There never seems to be a lack of business idea contests. Coming from a management school, we’d always hear about a team from the school winning a prize from a contest sponsored by some big corporation. And the ones who’d win always seem to have some sort of ambitious or “sexy” ideas involving upcycling to create a luxury product. The rare groups that continue with their business are able to find a market, but it’s not really that big. Newer business ideas now would involve some sort of app.
I don’t really have a problem with those ideas, especially if they are able to fly and also create some impact. The issue is when “simple” ideas get ignored in such contests because it doesn’t sound as novel, but it actually generates more money and create impact. I’m talking about ideas such as selling produce from farmers directly to consumer, making food products (e.g. coco sugar, peanut butter, bottled tea) that are sourced from farmers and made by a community, and the like. Those are boring ideas by business idea contest standards. But honestly, those have been the ones I found to be very effective.
Don’t chase after “sexy” ideas when a simple idea can work.
