TO CLOSE off 2010 in style, I thought I would review the various ideas you have shared with me since July 2010 when I started writing this column.

What is gratifying is that I have received emails on both potential Diaspora-based projects and planned home-coming venture ideas. Respondents have been a cross-section of Zimbabweans with a geographic spread covering New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Canada, USA, EU countries and Sub-Saharan Africa.

It was gratifying to note that even our young chartered accountants want to go beyond just being workers at the big auditing firms to coming up with their own projects. Respondents even include those who hold PhDs and are no longer content to be just being armchair conveyers of knowledge at some university or college. Our collective destiny looks good if we can weave these dreams into reality.

I was told there are groups originating from the southern part of our country, particularly around the Gwanda area, working mainly in South Africa who have a funeral scheme in place. Zimbabwean teachers in the Limpopo region of South Africa also mentioned a collective financial scheme almost akin to the ‘society’ of yesteryear.

Other ideas which I thought had potential include the patented mineral extracting chemical mix from the chemist in Ireland; dismantled cars and parts assembly in Zimbabwe from a Japan-based Zimbabwean; proposed rural entrepreneurship managed networks; various collective investment schemes and an agro-processing and canning factory in Zimbabwe from an international banker.

I would like to encourage those New Zimbabweans who are converting their ideas to running business projects in 2011 to share with us so that we can celebrate together. The intention of the column was never to be just an ‘agony aunt’ but to generally prompt my countrymen and women to activate sustainable practical projects leading to financial freedom and improved lifestyles.

This column desires to empower people to take charge of their financial destiny. We have tried to encourage informed judgments and effective decisions regarding the use and management of money.

We prompted readers to discern financial choices, discuss money and financial issues without discomfort, plan for the future and respond competently to life events that affect everyday financial decisions, including income-generating ventures.

An idea does not automatically translate into an opportunity. Finding a good idea is the first step in the process of converting an entrepreneur’s creativity into an opportunity. The importance of the idea is often overrated at the expense of developing products or services that can be sold in enough quantities to real customers.

An opportunity is an idea whose time has come and has the qualities of being attractive, durable and timely. An opportunity is anchored in a product or service which adds value for its buyer or user. The window of opportunity must remain open long enough for the entrepreneur to be able to exploit the advantages afforded by it.

The window begins to close as the market becomes more structured and the competition becomes stiffer. Types of opportunities available include new products and services, new means of production, new distribution routes, improved service and relationship building.

Generating potentially-viable business ideas requires a great deal of awareness about one’s environment. Coming up with ideas for products or services that can satisfy customers demands the ability to understand and anticipate their needs and wants. That ability is positively correlated with both literacy and knowledge.

To screen and select an opportunity, we have to ask the questions: How large is the opportunity? What investment will be necessary if it is to be exploited properly? What is the likely return? What are the risks?

Confidence is an important ingredient of success in the majority of ventures including business. Lack of confidence results in procrastination and inertia which are inimical to entrepreneurship. The timing of implementation of business ideas is very crucial for their success and those who lack self-confidence are likely to be passed by the "windows of opportunity" during periods of self-doubt.

Creativity and innovation is what helps successful entrepreneurs to come up with good business ideas that allow them to find niches in the market place and beat the competition. While business training has influenced students to generate and pursue business ideas; increase the number of students seriously considering starting their own business either in the long or short term and changed the risk perception of running own firm, it is not a necessary condition for success. The key is entrepreneurial alertness, desire and drive to make it work.

The specific environment has been viewed as one of the set ofinfluences which selectively permit some ventures to survive while available resources help to specify the carrying capacity ofa given area where you want to operate the project.

As we see the back of 2010, we can choose to make 2011 the year that we will convert all those wonderful ideas into productive opportunities. There is nothing which breeds success like success.

I wish you all a magical Festive Season filled with Loving Wishes and Beautiful Thoughts. Live completely with no regrets and set giant slaying goals for 2011.