This assignment mainly talks about an analysis entrepreneurial nature of Villa College which is from tertiary education sector. The analysis of the entrepreneurial nature is based on the Peter Drucker’s entrepreneurial conception of seven sources of innovative opportunities and a SWOT analysis of the Villa College. In this analysis a brief introduction of Villa College and Cyryx College is given with the reasons why Villa College is selected as an entrepreneur. In addition to this, the Villa College is compared with a conventional business, Cyryx College in the same industry in Maldives.

Introduction

Entrepreneurs play very important roles for businesses success in today’s competitive business environment. An entrepreneur is a person who is willing to put his/her career and financial security on the line and take risks in the name of an idea, spending time as well as capital on an uncertain venture (Hashim et al., 2010, p. 4).This assignment mainly talks about the introduction of Villa College, reasons why this college is selected as an entrepreneur, analysis of entrepreneurial nature of the Villa College and comparison of Villa College with its conventional business Cyryx College in Maldives.

The main purpose of this assignment is to develop and enhance ability of analyzing the entrepreneurial nature and elements of Maldivian businesses that could distinguish them from conventional small businesses.

Villa College

Villa College is an entrepreneurial business organization established as the education and training wing of the villa company by the Chairman of Villa Group, Honorable Qasim Ibrahim. Villa College's objective is to offer quality and internationally recognized tertiary education opportunities to as many Maldivians at an affordable price. They began its historic journey on the 28th of January 2007 with the registration of its first Institute, Villa Institute of Water Sports followed by the Villa Institute of Information Technology and Villa Institute of Hospitality and Tourism Studies. On 17th October 2007 Villa College was registered and approved as the first Private College of the Maldives by the Department of Higher Education and commenced its first program early October 2007 with a student number of twenty. Since then, Villa College's student numbers have grown and now they have an approximate total of over one thousand students (Villa College, about us, 2012).

Today, there are a total of six faculties and seven centers in operation such as Faculty of Hospitality Management and Tourism Studies and Faculty of Marine Studies and Water Sports are located in Sun Island Resort and Spa. Villa College's other faculties includes Faculty of Computing and Business Management, Faculty of Educational Studies and Faculty of Shariah and Islamic Studies and Centre for Professional Studies are based in Villa College QI Campus located in the capital, Male' City (Villa College, about us, 2012).

The vision of college is to be the leading higher education provider in the Maldives, highly valued and recognized internationally and the mission of Villa College is to sustain, advance and disseminate knowledge and understanding by providing internationally recognized quality education through teaching, research, consultancy and training which develop intellectual capacity and values vital for the development of the Maldivian community (Villa College, about us, 2012).

Cyryx College

Today’s Cyryx College is begun on 24th August 1993 with just 4 computers and 6 students. Today they cater over 3000 students and employs over 60 academic and support staff members. Their facilities have grown to include two campuses in Male’ with several computer training labs, modern lecture rooms, and a library. Cyryx was awarded the national Public Service Award by the President of Maldives in 2002.

The chairman of the Cyryx College is Ahmed Shareef. Since the college is belongs to educational industry, they provide courses range from Certificates, Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas in IT and Management. They are working to introduce degree courses and to provide up-to-date knowledge and skills through their courses. They teach critical thinking and prepare their students to perform in technological and global environments.

The courses are designed to up-to-date knowledge and skills of the students. They select their lecturers carefully and provide them with further training. They continuously monitor their own teaching, obtain feedback from the students, invest in modern technologies and strive for continuous improvement.

The vision Cyryx College is to become and remain a vibrant student-centered institution that inspires and enables every student to fulfill her or his career ambitions and dreams, by applying the knowledge, skills and competencies gained at Cyryx College.

Rationales for selection

The reasons for the selection of Villa College as an entrepreneurial business are as follows. The following reasons are also the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs (Hashim et al., 2010, p. 13-16)

Villa College is an independent body and they see the market gap in the education sector. Villa College was registered and approved as the first private college of the Maldives by the Department of Higher Education (Villa College, about us, 2012). After opening of Villa College, Cyryx College became a private college in Maldives and Cyryx College was small training centre (Cyryx College, chairman’s message, 2010)

Villa College is the only college who runs Marine Studies and Water Sports programs in Maldives. They focus on opportunities rather than on resources, structure or strategy. Their objective is to offer quality and internationally recognized educational opportunities to as many Maldivians, at an affordable price (Villa College, about us, 2012). However, Cyryx College does not provide Marine Studies and Water Sports programs in Maldives (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).

