A guest post by William King

During the last few years, all the economic parameters have shown a gradual drop in Pakistan realty market. However, 2012 brings good news that Pakistan property prices will be moderated, making it an attractive investment opportunity for realtors and investors. New projects like The Centaurus (Islamabad) and many other notable projects across the country hold much promise for the industry.

Timely completion of the projects also helps them grab the attention of investors. Therefore, most of the developers may focus on execution and delivering the committed projects in 2012 rather than launching new projects to avoid reaching insurmountable inventory limit.

In the following post, let’s have a look at Pakistan real estate projects ongoing in different cities.

Lahore real estate projects:
Lahore is one of the modern metropolises of Pakistan and is quite famous for the blend of modern and traditional constructions. The announcement of new real estate development projects in this city has always been much appreciated by every sector. Currently, there are several projects ongoing in this city such as:

Defence Raya Golf Resort

Many of us are already aware of the most popular housing society of Pakistan that is none other than The Defence Housing Authority, Lahore. The project was set up with a vision to provide high quality homes. Over the years, it has proven to be a benchmark for the property development projects in the country. The elite of Lahore demands the best so the luxurious homes always remain in high demand. To cater to the demand of citizens of vibrant cosmopolitan city of Lahore, DHA has formed a partnership with Bandar Raya Developments Berhad (BRDB), a Malaysian developer with a sound background for creating luxurious homes. Defence Raya Golf Resort is a result of this partnership. The community is situated in Phase 6 of DHA Lahore.

The entire project spans over 400 acres of beautifully constructed luxury homes, a prestigious golf and country club, a retail centre and an 18-hole international standard golf course. The residential property includes 1 and 2 Kanal villas, 14 Marla semi-detached houses and trendy condominiums.

Islamabad real estate projects:
The Federal Capital City of Islamabad currently has a glut of new construction programmes. The city already holds title of one of the most expensive properties in Pakistan. Not just the real estate but every other commodity of the city is more expensive than it is anywhere else in Pakistan. Due to this and several other reasons, this city is truly for meant only for the elite class.
Al Ghurair Giga Goldcrest
The magnificent and the majestic Al Ghurair Giga Goldcrest real estate development is located at a 15 minute drive from the airport. Goldcrest abets on the spectacular and impressive DHA Phase-II, Islamabad. It is situated on main Sheikh Zaid Bin Sultan Road, which was previously known as the GT Road. The posh locality of the whole project goes to say that it offers state-of-the-art amenities such as underground power, efficient sewage system and linkage with the motorway through broad streets and roads.

All of your day-to-day needs are met well since Goldcrest provides a host of amenities and facilities such as mosque, bowling alley, hospital, gyms, day care centre, club houses, laundry, sauna, Jacuzzi and swimming pools. Two clubhouses with food courts and laundry services help you minimize your domestic chores.

Karachi real estate projects:
Karachi is an industrial hub of Pakistan and a constantly expanding city. There are several housing projects in this city that are announced for oodles of people belonging to different social classes. Let’s unveil its one of the most lavish projects that is announced by the executive board of Defence Housing Authority, Karachi.
DHA City, Karachi
The master plan for the DHA City Karachi has been unveiled and the details have revealed parts of this project. The whole project covers 11640 acres and will include 27,000 residential and commercial plots. The project is situated on Super Highway and will take 5 to 7 years to complete. Many real estate veterans are considering it a mega project that will boost the value of Karachi real estate. Karachi still holds the charm in its real estate sector and real estate agents are confident that mega projects like DHA City can bring back good times.
The primary infrastructure of the society will be completed by 2015 and project will be half done by 2020. The project is expected to provide quality living to the residents of Karachi and will include all the luxuries of life. The project will also include community centres, educational centres, efficient transport system and cycling paths. Good security system makes it a spectacular housing scheme.

William King is the director of Pakistan real estate and mainly deals in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore real estate. Being an entrepreneur and passionate blogger he likes to share his knowledge and expertise with the industry people by writing for various related blogs.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not those of PTH editors.

If you are an entrepreneur who wants to show off a prototype or get feedback on a new product that you have developed, now is your chance.

On Tuesday, January 17, 2012 Entrepreneurs Roundtable (ERT) Pakistan is holding its kickoff event in Karachi from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at T2F 2.0 at 10C Sunset Lane 5, Phase 2 Extension DHA.

ERT Pakistan is a chapter of ERT Silicon Valley. Partners of the event include P@SHA and T2F.

