The Returning Emigrant Entrepreneur

This first module is the introduction to the course "The Returning Immigrant Entrepreneur". The course aims to help immigrants become better entrepreneurs and to encourage successful immigrant entrepreneurs to return to their homeland to develop poor nations. The course is divided into three parts: general considerations for entrepreneurship in the new land, specific skills and practices for entrepreneurs, and principles for successful re-entry into your homeland. The professor shares his personal story and practical and theoretical experience to provide guidance and encouragement to immigrant entrepreneurs. The course is structured into 12 modules covering topics such as identifying new business opportunities, the importance of education, marketing, sales, innovation, management, legal aspects of entrepreneurship, and the social involvement of an entrepreneur once they return to their homeland. The professor acknowledges the limitations of the course but believes it is a good investment of time and money for immigrant entrepreneurs.

This section of the course is about understanding and managing one's adopted nation, and it covers five main aspects: the importance of language and culture, discrimination and how to deal with it, your compatriots, the importance of bureaucracy, and the importance of hard work. The course provides detailed recommendations for each aspect, drawing from personal experiences and research. Overall, the text emphasizes the importance of adapting to the new culture, learning the language, and understanding the bureaucracy in order to succeed as an entrepreneur in a new land.

In this module of the course the teacher discusses the transition from being a hard worker to an entrepreneur. He emphasizes that entrepreneurship is not easy and requires hard work, disappointments, and losses. However, he highly recommends it, especially for immigrants, because they already have the qualities of an entrepreneur, such as self-selection and hard work.

The course explains the skills needed to transition from a worker to an entrepreneur, including excellent technical skills, intelligent work, the ability to manage others, sales abilities, and knowledge of bureaucracy, technology, and finance. It also emphasizes the importance of character and reputation in entrepreneurship, especially for natural-born entrepreneurs who may have a tendency to bend the rules or engage in unethical behavior.

Throughout the module, the students are provided with practical advice and insights based on the professor`s observations and research. He encourages immigrants to continue learning and upgrading their skills, to question whether a job must be done in the first place, and to develop mutually beneficial relationships with clients. He also reminds them to guard their character and reputation above all else.

The 4th module discusses whether to start a business in the same sector as one's previous job. The professor provides advantages and disadvantages to this approach, including the potential for unethical behaviour and lack of understanding of the whole industry. The course also discusses the characteristics of a good business, such as having a large and growing customer base, few competitors, and low startup costs. Finally, the course recommends investing in the future by focusing on sectors such as demography, ecology, supplementing governmental services, and technology.

The module discusses the importance of education for entrepreneurs. It defines education as the continuous gathering of knowledge and applying it with wisdom, and says that it can be formal or informal, recognized through diplomas or recognized through results. The course presents a historical journey into the benefits of education, and points out that there is a direct correlation between a nation's level of education and its prosperity. It also discusses the benefits of education such as enlarging one's mind, changing one's habits, providing a different set of friends, providing artificial urgency, providing a physical setting conducive for learning, and providing recognition. Finally, the professor warns of the dangers of education such as studying for a worthless degree, studying for the wrong reasons, and critical or subjective education.

The selected text is an excerpt from a business document that discusses various aspects of marketing and sales. The module emphasizes that marketing is both an art and a science, but more importantly, it is an attitude of caring about the customers and doing the best possible for them. The text also highlights the four aspects of marketing: price, product or services, promotion, and placement or availability. It also stresses the importance of innovation in beating the competition and offers several methods for achieving it, including education, attending trade shows and association meetings, monitoring customer behavior, and creating a culture of innovation. The text also discusses the relationship between sales and marketing and the need for entrepreneurs to focus on sales in the early stages of their business. Finally, the professor encourages entrepreneurs to stay focused on one idea for at least 24 months before moving on to the next one and to guard their character and reputation above all else.

The 7th module explains that successful entrepreneurs in the 21st century will need to possess skills such as problem-solving, communication, collaboration, and good character. The course also encourages students to adopt a giving mindset, as it can lead to personal and professional transformation. The remainder of the text discusses the principles of good management and leadership, including planning, organizing, leading, and verification. The professor emphasizes that being a good technician does not automatically make someone a good manager or entrepreneur, and that it is important to learn these skills in order to be successful in those roles.

This section discusses the importance of legal, accounting, and finance skills for entrepreneurs. The module is divided into four sections. The first section talks about the personality of the entrepreneur and why legal, accounting, and finance skills are not attractive to them. The second section talks about the importance of written agreements and contracts. The third section talks about the importance of accounting and bookkeeping. The fourth section discusses finance and the four sources of investment capital: family, friends, and fools, bank loans, venture capitalists or angel investors, and governmental grants and schemes.

The 9th module discusses the reasons why immigrants may choose to return to their home countries as entrepreneurs. It outlines both negative and positive reasons for returning and provides principles for successfully re-entering one's home nation as an entrepreneur. The negative reasons include returning for a relaxed legal system, deceptive reasons, ego reasons, getting rich quickly, and the "messianic complex". The positive reasons include transferring knowledge, bringing resources from the adopted nation, and social and spiritual reasons. The principles for re-entering the home nation include remembering that things have changed, not making quick decisions, being aware of subjective recommendations, utilizing the experience and expertise acquired in the West, not belittling the native nation, and realizing that there are people rooting for failure. The module suggests that when negative things happen, it is important to learn from them and move on wiser.

In the 10th module, the professor discusses the three business models that returning immigrant entrepreneurs can adopt. The first model is the passive investment approach, where an immigrant sends money back to their native country to be invested in real estate or a business. The second model is selling western products or services in the native country, while the third model is building a multinational corporation in the native country to sell products or services to the global market. The professor recommends the third model and provides recommendations on how to establish such a company. The professor also recommends that entrepreneurs carefully study multinational corporations for lessons and considers becoming an intrapreneur. The professor advises entrepreneurs to pay attention to proper paperwork and contracts, as well as their soul and family.

In this module, the professor focuses on global technology thought leadership. He defines what a global technology thought leader is and provides reasons why one should strive to become one. He stresses the importance of being knowledgeable, validated by international standards, visible, resilient, a "good enough person," and a doer, not just a talker. The module also provides some pragmatic and idealistic reasons for becoming a global technology thought leader, such as improving negotiation capabilities, inspiring and training others, and self-actualization. Finally, the lesson offers some principles for becoming a global technology thought leader, such as the snowball principle, specializing in an area of natural competitive advantage, and investing time, energy, and money.

This module talks about importance of sustainability for immigrant entrepreneurs and shares a personal story about his spiritual journey. It encourages immigrant entrepreneurs to seek God as a senior partner in their business ventures and emphasizes the importance of giving back to the community. Overall, the course covers various topics such as general considerations for entrepreneurship, understanding and managing the adopted nation, identifying business opportunities, the importance and benefits of education, and specific skills and practices for entrepreneurs. The course also focuses on principles for a successful re-entry for returning immigrant entrepreneurs with modules on motives for returning, entrepreneurial models, and the involvement of an entrepreneur within their native community.