This time London Study Ambassadors had the pleasure of learning from Martha Mador, Head of Enterprise Education at Kingston University, about the entrepreneurial creative process. I’ve always thought entrepreneurship was something people just have natural talents for, but I took away some strategies that made the creative process seem less elusive.
Takeaways:
First, for any product there must be market need. Identifying real problems is the process of identifying market needs.
Second, comes the process of brainstorming a solution. What I learned here is actually applicable to any type of problem-solving process: Mador told us not to begin evaluating and judging solutions at the brainstorm stage; no solution was too far-fetched. I learned this lesson early in law school. I was very skeptical of finding a law to support a client’s tenuous position, and my supervisor told me to research further. It turned out that I was able to find regulations in her favor, and in fact, by exercising judgment too quickly, I potentially closed myself off to the solution! Needless to say, I am now very conscious of the fact that brainstorming should be separate from the evaluation stage.
In the evaluation stage, an entrepreneur finds a solution that meets the market need. This becomes the service or product to be sold.
And then of course, is the practical concern of financing. Most entrepreneurs get their financing from friends and family. Sometimes they can enter competitions for financing or trade their services for financing.
Apparently, entrepreneurship is also one way to stay in the U.K. post-graduation. Here is a link to the UK Border Agency Graduate Entrepreneur visa scheme page. Wishing the best to anyone with entrepreneurial aspirations.
Wayfaring in London 