Editor’s note: This article was first published in April 2011. Its forecasts were written in 2011 for the next 5 to 15 years. Several, such as cloud data, data-protection firms and online teaching, have since become established, and electric cars, dismissed here, are now widespread.
Below is a list of 8 of the most profitable businesses expected in the not-too-distant future: we could be talking 5, 10 or 15 years. This article follows on from our earlier piece, “The 10 jobs of the future“, which many people laughed off, I imagine because of how futuristic it all sounded.
Even so, 3 of those 10 futuristic jobs are already being hired for, nanomedic among them, so we can see that the future is already here. Here are the 8 most profitable businesses of the future.
Personal branders
Just as personal shoppers and personal trainers have carved out a niche, the personal brander will focus on the image and brand of a company, both online and offline. Put simply, this is a business for consultancies that manage personal or corporate brands. In turn, these businesses will create work for advertising and public relations professionals.
Virtual organization companies
Secretarial work is changing, and companies will need to sort out the flood of information coming their way. As we know, data will increasingly live in the cloud, so these companies will also be responsible for keeping confidential data in order and secure.
Personal data control and protection firms
The internet is changing some laws that not all lawyers are prepared for, so there will be a need for both advice and legal defense in cases where personal data is misused. On top of that, securing confidential data and protecting it against hacker attacks is often beyond a company’s IT department, so some of these services will have to be outsourced. This service is already in demand, and the first companies of this kind already exist.
Alternative vehicle engineering firms
Some countries have already passed laws to keep petrol and diesel vehicles out of their capital cities. The law will take effect in 2050. In the meantime, governments around the world are now aware that alternative energy is needed in the face of the supposed oil shortage and pollution.
According to Science magazine, the car of the future won’t be electric, because some earlier models were tested that showed a vehicle could run on a very cheap fuel, namely water, or a hydrogen-based system. Your engineering knowledge could help you go down in history as the inventor of the car of the future.
Virtual teaching and advisory companies
Who’s to say that schools as we know them won’t be affected by new technologies? Some countries have already developed virtual teaching programs for people with a temporary or permanent disability. We have already suggested a business idea based on online private tutoring, which could certainly become a very profitable business. And, as we said before, one of the jobs of the future will be the virtual lawyer, able to advise clients over the internet. Setting up a company that covers these areas of virtual teaching and advice will open up a huge future for you.
Protocol firms for epidemics and quarantines
Swine flu (influenza A), uncontrolled nuclear energy and the new pandemics that will emerge in the future will create the need for companies that safeguard the interests of millions of people by studying the procedures to follow in such cases. These companies will need expert professionals so that, when the time comes… they save lives. They will also be in charge of creating an innovative branch of occupational risk prevention, reviewing every company that works with products that, through negligence, could end in tragedy for thousands of people.
Companies specializing in scientific ethics
Stem cells are a great invention that can save millions of human lives, although they can also be used for other purposes that religion or certain cultures may consider less ethical. This will create the need for companies that regulate and negotiate on scientific ethics. They will be the ones deciding what counts as science and what counts as tampering with nature itself. This debate is already under way with the first cyborg men.
Wellness companies for older people: innovative care homes
We need to look after our elderly and give them the greatest possible well-being. Until now, care homes have been places to keep people who can no longer look after themselves. In the future, a care home, besides being a very profitable business, will be a place where our elders are cared for physically, with beauty services, professionals who adapt sport to older people, finance classes, legal advice on inheritance and so on. That way, an older person’s brain won’t deteriorate as quickly as it does today.
And these are some of the business ideas our future holds.
Further reading
Featured image: BalticServers.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
