Course name: Entrepreneurship

Student name: Rayan Kahil

Student ID: 201901272

Date: 27.11.2019

Professor name: Dr. Khaled Fayed

Fall 2019-2020
Entrepreneur contact information:
- Company name: Korean Charm
- Entrepreneur Name: Sarah Kahil
- Title: CEO
- Address: Beirut
- Phone number: 76 924 686
- Email: Kahil.sarah@gmail.com

Answers from interviewing the business owner:

Ms. Sarah Kahil graduated with a degree in dentistry from the Beirut Arab
University in 2016, and will finish her masters in prosthodontics next year.
Her father owned two pizza restaurants in Denmark and so provided
business and management advice. She divides her time to work in a dental
clinic and in the Korean Charm business along with her two sisters.
Sarah Kahil is my sister and I work with her in this business that she started.
I chose her business because I personally really enjoyed helping in the
process of building it from scratch and watching it bloom. Plus I chose her
because I can follow her around the house and ask her as many questions
as I want :D
Ms. Sarah is an entrepreneur for coming up with a profitable business idea
in selling Korean products in Lebanon when the Korean culture is trending
worldwide with its beauty products, tv shows, music and cuisine. It took a
lot of time and energy to build this business, especially while working as a
dentist at the same time, but she had the will and passion to make it work.
She noticed the increasing numbers of Lebanese people, teens in particular,
participating in events that promote the Korean music. For example the
numerous social media fan pages dedicated to Korean boybands and the
tickets to Korean movies playing in Lebanon selling out in an hour. In
addition to the American University of Beirut Korean Culture Club
organizing multiple events and having overwhelming attendance rates.
Furthermore, the number of shops catering to this hungry market is very
low and the competition is almost non-existent.
Business management courses were given to her as a dentist student in her
final year to help manage work later on. In addition to her father’s
restaurant business experience, she personally liked the Korean products
for their uniqueness and quality. So she decided to take a risk and go on
this venture.
A huge variety of Korean products are in demand, from clothes to food to
accessories, and getting a hold of these products from Korea and China or
making them here locally in Lebanon wasn’t going to be complicated, but
required an amount of effort that she was willing to put in. She searched
online through social media posts and fan pages, and asked possible
costumers if they would like for such a business to start in Lebanon.
Ms. Sarah made basic evaluations of the level of demand, and the number
of businesses selling similar items, but found only few. Since her sisters
were personally interested in the Korean culture she was able to
understand the exact demands and needs of many costumers here in
Lebanon. From the beginning Sarah was almost one hundred percent sure
that the business would profitable, but she was surprised by the huge influx
of costumers which only increased as she advertised the business.
The state of the economy in Lebanon was taken into consideration, and it
was concluded not to be a huge risk if she invested carefully and regularly
followed its ups and downs.
The market size was observed to be big and engaging. Plus the goods that
were in demand included a big variety that could appeal to different
people, and even to those who don’t know much about the Korean culture
might like the trendy accessories or food lovers might want to try
something new. The market was mainly made up of teenagers, but also
included kids and young adults in their twenties. The target market showed
solid engagement and willingness since many teens payed large sums of
money for overpriced goods, were willing to go great lengths to get ahold
of merchandise related to their favorite singers and actors and even wait
two months to get their order.
The main perceived risk was the fragile economy in Lebanon. The value of
the Lebanese pound is in danger as political and security issues arise. Sarah
decided to take the risk while still keeping this complication in mind, and in
regards to the fairness of trade she was going to price the goods strictly
according to the officially announced values. Another notable risk is the
competition in utilizing the window of opportunity. It was managed by
providing highly competitive prices and extensive advertising to lead the
market.
The entrepreneur studied all the items that were the most in demand,
searched for the resources and found that she could feed the costumer’s
needs while making profit, in other words, turn this opportunity into a
business. Sarah observed the few competitors’ work, what they sold, how
they promoted it and the costumers’ feedback and level of engagement.
She noted what their business was lacking from misdirected marketing
strategies to old fashioned advertisement methods.
The steps listed above were done in July of 2018, and lasted months before
the launch of the business.
Important contacts to the entrepreneur were her father and her sisters.
Her sisters had a very good understanding of the value of the company
from their own interest in their Korean culture and their involvement in
related activities and events in Lebanon. Her father provided expertise in
the accounting aspect.
Some of the problems experienced were the long holds on products
shipped from outside at the custom tariffs. The products would be held for
months due to issues within the customs management, and this lead to
many costumers having to wait longer than what they were promised, to
get their orders. Another problem that she faced was related with the roles
and the management of the business. Because of the lack of experience,
Sarah had trouble at the beginning in dividing roles among her employees
since she didn’t know who had the skills for specific jobs.
The custom tariffs problem was resolved by visiting the organization and
discussing our issue to understand the underlying causes. The custom
tariffs recommended some solutions such as shipping from different
airlines to facilitate the border customs process. The second problem was
solved by having multiple meetings and comprehensive negotiations to
finally agree on how the roles would be distributed based on skills and
knowledge.
Sarah advices entrepreneurs pursuing their plans to make a thorough
research on the efficiency and competency of the resources. And to take
direct advice from professionals in this field to minimize the risks and
complications that might arise.
The entrepreneur was successful as she made profit that became
exponential each month. The cash flow has been consistently positive and
the costumers are happy. The reviews from buyers show their satisfaction
and support by spreading the name of the company helping it build a great
reputation.

Analyze how these factors affect the entrepreneur’s success

The ability of the entrepreneur to notice the high demand in this new but
trending market and her strongly motivated venture to turn it into a
business were the main factors in her success. After 7 years of studying
dentistry with one more year to go, and constantly ranking at the top of her
classes, she decided to tackle another challenge head on in a completely
new field. Her success at balancing her two jobs and her academics
definitely played a role in the positive direction that the company headed
in. Sarah’s awareness and cautiousness helped her tread wisely in the
murky water of the Lebanese economy. She showed persistence in solving
any arising problem, from custom tariffs to core management
complications. Sarah had great confidence in her ability to profit from this
hungry, almost starved, market, by taking advantage of the weak
competition and the newborn window of opportunity. She benefited
immensely from observing her competitors and learning from their
expertise and mistakes. Her entrepreneurial personality definitely inspired
me to come up with creative solutions and to think outside the box. She’s
optimistic but also realistic, and this helps her in having confidence in her
decisions but still keep her hands on the steering wheel, her motto is “Work
smart not hard”.