- Joined
- Aug 6, 2008
- Messages
- 2,039
- Points
- 0
http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=14559
Think big, become an online entrepreneur
Date: Monday, January 25 @ 00:14:53 EST
Topic: home
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=3 width=180 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>[SIZE=+0]Thinking big costs nothing says Richard Tan[/SIZE]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
25 January, 2010 - You don’t necessarily need money to make money today, claimed Richard Tan, who spoke at an event organised to encourage attendees to explore and pursue entrepreneurship, in Thimphu, last Friday. “If you want to make a lot of money today, it’s with ideas,” said the owner of Singaporean firm, Success Resources, which primarily deals in organising seminars.
Holding its first seminar in Bhutan, Tan spoke on creating employment opportunities using information communications technology (ICT) and education.
Speaking to a small group of mostly government and corporate employees, Tan encouraged them to “think big” since it costs “nothing”. He pointed to multinational companies that originated from people who “think big” such as Microsoft and Google.
“When you want to go into business today, you have two choices, traditional or on the Internet,” said Tan. He said that aspiring Internet entrepreneurs did not have to be IT savvy or technically inclined to start an Internet business. The only skills required are to be able to search the Internet for information, to type (even if it means only with one finger), to be able to use a word processor, and to know how to send and receive emails.
Tan provided several advantages to starting a business online. “There’s virtually no capital involved and no risk,” he said, adding that the online market is unlimited. “The Internet market is bigger than both China and India combined,” he said, “it gives you the opportunity at making the same amount of money as a Harvard graduate.” He added, “You can work when you want to, and wake up when you want to.”
Tan said three things are required to start an online business: a product, a well designed website with well-written information to attract potential customers or Internet traffic. He said the product could either be digitalised or physical and that others should value it. He suggested his audience capitalise on Bhutan’s exotic marketability.
On the policy side, Tan, said, to develop such a culture of IT entrepreneurship in Bhutan could follow some of the strategies Singapore had adopted in its journey towards becoming a highly developed country. He explained that from a third world country with a per capita income of less than USD 320 in the 1960s, today, Singapore is a very prosperous country with its per capita income more than USD 30,000.
Tan said that in the 1970s the Singaporean government focused its attention on developing the industrial skills of its citizens to create a highly skilled workforce. By the 1980s, this attention switched to knowledge intensive skills such as engineering and software development. He added that Singapore already had an IT master plan by the late 1970s and today the country is ranked second in computer to student ratio and internet accessibility in schools. “Almost 100 percent of 15-24 year olds in Singapore use the Internet,” he said, adding that free wireless Internet access is also available all over the island state.
BCCI, NGO Bhutan Foundation, and newspaper Business Bhutan organised the event.
By Gyalsten K Dorji
Think big, become an online entrepreneur
Date: Monday, January 25 @ 00:14:53 EST
Topic: home
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=3 width=180 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
25 January, 2010 - You don’t necessarily need money to make money today, claimed Richard Tan, who spoke at an event organised to encourage attendees to explore and pursue entrepreneurship, in Thimphu, last Friday. “If you want to make a lot of money today, it’s with ideas,” said the owner of Singaporean firm, Success Resources, which primarily deals in organising seminars.
Holding its first seminar in Bhutan, Tan spoke on creating employment opportunities using information communications technology (ICT) and education.
Speaking to a small group of mostly government and corporate employees, Tan encouraged them to “think big” since it costs “nothing”. He pointed to multinational companies that originated from people who “think big” such as Microsoft and Google.
“When you want to go into business today, you have two choices, traditional or on the Internet,” said Tan. He said that aspiring Internet entrepreneurs did not have to be IT savvy or technically inclined to start an Internet business. The only skills required are to be able to search the Internet for information, to type (even if it means only with one finger), to be able to use a word processor, and to know how to send and receive emails.
Tan provided several advantages to starting a business online. “There’s virtually no capital involved and no risk,” he said, adding that the online market is unlimited. “The Internet market is bigger than both China and India combined,” he said, “it gives you the opportunity at making the same amount of money as a Harvard graduate.” He added, “You can work when you want to, and wake up when you want to.”
Tan said three things are required to start an online business: a product, a well designed website with well-written information to attract potential customers or Internet traffic. He said the product could either be digitalised or physical and that others should value it. He suggested his audience capitalise on Bhutan’s exotic marketability.
On the policy side, Tan, said, to develop such a culture of IT entrepreneurship in Bhutan could follow some of the strategies Singapore had adopted in its journey towards becoming a highly developed country. He explained that from a third world country with a per capita income of less than USD 320 in the 1960s, today, Singapore is a very prosperous country with its per capita income more than USD 30,000.
Tan said that in the 1970s the Singaporean government focused its attention on developing the industrial skills of its citizens to create a highly skilled workforce. By the 1980s, this attention switched to knowledge intensive skills such as engineering and software development. He added that Singapore already had an IT master plan by the late 1970s and today the country is ranked second in computer to student ratio and internet accessibility in schools. “Almost 100 percent of 15-24 year olds in Singapore use the Internet,” he said, adding that free wireless Internet access is also available all over the island state.
BCCI, NGO Bhutan Foundation, and newspaper Business Bhutan organised the event.
By Gyalsten K Dorji
