Author: admin

Leather Industry Of India

Industry

The leather industry in India holds a very prominent place in the Indian economy. The leather and leather products industry is one of the oldest manufacturing industries in India. The Indian leather industry provides employment to about 2.5 million people in the country and has an annual turnover of approximately US$ 5,000,000.

The industry has a massive potential for providing more employment, growth, and exports. Recently, the exports of leather and leather products have gained massive momentum. The exports of Indian leather goods have registered phenomenal growth. This is mainly because great emphasis has been placed on the planned development of the leather industry and at the optimal utilization of available raw materials.

Over the years the leather industry in India has undergone drastic change from being a mere exporter of raw materials in the early 60’s and 70’s to now becoming an exporter of finished, value-added leather products. The main reason behind the transformation is the several policy initiatives taken by the government of India. The proactive government initiatives have yielded quick and improved results. Thanks to the government efforts today, the Indian leather industry has attained a prominent place in the Indian export and has made the industry one of the top 7 industries that earns foreign exchange for the country.

Since India adopted the globalization and liberalized economic policies in 1991, the leather industry has flourished consistently in several ways and has contributed heavily to the Indian exchequer. Though the industry has developed, it still has great potential for more growth and investments. Investing in Indian leather industry is particularly advantageous because the industry is poised to grow further and achieve a major share in the global trading market.

The government of India in its Foreign Trade Policy for 20002009 has identified the leather sector as a focus sector in view of its immense potential for export growth and generation of employment generation prospects.

Investment opportunities in the leather industry lie in different segments related to the industry, which include tanning and finishing of leather products, manufacturing of leather garments, manufacturing of leather footwear and footwear parts, and manufacturing of leather goods, such as harness and saddlery amongst a host of other opportunities.

Amongst all the industries mentioned above the footwear industry in particular holds greater potential for investments in India. India produces approximately 700 million pairs of leather footwear every year and accounts for an 18% share of the total Indian leather export.

After footwear manufacturing of leather goods promise great investment opportunity. Manufacturing of leather products, such as wallets, travel wares, belts, and handbags offer great returns on investment.

India is one of the best destinations in the world for investing in the leather industry because India is endowed with abundant raw materials required for the industry to grow. India has a huge population of cattle. India accounts for 21% of the worlds cattle and buffalo and 11% of the worlds goat and sheep population. Apart from the easy availability of raw materials, investors are able to enjoy an easy and abundant supply of skilled manpower, world-class technology, competent and favorable environmental standards, and the devoted support of allied industries.

Several leading international leather goods manufacturing brand names, such as Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Versace, Guess, and DKNY, have invested in India and are engaged in sourcing leather goods from India.

How Will You Convince A Prospective Investor To Fund Your Business

Business Strategy

As I have written before, investors are risk managers and are very careful and selective in what companies they make investments. Now that you have a list of investors that you are contacting for your company, you need to prepare to answer their tough questions. Investors will want to know why they should invest in your company. It can be very difficult to convince them if you dont have everything ready. Furthermore, you need to have to answer the three major questions that are mentioned below correctly. This is not easy to do and I highly recommend hiring legal counsel and accountants to get all the legalities and numbers correct before you begin to meet with your investor.

How much capital do you need and where will it go? This is the question that when answered right is the million dollar question. Investors want to see how the money they invest will be spent. You must convince the investor that your management can manage the money that is invested correctly and efficiently to generate the revenue and profits that the investor is looking to get from his investments in your company. The point is clear. He wants to see numbers. This is why I highly recommend you hire an accountant who can manage the money properly. You also need to have a plan laid out with milestones that are set which the investor has to agree with and you need to give an approximate time when each of these milestones that are to be met.

Once an investor finds that all the answers to the three questions are correct, he will give you your investment in a series of tranches. Each tranche will be given on some set conditions, which are all set to meet each of the agreed upon milestones. This is why you need to be good with your numbers, and your accountant should be competent in budgeting the money. With every tranche, you need to have a percentage for employee and staff salaries (which also includes the salaries of all the management), product development, real estate, etc. If your numbers are not right or realistic, you will not get funded.

What is the forecasted valuation of your company? This is a question where realistic numbers and projections really count. A companys valuation is basically the projected value that a company can gain in the future as it functions in its relevant market. Though investors love to see high figures, its not wise to hype up your figures and have a higher than realistic numbers. Investors can see right through that. For example, your relevant market may be a multibillion dollar market, your company will not be worth billions of dollars, at least not for a while, unless your product or service meets a demand that has not been met. This case, however, is rare. You could make a few million dollars, but your company will not have the same value as the entire market, thats impossible. So how can you get the right answers for this question?