Come prepared to pitch your startup product or prototype. This is an informal meetup of entrepreneurs and promises to be a lot of fun.

So what is the objective or the thought process behind the ERT event? AR Rafiq, who is an entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, says that entrepreneurs deserve more than just 30 seconds or 3 min. to tell the story of the idea and the product that they have passionately developed out of their love for technology and nights and days without sleep or rest.

Entrepreneurs Roundtable began in Silicon Valley. The idea was for startup founders/geeks with more focus in the Software, Web, and Mobile space, to meet every month and genuinely share ideas, technical expertise, business experiences, to vent and of course to network. Sometimes ideas attract investment from other attendees and that is really the aim – partnerships, growth, scalability, investment, sharing and learning.

Each entrepreneur is put under the spotlight, either as a speaker to demo or as a participant.

According to AR Rafiq, those who attend must fit the following criteria:

— Out of four functional roles : Founder, Entrepreneur, Developers, Self-inflicted-slave-driver, you have to play at least 3 out of the four leading title roles above. Honestly, if you don’t, you’ll probably get seriously bored by our meetings.

— Our live demos are for real internet or mobile products. We usually *try* to avoid glossy ppt stuff, although with exceptions from time to time.

We welcome entrepreneurs and geeks to join, so long as you are willing to share your experiences and knowledge too.

If you’re an entrepreneur or geek with an idea or better working prototype, let us know so we can schedule you in to pitch at the meetup. Email Abdulrahman Rafiq arafiq@inspurate.com. Copy me too at president@pasha.org.pk. See you there!

Remember advance planning is crucial part under entrepreneurship and we must realize it. We should avoid planning at the time of execution. It is not always to find out ways for “FIXING”, but being an entrepreneur you must bring Innovation to your business by taking some good change.

The New Year signifies a rebirth of sorts. For some psychological reasons peculiar to homo-sapiens, January 1 seems to be like crossing some threshold in time and starting anew. For some however, the end of time as we perceive it to be had already come before. As life is created so is death met, in a timeless circle the true understanding of which is beyond most of us puny mortals. Our lot is merely to continue with our existence till the final whistle is blown.

And while the start of the new year is for contemplating what the future holds, perhaps sparing a thought for those Pakistanis who left us in 2011 will keep us focused on how important it is to exist in the moment.

It is an impossible task to cover in an article of this length even a fraction of those who left us. I will thus just set out those which carry some meaning for me on an individual basis.

The one to top the list is one of our men of iron, Nur Khan. An icon of professionalism and personal integrity, his life reads like a book on what leadership stands for. His personal courage was legendary. He flew, with the crew, a highly dangerous bomber mission over Kashmir, in 1965. This when he was an Air Marshall and could have afforded to sit in an arm chair without putting his life on the line in any manner whatsoever.

As chairman of PIA he single handedly confronted an armed hijacker, and disarmed him, in the process getting injured.

He excelled as a top class administrator. It was truly amazing the level of efficiency that he imbibed in whatever organization he headed. The Pakistan Air Force, Pakistan International Airlines, the hockey board and the cricket board all achieved unparallel successes under him.

We need to be thankful for men such as him. Firstly for contribution towards the building up of two of our most vital national assets, the air force and the airlines; and secondly for setting the highest of personal and professional standards.

For me, Salman Taseer’s assassination had all the hallmarks of a classic Greek tragedy. A flawed hero finally taking a stand on a worthy cause and being cut down by cruel fate. A larger than life figure, his ostentatious lifestyle was a bit of an embarrassment to us fellow chartered accountants. A hugely successful entrepreneur he built up a number of businesses. His one fatal flaw was his rather abrupt and curt communication style. Being a self made individual he had little respect for normal sensibilities. This proved to be his undoing in the end.

Had he understood, or bothered to understand, the sensitivities around the blasphemy law, he would have handled the whole issue in an entirely different manner. I have nothing but admiration and the deepest respect for the support that he extended to Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman sentenced to death on religious grounds. I just wish he had better understood the hate filled bigotry rampant in current Pakistani society.

If Pakistan is to nominate one all-round actor to the global hall of fame, it has to be Moin Akhtar. His repertoire of characters must be unmatched on an international level. A master of the under-delivery he was always uncomfortable participating in the rowdy farces which constitute most of the standard comedy fare dished out by the stage drama in Pakistan.

