Business Acumen

Business Acumen or 'Business Sense' is one of the most important skills that is required by young people or anyone starting a business:

• By definition, it is a person’s ability to understand various business scenarios and effectively deal with them.
  • It deals with understanding how the business runs, how certain things may affect the business and how a proper plan can be implemented to deal with uncertainty surrounding business.

Hiring someone with strong business acumen skills is highly sought after by employers, especially when looking for individuals in leadership roles.

Business acumen is not just one skill, rather a mixture of a lot of skills such as:

• Problem-solving
• Leadership,
• Analytical skills,
• Marketing,
• Financial skills,
• Communication etc.

How can you improve your Business Acumen skills?

1. Understand your business model well:
   1. Understand how your business will work, how it makes money, what expenses it must make to sustain operations, how the goods are made, who your customers are etc, the better you get with your business strategy.
   2. When you understand these factors, you will improve your business acumen and make better business decisions.
2. Develop a basic sense of finances:
   1. At the end of the day, a business is all about numbers - Profit (income minus expenses) is a key indicator.
   2. You do not need to be a financial expert, but you must learn the basics: how much money are you spending on materials to make your goods, how much money are you spending on rent, marketing and salaries and can these costs be made more efficient etc.
   3. You must also understand what methods of funding are available to you, do you need to take a loan to fund your business's growth, or will you ask someone to invest in your business in exchange for shares?
3. Understand your customers:
   1. A business is nothing without its customers. It is key to stay up-to-date with what your customers want.
   2. Where possible, speak directly to customers about what they want from your business and always try to incorporate their feedback into your business operations. This will help you be efficient in your business, save costs in the long run and make a higher profit.
4. Invest in education:
   1. Look for courses and certifications that will help you grow your business skills, especially on leadership, problem solving, analytics etc.
   2. In addition, learn more about the sector you want to operate in, this can sometimes be done by speaking to people who are already in the same industry. Speaking and learning from people in business is likely to provide more effective insights which you may factor in to make good business decisions later.

To note:

• The most effective way to learn about operating a business is by finding a mentor. Find someone who has already established themselves in your sector and take time to learn from them, gain their insights etc.
• Also, you will learn most of these skills with experience.