Three booming industries (that might surprise you)
During those long nights spent poring through business news, developments and the latest startup success stories, always searching for that little something that sparks your next big entrepreneurial idea, you may have noticed some quirks.
- Author
Catie McHugh
Lots of industries are booming right now… and they’re not all powered by the next wave of Silicon Valley superstars. In fact, there’s huge growth in areas that have been pretty much off-the-radar for years. Let’s take a look:
3. Medical marijuana
Dubbed the ‘green boom’, the little polarizing plant known as marijuana is experiencing time in the limelight as a huge growth industry, thanks to several US states legalizing its medicinal use - in some cases, it is even outperforming investment gains in established pharmaceutical stocks.
Some experts are predicting a sharp ascent for ‘pot stocks’, with an estimated growth from $7 billion US to over $25 billion US by 2021.
A quirky industry invites quirky, forward-thinking entrepreneurs, some of which are exploring ways to leverage this recent boom and give an ever-growing market variety and convenience in how they engage with the product, with one of the emerging players offering an app-driven medical marijuana delivery service. Whodathunkit?
2. Aged care
If you’ve ever navigated aged care support services, either for yourself or a loved one, you may have experienced the frustration associated with what can be quite a disjointed, difficult system in many places.
Many Western countries, like Australia, are facing the future with an ageing population. Baby boomers are the logical next generation in line to require aged care services, driving whopping growth and innovation in the sector to accommodate the surge in demand.
For an industry that really hasn’t changed much in many years, this is a pretty darn exciting time with two really positive outcomes: more jobs, and higher quality care for those who need it most.
Sydney-based company Daughterly Care saw a gap when they started out - they wanted to offer an alternative to nursing homes, available 24-hours a day, where clients would be afforded compassion and support in their own homes as though they were being cared for by their own daughter.
With aged care finally getting a much-needed makeover, baby boomers will get the benefit of rapid, on-demand services like specialized home care, and being connected with support quickly through app technology.
1. Linguistic technology
Learning languages is clearly nothing new, but the way in which we approach it is really being turned on its head. Gone are the days of language school night classes, with virtual classroom “cloud-based” learning experiencing massive growth.
A report by Transparency Market Research indicated that the value of the cloud-based language learning market will grow from $146.3M US in 2016 to $427.5M US by 2025.
Some reports suggested that interest in learning languages was waning, however - the most-funded app ever launched on Kickstarter is Fluent Forever - a neat piece of tech designed to build rapid fluency in a number of languages. As with a lot of progressive industry shake-ups, it just took a clever entrepreneur to adapt to the way the market now prefers to learn… and naturally, easy-access technology is often at the heart.
The unique ways in which an entrepreneur can navigate markets and find that revolutionary niche is vast, and you have the power to start your own journey at any time.
