Starting a Business 1: Vision and Opportunity

University of Leeds via FutureLearn

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Details

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Provider

FutureLearn
Pricing

Free Online Course (Audit)
Languages

English
Certificate

$54.00 Certificate Available
Duration & workload

2 weeks, 2 hours a week
Sessions

On-Demand
Level

Beginner

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Overview

A successful business starts with a clear vision and a thorough understanding of the opportunities available to turn that vision into a reality. Whether you have an idea for a future venture or you already have a side-line business whilst studying, this course will help you consider your vision and explore the opportunities available. It will give you the time to plan and help you to start documenting your thoughts in a structured business plan while allowing you to share your ideas with others.

This course is the first in a series of six about ‘starting a business’.

This course is part of the Going to University collection which has been specifically designed for students at schools and colleges. They provide a taster of undergraduate study at the University of Leeds and help students to decide which subject to study at university.

Completion of the courses will also enhance students’ university applications.

The courses can also be used as a teachers’ classroom enrichment resource.

Courses in this collection are also great for people that want an introduction in the specific subjects discussed in each course.

Syllabus

Vision and opportunity

Welcome
Discovering and creating opportunities
Emma's business challenge
Summary

Realising your vision

About Week 2
Your turn
Your business plan
What next?

Taught by

Nigel Lockett

Reviews

4.6 rating, based on 91 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Starting a Business 1: Vision and Opportunity

Keren Rodriguez @KerenR

this course was very helpful, it gives a lot of insight, tips and things you should look out for but is a bit repetitive, and if you don't pay the premium it isn't that great. It's not very engaging so if you aren't super interested it gets boring after a while but overall it does give very helpful advice.
Ashley Eidler

This six-course series is extremely well-produced and well-organized, and FutureLearn itself makes it easy to navigate through the lessons. Each course is broken up into two weeks of study - the first week focuses on one of the core aspects of start…

This six-course series is extremely well-produced and well-organized, and FutureLearn itself makes it easy to navigate through the lessons. Each course is broken up into two weeks of study - the first week focuses on one of the core aspects of starting a business, offers a case study, and encourages you to come up with solutions that you can then check against the opinions of professional business advisers. The second week encourages you to look into the details of your own business plan, if you have one, or research an existing company. The courses also offer an extremely helpful document that guides you through brainstorming and planning your own business venture.

Though all six courses in the Start a Business series are running concurrently, I had no problems finishing up the full set before the courses closed. The course materials suggest 1-2 hours per week - I'd say you can easily get through both weeks of each course in 1-2 hours.
Jade Smith @Jadeams

This course is Amazing. I learned so much and it helped me structure my thoughts and complete them for a real business idea. Defiantly recommenced. Will be taking all the rest of the classes!
Naing Linn Aung @NAING

The course helps me up the knowledge about how to start small business vision and opportunity. The course was received what I expected. Thank you so much.
Anonymous

A really good course! Helped me learn what I needed to in a simple and understandable way! The only problem is I don't get a certificate unless I buy the course, which isn't great because its not something I can put on my CV.
Anonymous

Some useful content in here, but seems to want to sell Leeds University! Last video on week one has nothing to do with the course at all so skipped that bit.
Anonymous

Firstly, thank you for opening the free course. Secondly, although the course is short, it made us look at something that I did not look at like this and I learned to study all aspects of a project other than profit and loss. It is necessary to consider people, place and gap.
Anonymous

This course is very helpful in getting your foot in the door, on the other hand it doesn't have much engagement or much task to help you memorize the information. It only allows a handful of engagement. Other than that it's okay enough for the limited version.
Nosaiba Aouam

This course is very hepful to anyone interested in working in a business, studying business or making their own business. It provides the information you need to make a successful business and teaches you how to think like an entrepreneur, how entre…

This course is very hepful to anyone interested in working in a business, studying business or making their own business. It provides the information you need to make a successful business and teaches you how to think like an entrepreneur, how entrepreneurs spot an opportunity for success and take it despite the risks. Personally, as a seventeen year old, all I know about business is what I have learnt in school through some projects we did which is not much at all and this course started off at a suitable level, simple enough not to confuse me till i lose interest or hope to continue on this path. Also, I particularly liked the tasks given as they really did aid in the learning and were quite lenient about how you went about doing them. Before
Anonymous

This is a really good free course for starting to think about a new business venture. It inspired us with new ideas for our business. We also liked to hear other people's ideas of what they were doing too. Indeed it is good that we were able to connect with others in this way. We also felt reassured that not everyone knows what they want to do yet as we are still deciding more things about our business. We also liked the business plan to help build a strong foundation for a good business. Highly recommend this short course! We would definitely like to do part 2 of the course but not straightaway as there are other things we want to do in relation to our business idea.
Anonymous

This is a really good free course for starting to think about a new business venture. It inspired us with new ideas for our business. We also liked to hear other people's ideas of what they were doing too. Indeed it is good that we were able to connect with others in this way. We also felt reassured that not everyone knows what they want to do yet as we are still deciding more things about our business. We also liked the business plan to help build a strong foundation for a good business. Highly recommend this short course! We would definitely like to do part 2 of the course but not straightaway as there are other things we want to do in relation to our business idea.
Anonymous

Je me permets de donner mon avis en français car je suis francophone d'origine Ivoirienne et pas très doué en anglais.
Je cherchais des cours en ligne pour m'améliorer en anglais et je suis tombé sur ce site et je m'estime vraiment chanceuse car en plus de l'anglais je développe d'autres compétences nécessaire à mon avenir. Vivant en Côte d'ivoire et n'ayant pas suffisamment de moyen une formation pareil était inespérée. Merci Future learn et les universités associées.
Anonymous

Great for starting and help you motivate starting your business. However, mostly focuses on only online and influencer content which I found a bit interesting. I think that it also advertises a bit of shortcuts. Since I'm going to pursue with my business idea, I hope I will find more hands-on advice in the follow-up course.
Anonymous

This course was well planned and it has helped me understand the nuances of starting a business. It is split in to small parts and really useful to learn the whole picture.The lecture videos by Nigel were very well made and made concepts easier to understand,The case study made us think on our own,read up many articles about the subject. It also dealt with current scenarios faced by businesses in the real world.Overall it was a good learning experience.
Anonymous

My previous expectations were high. Sadly I have to say that the content of this course is quite poor. However I do appreciate all the effort put behind it, especially considering that it is for free. When I read that it was a 2 week course which you could complete in 2 hours per week, I knew it could not offer enough information and capabilities. What I found most valuable were the 2 pdf documents to download. Give it a try, if it is still for free.
Anonymous

I would advise you to see this opportunity as a gold mine in your door step!
Every step of the way is a bridge to the next!
You learn from the foundation, and from professionals with vast experience on the field of business.
This exercise would be a life changer if at the end every advice is put to practice...
Mohamed Kamal Ali

Thank you very much. I learnt a lot from this short course. Especially, when we talk about finding the opportunity and how we can start a business by solving a problem in our society or filling a gap or starting something new that can make people's lives easier and make them happier.
Naima Pinchen

This was straight to the point and gave us the ability to think about opportunity models in depth and get a basic understanding of how to start thinking about building a business.
Quincy Whyte

This course was amazing. i managed to complete it in no time by being dedicated and my hunger for knowledge was a Plus
Harrison Ajiamah

The course was very educative, interactive, informative. I has helped me gain focus and clearly define my objectives & opened my eyes to the business world as well as inspired me to take step by step plans to bringing my business ideas to life.