His incredible sense of timing and the professional etiquette that he always maintained made him a household favorite. The manner that he mimicked a number of the high and mighty is still a treat to watch. He was to Anwar Maqsood what Rafi Khawar (Nannha) was to Kamal Ahmed Rizvi. Kama Ahmad Rizvi never recovered from the loss of Nana, let’s see if Anwar Maqsood does.

That doyen of the qawwali fraternity, Maqbool Ahmed Sabri, was the more versatile brother of the famous Sabri duo. Unlike popular perception it was the Sabri brothers, and not the other legendary qawal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who made the art of qawali an internationally famous one. They performed at New York’s Carnegie hall in 1975.

They travelled extensively all over the world, and entranced thousands with their bewitching performances. It’s quite a sight seeing all those westerns just immersing themselves in the esoteric beat and performing dhamals. We should be grateful for the truly timeless classic qawali’s such as Tajdar-e-Haram, Madinae Chalaey Aou and Khawaja Ki Diwani that have been gifted to us

The list could go on, like that for every year past, present or in the future.

However I would like to end this article with a heartfelt tribute and thanks to all those unsung heroes who left us, while performing their sacred duty of defending our motherland. Most of us civilians, during our frequent piques, tend to view our armed and security forces as being, at best, something of an unnecessary evil.

‘Seven Hundred And Sixty’ of our brave men and women died in 2011 while performing their defense and security duties. Died, not because they had no choice. Died, because they were true to the oath they had taken. While for us the images of the armed and security forces revolve around plush offices, fancy cars and plots in the Defense, for the 99% of the people in those organizations reality is far different.

Reality consists of young widows, infants, children, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, old parents and other loved ones bearing the cross of separation for their lifetimes.

A few measly rupees is not something which buys this loyalty considering the possible consequences. It is personal bravery and a sense of duty of the highest kind.

And then one does think of one’s own name in that list of have-been’s. Personally, what I would hope for is the smiles that the memories will hopefully elicit. The tears can follow later on at their own leisure…

Let me start this post by asking a simple question:

What is the first thing an entrepreneur creates before starting a business?

Answer: A business logo.

The reason is simple. Logo is created to build brand identity and it is also a visual representation of your business that helps in building brand equity and ensuring customer loyalty. Therefore it is essential to consider spending time and energy in creating a perfect logo.

Some people rightly argue that logo is not a brand, according to Dan Pallotta who is an expert in nonprofit sector innovation and a pioneering social entrepreneur;

“A brand is much more than a name or a logo. Brand is everything, and everything is brand”

This means that everything that goes around creating brand value and brand recognition is important, and my view is that an attractive logo plays a vital role in doing so.

But before you even start looking at what your logo and color scheme should look like, there are two points to note such as knowing your community where you will market your brand and what logos your competitors have created using which color scheme. Obviously you need to standout!

Once you have taken the stock of these two elements, it’s the time to create something unique and attractive. While doing so, there are four points to remember:

Be Simple

Humans, by nature do not like complicated stuff. Simplicity attracts us; I thus recommend staying simple with design and color scheme. Consider balanced use of shape, color, form, consistency and clarity.  Focus should be in striking visual impact that makes your logo stand out amongst the lot.

Creativity with Uniqueness

To beat the competition, you need to be different from your competitors. A unique logo generally gets quick attention. I liked Lucent Technology Logowhich was simple, unique, yet attractive.

“Does my logo represent my business?” it is a critical question to ask. This refers to your business segment, so are you a dress designer, a fast food outlet, a technology business or an online marketing company. Every segment has its unique representational requirements, consider those while creating your logo.

The Color Scheme

Colors are the life of your logo. Use colors that are acceptable in your community and in your target market. For example, people living in African countries have different preferences as compared to Europeans or North Americans. Hence, the societal norms are to be considered carefully while developing a color scheme.

Selection of Typography

Articulating a perfect typography is often challenging! It is advisable to experiment with several variations and see which one jells in with the format and color scheme of your logo. For instance, use of caps, or a certain typeface can help emphasize a certain characteristic you wish to use as your branding strategy.

Sounds simple, but not really! There are companies charging anything between US$100 to US$2,500 for designing a logo, they must be doing something creative!

Glen Bickenstaff, a seasoned entrepreneur, wrote these beautiful (and completely relatable) lines at Inc.com: Someone once asked me what it was like going out on my own as an entrepreneur. I told them it was like jumping out of an airplane with all the materials needed to build a parachute. An entrepreneur must be willing [...]

