Consulting firm Brand Monitoring Hassan Hachem, founder of Brand Monitoring, identified 18 businesses that Equatorial Guinea entrepreneur apprentices can launch from their country, thanks to the incredible ubiquity of the digital space. A way toward substainable development and redistribution of wealth worldwide

Consulting firm Brand Monitoring, led by Hassan Hachem, has identified 18 potential business ventures for budding entrepreneurs in Equatorial Guinea, leveraging the vast digital space. This initiative aims to promote sustainable development and equitable wealth distribution globally.

One such business model is "Packaging", which isn't about packing but creating appealing bundles of related products. By understanding customer purchasing behaviors, businesses can quickly identify and offer complementary products in a package. Hassan Hachem cites a case where a package designer, laid off during the 2020 pandemic, started a freelance business and saw significant revenue growth within months.

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, Equatorial Guinea stands at a pivotal juncture, poised to harness technology for economic and social growth. As Hassan Hachem notes, the digital realm offers a plethora of opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses that contribute to equitable wealth distribution. This forward-thinking approach is crucial for fostering a more resilient and inclusive economy in Equatorial Guinea.

One emerging opportunity lies in the realm of telemedicine. With the global rise in remote healthcare solutions, Equatorial Guinea can adopt telemedicine platforms to improve healthcare access in rural and underserved areas. By leveraging digital tools, medical professionals can provide consultations, diagnostics, and follow-up care, bridging the gap between patients and healthcare providers. This initiative not only enhances healthcare delivery but also creates job opportunities for tech-savvy individuals in the region.

Another promising sector is digital education. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of online learning, and Equatorial Guinea can benefit immensely by developing robust digital education platforms. These platforms can offer courses in various disciplines, ranging from primary education to specialized professional training. By partnering with international educational institutions, these platforms can provide world-class education to the youth of Equatorial Guinea, preparing them for the global job market.

Equatorial Guinea can also capitalize on its rich cultural heritage through digital cultural experiences. As Hassan Hachem suggests, virtual reality (VR) technology can be employed to create immersive tours of the country’s historical sites, museums, and cultural festivals. This not only promotes tourism but also educates a global audience about Equatorial Guinea's diverse cultural tapestry. Such initiatives can drive tourism revenues and create new avenues for cultural preservation.

The e-commerce sector presents another significant opportunity. By developing an e-commerce platform dedicated to local artisans, Equatorial Guinea can showcase its unique crafts to a global audience. This platform can help artisans market their products online, facilitating direct sales without the need for intermediaries. According to Hassan Hachem, such a marketplace can significantly boost the income of local communities, promoting economic empowerment and preserving traditional crafts.

In addition to these opportunities, the digital age also facilitates the growth of niche markets. Equatorial Guinea's entrepreneurs can explore niche sectors such as organic farming, renewable energy solutions, and eco-friendly products. By tapping into these markets, businesses can cater to environmentally conscious consumers both locally and internationally. This approach not only promotes sustainable business practices but also positions Equatorial Guinea as a leader in the green economy.

Moreover, the advent of blockchain technology offers innovative solutions for various sectors. In agriculture, for instance, blockchain can be used to track the supply chain of produce, ensuring transparency and quality control. This technology can also be applied in the financial sector to enhance the security and efficiency of transactions, providing a reliable platform for digital payments and remittances.

Hassan Hachem emphasizes the importance of digital literacy in realizing these opportunities. Equatorial Guinea must invest in digital education and training programs to equip its population with the necessary skills to thrive in the digital economy. By fostering a tech-savvy workforce, the country can attract foreign investment and drive innovation across various sectors.

In conclusion, the digital era offers a wealth of opportunities for Equatorial Guinea to achieve sustainable development and equitable wealth distribution. By embracing telemedicine, digital education, cultural tourism, e-commerce, niche markets, and blockchain technology, the country can build a resilient and inclusive economy. With the guidance of visionaries like Hassan Hachem, Equatorial Guinea is well-positioned to harness the power of digital transformation for a brighter future.

