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Entrepreneurship and Digital Media (By Dr.Raj Mohan, drrmm2s@gmail.com) 

“An entrepreneur I effect creates a utopia where one works with the people and on a purpose of one’s choosing” 

Building a successful enterprise from startup to sustained profitability demands total immersion. The enterprise becomes the entrepreneur’s purpose, identity, primary social arena and the most meaningful way a women entrepreneur spends time. Women entrepreneurs face time, human, physical and social constraints that limit their ability to grow their business. So, a women entrepreneur is expected to be competent and competitive as possible.

In order to overcome the constraints a women entrepreneur need to face, the following four points need to be considered:

1. Having a clear idea of the value one adds to the product/service, which her business entity offers,

2. Always being up to date on the latest trends and technology, 3. Being bilingual and having international person’s acumen, and 4. Demonstrating energy, enthusiasm and passion.

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor reported that women entrepreneurs were less confident in having sufficient skills to run a business and were more likely to state that fear of failure prevented them from starting a business. Once they came out of such fear and started the venture, to keep themselves ahead of the crowd, they need to practice the skills mentioned above.

Build Value: Life is not a straight line that goes up; it is a series of chapters, circles, reinventions, highs and lows. An entrepreneur should always look for opportunities to add value to personal life and business as well. It is not the entrepreneur alone building wealth. Wealth should build with the growth of the business and the loyal customers.

Build a track record: The entrepreneur should have the practice of recording the achievements and quantify them. Even gaining knowledge on a particular field is also an important one. She must be very up to date in two areas to ensure her value to the business and to the customer. The first is staying up to date on the national and international news, as well as articles in trade magazines, involving her profession. For example, celebrations like Friends’ day, Solar eclipse, Strikes, Weather reports, special events, political situation, etc will facilitate her to plan the business activities suitably. The second area of interest is technology, because it evolves on a daily basis and acts as a catalyst for growth by providing interconnection and access her image and her personal brand within social networks, and on the internet in general.

Language power: Globally a second language is vital, not only because it is important to speak another language, but also because it expands her ability to conduct research on the internet, study manuals, and pursue specialized literature in her field. English is

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the language of the global business world, and it is used to conduct a great deal of business.

“Nothing compares to learning about leadership from a true leader”

Demonstrate Leadership: As a leader, it is also her job to help her people discover how they can provide value to their organization while adding value to their organization while adding value to their careers through doing what makes them passionate, and this very productive.

Digital India Entrepreneurial opportunity

Though India is considered as the IT powerhouse of the world, there is a huge digital divide. The digital India initiative is a dream project of the Government to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. For an entrepreneur, all the nine pillars of Digital India will be of use. They are (i) public internet access program, (ii) universal access to phones; (iii) broadband highways; (iv) E-governance; (v) Electronics manufacturing with the target of net zero imports; (vi) Information for all; (viii) Early harvest program; and (ix) IT for jobs.

Digital consumerism is radically changing the way customers shop for products and services which is impacting the business-consumer eco-system. Digital media has become a must for all enterprises, be it banks, retailers or the government. With over one billion individuals logged on to various products to buy, where to shop or even regarding what firms they want to work with. While most enterprises use digital media for their customer service function only, many firms have now started using in tandem with their sales and marketing function. This in turn enables firm to use data generated by the customers effectively to service their larger pools of customers.

Mobile applications have dominated the digital world, which facilitate the entrepreneur to reach out to the customer with ease and finesse. Shoppers are increasingly using their mobile devices for everything from browsing to comparing to buying products. Enterprises must also jump on to the mobility bandwagon, and ensure that their applications are mobile ready.

Embedded systems like RFID chips have revolutionized the supply chains for retailers. RFID is used for tracking the goods throughout its travel from the seller up to the customer point and also in inventory control, stock taking and supply chain activities.

A special mention need to be mentioned on the social media as part of the digital media which plays a significant role in the marketing, consumer education, selling products, or services to the remote consumers with low transaction cost.

Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. Websites and applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking, social bookmarking, social curation, and wikis are among the different types of social media.

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Here are some prominent examples of social media:

Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. According to statistics from the Nielsen Group, Internet users spend more time on Facebook than any other website.

Twitter is a free microblogging service that allows registered members to broadcast short posts called tweets. Twitter members can broadcast tweets and follow other users' tweets by using multiple platforms and devices.

Google+ (pronounced Google plus) is Google's social networking project, designed to replicate the way people interact offline more closely than is the case in other social networking services. The project’s slogan is “Real-life sharing rethought for the web.” Getting customer expectations could be achieved without additional cost on market survey and understanding of the customer with specialized knowledge.

Wikipedia is a free, open content online encyclopedia created through the collaborative effort of a community of users known as Wikipedians. Anyone registered on the site can create an article for publication; registration is not required to edit articles. Wikipedia was founded in January of 2001. Inventors and new product sellers can upload their details and the content would be accessible across the globe.

LinkedIn is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. The goal of the site is to allow registered members to establish and document networks of people they know and trust professionally.

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Reddit is a social news website and forum where stories are socially curated and promoted by site members. The site is composed of hundreds of sub-communities, known as "subreddits." Each subreddit has a specific topic such as technology, politics or music. Reddit site members, also known as, "redditors," submit content which is then voted upon by other members. The goal is to send well-regarded stories to the top of the site's main thread page.

Pinterest is a social curation website for sharing and categorizing images found online. Pinterest requires brief descriptions but the main focus of the site is visual. Clicking on an image will take you to the original source, so, for example, if you click on a picture of a pair of shoes, you might be taken to a site where you can purchase them. An image of blueberry pancakes might take you to the recipe; a picture of a whimsical birdhouse might take you to the instructions.

Blog is a free web page provider where one can upload ideas, experiences and share with business prospects and also receive feedback on the published info. An innovative tool for the business people to express their views on their product features and the usefulness including the customer experiences.

The future is about content and information, ‘apps,’ video, new features and functionality being embedded into how people live and work. Value added content and services will be enabled by mobile and tablet devices of today and tomorrow.” Final word to the entrepreneurs is to develop ways to differentiate themselves through a branded customer experience strategy that offers premium content and services to their customers. This enhanced value will come from four key dimensions: format and additional content; timing; availability and interoperability; and sharing and engagement. Making use of digital media for business growth becomes imperative.

“Consumers will pay more for the content and services that they value — the challenge is in developing the future model to deliver this outcome.”