Amazon has been recognized the first comprehensive ecommerce enabled marketing platform. The growth has been phenomenal for this company, in 1999, Amazon touched the annual revenue US$1.5 billion. In the quarter ending June 2011, the revenue stood at US$ 9.91 billion.

J P Morgan Global recently reported that;

 “e-commerce revenue will grow to $680 billion worldwide up 18.9 percent from 2010 revenue. Online retail commerce in the U.S. alone will grow 13.2 percent to $187 billion. It is anticipated that global e-commerce revenue will hit a whopping $963 billion by 2013. The number of people who shop online keeps increasing, with 38 percent buying at least once per month. And the percentage of people who don’t shop online declined to 12 percent in 2010 from 20 percent in 2007. Higher income consumers shop online the most often, with 34 percent of those making $100,000 or more shopping online at least three times per month.”

These are some astonishing facts that cannot be ignored by any entrepreneur. However, in the developing countries where businesses are smaller and not too excited about investing into internet based model, the migration to online ecommerce is
slow.

In addition to lack of knowledge of these entrepreneurs, the other barrier is the uncertainty to measure success.

The formula is simple. Entrepreneurs interested in experimenting the power of web 2.0 need to create a simple spreadsheet with following fields;

• Current revenue
• Revenue growth in the past six months
• Number of customers
• Customer acquisition cost
• Revenue per customer
• Gross margin

Enter current figures and update the chart on a monthly basis. This will give you an idea of how successful you have been as an online business model.

One of the major booster to online business is the plastic money we all carry in our wallets! For example in 2009, there were US$ 764 billion transected through credit cards. Globally, there are about 5 billion credit cards of which 1.5 billion are in the US alone! Visa, Master Card and American Express are marketing aggressively hence creating more opportunities for online businesses.  

That is the market an entrepreneur simply can not ignore!

Rising inflation, diminishing resources are making life a struggle for ordinary Pakistanis. Is there no escape from this situation?
Are there opportunities to adapt to these difficulties and still lead a good life?

Like most entrepreneur, after returning to Pakistan from the US in late 2004 Farzal started working for start-up companies.   2008-9 financial crises sent several companies down the pit and Farzal’s 3rd start-up which was in the mobile payment space, ran out of seed money and he was out of job for 4 months!

Even in the challenging times, entrepreneurial spirit remained awake and Farzal started consulting for couple of organizations and also established his own company. Talking about mentorship, he said “without assistance and mentorship, things could have been too challenging, but people such as Jehan Ara, Sabeen Mahmud, Usman Sheikh, Imran M and Mudassir Sheikha helped
me in business development and connected with DOTS.”

In Farzal’s views on success factors, there are 4 stake holders in any company – HR, customers, investors and the society. His company remained focused on these four factors, for instance:

1. On the customer front – Focus on quality over quantity;
2. On the HR front –Their single customer never accounted for more than 18% of revenue. This risk mitigation spared them from the cycles of hiring and firing that many companies go through in the services space. This has built team’s confidence in long term career with them, and they in return attract really good talent through referrals.
3. On the investor front – The business grew internally and hence do not have external investor pressures. This has served them well, since the only people they needed to keep happy are existing customers and staff.
4. On society – They have a great focus on returning back to the society. Currently about 2% of their billable time is spend on pro-bono work, and they aim to increase it to 5% by end of fiscal year2012.

The company that started during economic meltdown with only 4 staff and no restroom in the office now has 25 staff that
served 17 customers last year and delivered 40 products and services. Initial investment came from the family, but Farzal says that the biggest investment was the opportunity cost of this own time.

The company is fully committed to its customers, according to Farzal “Today, our customers are our sales people.
Without them, we would go nowhere. I personally, and key members of our team would spend the night in office even for trivial customer requests to make sure they only have positive words to speak about Pakistan and our company. There are very few people in our office who have never spent the night in office.”

Farzal concluded the discussion with an amazing statement:

“Growing and managing a company is very much like growing a child and you need all the same techniques. You need infinite ration of patience, empathy and time; you need to be a great coach and story teller; you need to be a good Sales person and understand enough about psychology to play the required mind games!”

