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How To Protect Your Business Idea Without A Patent

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Compiled by: Benisia Kwafeinge Nghiivali

Many upcoming entrepreneurs are afraid of pitching their business ideas reason being that, getting the rightful ownership over it might be very expensive and their ideas will be stolen. As a matter of fact, it is natural for one to fear his/her idea from being stolen sometimes.

Here are some affordable tips on how you will protect your business idea. According the author  Stephen Key (May 9th 2013) of Small business heroes: How to protect your business idea without a patent, retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226595 and extracted on the 28th  June 2019 at 11:45. He said, “before you begin working with anyone new, be it an individual or organization, do some research online. As an entrepreneur you must find out if the business you want to work with has a good track record and also find out any complaints about that business practices”. Besides that, a lot of thieves are targeting upcoming entrepreneurs in Namibia. For instance, an article in the Namibia Sun newspaper of the 10th August 2017 it warned people to be aware of the Sanlam loan scammers.

Stephen added that, the greatest idea is to form beneficial relationships with your greatest competitors this will also protect your idea. He pointed out that, “When one launches his/her own novelty guitar pick business, he/she must hire the largest producer in the industry to manufacture the picks. They had little motivation to rip a person off because they are already profiting from the success of your business. By giving them business, you as an entrepreneur you will not be seen as a threat (even though, in reality, you share the same market space)”.

Stephen further added three legal tools and one is a Non-disclosure agreement (NDA). In this tool he emphases an entrepreneur to have anyone to work with; to sign a non-disclosure agreement that commits them to confidentiality and this agreement is between two parties not to share information with the third parties.  He said, “if the agreement doesn’t have an expiration date, that’s powerful”. This is very helpful in time of disputes, a signed document is a proof that a certain agreement was made and as an entrepreneur you must never agree to anything without signing.

Secondly he stated a Non-compete agreement in which he mentioned that, “if you hire someone to help you, have him or her sign a non-compete agreement. A non-compete agreement prevents an individual or entity from starting a business that would compete or threaten yours within an established radius”.

His last tool is a Work-for-hire agreement. In this tool he said, “if you hire someone to help fine-tune your product, make sure to establish that you own any and all improvements made to the idea. Anything they come up with, you own”. After month then, you can apply for a patent as soon as your business can afford it from the Ministry of Trade and Industry and ensure your business is legally recognized.

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Intern Submissions

How To Successfully Pitch A Business Idea

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By Immaculate Tulimeke Paulus

Pitching is a great idea that could either get your business off the ground or even worse sink it.

Most if not all new entrepreneurs have great ideas that will help change the world for themselves and others, hypothetically speaking  99% of them do not know how to get legitimate business funding. This will then leave their ideas to never develop into prosperous projects.

Everything matters! Selling your ideas to strangers may be hard but, how you sell it matters. Here are some tips to pitch your business idea effectively.

Turn your idea into a story.

Storytelling is the best way to get your potential investors/ audiences listening. It is scientifically proven that it is the best method to capture the audience’s attention and help them remember what you say. It makes a pitch unforgettable. It gives investors all the information you think they want, and the funding will follow.

Have a simple yet incisive pitch.

Presentation is an important aspect of pitching to investors, and most entrepreneurs go wrong while presenting their pitches. The main purpose of the pitch is to exhibit the business objectives, impact on the society and of course to see how funding will help expand the business. Hence, it is recommended to use a simple language while doing the pitch. Keep it concise, simple and straight to the point.

Be courageous

To effectively pitch your unique ideas to investors, you need to highlight every part of your business that hasn’t been discussed yet. You need to assure the investors about how funding is going to shake up the industry and convince them how it’s going to help achieve your goals. “Be fearless in the pursuit that sets your soul on fire.”-Unknown.

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