Young business tycoon Maziar Rajabi is a man of purpose. He leads by example and advises young dreamers to arm themselves with knowledge galore before stepping into the world of business and economics.
A lot about entrepreneurship is diving into a deep-sea and not knowing what is going to happen next. As humans, we are always prone to take the easy way out. Our mind is constantly working to help us get what we want faster and through the easiest way, it knows how to. So, we are naturally prone to avoid grit, endurance, and habit.
Entrepreneurship equipment
Entrepreneurship, however, involves endurance, habit, perseverance, emotional intelligence, and lastly skill. Maziar Rajabi, a Kurdish Iranian entrepreneur and partner at Mattioli S.A.S and Verse Oil Service. is one such person who was wired for entrepreneurship and had a certain type of mindset and thinking-process to function like one. He is always prepared to bring certainty to diverse challenges and uncertainties posed on his entrepreneurial journey. His life is a journey interspersed with market research, competition analysis, financial planning, and cutthroat marketing. Maziar’s book Entrepreneurship in Bitumen is an enlightening read for those looking for inspiration to wire themselves for success in work and how patience, persistence, and perseverance are key ingredients to navigate successfully the uncharted waters of entrepreneurship.
Market Research to gain industry insights
Maziar swears by doing years of research and performing a gap analysis before developing and marketing a product. Belonging to Iran that was popular globally for being a crude house powerhouse and not petroleum products like Bitumen, Maziar had to deep-dive to understand the need for a product like Bitumen and how it can benefit the road construction, waterproofing, and paints industry to a large extent.
Be wise with money
He is also a strong believer in undertaking a disciplined approach to plan his finance so that there is always a cash reserve to meet emergencies. He also mentions taking a structured approach to price his product and that involves streamlining the sourcing and logistics of his raw materials and doing a thorough analysis of other market players to stay ahead in the race.
Target the right consumer base
Knowing the target group and connecting with them to market products is the next big element that can make or break a business venture. A wrong marketing strategy can throw a business with good products off balance. Hence, he suggests budding entrepreneurs to test a trading idea using the historical idea and check its viability before hitting the market or making a sales pitch.
Pivot for evolving times
He counsels that reinventing business processes and evolving with changing times is essential to be on track. In this digital-forward age, it is imperative to take recourse to the digital space and use it as an effective marketing tool to garner visibility and consequently sales conversions and revenue.
Though Maziar never followed his father’s footsteps of being a banker and believed in living a life of average, he ensured that his foundation was strong enough to never regret. His strong foothold in operating his bitumen business is a case study that we all can learn from.