Prime Minister Garry Conille and Bill Clinton

Haitians began 2011 with heavy hearts as they approached the first anniversary of the Jan. 12 earthquake that crippled their homeland and crushed 316,000 lives. Haitian leaders watched a steady stream of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) invade the country, carrying a $1-billion purse collected on behalf of the victims. Meanwhile the population remained on edge, following violent eruptions over fraudulent elections that left Port-au-Prince and surrounding communities in flames. Still in its very early stage, cholera ran through rural areas like a bulldozer, leaving Haitians in a state of panic while flat lining anything with a heartbeat.
Buried deep under 20 million cubic meters of debris, Haitians outsourced their hope on the international community that pledged $5.3 billion to help the country back on its feet. Former U.S. President and UN special envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton rose to immediate stardom, rushing to the scene and pledging full U.S. support. “In fact, Clinton is the real president of Haiti,” recently proclaimed rights advocates, during a meeting in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Clinton Co-chaired the Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (ICRH) with former Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, a regulatory entity to oversee reconstruction projects patterned on the Indonesian Commission, following the 2004 tsunami.
Only four days after Haitians mourned their dead on the anniversary of the devastating earthquake, ex-dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier stormed the Haitian capital after a nearly 25-year exile in France. “It’s such a critically important time for Haiti and for this guy to drop in from nowhere is very strange,” declared associate professor of International affairs at Trinity University in Washington DC, Robert Maguire. He told the Miami Herald, “What does he bring to Haiti, aside from a lot of confusion. Does he come back with political pretensions? We just don’t now.” However, speaking to reporter of Radio Caraibes, Duvalier said, “I’m not here for politics, I’m here for the reconstruction of Haiti.” Prosecutors leveled many charges against the former president for life the day after his impromptu reemergence, but they have yet to bring Duvalier to trial.

President Michel Martelly

Meanwhile, the Disputed Nov. 28 elections results remained a point of contention for politicians as independent arbitrator Organizations of American States (OAS) recommended excluding Jude Celestin, the government’s candidate, from the second round of the elections. Instead of demanding a recount, OAS put Michel Martelly ahead of Celestin, reversing the official results of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP); thus, paving the way for Haiti’s 56th president. Haitians returned to the polls to either elect former first lady and constitutionalist Mirlande Manigat or former bandleader Michel Martelly, but not before going through another traumatic episode when twice elected and twice disposed President Jean Bertrand Aristide landed in Toussaint L’Ouverture Airport three days prior. “The problem is exclusion,” Aristide proclaimed in a 15-minute address to supporters. “And the solution is inclusion, inclusion for all Haitian people as human beings,” he added. Many people understood that the former leader was referring to the exclusion of his political party from participating in the elections.
“The task is immense, but a new Haiti opens for business now,” declared President Martelly during his inaugural address, promising leadership based on the rule of law. “We want justice for everyone,” he said. Six month later however, the new president went through a series of hurdles that exposed his political inexperience. A constitutional melee over proposed amendments awaited Martelly as parliament rejected his first two nominees for prime minister before Garry Conille narrowly won the nomination. Entrepreneur Daniel Rouzier and former Justice Minister Bernard Honorat Gousse did not survive the ratification process, plunging the country into a 4-month political deadlock. Eventually, American diplomats went to Haiti to express the Obama Administration’s preoccupation with the crisis that threatened to derail rebuilding efforts.

Haitian Senators

With a populist win at his back, President Martelly went on a series of national tours, promoting anything from agriculture to tourism. Instead of talking about those initiatives however, the press cried foul, denouncing the president’s infamous “shut up,” sniped at a highly critical Haitian media, as a deliberate attack on freedom of the press. Similar conflicts followed not only with the press he branded enemy of tourism and development, but also with lawmakers the president called prison escapees hiding in parliament. Hostilities escalated between the executive and legislative branches, leading to the police’s arrest and detention of Deputy Arnel Belizaire, as he returned from a diplomatic mission in France. Those blatant constitutional violations cause lawmakers to denounce a rising Martelly dictatorship, drowning the country into yet another crisis. As a result, lawmakers threatened to fire Martelly’s entire government and to even impeach the president. In addition, Martelly imposed a $1.50 and $.05 tax on money transfers and phone calls made to Haiti. The money collected would fund free education for disadvantaged children, he said. However, the president refrained from using the funds absent any legal framework or parliament’s approval. The Department of Education admitted to using state funds to launch the free education program; meanwhile, several news reports claimed that $26 million went missing from the National Fund for Education, the entity Martelly created to manage the unilaterally imposed tax.
Many reconstruction projects, though undetected by the media’s radar, came to life, particularly numerous efforts to develop a sustainable middle class to promote economic growth in Haiti. Working with the banking industry, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund eased credit restrictions for entrepreneurs, including the arts and crafts sector he thought had great potential for success. Similarly, Haiti’s famous coffee found new life, resurging in Japanese cups, as well as the U.S., Rotary International, and most recently Columbia in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank that signed an agreement to increase Haiti’s coffee production. Other notable improvements included Martelly’s free education for Haitian children, though critics argued the program was poorly organized and precipitated. Haiti’s mango industry also received considerable attention and restructuring.

