BUSINESS MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT-
Read the case study below and answer the questions that follow.
The Importance of Location
Jabulani is a young upcoming entrepreneur from Soweto. She used all the money she saved while working as a beauty therapist on a passenger liner to open a beauty spa in a township. Her Healthy and Beauty Spa in Eastgate was so successful that she decided to open another spa in Spruitview. The R190 000 that she won in the SAB Kick-start entrepreneurship competition provided the funding to open four more Roots Health and Beauty spas in other townships four years after the first spa was opened in Eastgate in 2002.
'One of the most important factors of a successful venture, particularly in my business, is location. I was very fortunate to have obtained such a position when I started. It is a lesson that I still remember', says Thabang.
As so many young entrepreneurs do, Jabulani found it difficult to obtain financing from conventional sources and she admits that the prize money from the SAB Kickstart competition saved her business.
'It was impossible to obtain finance from anybody when I started because the business was considered to be too risky and unconventional' she says.
Currently she has two investors with a share of 10% each and one with a 5% share who are helping her to meet her financing needs.
Source: Adapted from Erasmus, Strydom, and Rudensky-Kloppers 2013: 73.
Based on the above case study and your understanding of business management use the following themes to:
- Discuss the components of the Healthy and Beauty spas' business environment and explain how each of the environmental variables impacted on Jabualni's business.
- Recommend some mechanisms she could have put in place to respond to these adverse influences.
- Discuss the importance of a business plan to an entrepreneur.
- Analyse the costs and benefits of buying an existing business.
- Will Jabulani's business benefit by implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Explain how.