Business ideas in Kenya: Why people look for them and where you can find them

Why do people look for business ideas on the web?

A country like Kenya has many successful and profitable companies spanning different sectors that many just hope they could get into.

That means two things.

  1. There are lots of stories of entrepreneurs and business owners who turned their ideas into successful businesses.
  2. There are thousands of ideas that have been tried, tested for several years and proven to result into great companies – when hard work, creativity, innovation and perseverance are added to the mix.

You heard that? Not tens or hundreds of ideas, but thousands of them – all tried.

As someone looking for ideas that can result into something worthwhile, I’d like you to slow down for a minute – or 30 seconds – to ask yourself why you are searching for ideas online.

  • Are you looking for ideas that have already been proven to work by other people before you to validate your own ideas?
  • Are you here because you believe that with the right idea you could build something amazing yourself?
  • Are you doing this because you are interested in ecommerce – and profitable niches – you could become a part of without spending hundreds of thousands or millions in startup capital that an offline business might require?
  • Are you searching for ideas online because you believe what you might find could be better than the ideas you have already thought about or tested?
  • Are you looking for ideas because the ones you have read about on this site (for example here and here) haven’t inspired you enough – and you still feel far far away from that ideal business you can eventually risk your money on?
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That’s a lot to think about.

Five questions I wouldn’t skip if I were looking for ideas I’d put my own money in, even if people around me thought they weren’t viable.

Some of the reasons why individuals and companies scour the web for ideas can be found in the five questions above.

People have different stories.

May be yours is captured in one of the questions above. If it is, that’s a good thing. If it is not, that’s not a bad thing.

At the end of the day, the questions all lead you to the same big question that many bother not to answer: Why am I looking for business ideas in Kenya on the web?

You want to have an edge over the millions of others doing their research on various search engines? Answer this big question.

Can the best business ideas in Kenya be found online?

Yes and no.

There are many articles, ebooks, even courses and presentations that give examples of profitable business ideas.

The net is full of them. I have even written some myself – for example this one here – 13 ideas that you can turn into small businesses without taking a loan from a bank, youth fund or a microfinance institution.

Everyone looks at lists like these.

But some go beyond just reading list after list.

Articles or books with lists of ideas aren’t the only place they look.

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When you look at a simple definition of the word business, you’ll automatically widen the scope of your search if what you have done in the past is go through list after list.

The definition? An entity that solves problems and do their best so that the people whose problems they solve welcome the idea of parting with some of their money in exchange for the product sold or service rendered.

People talk in a lot of places online. The moment you start paying close attention to every person and everything you interact with, the more ideas will be at your disposal.

Some of the best business ideas cannot be found in articles that lists tens, hundreds or thousands of examples.

Pay close attention to what people say.

Really listen.

Read deeply and ideas you never thought about might start jumping at you.

And for those who say that finding the best of the best ideas takes some luck and being at the right place at the right time, I say I agree with you, though it should be noted that this doesn’t happen in every case.

What happens when you get an idea that interests you?

It could mean the start of a great venture. It could mean nothing. It could mean the start of real education – in starting and running a business – that gives you experience you may never get leafing through a book telling you what to do.

I mean the books have their own place. They are valuable and offer great lessons.

But so do experience that one can only get actually researching their market, finding their ideal customer and their need,  putting a product or service out there, marketing it and doing what they can to be profitable and continue growing.

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Examples of business ideas – get these ebooks

I have linked to some articles within this site that contain some examples.

All these ideas have also been put in one place, a free ebook, that you can get by subscribing via email.

When you do subscribe, you’ll also get instant access to another ebook that goes into detail about some of the things you need to know if you are looking forward to starting a new business. The ebook is 10 Things to Look at if You Are Thinking of Starting a Business. You don’t want to miss on any of these? Subscribe via email.

Other ways to find great business ideas in Kenya

Just before we wrap up this post and you get the chance to share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below, here are some other places you can look at for ideas.

  1. Read about pages in websites or blogs owned by individuals and companies.  Why do this? Because, normally, the owners of the sites share information about how they started, their vision, their mission, their products and services, their customer, what they dabbled in, what showed promised, what flopped, what worked but became unsuccessful later on, their suppliers and partners and most importantly what works for them and why they know (or think) it works.
  2. Read bios of persons in biographies, autobiographies, which are available as published books, ebooks and web pages in sites like Wikipedia.org and Biography.com.
  3. Visit consumer websites: where people share their experiences and thoughts about products and services they have spent their money on. Check the ratings, reviews and testimonials. Also look at what people buy in various stores online and offline.

Have something you’d like to share? The comments section is all yours.

PS: Download this free PDF >> 10 Things to Look at if You Are Thinking of Starting a Business in Kenya >> Here is the link.

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