Entrepreneurship
Domain 9: Entrepreneurship
This domain connects IT skills with self-employment. Questions ask about the entrepreneur’s role, opportunity spotting, business plans, market research, costing, and basic compliance. You should be able to turn a small IT-enabled idea-DTP, cyber café, repair, data entry-into a realistic plan.
Core rules and concepts
- An entrepreneur identifies an opportunity, takes risk, organises resources, and creates value. An enterprise may be a sole proprietorship, partnership, company, or cooperative.
- A business plan states the idea, target customer, market survey findings, product/service, pricing, promotion, location, operations, manpower, costs, revenue forecast, and break-even.
- Market research uses surveys, observation, and competitor checks. SWOT analyses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. The marketing mix is product, price, place, promotion.
- Costs split into fixed (rent, salary) and variable (paper, ink, electricity per job). Break-even quantity = fixed costs ÷ (price per unit − variable cost per unit).
- Keep business money separate, record every sale and expense, issue receipts, and comply with registration, tax, and licensing rules as applicable. MSME registration and digital payments can help small firms.
Worked example
Question: A DTP shop has fixed monthly costs of ₹12,000, charges ₹10 per page, and variable cost is ₹4 per page. How many pages must it print to break even? Reasoning: Contribution per page = ₹10 − ₹4 = ₹6. Break-even = 12,000 ÷ 6 = 2,000 pages per month. Below this, the shop makes a loss; above it, a profit before other costs.
Traps that cost marks
Do not omit the owner’s salary or rent from costs. Do not mix personal and business cash. Do not assume demand equals the whole population. Do not price below variable cost. Do not promise a profit without showing calculation.