Benefits of Entrepreneurship Development Program

What is Entrepreneurship Development Program?

Most people believe that entrepreneurship is the fastest way to become rich but this can end up being just an illusion. The truth of the matter is that you can only succeed in business when you have the right entrepreneurial skills, attitude, and behavior. It will sometimes require you to study online for your MBA, read and learn the latest trends in business, and enhance your interpersonal skills. It takes communicating with difficult people, expanding your working hours and setting aside extra time to study. Therefore, current and aspiring entrepreneurs have a chance to enhance their entrepreneurial skills through the Entrepreneurial Development Program (EDP).  The program is meant to help people develop their entrepreneurial abilities and, in the process, establish or run successful enterprises.

The program involves development, inculculation, and polishing of business skills. The acquired knowledge and skills are very critical in running an existing business or establishment of a new enterprise. In other words, the EDP concept involves structural training in order to turn a person into an entrepreneur. There are many people with basic entrepreneurial skills but need incubation and polishing in order to become effective entrepreneurs.

It is not easy to effectively play the role of an entrepreneur and the only way to convert a person into an effective entrepreneur is by equipping them will all the necessary skills. There are some basic skills required for running all types of businesses but there are some unique skills that are certain types of business requirements. As a result, the program tries to pass down the unique skills in different types of businesses.

Individuals are trained on how to start a business and how to sustain an already established enterprise to guarantee success. In fact, EDP is normally considered as a transformational program and not just your usual training program. This is because individuals that go through the program learn how to behave and act like entrepreneurs.

Objectives of the EDP Program:

There are many business opportunities out there but very few people know how to take advantage of them. The main objective of an EDP program is to help individuals to successfully exploit the existing market opportunities and even choose entrepreneurship as a full-time career. It is interesting to learn that most people do not take entrepreneurship as a serious career but a program like these are meant to change that mentality and motivate people to venture into the business world.

The short-term objective of Entrepreneurship Development Program is to enable individuals to acquire the basic competencies of becoming a successful entrepreneur by learning the existing regulations and rules. On the other hand, the long-term objective of EDP is to enable trained individuals to establish and sustain successful enterprises using the acquired skills.

The program aims to supply skilled entrepreneurs that will help underdeveloped countries achieve rapid industrialization. Most underdeveloped areas can only become industrialized when there is an adequate supply of skilled entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is the major source of employment for young people finding it hard to enter into formal employment.  

EDP Roles

An EDP program plays a stimulatory role by transforming ordinary individuals into successful entrepreneurs through;

• Inculculating personality traits
• Development of financial, technical, managerial and marketing skills
• Promotion of entrepreneurial values and behavior
• Application of scientific methods in the identification of entrepreneurs
• Motivational training
• Giving recognition
• Preparation of project reports
• Strengthening of a person’s motive
• Providing useful  insights into local products and processes 

Apart from the stimulative role, the program also plays a supportive role through;

• Management consultancy
• Providing guidance in product marketing
• Providing subsidy and tax relief
• Supply of common facilities and raw materials
• Support in the purchase of equipment and machinery
• An arrangement of shed, water, and land
• Procurement of fund
• Registration of the business

In addition, EDP plays a sustaining role by helping you deal with market competition by providing an effective safeguard through;

• Helping individuals access better facility centers and services
• Helping one create new marketing processes
• Differing interest payment
• Providing access to additional financing for expansion
• Providing help in diversification, expansion, and modernization 

Finally, the program offers a socio-economic role through;

• Practical identification of entrepreneurial qualities
• Helping in channelizing of latent enterprise resources
• Equal distribution of resources in the society
• Supporting balanced regional development
• Immediate creation of employment opportunities

Benefits of Entrepreneurship Development Program:

One can easily derive the benefits of EDP from the program’s roles that have already been highlighted. In summary, some of the key benefits of EDP include;

 1. Business Guidance

Participants in this program receive important entrepreneurship guides that are very critical in running a successful business. The guides act as your “mentors” or “consultants” when it comes to personal development, sales, marketing, finance, and strategy. EDP can enable you to take your enterprise to the next level through insightful and interactive guides.

 2. Access to Funding

 In order to grow a business, you need finances and accessing funds can be a serious challenge for most entrepreneurs. The program can give you access to financial institutions that can provide you with funds to grow your business. However, it is important to point out that the program does not provide funds but gives you access to its network financing partners.

 3. Access to Infrastructure

 It is sometimes very expensive to get an ideal business infrastructure on your own and this program can come in handy and help you access the necessary infrastructure. The program helps you access hot-desking facilities, IT and front-desk infrastructure, boardrooms, and business premises. The first step towards becoming a successful entrepreneur is by having access to the right business infrastructure.

 4. Access to Specialists

 Any business will at some point need the services of professionals in order to remain sustainable or move to the next level. Through its support system, the program can help you access experts that are cost- effective. The experts can be of great help when it comes to critical areas such as legal aid, human resources, financial advice, taxation, and marketing.

 5. Access to Markets

 Most entrepreneurs will agree that a business can only be sustainable when you have no access to markets. Growing entrepreneurial businesses can largely benefit from EDP through its viable market channels. Being part of the program allows you direct access to thousands of alumni businesses, other businesses on current programs, and large corporate supply chains.

Entrepreneurship Development Programs or EDPs as they are popularly referred to as today have helped college students prepare themselves for Entrepreneurship.

They learn the tricks of the trade by listening to those who have failed and succeeded in running their ventures.