Industries in which you should start your business

Green Tech

Utility is the centrepiece of the green tech industry. With awareness growing among consumers as to the environmental challenges faced by today’s society, the green tech businesses are almost instantly labelled as “trendy”. The magic trick is that they do not demonise consumption, but facilitate a smarter and more efficient way of using the resources we already have. Consequently, the consumers end up achieving, more or less, the same effect with respect to what they intended as to certain goods or services, at the same time being rewarded with an additional benefit of “helping the planet”. This is clearly the driving force of the so called “collaborative consumption”, where consumers share the already existent resources, paying less and unlocking the utility of under-used resources. Examples are vast; from the pioneer Airbnb, to Zipcar and Getable. Of course, the success of green tech businesses will be largely dependent on whether they actually stick to what they claim to be their core values.

Mobile Apps

It is expected that over 10 billion mobile Internet devices will be in use by the end of the coming year, with over 1 billion smartphones to be sold only in 2015. The growth of the industry has been tremendous so far and there is nothing in sight that would suggest that it will slow down any time soon. With consumers expecting more and more services and goods to be readily available with one click on their smartphone or tablet, large numbers of entrepreneurs enter into the race to recognise their demands. The barriers to entry are reasonably low, creating a bustling entrepreneurial environment, with an increasing number of smaller professional services firms offering to front their expenses to start-ups and make them back on sales. Ultimately, if you can find your niche, your business is limited only by your imagination. From event management apps (Dojo), to an app allowing you to see the quality of the air you are breathing (CleanSpace) and an app making your travelling much more convenient by showing you where you can go with a certain budget (Lucky Trip), the industry has many interesting newcomers that have already firmly established themselves as must-haves.

Online Education

With rocketing costs of higher education, people are keenly looking for alternative ways of gaining knowledge, skills and overall improving their employability. Online education platforms are not limited to offering university-like courses, but also increasingly present consumers with opportunities to attend professional workshops. The both academic and practical appeal of such platforms resonates with both young people planning their education and professionals looking for a career change or a move up the ladder in the corporate world. LinkedIn’s April announcement to purchase Lynda for $1.5 billion served as an eye-opener to many that online education is indeed a booming business. Clearly, traditional university education has more benefits than merely gaining knowledge and developing useful life-skills like networking, building long-lasting friendships and even, more so in the recent years than ever before, having access to an environment where successful businesses are created. Nonetheless, as even these benefits are becoming more available online through numerous types of social media platforms and employers slowly begin to give recognition to education gained on the Internet, the industry is expected to develop even faster. Successful examples include Coursera and 360training. 

Miłosz Palej