Entrepreneurial Opportunity Report: Waste to Electricity Business Plan

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of an entrepreneurial opportunity centered around converting household waste into electricity. The introduction highlights the importance of innovative business ideas and the need for a well-developed business plan. The report focuses on a specific business idea: a mechanism to convert household organic waste into electricity, emphasizing its uniqueness and potential for profit. It identifies the target market as UK families, discusses value propositions, and outlines a marketing plan utilizing both traditional and digital methods. The analysis explores entrepreneurial themes such as opportunity recognition and creation, highlighting how the business addresses societal needs for waste management and energy. It details the business idea development process, including market research and operational planning, addressing resource requirements and potential vulnerabilities. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of consumer needs and the potential for sustainable growth in the face of increasing waste generation and energy demands.

ENTREPRENEURIAL
OPPORTUNITY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Entrepreneurial themes....................................................................................................................2
Business idea development .............................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
In the modern world of business there are various types of entrepreneurs that have came
up with their business idea (Dimov, 2011). These business idea must be innovative so as gain
more popularity. There are several factors that makes the idea successful which needs to be
understood by the entrepreneurs and properly applied. There must be proper business idea
development plan so that it does fails at any stage of its life cycle.
Business idea that is being discussed in this report is “ a mechanism that will covert
household goods in electricity”. Since there are large amount of household garbage that is
produced on the daily basis hence it can used for converting into electricity. Organic waste will
be the major waste that will be in concern.
Uniqueness of the idea can be justified that there are many systems that are developed in
this regard but this provides unique solution to completely disposes the organic waste. With the
growth of restaurants and ready to eat habits the generation of organic have increased and since
the requirement of electricity have also enhanced Hence this has a better chance of generating a
higher profits.
The target market that it is focusing is family members and the people who are living in
UK. It ranges people from different segments of the society. Since waste is generated by almost
every people hence it does not segment in terms of demographics. This system can be installed in
the colony where few houses can be lit up using the generated electricity.
Value preposition for the firm is to produce and environment friendly approach that will
help in the generation of profits in the market (Garud and Giuliani, 2013). Another value that is
present in this business idea is that company is supporting in the cause of recycling of waste
gathered from various sources which ensures sustainable growth of natural environment and
hence diminishing land filling in UK.
Firms consumer are the people that lives in the society and are facing both kinds of
problems i.e. energy related as well as waste management. The consumer ranges from different
sections of the society. Both upper and lower class people can take use of this facility. People
living in the rural and sub urban areas are the prime consumers as the system for waste
management is not appropriate as it is in the bigger cities.
Firm has adopted an excellent marketing plan which will ensure that company idea is
well communicated among the masses. There will be holdings outside the society and newspaper
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ads. Apart from these people are using large amount of internet sources for their daily life
problems related to waste and consumption of electricity. Digital marketing can provide an
excellent solution to these two problems. There is another way of promoting the entrepreneurial
idea like if the firm arrange some of the seminars and conferences with the help of local
regulatory or authoritative bodies. Company can sponsor society related events which will help
them in creating name in the minds of people. Proximity marketing can be a beneficial tool in tis
regard so as to reach to local consumers in every society.
Customers of the company wants that the mechanism must be able to provide effective
solution to the waste management on daily basis. The system must be able to process the garbage
in a such a way that no organic residue gets left and even when it remains it must be self capable
of disposing it. Consumer want that this system must be able to provide the amount of electricity
which can fulfil its extra energy consumption needs (Grégoire and Shepherd, 2012). They want
that company staff must be available for 24 hours surveillance of the mechanism so that they do
not have to call every time in case of any difficulty. Apart from this there must be a recruitment
of staff that will have the responsibility of collecting garbage by knocking every door. It is
essential that the system must be developed in the ways that satisfy the need of consumers. For
understanding the needs of consumers and targeted individuals firm needs to conduct an survey
asking the details about what kind of problems they face in their day to day life related to waste
management as well as extra energy consumptions. Apart from this they can distribute
questionnaire on various websites as well as social media sites where it can be possible to collect
large amount of data.
Since in this system there is a complete arrangement of gathering the waste as well as
processing it and producing electricity. Since the cost of the electricity for which people have to
pay larger amounts is a bigger problem this is an cost effective method. It also helps them in
getting rid of the organic waste that starts to smell if not properly disposed. Both these problems
are properly addressed by this mechanism.
Entrepreneurial themes
While developing any business idea there is generation of several kinds of themes. This
themes are important since it gives the shape to overall entrepreneurial activity (Davidsson,
2015). It ensures that a firm will be capable of generating higher profits through the operations.
Entrepreneurial opportunities can be understood as favourable set of circumstances which will
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generates an solution of new products, services, business or experience in line with the
requirements of any individual, society or firm. Two themes related to this entrepreneurial idea
are as follows:
 Recognition: It is defined as the entrepreneurship that must be active in recognising
several types of opportunities to growth available in the market place (Siegel and Renko,
2012). Creation of business plan according to the possibilities can be profitable as the
entrepreneur will shape strategies related to the business according to possibility of
growth in the market. It provides lesser risk to the innovative plan.