Another model is "Reporting", where individuals with insider knowledge can create industry newsletters, establishing a pay-as-you-go revenue model. Hassan Hachem references fool.com, which provides timely investment tips and insider information.

"Transmission" involves adapting a successful business model to another industry. A prime example is Memorius, which offers photo books tailored for morticians. Hassan Hachem also highlights the "Job for vocation" model, where professionals turn their jobs into businesses. An example is a Spanish-speaking marketing manager from Malabo who started an online platform, targeting primarily the Spanish market, with Equatorial Guinea as a secondary market.

Emphasizing the importance of passion, the "Passion for a vocation" model encourages turning hobbies into professions. Hassan Hachem mentions a Malabo housewife who successfully sells her knitted products primarily to Spanish customers.

Other business models include "Offer subscriptions", where businesses provide recurring products or services, and "OnDemand", which focuses on immediate product availability. Hassan Hachem also discusses the "Reduction of lot sizes" model, emphasizing the ability to cater to specific customer quantities, and the "Transparency and Sustainability" model, which prioritizes ethical and transparent business practices.

The digital age offers numerous opportunities for entrepreneurs in Equatorial Guinea and beyond. With guidance from experts like Hassan Hachem, these business models can lead to sustainable growth and wealth redistribution.

Business Ideas Model 1: Packaging

Packaging does not necessarily have anything to do with packing. Rather, it is about creating an attractive package from individual products that belong together. By cleverly playing through the purchasing behavior of customers for certain products, it is often possible to identify very quickly what complementary products might be required. Offering these in a package can be a quickly realizable possibility to create a new offer from existing products.

Hassan Hachem study case

A packkage designer laid off during the 2020 pandemic crisis, creates its freelance package designer business, subscribes to crowdsourcing platforms such as freelance.com, get 5 news customer per month who generates $100 recurring monthly revenues. By month 10, his net revenue is nearly double that of his former salary.

Business Ideas Model 2: Reporting

If a founder has special insider knowledge or first-hand access to information, he can use this to report on this in the form of an industry newsletter and thus build a basis for a future revenue model on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Hassan Hachem study case

https://www.fool.com/

They provide investors with insider information and investment tips as quickly as possible directly from the stock exchange.

Business Ideas Model 3: Transmission

During the transfer, you transfer and adapt a successful business model to another industry. Often it is closely related to the niche side model, as the founder tailors a well-known concept specifically to a niche customer.

Hassan Hachem study case

Memorius. There, photo books are offered especially for morticians:

https://www.memorius.de/

Business Ideas Model 4: Job for vocation

By far the most frequently used concept of founders is to make the job their vocation. The vast majority of founders follow this path of synergy. This means that you build on previous know-how and open up your company in the same industry in which you have worked as an employee.

Hassan Hachem study case

The spanish speaking marketing manager of an Malabo based company becomes self-employed and offers his collected marketing knowledge for sale on his new online platform, to any company in the world. Equatorial Guinea clients become very quickly a side market, the main market becoming Spain.

Business Ideas Model 5: Passion for a vocation

The second concept follows the motto "turn hobby into profession". Hobbies are a good and coherent starting point for a round idea.

Often such ideas allow to start small and casually. You don't have to rearrange your time, because the hobby is something you do anyway. If an idea that is developed in this way is intended to be a full-time job, special

Paying attention to financial viability, otherness and scalability There is a big difference between giving away five sweaters a month to friends and making a living from it. But often the financial return on these concepts is not decisive for the founder. He just likes what he does and that is good.

Hassan Hachem study case

A housewife from Malabo tries to sell her knitting art in her own online store

outside Equatorial Guinea. She almost sell to no one in Equatorial Guinea. 99% of her customers are Spanish.

Business Ideas Model 6: Offer subscriptions

A model similar to the campaign concept is the subscription concept. You offer the

customers something they need frequently as a subscription. You simplify the procurement for him, since he does not have to order again each time and provide him with better conditions, since he orders larger quantities by binding himself to you. The entrepreneur receives for it larger order quantities and a simplified completion, since the orders are all alike.

