BizOp Blogs

Business Ideas For Students And Graduates

July 16th, 2008 | Author: Cris

New product researcher
Staff: One to start.
Fee: R300 to R450 per hour, R7 000 to R10 000 per project, or a percentage of sales.
Premises: Small office or home office.
Qualifications: Technical experience, market knowledge, research and interviewing skills.
Equipment: Scanner, copier, computer, internet access, fax and phone.

Whenever a company comes up with a new idea, a viability study is done. Big corporations often have employees managing this task, but smaller companies cannot afford a full-time person to attend to this and need to hire outside assistance. With market competition increasing, each company that generates new ideas wants to know whether their product is viable. Your job is not only to find out how the product will do in the marketplace, but also to see what the competitors are up to, as well as the cost, trends and consumer needs.

Errand service
Staff: Start with one messenger and yourself and build from there.
Fee: Flat rate per errand depending on distance and time.
Premises: Home based.
Qualifications: Organisational skills, time management and energy.
Equipment: Cell phone, reliable car or bakkie and GPS (or a good old fashioned map book).

There are just not enough hours in the day to do what you want to. Paying the bills, grocery shopping, getting the kids and renewing the car license become a stress factor that leaves most people too busy to do these things as they cannot leave work to attend to them.

An errand service takes care of all these concerns during the day when everyone else is at work. The private market is also not the only avenue to pursue, as many offices would have to hire a driver to do the job. An errand company will do the work at a fraction of the cost.

If you have a bakkie there is also the opportunity to get delivery work at auctions where people buy goods but do not have the transport to take it to its destination.

Online internet researcher
Staff: One person to start.
Fee: R100 to R400 per search.
Premises: Home or small office.
Qualifications: Knowledge of the internet, marketing and business background.
Equipment: Computer, fax, internet access and phone.

Internet access is expanding in South Africa and leisure time is decreasing. People are doing more online shopping, especially around Christmas when the shops are too crowded. Companies need to know which products are popular and what their competitors offer. This service can be rendered with a little networking knowledge and an internet connection. Trends change extremely quickly. For instance, last year the top-selling product on the internet was car satellite navigation systems. This may not be the case for long, and the internet researcher can provide breaking industry news to companies.

Small business consulting
Staff: One person to start.
Fee: From R100 per hour depending on experience level.
Premises: Home or small office.
Qualifications: Background in the field that you want to consult in, some experience is also beneficial
Equipment: Computer, fax, internet access, phone and specialty equipment if necessary.

Gain experience by offering your services to small businesses who are not able to afford the rates of established companies. While as a recent graduate you cannot offer a track record or experience you can off-set that with affordable rates and offering innovative solutions that work. You have to know everything about the company that you consult with as well as their products if you have to help them find solutions.