 Creation: This theme is revolving around invention of some new possibilities in the
commercial market so as to act more completely and profitably in the commercial
surrounding. This theme is highly capable of generating higher profits as well as giving
competitive edge over other competitors. This particular theme has been successful in the
last few decades.
This two theme has been selected in this idea since both these relates to understanding the
needs of the society and the developing products accordingly. Since the garbage collection
system and generation of cheap electricity is the major issue in daily household activities. This
ensures that people will gain more amount of profits from the business as well as competitive
advantage over the others in this process.
According to the recognition theme the entrepreneur is responsibly engaged in
determining several growth opportunities in the business of garbage or waste management.
Individual checks out entrepreneurial opportunity in recycling of waste that can be collected
from the homes from the society. Firm can work more on checking the enhancing needs
disposing organic waste. Since many kinds of Bactria and germs resides on such waste and hence
it can create a long term damage to health condition of the people living in home. Since these
wastes are not useful for household family members and hence can be available at almost free of
cost for firm (Alvarez and Barney, 2014). Hence it reduces the overall cost of production for the
electricity. These system for converting waste into electricity is developed within the company
and hence it takes lower cost. Entrepreneur can have an agreement where they can collect such
kinds of waste and provide them electricity as per their need. Since generation of electricity
cannot be in the large amount hence are capable of supporting a small or extra energy
consumption needs. Hence it can be said that it is essential that entrepreneur recognises the needs
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of the society hence this theme is appropriately adopted in this case. Since the waste
management is going to be a bigger problem in the coming future due to increased amount of
waste generated from the household activities. Other than this since the concerns related with
this innovation is towards safeguarding environment hence it provides an excellent opportunity
for the firm (5 Common Themes That Drive Entrepreneurial Success. 2017).
On the other hand opportunity creation is also applicable in this regard as the mechanism
that is developed for this process is one its own kind and is capable of making larger amount of
profits. Since there is the demand of having a mechanism that is capable of disposing the waste
generated at the households mostly in rural and sub urban areas hence the technology is
developed in this regard (Korsgaard, 2011). This technology takes a day time to process the
garbage and produce an electricity from it. Capacity of generating electricity is on the lower side
in the starting phases hence it becomes more necessary that process of development should be
less. People will only adopt this technology if the cost of energy generated from it is on the lower
side. In this opportunities are created by individual themselves and must find ways to adequately
take use of it. This theory also underlines the fact that few people identifies the clear
understanding of the opportunity and exploit it by developing methods for generating revenue.
Firm came to this idea by conducting a survey on understanding the needs of household
on their daily basis. They understood the opportunity of making profits and hence developed
such kind of technology (Gonzalez-Alvarez and Solis-Rodriguez, 2011). The gaps that where
present in the business idea is that it was incapable of producing a larger amount of electricity
from the waste collected. On the other and this mechanism does not solves the problem of firm
related to decomposition or management of inorganic waste which is also a major problem for
the company.
Business idea development
In the development of business idea various stages has been followed by the firm:
Step 1: First the survey has been conducted at social media sites as well as other sites taking the
use of tools like Questionnaires.
Step 2: A team of 10 members have been constructed who consisted of people that is from
different fields and the solution of it was discussed which led to creation of this idea.
Step 3: All the positives and negatives about the opportunities have been discussed as well as its
profitability was measured by doing market research and the opportunities of future.
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Step 4: Technology related innovations has been done by the technical department of the firm
and then marketing team starting promoting it.
Operational plan
An operational plan is an elaborated plan that is utilised for giving a clear idea of how
teams, sections and departments will contribute to accomplishing organisational goals. In this
case various strengths and weakness of the firm has been taken care of while developing the
project. Since this firm do not have the larger amount of resources hence have to manage the
resources effectively while implementing the idea (Smith and Ibrahim, 2012). The organisation
is fairly new hence the company has to check the opportunities that is available in the
marketplace. This plan also recognises potential growth areas where the product will be
delivered for this case it is the colonies in the sub urban areas as well as the mega cities like
London and Glasgow. Area of vulnerability is that it may take a lot of time to establish in the
market which is major concern for the firm. Firm will employee the workers from the local areas
so that they can be available in case of any faults.
Resources needed: There are several kinds of resources that are required for this idea
implementation. Some of them are as follows:
 Staffs: They can employee from the local areas so that they can available at the
workplace at any time. Employees from weaker section of the society can also be
included for this purpose.
 Machinery: There are various kinds of equipments that are required in this regard like the
conversion plant, collection mechanism which includes the transportation required in this
case.
 Technology: Major technology was developed inside the firm and the extra technology
has been adopted from some other companies (Suddaby, Bruton and Si, 2015).
