApp on mobile: +263772886871.
- Dr Tabani Moyo is an extra-ordinary researcher with the University of North West, South Africa’s Social Transformation School. He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (Research focus on new media and corporate reputation management, UKZN), chartered marketer, fellow CIM, communications and reputation management expert based in Harare. He can be contacted at moyojz@gmail.com @TabaniMoyo (X)