Invest in Haiti 2-day forum

Amid the chaos, child trafficking businesses boomed, absent any pragmatic child protective services or border security with the Dominican Republic. Violent crimes against women and girls in vulnerable tents peaked, as did Haiti’s inflation rate. Moreover, a video of Uruguayan soldiers allegedly raping a young Haitian male surfaced on the Internet, sparkling worldwide outrage while fueling anti-UN sentiments in Haiti. The population, angry over UN occupation and the cholera epidemic, charged the public sphere, demanding a complete and immediate withdrawal of peacekeepers on its homeland. Still, a particularly brutal hurricane season battered the crumbled nation repeatedly, flooding several parts of the country and causing widespread panic.
With 2011 in the rearview mirror, many observers perceived Deputy Belizaire’s arrest and overnight detention as the shock of the year, especially when the Haitian Constitution forbade such arbitrary actions. The President’s failure to rebuild the Haitian army within his proposed time frame might be considered a close second given his aggressiveness pursuing its resuscitation. While many people welcomed President Martelly’s outsider status as the catalyst for change, others argued the contrary; inexperience was not what Haiti necessitated. However, former President Clinton emerged as the most influential personality in 2011, leaving gigantic fingerprints on most reconstruction projects. As Haiti anticipates a productive 2012-year, many eyes will be on new Head of Government Garry Conille who has yet to assume full command as Prime Minister. While some people saw his U.N. and Clinton ties as an asset for developing the country, others, suspicious of UN’s goals and objectives, expressed little hope for any pragmatic changes, especially in Haiti’s constant struggle against peacekeeping forces.

Throughout his career, an entrepreneur faces many challenges. One of the biggest tasks for an entrepreneur is to build an effective team and keep it intact. In this real world, teams come together and break, sometime due to inefficiency of the system within the organization, and sometime due to team players not getting along well. Undoubtedly, there will be ups and downs, but an intelligent entrepreneur will always try to make the most of his team.

I read an interesting blog at Harvard Business Review written by Linda A. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Kent Lineback spent many years as a manager and an executive in business and government. They are the coauthors of Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader. In this post, they raise a valid question:

Are the people who work for you a real team?

I fully agree with their view that most teams are just bunch of people working individually in a group, but not every group is a team! The reason given by Linda and Kent is that entrepreneurs and managers do not pay attention to collective performance!

The second question asked by the authors is:

What is a team and what makes it potentially such a valuable instrument of leadership? And the
explanation to this question is: A team is a group of people who do collective work and are mutually committed to a common team purpose and challenging goals related to that purpose.

Having said above, the question remains – What are the key ingredients that help an entrepreneur build good teams and keep them intact?

In my view, perhaps the most important ingredient is the creation of “Teamwork Culture”. This can be done by creating collective work plans and objectives. So instead of starting at an individual level, these two should be
developed based on a bottom-up approach. This will encourage individuals to look at the bigger picture and place their contribution in creating this “Picture”.

The other most important ingredient is “Team Rewards”. Instead of rewarding individuals for their performance, consider adapting a team reward approach. Some would argue that this approach discourages “Start Performers”, but they often forget that the share meaning of teamwork is the utilization of individual capacities to achieve common objectives.

Linda and Kent in their blog say, “It’s easy to extol teamwork, but not every group is a team. In fact, most teams we see, aren’t — because their managers focus on building the most effective relationships they can with each individual who works for them. They spend their time managing person by person, paying little attention
to collective performance. They rarely use their groups to diagnose or solve problems. And when issues arise that clearly affect the group as a whole, they tend to handle them one on one.”

No, this is not me talking about politics. This is me, the entrepreneur, writing these lines. And the internet is the game I’m talking about. The internet has undergone a radical shift over the past couple of years, it has transformed from an “internet of hyperlinks and search engines” to an “internet of PEOPLE”. The focus [...]