Clarifying business ideas in autumn's EntreFox workshops
Creativity and innovation have been the theme of EntreFox’s English language workshops this autumn. The workshops have been attended by entrepreneurs with a foreign background, who act as consultants and e.g., in the arts. Sanna Fäldt and Sanna Salovuori from Bravers Oy have acted as facilitators and coaches. At the first meeting of the group, they conducted a two-hour workshop to review the business idea of each entrepreneur and to work in pairs to clarify the core of each business.
Entrepreneurs who participated in the workshops had a strong view of their own activities but clarifying the idea by working together was found to be very useful. Participation in the workshops was due, among other things, to the need for peer support and networking opportunities. In addition, entrepreneurs wanted to broaden their own understanding of non-business activities. The desire to understand different people was also a motivator for one participant to participate. Those who felt that their own business was still somewhat ambiguous hoped to have guidance and friends to consider issues related to entrepreneurship. Indeed, peer support came to the attention of several entrepreneurs when they shared their wishes regarding the workshops. Trying alone was often felt to be burdensome. Entrepreneurs needed more people to chat with to get sparring and new perspectives on business development.
With the help of the topic of the workshop, creativity, it was hoped that solutions could be found for one’s own life, especially in a situation where one’s own thinking has been stuck. Entrepreneurs had a lively discussion about their own ideas and plans for the future. This clarified many people’s idea of what kind of service or product they want to offer their customers. One entrepreneur working in communications said that leaving things behind and finding something new in the future motivates him to work and develop his business. This was perceived by many as an impressive and inspiring idea: it was felt that there were many interesting opportunities in the future.
The second workshop was held at Aalto Design Factory in Otaniemi. ADF researchers Maria Mikkonen and Erika Perttunen spoke about the Design Bites project, which has developed and renewed the products of startup companies operating in the food industry. The workshop reviewed the principles of the experimental approach, which DB also implemented in its work. In the tasks aimed at entrepreneurs, everyone had to consider the importance of an experimental approach in their own company. We also went through what kind of experiments everyone had already done. This very concrete method allowed everyone to work out what kind of challenges they would like or would make sense to experiment with and see which one would work best to solve the problem. Everyone also made a personal plan for the near future that will help them solve the small challenges related to their business.
The tasks of the second workshop also sparked a lot of discussion and the entrepreneurs got to spar each other. The discussion sections were useful as they provided an opportunity to gain important perspectives on how to put one’s own ideas into practice. Feedback from other entrepreneurs helps clarify your own business and who to direct your marketing to. This is exactly what EntreFox wants to offer in workshops, where everyone can share their experiences as well as their views on how to develop both their business and their own entrepreneurship.
The autumn group has met four times and will continue to operate more voluntarily next year as well. In future blogs we will tell you more about the workshop.
Venla Luukkonen & Tytti Steel
Originally posted on the 17th of December, 2019