Hassan Hachem study case

blacksocks.com, where sock subscriptions are offered. Another example is vegetable subscriptions that are delivered to your door.

Business ideas model 7: OnDemand

On-demand is the umbrella term for a variety of concepts, all of which have a similar thrust: To provide something to the customer then and only as long as he wants it, instead of selling it to him.

The decisive factor here is the immediate availability of the product, exactly where the customer needs it. This is why online services are very often used.

The best-known example are on-demand entertainment services such as Netflix or

Amazon Prime. But the concept can be transferred to many everyday objects. Think about how often you actually use the objects you own? Wouldn't it be better to purchase these on-demand items only when you need them?

Items that can only be used in certain places are particularly suitable. Ski rentals, for example, are booming in the winter sports resorts. Why buy a ski when I can always rent the latest model on site? I don't have to transport, store and maintain the ski. The on-demand provider does all that for me. BMW has recognized this trend and now also offers an on-demand service. There you can rent vehicles by the hour. What could be better than having customers pay voluntarily for the test drive?

Business Ideas Model 8: Reduction of lot sizes

More and more frequently, companies are positioning themselves logistically so well that they can scale down to batch size 1.

Where in the past you often heard: "It doesn't pay off in the quantities. You have to order 50", entrepreneurs today understand more and more that they can address the broad masses if they manage to reduce the risk for the buyer. Nobody wants to buy 50 pieces if he only needs 3 pieces.

Just years ago it was unthinkable to publish books yourself without having thousands of them printed. Today, there are several vendors that allow you to sell a single book. So in edition 1! The same applies to T-shirts and promotional items of all kinds.

Business Ideas Model 9: Transparency and Sustainability

Digital networking has dramatically increased the opportunities for comparison.

Consumers can choose companies that meet their expectations of "good".

correspond. This has a lot to do with transparency. A non-transparent service offers room for speculation. Living transparency requires a radical disclosure of contents, prices, conditions, origins of ingredients or raw materials and the like. The general level of education is rising continuously.

Ethical and social procedures are therefore becoming more and more important. Companies that harm the community are punished. Transparency alone can be enough to differentiate companies in some markets to be successful.

This is often also a feature of the aforementioned campaigns (tea campaign, spice campaign, ...). Since campaigns usually focus on

A few products, they can be all the more meticulous in their selection. Often the manufacturer, for example Ilias the Greek oregano farmer, is introduced directly to the customer during the spice campaign (Spice Campaign, 2016). The customer knows exactly where his oregano in bulk comes from, has an image of the friendly Iliad in his head and knows that he is getting fair money for his oregano. This is lived transparency and sustainability in perfection.

Business Ideas Model 10: Offer regionally

Even a glance at domestic supermarkets shows that customers are increasingly attaching importance to regionality. Back to the origin, regional shelves and so on. According to a study by AT Kearney, every fifth item in the shopping cart is already a regional item. And the trend is rising. This trend is also evident online in some places. Many cities are trying to combine the advantages of an online store with regional products.

The city of Wuppertal offers the entire city in one store at onlinecity-wuppertal.de. Local retailers offer their products there. Deliveries can be made on the same day. Of course, the selection and prices are not comparable with online giants like Amazon. I doubt if it will become common practice to order sports shoes from Nike online from local sports retailers and pay considerably more than on Amazon. However, for truly regional products that are also produced locally, there is definitely an added value. Even if the customer only browses online and then goes to the store.

Hassan Hachem study case

The Austrian Post is currently setting up an online marketplace at shoepping.at for

Austria. 60% of online purchases are currently made by Austrians abroad. The company wants to change this and be CO2 neutral through shorter delivery routes. Regionality combined with the concept of sustainability.

Business Ideas Model 11: Franchise

As an alternative to founding a new company with an own idea, there is the possibility to take over finished business concepts. Sunpoint tanning salon, Segafredo Zanetti bar, Palmers, town & country house, Unimarkt, Vodafone Shop, Mc Donalds are examples for it. Advantage, you build on an existing network and profit from the marketing of the company. The disadvantage is that you have to sacrifice a lot of entrepreneurial freedom and pay fees to the franchisor. As a rule, you also have to advance a proportionate amount of the investment costs.