Villa college management is confident and optimistic to succeed. The Villa group took the initiative and risk of starting with water sports and information technology without any prior experiences but today, six faculties and seven professional studies centre are in operation (Villa College, about us, 2012). However, Cyryx College was a low risk taker compared to Villa College (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).

Villa College has a strong vision for Villa College to be the leading higher education provider in the Maldives, highly valued and recognized internationally. They have a strong desire to achieve and the intention is to be a market leader (Villa College, about us, 2012). However, Cyryx College weak desire to achieve compared to Villa College (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).

Villa College is innovative and creative in providing their service. Most of the Maldivians are unable to attend the college during the day time because they are working in different jobs meantime most of them are unable to pay the course fee with their salary. Villa College has arranged a flexible time and installment payment for the students (Villa College, about us, 2012). However, Cyryx College is less innovative or creative compared to Villa College (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).

Villa College is flexible and have adapted according to the changes in demand of their customer by introducing other courses such as bachelors in accounting (Villa College, about us, 2012). However, Cyryx College has limited courses compared to Villa College (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).

Villa College also seeks feedback from the students by providing evaluation forms and improves themselves and their venture performance (Villa College, about us, 2012). Cyryx College also seeks feedback but there is less improvements compared to Villa College (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).

Analysis of Entrepreneurial Nature

Peter Drucker’s entrepreneurial conception

The Villa College business followed by Peter Drucker’s entrepreneurial conception, analyzing his seven sources of innovative opportunities is as follows (Hashim et al., 2010, p. 51-52);

Industry and market structure: Before most of the Maldivians were unable to get internationally accepted education but today majorities are able to get internationally recognized education with in the country with help of Villa College (Villa College, about us, 2012).However, Cyryx College offers fewer courses in Maldives (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).
Demographics: Villa College provides the education to everyone especially to the young generation and there is no discrimination of age, race, religion, sex etc. Their aim is to provide it to as many as possible by expanding the facilities (Villa College, about us, 2012). However, Cyryx College is small in size and does not expand to provide more service compared to Villa College (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).
Changes in perception: Today educated people are increasing as a result job competition is increased. There are many people who are working and find it difficult to get education but they provide this service in a flexible time. The students can attend classes during night time and students can pay the fee installments in Villa College (Villa College, about us, 2012). However, Cyryx College is providing fewer courses and is not able to meet all customer needs (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).
New knowledge: Villa College was very successful in last two years and is competing well with Maldivian Cyryx College despite of demand and supply of other competitors by using the competitive advantage such as providing water sports service (Villa College, about us, 2012).
The process need: Villa College is having the difficulty to offer more services due to the lack of capacity. Currently they do not have enough buildings and class rooms to meet the future demands (Villa College, about us, 2012). However, Cyryx College is able to meet the current demand in the market (Cyryx College, About Cyryx College, 2010).
The unexpected: Unlike Cyryx College, there was no prediction that the Villa College business would be successful; it could be failure as well. Today Villa College is very successful college in Maldives even though they had difficulties in the initial stage (Villa College, about us, 2012).
The incongruous: Unlike Cyryx College, Villa College attracted people from different atolls in country because they have brought different education system in Maldives (Villa College, about us, 2012).

A SWOT analysis of Villa College;

The strengths and weaknesses of SWOT analysis show the internal environment of the venture and the threats and opportunities show the external environment of the venture. Therefore the SWOT analysis can be used to analyze the entrepreneurial nature of the Villa College.

Analyzing the strengths of Villa College it is worthy to emphasize their customer orientation, providing all satisfaction in all aspects of their service. They provide quality services which are not provide by Cyryx College at affordable prices such as water sports. The customers can pay the fee in installments or full payment by getting discounts. Villa College has the good reputation of being the first Private College in the Maldives. Villa College provides internationally accepted education affiliated by professional bodies. Villa College provides other facilities like digital libraries and provide better learning environment. Unlike Cyryx College, Villa College is using the latest technologies and has highly qualified lecturers. Villa College took the risk of starting this new venture and has a strong vision. Unlike Cyryx College, Villa College has created quality services and they have other good characters of an entrepreneur (Villa College, about us, 2012).