When you are preparing your companys valuation data, you need to have projections that are as accurate as possible and you need to be prepared for how to answer the investor when he asks if your profits drop below ten percent. This is very important, because investors have their market analysts who constantly analyze markets and are always on top of the latest market news and forecast the future based on current market trends. You need to do the same and you should have people who can analyze the markets just as effectively as the investor does. You need to be able to see eye to eye with the investor. Being well prepared for this question can give you the biggest chance of winning that funding.

How do you plan to exit? What do you mean by exit? Well, investors like to invest in a company for a certain period of time, say between five to seven years and then they want to exit and collect their profits. This is why you need to prepare an exit strategy. There are all kinds of exit strategies available, but even though they are needed, you should think more about building a valuable company than having an exit strategy. Investors can see the difference between an entrepreneur who wants to found a company simply for the sake of building a modest company and then selling it and an entrepreneur who wants to have a serious company and wants to be with this company for the long haul. This type of entrepreneur is more valuable to the investor, because a company that generates value and equity will provide greater profit for the investor and make the investor more interested in funding this entrepreneur. Furthermore, a company that generates value over time can also require less liquidation because the profits can be so big that there will be enough pie for everyone, both the investor and the entrepreneur. After all, an entrepreneur starts a company to have something for himself first. Investors are there to help the entrepreneur and to gain a profit from their investment from the entrepreneurs company. Investors have the same thing in common with entrepreneurs, that they both want to make money, the difference is that investors after a particular time period, will want to exit the company through some of the following strategies.

IPO or also known as an initial public offering is when a company prepares to go out to be publicly traded in the stock market. This can be a rather tricky exit strategy because there is a certain kind of capital involved in executing this strategy. When a company prepares for an IPO, it will need to get a special financing known as mezzanine financing.

Management Buyout is another common exit strategy that companies can liquidate. This exit strategy is when the management of two companies work together with the ultimate goal of the management of one company first gaining control of the other company by working with the management of that company and eventually buying that company out.

Leveraged Buyout is an exit strategy where the company is also bought out by another company, but in this case, the buyout is leveraged by the buying company from company debts and other financial deficits.

Whatever the exit strategy you want to go for, you need to keep in mind that your company should first and foremost generate value. That should be your first objective, and how the market goes and how your company manages in the market should determine your outcome.

Network Marketing Basics The Business Card

Business

Business cards are the staple of any business. Once one goes into business for oneself, one of the first things that is done is the design and production of a business card. If done correctly, it could be a very valuable tool for marketing your business.

However, in my opinion, business cards done the traditional way serve no real purpose. What do I mean by that? Usually a business card has very little information that will drive the recipients of this card to action. It provides them with your name, the name of your company, and your contact information; beyond that, there is little else.

Why not put this little billboard to work for you? Instead of just supplying the basic information, invest in a card that is either 2-sided or a fold-over style, so you can put more riveting information on the card.

Denise, you ask, what do you mean by riveting information? I’m glad you asked!

I like to use a business card to guide prospects to take action and not just look at the card, then put it in their George Costanza-style wallet (any “Seinfeld” fans out there?) that is overstuffed with cards and pieces of paper they will never look at again. I recommend putting an eye-catching “headline” or a tagline that targets your niche market.

As an aside, let me briefly touch upon the idea of a niche market. While I know that we in network marketing like to think the world is our niche market and that everyone can benefit from what we have to offer, I recommend breaking the world up into categories. You will be more successful with your prospecting efforts if you identify a target audience, figure out what they need/want, and fill that need for them.

A good example of a niche market is Moms. If you want, this can be further broken down to more specific categories: working mothers, stay-at-home Moms, single/divorced Moms. Each group has their own set of needs and desires: the working Mom yearns to stay home with her children; the stay-at-home Mom wants to earn a living but not leave the nest so as to be close to her young; the single/divorced Moms need to generate income AND figure out a way to be present as a steady, guiding force in their child’s life. Getting extremely specific with your target market and letting them know you have an answer to their problem(s) is a much more effective way of prospecting than to just hand out a card with your name, company and contact information.

