First of all, glad to be back, it's been a while since my last blog post but I’ve since decided to refresh my blog look & feel and more updates will be coming soon too. This should include regular posting again!

I thought it would be fitting to start blogging again today given the announcement of Steve Jobs passing. I can't say I knew a lot about Steve Jobs other than knowing that he was a co-founder of Apple Inc and that he was CEO …etc. However, most people will agree that he is a visionary individual who has helped transform the digital & computer world into what it is today. If you haven't read or watched his speech in 2005 at Stanford University I recommend that you do. There is a lot everyone can take from that I think.

So after learning of Steve Jobs' death today I thought I'd take a moment and share my thoughts on how I think his passing away will impact the industry and even the world.

Earlier this year it was reported that Apple Inc shares dropped based on news of his health. However, I personally don’t think that this time around the same will happen again. I'm no trading expert though so don't quote me on that!

For consumers: I think he will be remembered as a person who changed the way they do things daily in their lives and as a result the link he established between consumers & Apple as a company is not likely to be broken. In fact, I think it will probably grow larger in his honour!

For business people & entrepreneurs: I think he will be remembered as someone who went for what he believed in and people will look at what he's done and how he's done it which will result in younger generations following their dreams and also changing the world in their own fields and ways.

For students: well, it's all summed up in the speech he gave at Stanford "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life… have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

For everyone else: they will probably watch everyone's progress in the IT industry and maybe other industries too and will compare them to what Steve Jobs has done and achieved during his time in the field.

So in other words, I think Steve Jobs after his death may have equal or possibly even greater impact on how the digital world progresses from this point onwards. RIP Steve Jobs.

I've just introduced a new blog category to my blog topics Business. So in this category you will find some of my personal thoughts on business related things. Despite being at an early stage in my career, the idea of running a business at some point during my career journey is something I'm interested in doing. At this stage I'm not sure when that might happen, but I guess I'll know eventually. Below are some initial thoughts on what I think makes a good business. This category is basically my thoughts regarding things I think I've learnt from observing what some of the great business leaders are doing out there.

To have a good business I think you need to have the following things.

- A good idea
- Money to fund that idea
- A great team of people to build that idea
- A way to get the word out about your idea

- So what defines a good idea? How do you know if your idea is good or whether or not it makes sense and is worth pursuing.

From what I've learnt: A good idea is building a product or a service that fills a need by someone else or helps make what they do more efficient. So in order to have a good idea one would need to recognise gaps in products or services around them. I think if you can be good at identifying gaps then you've got it!

Ok so you think you've identified a gap that you can fill, but need assurance that it makes sense. Here's another thing you can do. LEARN FROM OTHERS. A really easy way to test an idea you have to know whether or not it makes sense is to run it by someone who's been there done that. After all, why make mistakes and learn the hard way when you can get advice from others who've done it before. There are a lot of people out there who can give advice and help one find flaws in their ideas very quickly.

- How do we get money to fund an idea?

Assuming we've gone through step one and now have our idea. The question becomes how do we fund it. Well I guess there only 2 options, either we have enough Capital to fund it ourselves or the need to borrow. In most cases one will need to go with Option 2 and borrow money. This can be done by getting investors on board, borrow money from a bank, floating a company ...etc. I think no matter which option one chooses you need to do one thing convince OTHERS (the investors) that you have a good idea. Note that getting through step one you convinced YOURSELF that your idea is good.

To convince investors that you have a good idea you need to have them take you seriously. I believe this can be done in the following steps.

- Build your brand (portfolio) and your reputation.
- Have a business plan that describes your idea and goals and how you plan to achieve them.
- Approach people who can help while backing yourself with the above and get started from there.

To be continued...