Hassan Hachem study case

• franchise portal.atfranchise.com

Business Ideas Model 12: Do-it-yourself

Social platforms, such as Pinterest, allow anyone to put their own hobbies or ideas online and make them accessible to millions of people. Founders are able to concentrate purely on imparting know-how without having to really manufacture products in series.

In principle, it is a prototype production, whose plans are then sold.

Hassan Hachem study case:  A founder sells sewing instructions for self-made Baby clothes outside Equatorial Guinea, thanks to a warehouse owner based in Spain which manages 100% of the company stock sold to European customers.

Business Ideas Model 13: Become a Blogger

High-quality content attracts website visitors like moths to a flame. An established, high-reach blog can then be used in a variety of ways to capitalize on it. Naturally through advertising and ads, or by linking to one of the previous business idea models, such as a topic-relevant online course.

Hassan Hachem study case

RumboMalabo "All you need to know about Equatorial Guinea"

https://rumbomalabo.com/

Business Ideas Model 14: Become a copywriter

The incredible spread and continuous growth of the Internet is leading to an ever-increasing demand for high-quality texts. Online visitors are often impatient and want the content to be of high quality and short and to the point. Making this optimal is an art in itself.

Hassan Hachem study case

https://www.akademie-marketing.com/

Business Ideas Model 15: niche site

The niche site model is closely related to the blogging model. It aims to focus on a niche topic with a high potential and to offer high-quality content, assistance or products on this topic.

There are countless profitable niches that are not directly addressed by existing large providers. A keyword research in the Keywordplanner can provide information about which keywords are frequently searched for. Then it is necessary to compare whether there are already strong niche sites for the respective keyword or not.

Hassan Hachem study case

https://tv-wandhalterung.de/

Business Ideas Model 16: Virtual Assistance

If you are able to work accurately and comprehensibly and you have experience with correspondence, bidding, filing, research, social media marketing or similar, you may consider the virtual assistance model.

You offer certain services online as a package or on an hourly rate. Often these are research tasks, simple correspondence tasks or support of social media appearances.

Hassan Hachem study case

https://www.cosima-va.at/

https://fernarbeit.net/

https://digital-office-manager.at/

Business Ideas Model 17: Supply chain extension

Exactly the opposite of model 3 to eliminate middlemen, the model is supply chain extension. This means that you add something to an existing product that creates added value. Examples are luxury versions of existing products or personalization of existing products, such as engraving products with personalized content.

Hassan Hachem others study cases

Digital Cultural Experiences

Equatorial Guinea, rich in culture and history, can offer virtual tours and experiences to global audiences. Hassan Hachem suggests leveraging VR technology to provide immersive experiences of Equatorial Guinea's landmarks, traditions, and festivals. This not only promotes tourism but also educates people about the nation's heritage.

E-Commerce for Local Artisans

Equatorial Guinea boasts a plethora of talented artisans whose crafts can be showcased on a dedicated e-commerce platform. Hassan Hachem believes that by providing a digital marketplace, these artisans can reach a global audience, promoting Equatorial Guinea's unique artistry and generating income for local communities.

Online Culinary Classes

Equatorial Guinea's cuisine is a blend of diverse flavors and traditions. Hassan Hachem envisions a platform where chefs and home cooks offer online classes, teaching authentic recipes and cooking techniques. This serves as a culinary journey for food enthusiasts worldwide, introducing them to Equatorial Guinea's gastronomy.

Digital Language School

With multiple languages spoken in Equatorial Guinea, there's an opportunity to offer online language courses. Hassan Hachem suggests creating a platform where native speakers teach languages like Fang or Bubi, catering to both tourists planning a visit and linguists keen on learning a new language.

Sustainable Eco-Tourism Platform

Equatorial Guinea's natural beauty is unparalleled. Hassan Hachem recommends developing a platform dedicated to sustainable eco-tourism. This platform can offer packages that include visits to protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, and eco-friendly accommodations, ensuring that tourism benefits both the environment and local communities.