Once you carve out a niche you would like to target, design your marketing material that you create yourself (as an addition to the marketing material the company provides for you) with that group in mind. If you market to more than one niche (there is no limit to how many niches you can target), I advise creating different business cards for each target market in such a way that each card somehow catches the attention of that group by addressing a specific need or desire unique to each niche.

The center of your card does not necessarily have to focus on you or your business. Perhaps this information can be put off to the upper and lower corners, so as to allow for an eye-catching image that will appeal to their aspirations. Pictures, not necessarily of you, but of some desirable scene, can often be more effective than plain white or cream-colored stock

Consider adding a tagline to your company’s name (pending their approval, of course). The name of your company, in and of itself, may not be instantly recognizable. If they put this card away only to take it out a few weeks later, there should be something on there that reminds them of the conversation they may have had with you, or that indicates what the company can provide or do for your prospects. Otherwise, chances are they will just toss it and never follow up with you.

Be creative with your title. Are you a mentor in your business? Then say it. Do you teach people how to create wealth? Then say it.

Use the other side of the card, or better yet, use a fold-over style card, and inside you can ask a question that intrigues the prospect or addresses a concern of theirs along with a few short, bullet-pointed answers to the question that demonstrates you and your business have the solution to the prospect’s problem.

I’m going to give you a few examples of how I used the above guidelines to create an effective business card for myself:

1) I used a tagline under my company name that reads, “Your Road to Retirement.” Happily, I did not have to create this tagline or get it approved, this company uses it, and I felt it was effective. This will immediately raise eyebrows to anyone who is looking to get out of the rat race, and I’d say that’s a pretty large part of the population.

2) To match that tagline, I used the image of a beautiful tropical beach with gorgeous blue water, fine white sand, and palm trees. With the exception of people who live in that type of paradise all year long, this is what a good majority of people think about when they think of retirement. So, the image matches the tagline.

3) I gave myself a title: Recruiter and Mentor. I want people to know I am an expert at what I do, and I will help them do the same. Remember, in the end, people don’t just want to go into business for themselves and figure it out the hard way. They want to join a successful person. They are joining YOU. I find that much more emotionally appealing than something like “Independent PC.” To someone not in the network marketing industry, what does that mean? Professional corporation? What EXACTLY is a PC?

4) My contact information includes, besides my phone number, the domain name I picked that is specific to the niche I chose. This is linked up to the automated marketing system provided by my network marketing company.

5) On the reverse side of the card, I ask an intriguing question that is related to my domain name. I ask, “What Do YOU Want to be Free From?” I then give them simple instructions how to take action.

The old model of business cards that most people follow is based on image advertising. Small business owners, to which I include network marketers, cannot afford to effectively advertise by just spreading an image. We are not a name-brand athletic shoe or a famous soda that can be identified just by the shape of its bottle, nor do we have the kind of capital that those companies have to put into an image advertising campaign (think Superbowl Ads at the most extreme). We need to think outside of the box and provide more information on these little tools which will entice the recipient to take action, all within our own marketing budget.

Console Wars. Competition Between Leaders Of Video Gaming Industry

Industry

Console Wars is today a widely recognised phrase referring to the un-tracked battle between major video game consoles, which typically occurs every four or five years when a new ‘generation’ of games consoles are released by the industry leaders, which today are Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo – in no particular order.

The history of console wars is by no means brief, with the first of note being competed way back in the early 1980’s between the Intellivision and the Colecovision, and by all accounts, the Colecovision came out on top in that particular head-to-head selling half a million units, largely thanks to it’s licensing of popular arcade games from the time. If a video games console sold half a million units today, though, it would be a complete failure and would perhaps even go by un-noticed by the developed world’s hordes of gaming enthusiasts.

The growth of the video games industry has been so rapid that the top consoles of today, the XBox 360, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii sell in multiple-millions across the world – with the main video gaming markets being North America, Japan, Europe and Australia.

Microsoft, despite being new-boys in the video game console market with the XBox 360 being only their second venture into it, have already established a firm fanbase of millions all over the world thanks to the success of the original XBox console. One of the main features that the XBox introduced to the console games market was the first online gaming community with any real feeling of value. XBox Live, the online gaming service of the XBox and now the XBox 360 too, was far superior to the Playstation Network – the Playstation 2 equivalent online service.

Microsoft of course have no lack of funds, and they gave the launch of the XBox console and indeed the XBox 360 console a huge kickstart by securing exclusive titles which proved a huge success. Notably games from the Grand Theft Auto and Halo games series.

