Page - 285 - in Digital Entrepreneurship - Impact on Business and Society

LebMall.comwouldn’t be settled inLebanon if it’snot registered in theministry of economy. John says, “every picture owned by the business has to be registered for copyright; regardless, these pictures are being “stolen” and copied by other stores.” Johnbrought and installed Internet servers fromabroad called “Cloudflare” into LebMall.com, which costed him $2000 per month since he realized that with Lebanon’s relatively slow internet, customerswon’twaitmore than twenty seconds to press a button and place an order online. Additionally, the financial sector in Lebanon poses a threat to John’s online business through imposing high bank interest rates. Due toweak institutional structures and the prevalence of corruption, people in Lebanon are often not propelled/compelled to properly follow procedures. So, to get things done as efficiently as possible, John likes to keep people motivated by engaging in gift-giving to those who assist him. This can be considered as an additional cost to the business. 5. HumanCapital as anAsset: With respect to the role of human capital, the founder emphasizes on the efforts he and his team have beenmaking to study the Lebanesemarket and grow the busi- ness. For example, they conducted feasibility studies regarding the success of LebMall.com prior to its launch. This is an indicationofhis individualdrive that ledhimto trainhimself.Hesays, “I knowhow to developWeb sites throughmy personal education and curiosity.” Thefounderdemonstratedsignsofpassion forentrepreneurship,determination,will to succeed, and a strive for knowledge and growth during his interview. John, as well as other entrepreneurs operating in developing countries must be willing to take risks,beable tobounceback fromfailure, andhave thoroughknowledgeof the market and its demands. They must step out of their comfort zones and push themselves to improve their skill-set to attract their customers’ attention and engagement. John stated that he’s eager to learn, andas a compensation for the low levels of knowledge capital, he and his team are ready to go out of their way to learn further and excel in this endeavor. Digital entrepreneurs have different approaches and intentions for each of their businesses. For instance, John expanded his company within several industries (electronics, apparel, etc.) with LebMall.com, since he had the capital to do so, whereas below entails how Lynn, the founder of WIB.com (WIB stands for “Women in Business”), targeted a specific industry (beauty industry), having a more limited capital. In addition, John communicatedwith his costumers solely in the digital space, whereas Lynn, other than using socialmedia and online tools to advertise, adopted a technique dependent on human contact and face-to-face interactionwith her customers. 294 G. Samara and J. Terzian