Cut above: the tycoon tailor who survived war and terror

Theage.com.au

12/05/2011

http://www.theage.com.au/small-business/entrepreneur/cut-above-the-tycoon-tailor-who-survived-war-and-terror-20110512-1ejue.html

This entrepreneurial profile by The Age, a Melbourne newspaper, covers Abraham Hatoum- he lived in Lebanon in his childhood, came to Australia in 1985 and founded LookSmart in 1994, and now has a $28 million/year turnover.

His life has a entrepreneurial start, as he sold drinks in his Palestinian refugee camp where he lived when he was 10 years old, but luck dropped off from him later in life when his father was murdered, young Hatoum was bashed and sustained more injuries from a bomb blast. After arriving in Australia he took 12 years to gain his Bachelor of Commerce degree but now has won the 22nd national Ethnic business awards.

Entrepreneurs can accomplish anything- a view shared by Hatoum, as he shared his view about his drinks business. His view on life as well- you make your own luck- is also like that with entrepreneurs because they only get out what they put into it.

One lesson that he has learnt from business is to choose the right people. 'If you choose the right people, a business will succeed. If you put your people first, sales and profit follow.' In Commerce we have learnt that putting people first and thinking about what they want is essential- there would be no business if there were no people.

Entrepreneurs can change the world

YouTube.com- GetGrasshopper


Uploaded on May 3 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MhAwQ64c0


This video sums up what entrepreneurs do in the world. Although the target audience is American (as shown at 0:27 with the American flag and country) and this video is a form of advertising the message is internationally understood. Entrepreneurs show that one individual can make a difference (0:19) and that this individual, with a 'single brilliant idea' (0:34) 'change the way we think about what is possible' (0:50).
In Commerce we have been learning about what is an entrepreneur, and these main points sum it up. We also have been finding about what challenges entrepreneurs face but the video shows that 'turbulence creates opportunities for success, achievement, and pushes us to discover new ways of doing things.' (1:01-1:10)
This video also covers the rewards of being an entrepreneur. They 'drive innovation changing people's lives, creating jobs, fueling growth, and making a better world' (1:19-1:28)
The remainder of the video lists what entrepreneurs do for the world, such as designing tools to help us stay connected, solving society's oldest problems, but also covers one important point- an entrepreneur can be anybody.

The elephant riding entrepreneur

SMH.com.au

4/4/2011

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/entrepreneur/the-elephantriding-entrepreneur-20110404-1cxim.html

This article is an interview with Sydney entrepreneur Creel Price, that started Blueprint Management Group with $5000, and 10 years later sold it for $100 million. Price, the captain of Australia in the sport of Elephant Polo, had unique business practices in his time, for example taking his staff to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and bicycle riding from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City. In this interview it explores some of his hardest challenges, business tips and what is next in the future.

At the moment in Commerce not too many other topics have been discussed as the class has had limited time on the topic of creating a business. However in this interview it covers many aspects discussed previously, such as taking no shortcuts- 'good business takes time', and his toughest challenge in business- 'starting a business (Blueprint) with only $5000 in capital and to try and compete with cashed up multi-national corporations.' He overcame this problem by installing a rule that customers pay him within 48 hours and stretching entry level people to do jobs beyond their previous experience. Successful entrepreneurs need to think outside the square, and he has done that.

Profile - Monique Conheady

Lucinda Schmidt, SMH.com.au, 12/5/2010

http://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/profile--monique-conheady-20100524-w65d.html

This article is about an entrepreneur called Monique Conheady, that owns a company called 'Flexicar' that is a car hiring service for people that do not generally need a car for their day to day lives. Flexicar is a business that has focus on an environmental concern- Climate Change- but she says it also has to be financially viable. "That's the philosophy behind Flexicar - it has to be financially viable but with a social and environmental benefit."

In Commerce we have learnt about entrepreneurs and ideas they have in order to make money and grow their business. In this example Monique Conheady started the idea of Flexicar in the 1990's, when she visited a friend in Boston that had a business similar to Flexicar, called Zipcar. She could see this car sharing venture needed in the everyday lives of people, as the world began to support climate change, or just did not have the money to buy a car to use.

Monique's father also planted a seed for her to start her own business, saying that you have to do your own thing, he was very independent minded."

Nowadays she has accumulated a $2 million turnover and is aiming to expand her company, especially in Sydney, after she won a 2009 Telstra business award.

Our Economy- Reflection

Total Mark: 29/30

This assessment task was to research the economy of Australia and one other economy of my choice- this country in question was Hong Kong. The assessment task consisted of a report describing the economy in both Australia and Hong Kong with a comparison of the two economies and describing the differences.

I learnt from the assessment task about Hong Kong's economy- that they were one of the last Laissez-faire economies in the world (with no government intervention) and how they suffered and recovered from the Global Financial Crisis. I found out that their GDP also fell after their split from the United Kingdom in 1997 as well as the GFC. Their GDP fell more than Australia's but ended up recovering better than the Australian economy, indicating that they are able to bounce back from economic struggles.
I also learnt that the split from the United Kingdom made inflation rates go backwards in the 1997-1998 year and the changes in the CPI have been more unstable than Australia's as they have not had an inflation target as Australia has.

I generally did all parts of the assignment well as shown by the 29/30 mark, however I struggled to find relevant graphs to back up my written work, as shown by my Australian GDP Growth Rate graph because I was only able to find a graph for 14 years instead for 20 years.

I can elaborate more in the aspects of Hong Kong's economy but however I wasn't able to find too much information apart from Wikipedia- with the exception of the CIA World Factbook.

This assessment task was generally well written but the word count was fairly difficult to adhere to.