Business Start-Ups and their challenges … the story is too long. To put it in perspective, let’s look at a business as a baby. From conception to adulthood, a business goes through very many stages and phases that require constant attention, care and love from the founders. The kinds of challenges businesses face range from financial management, partnership decision making, hiring a suitable team, fierce competition and of course unrealistic expectations. There are too many areas where a business could struggle for a solution and end up in a situation where the baby is thrown out with the bathwater. Starting a business does not have to be so scary and complicated. The first thing to do is ask for help. It is surprising how many avenues of support are available but go unnoticed. Just make sure that when you do ask for help, it is from the right source and that there is some sort of NDA in place.

Healthy stakeholder relations are a value add for businesses. Stakeholders are individuals, groups and entities affected by the operation of a business. Fair treatment and strong relationships with internal, external and connected stakeholders is key to long-term profit and business success. It is worthwhile to profile stakeholders for their decision making, communication, understanding. Building and maintaining valuable long-term stakeholder relationships requires being honest, open, proactive, positive and empathetic. It may not be obvious and prevalent but the real value of a business lies in its relationships with its stakeholders.