Digital Entrepreneurship – SS2 Digital Technologies Lesson Note (Third Term)

A digital entrepreneur is someone who uses the internet to create, sell or provide a service. Their shop is a website or a social media page, and their customers can be anywhere in the world. Digital entrepreneurs sell products online (e-commerce), sell their skills as freelancers, and follow a simple cycle of traffic, conversion, payment and delivery.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• define a digital entrepreneur and e-commerce;
• describe three ways of selling online;
• name popular freelance skills and the platforms where freelancers find work;
• state the four steps of the online business cycle;
• compare a traditional shop with a digital business;
• explain how to stay safe and professional as a digital entrepreneur.

Who is a digital entrepreneur?

In the old days, if you wanted to start a business, you needed to rent a shop, buy shelves, and wait for people to walk past your street.

A digital entrepreneur is someone who uses the internet to create, sell, or provide a service. Your “shop” is a website or a social media page, and your customers can be from Lagos, London, or New York, all at the same time.

What is e-commerce?

E-commerce (electronic commerce) is simply buying and selling goods over the internet.

Three ways to sell online

1. Inventory-led: You buy products (like sneakers or hoodies), keep them in your room, and sell them through Instagram or Jumia.
2. Dropshipping: This is a “magic” way of selling. You show pictures of products from a supplier. When a customer buys from you, the supplier sends it directly to the customer. You never touch the product!
3. Digital products: You sell things that don’t need a delivery truck, like e-books, beats for music, or “presets” for photo editing.

What is freelancing?

If you are good at drawing, writing, coding, or even translating languages, you can be a freelancer. A freelancer is a “contractor” who works for different companies on different projects instead of having one boss.

Popular freelance skills for students

• Graphic design: Creating logos or flyers.
• Content writing: Writing blog posts or captions.
• Social media management: Helping a business grow its Instagram or TikTok.
• Data entry: Organising information for companies.

Where to find work

Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr and LinkedIn act as “marketplaces” where people looking for help meet people with skills.

How does an online business work?

Every successful online business follows a simple 4-step cycle:

1. Traffic: Getting people to look at your page (using ads or good videos).
2. Conversion: Convincing those people to click “Buy” or “Hire me.”
3. Payment: Using a payment gateway (like Paystack or Flutterwave) to collect money safely.
4. Delivery: Sending the product or finishing the task.

How does a traditional shop compare with a digital business?

How can a digital entrepreneur stay safe and professional?

To succeed as a digital entrepreneur, you need more than a phone. You need trust.

• Avoid “get rich quick”: Real digital entrepreneurship takes time and hard work. If it sounds too easy, it’s probably a scam.
• Customer reviews: In the digital world, your “reputation” is your currency. One bad review can stop 100 people from buying.
• Consistency: You can’t post once a month and expect to make money. The internet moves fast!

Class activity: the “one-day business”

1. Identify a skill: Write down one thing you can do well (for example, drawing, fast typing, organising).
2. The pitch: Write a 3-sentence “advert” for your service.
3. Pricing: How much would you charge for one hour of your work? Compare your price with a classmate.

Discussion: Which is better, selling a physical product (like bread) or a digital service (like a logo)? Why?

Evaluation

1. Who is a digital entrepreneur?
2. What is e-commerce? Name the three ways of selling online.
3. Name two freelance skills and two platforms where freelancers find work.
4. List the four steps of the online business cycle.
5. State two differences between a traditional shop and a digital business.

Assignment

Explain in your own words how dropshipping is different from inventory-led selling. Say which one you would choose for a business of your own, and give one reason.