One of the most popular buzzword in the last decade is probably, entrepreneurship. While it is motivating to see more and more enterprising start-ups flourish, there is quite a lot of start-ups that do not make it big or fizz out before their moment of glory. So, we asked ourselves what it means to be an entrepreneur and make it big in business. This is when we came across the famous quote by Reid Hoffman, who said
“An entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down”
While we agree for the most part, as being an entrepreneur can be an emotional ride, with ups, downs, joy and disappointment, we also believe it is important to have a plan and know what you are getting yourself into. This is when we realized that sometimes a little piece of advice or wisdom can help you motor through difficulties or sometimes avoid them altogether. We have put together 10 points that we feel are important to keep in mind before starting a business in Saudi Arabia.
1. Envision an Idea
Take a bird’s-eye view at your life so far. Is there a field you’re very knowledgeable about? Where does your passion lie? What are the problems you have come across? Can you think of solutions for some of them? Have you found a way to fill a gap in the market?
Once you answer all the above questions, it is almost certain that you now come up with at least a few ideas.
Now narrow it down to a handful of ideas. Do a quick check to see if there are existing businesses solving the same problem that you intend to solve with our startup. Learn what they’re doing, and come up with a way to do it better than them. If you think you can do something better, cheaper or faster than others, you have come up with a solid idea.
2. Create a plan
So, now you that have an idea, it is time to create a business plan. Ask yourself some important questions. What’s your business about? Who are you catering to? What is your vision? How will you fund your idea? How will you monetize your idea?
Once you have answered all of these questions, you should draft a clearly articulated business plan that can act as your roadmap to your business.
3. Meet legal and local government regulations
When setting up your business in Saudi, it is important to understand your legal and regulatory requirements and ensure that you meet them. Entrepreneurs usually find it tiresome and strenuous to meet the regulatory compliances and setup the legal structure of a business. Most times, this step is made out to be harder than it already is. An important point to be considered here is that you cannot do everything by yourself. An ideal approach would be to find a partner like Innovation SA, who can help you with the same. Our Government Relations Services are designed to to help you easily wade through this step.
4. Meet Immigration Regulations
Now, if you or your team is not legally permitted to work in Saudi Arabia, it is extremely important to obtain local work permits and ensure that your team meets all the immigration laws and regulations of Saudi Arabia. While most startups might not have an internal visa and mobility team, it would be ideal to find a partner with enough experience in Saudi immigration service. Check out our Visa services to see how we can help.
5. Setup Operations
Once you have the above points already sorted out. It is now time to actually run your business and grow. What does this ideally mean? This would mean, hiring a team and managing them, setting up departments, finding an office space, building a partner and sales network, and actually operating the business.
6. Technology
No matter what your business, in today’s world, just about every business today needs a solid technology backing. Some will be more tech-heavy than others depending on the industry, but at the very least, you will need a powerful and reliable technology framework to run your business. Our IT advisory service is designed to help startups with all their IT challenges at an economic cost and ensure optimum utilization of Technology.
7. Grow Your Business
Your launch and operations are only the beginning of your challenges as an entrepreneur. In order to be profitable and grow, you always need to be finding new ways to growth hack your business. Like Guy Kawasaki once said, “Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.”
This involves many tasks that are unique to different industries, such as building a strong partner and sales network, constantly evolving your product/solution to meet with the changing customer needs, and actually outing your brand out there and much more.
About Innovation SA
We are a one-stop- shop corporate services provider offering a full range of business support solutions for emerging businesses in the Saudi Arabian and the UAE markets. Over the last twenty years, we have developed the knowledge and expertise to meet the needs of our clients and offer integrated business solutions due to our unique understanding of the business environment and culture in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Get in touch with us today to kickstart your business and grow in Saudi Arabia and UAE.