This company choose to develop the idea in the way it has done because it is a matter of
satisfying needs of the consumers which cannot be possible without understanding their
requirements.
The theme that was chosen for this idea development requires to understand the need of
the people which cannot be possible without carrying through market research hence company
conducted an planned market research where it used sites like social media as a major source of
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collecting primary and secondary data. This research was conducted on the issue of what
probable difficulties a family faces on daily basis.
Marketing plan: It aims to satisfy needs of as many people as possible. Segmentation has been
done in which company has targetted the people living in the colonies of sub urban and rural
areas (Hunter, 2011). Strategic and evidence based marketing has been selected under the plan.
Marketing Strategy: The strategy that is chosen by this firm based on the product it is offering
is market development. Since it can go into new cities with its products.
Marketing Mix: For this company marketing Mix is as follows:
 Product: It is a system that is capable of generating electricity from the organic waste
which is collected from the household activities.
 Price: Since the cost of operations is less and raw materials are of lower cost hence the
overall cost of electricity also remains on the cheaper side.
 Place: It is available at the door step and the plant will be installed with the premises of
the colony and hence reducing the efforts of individuals.
 Promotion: It can promote its products using the mediums such as Newspaper, TV ads,
social, media and other sites that is related with the environment and its concerns.
Competitor's analysis: Since the designed technology is one of its kind and hence it does not
face problems from similar kind of technologies or firms (Wang, Ellinger and Jim Wu, 2013).
Actual competition is provided by the larger firms who are providing electricity at lower rates.
Financial plan: It aims to generate maximum amount of profits from the operations. Budget for
this plan is as follows:
Operations Cost ( Pounds)
Market research 1000
Research and development 150000
Production 100000
Marketing 50000
Sales 25000
Legal considerations 10000
Insurance 100000
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Total 436000
It is estimated that overall revenue of company in the financial will be around 1000000
pounds hence it will make a profit of around 564000 pounds.
Breakeven point is the place where company neither generates any profit nor faces loss (Wilson
and Martin, 2015). This company has faced this in the second quarter of the financial year of
business start-up.
CONCLUSION
There are several entrepreneurial opportunities that is available with every firm. It
depends on the selection of theme by an individuals that how much successful will his plan be.
Waste management and availing electricity at lower cost that can be solved by the idea which is
above mentioned. Target has been made to the societies which is established in sub urban areas
where the disposable management is not so effective. Evidence and strategic marketing has been
utilised for ensuring larger of profits from the operations. Research has been conducted
thoroughly then only new product has been developed.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Dimov, D., 2011. Grappling with the unbearable elusiveness of entrepreneurial opportunities.
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35(1), pp.57-81.
Garud, R. and Giuliani, A.P., 2013. A narrative perspective on entrepreneurial opportunities.
Academy of Management Review, 38(1), pp.157-160.
Grégoire, D.A. and Shepherd, D.A., 2012. Technology-market combinations and the
identification of entrepreneurial opportunities: An investigation of the opportunity-
individual nexus. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), pp.753-785.
Davidsson, P., 2015. Entrepreneurial opportunities and the entrepreneurship nexus: A re-
conceptualization. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(5), pp.674-695.
Siegel, D.S. and Renko, M., 2012. The role of market and technological knowledge in
recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities. Management Decision, 50(5), pp.797-816.
Alvarez, S.A. and Barney, J.B., 2014. Entrepreneurial opportunities and poverty alleviation.
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38(1), pp.159-184.
Korsgaard, S., 2011. Entrepreneurship as translation: Understanding entrepreneurial
opportunities through actor-network theory. Entrepreneurship & Regional
Development, 23(7-8), pp.661-680.
Gonzalez-Alvarez, N. and Solis-Rodriguez, V., 2011. Discovery of entrepreneurial opportunities:
a gender perspective. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 111(5), pp.755-775.
Smith, D.G. and Ibrahim, D.M., 2012. Law and Entrepreneurial Opportunities. Cornell L. Rev.,
98, p.1533.
Suddaby, R., Bruton, G.D. and Si, S.X., 2015. Entrepreneurship through a qualitative lens:
Insights on the construction and/or discovery of entrepreneurial opportunity. Journal of
Business Venturing, 30(1), pp.1-10.
Hunter, M., 2011. Perpetual self conflict: Self awareness as a key to our ethical drive, personal
mastery, and perception of entrepreneurial opportunities. Contemporary Readings in
Law and Social Justice, 3(2), p.96.
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Wang, Y.L., Ellinger, A.D. and Jim Wu, Y.C., 2013. Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition: an
empirical study of R&D personnel. Management Decision, 51(2), pp.248-266.
Wilson, N. and Martin, L., 2015. Entrepreneurial opportunities for all? Entrepreneurial capability
and the Capabilities Approach. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and
Innovation, 16(3), pp.159-169.
Online
5 Common Themes That Drive Entrepreneurial Success. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.safeguard.com/2012/11/15/5-common-themes-that-drive-entrepreneurial-
success/>
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