The Playstation 3, although very powerful, has so far been living off the reputation established by the Playstation and Playstation 2, as it brings nothing to the industry which the XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii don’t offer also. Metal Gear Solid 4 alone, has infact been a major selling point of the console for many gamers – as it’s not available on the XBox 360 or Nintendo Wii consoles.

The Nintendo Wii is without doubt the most refreshing addition to the video games industry for quite some time, bringing a new perspective into gaming that has never before been explored, and it aims to get a stranglehold on the growing audience of lifestyle-aware gamers. Ultimately the Nintendo Wii gets gamers moving with it’s new motion sensitive control system and thanks to the many peripherals which the controller connects to, the possibilities that open up to you within Nintendo Wii games seem endless.

The only real exclusive titles worth mentioning to the Nintendo Wii, as with previous consoles, are those starring the companies legendary gaming mascot, Mario, such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii.

The difference in graphical power behind the XBox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii consoles is minimal and the game support for all three consoles is like never before ensuring all three have thrived alongside one another and continue to do so. There will be no clear winner in the current console war, as unlike in those gone by, most gamers find themselves loving two of the major consoles, if not all three! It’s no longer a “fan-boy” industry where everyone has their favourite, which can only be good news for the future of video gaming which has already grown at a faster rate than ever before in recent years.

Organic Seeds In Jewelry

Jewelry

Organic seeds in jewelry. The idea struck me as odd when I first heard of it, but then I remembered teaching classes of school children how to string dried beans to make necklaces and bracelets. The beans were not organic seed, and the string was mere cotton twine, so the results were rough and un-wearable. Nevertheless, mothers did wear them out of love for their children, and the children had fun making them.

Using organic seeds in jewelry crafting is now an art, with a few artisans learning to incorporate organic seeds into jewelry with beads and other materials.

Beans are Great Organic Seeds for Jewelry

Most of the organic seeds used in jewelry are beans. There are several reasons for this.

1. Beans naturally have beautiful patterns and colors.
2. Beans dry naturally, and retain their shape when dried.
3. Beans will not shrivel up in use.
4. Bean jewelry will last indefinitely, with proper care.

Bean Varieties

Black beans are great organic seeds to use in jewelry. Although their names include the word “black” as in Black Nightfall, black beans are not entirely jet black. These beans exhibit shades of black, gray, brown, and ivory. The swirls of color seem to shimmer when the beans are separated by small glass beads or silver metal.

Red beans are another good organic seed choice for use in making jewelry. Those with red and scarlet in the name may be predominantly deep reddish brown, or they may be half beige, half deep red, like the Red Calypso bean. The Red Calypso makes intriguing organic seed jewelry, since its even division of color becomes wavy lines in a necklace or bracelet.

Paint Dry beans are a good choice or organic seeds for summer jewelry. The light tan and off-white coloration appears cool, and would complement light summer colors and fabrics.

Green Flagolet beans are another good summer choice. The green in these organic seeds is pale and cool-looking. When set off with glass beads of deeper greens, the organic seeds look almost like ivory beans.

For organic seeds that look like polished stones in jewelry, the Tiger Eye bean is a good choice. It looks very like a tiger eye rock.

Other Organic Seeds

While beans are the most common of the organic seeds used in jewelry, some artisans use dried corn as well. Red, gold, orange, green, and gray hues appear in dried corn. Interspersed with gleaming metals and glass beads, these pieces often have a harvest glow.

Other organic seeds that might be used successfully include watermelon seed, squash seed, pumpkin seed, and other large vegetable seeds.

Use Your Own Organic Seeds in Jewelry

If you decide to use organic seeds in making jewelry, you will need to prepare your seeds following these steps.

1. Wash the seeds thoroughly, and let them dry.
2. Buff each seed with a soft cloth.
3. Make holes in the seeds, taking care not to break them.
4. Apply a clear, protective coating inside and out to preserve the seeds.

Once you have prepared your seeds, use them as you would use any bead in making jewelry. In fact, if you teach school, why not make truly wearable jewelry with your students by using prepared organic seeds?

Advantages of Using Organic Seeds in Jewelry

My research reveals only one advantage of using organic seeds to make jewelry, and that is the “green” factor. Organic seeds incorporated into jewelry can be presented as an “eco-friendly” gift.

1 … 132 133 134 135 136 … 753