Taking into consideration the weaknesses, unlike Cyryx College, it is important to mention about the most serious problem for Villa College is being lack of capacity. They need more buildings to expand their services. Meantime Villa College is not able to conduct classes for full time students (Villa College, about us, 2012).

Despite of success, unlike Cyryx College, Villa College has enough capital and has the opportunity to expand their business and they are expecting to have Faculty of Engineering and Flying School in future. Villa College can convert the college to an internationally accepted university in future because they are getting enough support from the internationally accepted universities and from the government. Also, they have the opportunity to start research and development unit such as marine research center (Villa College, about us, 2012).

Considering threats for them, it is important to remember about competition, which can appear and then it will be more difficult to earn higher profits. There are many colleges especially Cyryx College which are competing in Maldives as well as competitors from abroad. Another one refers to appearing new customers' perception and changing of market trends. The customers are preferring quality service at low prices. They are also suffering the current economic downturn and dollar crisis in Maldives. The political factor of tax on profit and retirement pension is also a threat for them and to Cyryx College in future (Villa College, about us, 2012).

Comparison:

Comparison between Villa College and conventional businesses

The Cyryx College, Mandhu College, Click College, the Maps College and Maldivian National University are major conventional businesses in this industry for Villa College in Maldives (Maldives Education, 2012). There are some similarities and differences between the conventional business of Cyryx College and Villa College.

Similarities:

The both colleges belong to educational industry and provide different level of internationally accepted education in Maldives. All the courses offered by these colleges are approved by Maldives Qualification Authority because all these courses are recognized by international Colleges and Universities. Each of these colleges is supported by some international University. Villa College and Cyryx College do provide their services in flexible times for their customers to attend the colleges (Villa College, about us, 2012).

There are threats of high competition, economy downturn and political interferences to these businesses in this industry meantime there are opportunities to expand for their businesses (Villa College, about us, 2012).

Differences:

Villa College is the first Private College in Maldives but after sometimes the Cyryx College became a private college in Maldives. The Villa College took the risk without having the market experiences but Cyryx College risk taking is low compared to Villa College (Villa College, about us, 2012).

The Villa College provides unique services like water sports training but Cyryx College do not provide it. The Villa College has high goodwill and quality facilities compared to Cyryx College. Unlike Cyryx College, Villa College is running with full capacity (Villa College, about us, 2012).

The Villa College is backed by the biggest company in the Maldives which on an added advantage in terms of financial backing unlike Cyryx College. As a result, Villa College has good faculties and equipments. Unlike Cyryx College, Villa College pays higher salary for the lecturers and more qualified lecturers are teaching in Villa College as a result (Firushan, Personal Interview, October 02, 2012).

The Villa College has more students as a private college. The Villa College’s Convocation Ceremony is very different compared to Cyryx College. In addition to this, student who get top achiever award in each course, with GPA above 3.67 will get back the Course fee paid by the student in Villa College (Firushan, Personal Interview, October 02, 2012).

Conclusion

In conclusion, according to the above introduction, rationales for selection Villa College as an entrepreneur, analysis of the entrepreneurial nature by Peter Drucker’s entrepreneurial conception of seven sources of innovative opportunities with SWOT analysis and the comparison of Villa College with its conventional business of Cyryx College display that the Villa College is an unconventional business in organizing production factors, effective marketing and efficient managing. The Villa College has many features of a successful entrepreneur. The entrepreneurial nature and elements of Villa College are very different from the conventional business of Cyryx College in this industry. The secret of their success is based on the quality of their services, which have been adapted to customers' expectations and average income.

References

Cyryx College: About Cyryx College. (2010). Retrieved September 23, 2012, from http://www.cyryxcollege.edu.mv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=3

Hashim, N., Yusof, A. A., Keat, O, Y., Mohamed, A., Amir, A. R., Hei, O. T. (2010). Entrepreneurship. Meteor Doc. Sdn. Bhd: Malaysia.

Maldives Education. (2012). Retrieved September 23, 2012, from http://www.mapsofworld.com/maldives/education/

Villa College: about us. (2012). Retrieved September 23, 2012, from http://villacollege.edu.mv/index.php/about-villa-college

Adam Khaleel

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Module Name: Entrepreneurship

Executive Summary