Assalamualaikum, I am 48 ,a jobless man. I want to start some business but have no idea about what, how and where from to start. Please suggest something and guide me.

Ans: Reskill or Upskill yourself first. Find a decent job and rebuild your career. Doing your own thing is more riskier than finding a job.

Ans: In whatever is your area of interest, talk to as many experts and consumers you can.. evaluate if your idea is solving a real problem that your potential consumers face. Fine tune your business idea. Then again talk to people if they are willing to pay you money to sort out the problem.. and how much. Concurrently, talk to experts on the cost of solving the problem/ offering the solution. Wherever you think the cost of solution is lesser than what people are willing to pay, is a good idea to work on prima facie. Then create a detailed feasibility report. Take help of some expert at this stage. Understand the investments and evaluate how you will need to fund the business initially. See if you can get some grants / seed funding. Typically seed funding is through friends and family . There are also a few govt schemes for entrepreneurs- see if you can get some grant/ financial assistance under these schemes. Put some of your own money and start implementing your idea in the mean while. Don’t be over optimistic in your planning. Work for the best but be prepared for the worst.

Ans: Understanding your question, I can clearly see you are not ready yet. You neither have a business idea, nor a plan or resources. You are looking for some expert to tell you everything, which is a non starter.

Ans: Dear Mr Anon, you have given me very little to go by to help you. One way is to go to a trusted friend who is already running a business and see if he is interested in taking your idea forward and actively participating in it. That can help de-risk you and also give you required support. I presume you have already done adequate on the ground research on your idea and validated it?