DAWN

Page 10

Business

Now is the Best Point in Time to Become an Entrepreneur By Salvatore Buscemi

Today, it's not Many of the relevant industries and about making companies that we see now didn't even a new widget. exist 10 years ago. WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE of the richest time in human history. Half of the relevant industries and companies that we see now didn’t even exist just 10 years ago. It’s been transformative. Money moves faster now, and companies sell faster now. And that wealth effect has transcended to millions of ordinary people globally have been beneficiaries just by standing in the wake of decentralized and digital commerce. But deep below the surface, there is much more that’s happening. Looking back after two years, the pandemic was the catalyst for a lot of personal and societal changes.

The impact of the pandemic For professionals, the pandemic created a new movement initiated by the new work-from-home white-collar norms; this entrepreneurial class has formally splintered from the middle-class. For the motivated who wanted to start a business, they suddenly realized that it’s never been easier before in the history of humanity to start a business and generate revenue on your own. Yesterday’s entrepreneurs had to worry about operating capital, getting started, finding clients and customers. To bring a product to market was expensive and one failure could wipe you out. Today’s entrepreneurs can test messages, products and pictures on social media, get an immediate response and change course immediately. We see this with politicians more and more now, too. 10

March-April 2022

It's almost all about owning your media. Case in point, one of the new entrants to NFL ownership happens to be hip-hop mogul Jay Z, and he got there by not being shy, nor by taking any company public. Well, yet.

The middle class has a resume. Entrepreneurs have a brand. Media in general has been a tremendous wealth creator for most. Think about it: Owning your media is perhaps one of the easiest levers of socioeconomic mobility readily available to the poor and middle class. That’s very different than it was in the ’60s and ’70s. Back then, if you had a Ph.D. or an MD, that amounted to a much higher social status and that mobility was all but certain. You were a professional, and that meant there was a market for your specialized skillset. Which begs the question: Does this new entrepreneur class have a different set of values from the middle class that is left working in cubicle still working for a salary? Certainly. Because the entrepreneur has a brand, which is a function

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Want to Visit Space? Send Your Name on NASA’s Next Mission Around the Moon

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page 114

Brit Designer Appointed as Salvatore Ferragamo Creative Director

2min
pages 116-117

Amazon’s Africa Headquarters may be put on Hold Over Indigenous People’s Concerns

2min
page 115

Pritzker Prize 2022: Francis Kéré Becomes First African to Win 'Nobel of Architecture'

7min
pages 110-113

Black-Owned KweliTV is Bringing Authenticity & Access to Streaming

8min
pages 107-109

Kelly Curtis is the First Black U.S. Skeleton Racer to Compete in Olympics

1min
page 106

What You Need to Respond to the Google Page Experience Update in 2022

4min
pages 104-105

How Fortnite Can Help Prepare Your Business for the Metaverse

4min
pages 101-103

African Metaverse Ubuntuland Launches

8min
pages 98-100

Explain the ‘Metaverse’ to Your Grandparents

11min
pages 94-97

When Your Boss Becomes a Hologram

4min
pages 92-93

Female Scientists in Africa are Changing the Face of their Continent

4min
pages 90-91

Newly Devised Human Family Tree Reveals the 'Genealogy of Everyone'

3min
pages 88-89

Find the Best Free Zoom Backgrounds

2min
page 87

6 African Women CEOs Discuss How They Raised more than $1M in 2021

4min
pages 85-86

Debut Capital Launches Investor-In-Residence Program with an Class of Women Athletes

1min
page 84

DSW Parent Company Invests $2M in America's First Black-Owned Footwear Factory in Partnership With Dr. Edwards

2min
pages 82-83

Moody’s has Bought a Leading African Rating Agency: Why It’s Bad News

5min
pages 78-79

JP Morgan is First Bank to Enter the Metaverse with a Virtual 'Onyx Lounge'

1min
page 77

Africa’s Tech Media are Plotting to be as Infl uential as the Startups They Cover

5min
pages 80-81

Black-led VC Fund Aims to Even the Playing Field for Minority Health-tech Startups

3min
pages 74-75

China has Invested More in Africa than the Other Top Eight Lenders Combined

1min
page 76

The Continent is a Natural Home For Startups

1min
page 73

Equity Alliance Raises $28.6M to Invest in Woman-Led, Minority-Led Venture Funds

1min
page 72

Dr. Joyce Banda Honorary Chair of Women Empowerment & Development Society in Asia-Africa

2min
page 59

Nigeria is Documenting its Citizens who Fled Ukraine to Bring Them Home

1min
page 66

3 Things to Know About Climate Change Hurting Earth’s Inhabitants, and How to Deal With It

8min
pages 62-65

Kenya Confronts Russia for Interfering with Ukraine's Sovereignty: "We Strongly Condemn the Trend"

1min
page 58

African Stock Exchange/Bourse

2min
pages 70-71

African Refugees see Racial Bias as US Welcomes Ukrainians

6min
pages 67-69

In Southern Africa, Leveling the Playing Field at Birth Critical to Reducing Inequality, Intergenerational Poverty

4min
pages 60-61

How AI Helped Deliver Cash Aid to Many of the Poorest People in Togo

2min
page 57

WHO Africa's 1st Woman Leader Helps Continent Fight COVID

11min
pages 53-56

Moderna Announces First African Vaccine Facility in Kenya

2min
page 52

Six African Countries to Kick Off mRNA Vaccines Production

2min
page 51

Africa is on Track to Control Coronavirus

2min
page 50

President Kenyatta Welcomes UAE’s Plan to Establish an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre in Kenya

2min
page 41

5G: Google’s Subsea Cable Lands in Togo

2min
page 40

Africans are Trying to Fix Wikipedia’s Language Problem — Quartz Africa

8min
pages 42-45

Ghana Launches $54.5M Climate Change Project to Rejuvenate Shea Farming

2min
pages 48-49

Rwanda Taps into Deadly Lake Kivu for Compressed Natural Gas

3min
pages 32-33

Looking to the Future: Can we Make Supplier Diversity a Priority Post-Pandemic?

4min
pages 30-31

Ethiopia’s Telco Battle will Take Place in the Mobile Money Arena

4min
pages 38-39

Dangote’s World Largest Refi nery Spells a New Era for Africa

8min
pages 34-37

4 Tips for Building a Following--and a Robust Revenue Stream--on TikTok

4min
pages 28-29

10 Small Skills That Add Up to Huge Success

2min
page 7

Shopify Exec: The 4 Secrets of Successful Digital-First Companies

6min
pages 20-21

What Fast Fashion Costs the World

11min
pages 24-27

The Memo: "Meet me in the Metaverse"

3min
pages 22-23

Now is the Best Point in Time to Become an Entrepreneur

3min
pages 10-11

Off ering Homestyle African Cuisine, Kune is Changing the Face of Kenya’s Food Delivery Sector

4min
pages 8-9

5 Black USA Founders Working to Make the Financial System More Equitable

10min
pages 14-17

5 Ways Successful Black Women Entrepreneurs Navigate Their Way Through Negotiations

4min
pages 18-19
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