ENTREPRENEURSHIP

SKILLS
Presented by Jabir
 Entrepreneurship and
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship

The word ‘entrepreneur’ is derived from the Stevenson and Jarillo define entrepreneurship as: “The
process by which individuals pursue opportunities without
French word entreprendre, which means ‘to
regard to the resources they currently control.”
undertake’. Cole defines entrepreneurship as, “A Entrepreneurship can, thus, be defined, as “an economic
purposeful activity to initiate, maintain and process, where an idea is generated or an opportunity is
aggrandise profit-oriented business.” created, refined, developed and implemented, while being
exposed to uncertainty to realise a profit by effective
utilisation of resources”
 Characteristics Of
Entrepreneurship
On the basis of the above mentioned definitions, the following are some of
the characteristics of entrepreneurship.
• It is an economic activity done to create, develop and maintain a profit-
oriented organisation.
• It begins with identifying an opportunity as a potential to sell and make
profit in the market.
• It deals with optimisation in utilisation of resources.
• It is the ability of an enterprise and an entrepreneur to take risks.
 Entrepreneurship — art and
science
Entrepreneurship is considered to be both an art and a science. For a subject to be considered as science, it needs to
have a stepwise progression substantiated by valid proof like chemistry or physics. There are steps that need to be
followed to attain a specific result. On the other hand, some subjects are categorised as art, where no specific way to
attain a result is required and the skill of using the subject matter is of prime importance. An example of art is music. A
musician can play music notes in any combination to create soothing and soulful music. Entrepreneurship is the perfect
combination of art and science as it requires specific progression and procedures to be followed and also the skill to
digress when required, and yet make the entire activity profitable and growth oriented.

An entrepreneur is someone, who has the capability to start an organisation by organising various resources required to
make an opportunity purposeful. Entrepreneurs are not necessarily motivated by profit but may regard it as a standard
for measuring achievement or success.
 Qualities of a successful entrepreneur

(a) Initiative: In the world of business, opportunities come and go. An entrepreneur must be able to initiate action and take
advantage of an opportunity. Once a person misses out on an opportunity, it may not come again. Therefore, taking initiative on the
part of the entrepreneur is a must.
(b) Willingness to take risks: In any business, there is an element of risk involved. It implies that it is not necessary that every
business shall earn a profit. This deters individuals to take up risks and start a business. However, an entrepreneur always
volunteers to take risks to run a business and be successful.
(c) Ability to learn from experience: An entrepreneur may make mistakes. However, once an error is committed, it must be tried
that it is not repeated as it may lead to heavy losses. Therefore, the person must have the ability to learn from experience.
(d) Motivation: It is necessary for success in every walk of life. Once you get motivated to do something, you will not rest until
you complete it. For example, sometimes, you become so intrested in reading a story or magazine that you do not sleep until you
complete it. This kind of interest in work comes through motivation. It is an essential quality to become a successful entrepreneur.
(e) Self-confidence: For achieving success in life, a person needs to have confidence in oneself.
Someone, who lacks confidence, may not be able to achieve much in life or inspire others to
work. Self-confidence is reflected in courage, enthusiasm and ability to lead. Therefore, a
successful entrepreneur must have self-confidence.
(f) Hard work: There is no substitute for hard work in life. While running a business, one problem
or the other may arise every day. The entrepreneur has to be vigilant so as to identify the problems
and solve them as early as possible. This requires hard work on the part of the entrepreneur. The
person cannot afford to say: “The office hours are over now and I will not work any longer.” In
some situations, the person may even have to work for the whole night. Thus, hard work is the
secret of success for an entrepreneur.
(g) Decision making ability: In running an enterprise, an entrepreneur has to take a number of
decisions. Therefore, the person must be capable of making suitable and timely decisions. In the
present world, things move very fast. If an entrepreneur does not have the ability to make suitable
and timely decisions, the person may miss out on an opportunity and incur losses.
 Type of Entrepreneurs
Service entrepreneurs Business entrepreneurs

These entrepreneurs either create a new market These are entrepreneurs, who undertake business and
trading activities and are not concerned with the
for their services or provide a service in an
manufacturing work. A business entrepreneur identifies
existing market. They spot an idea and convert the potential of a product in a market. From that point
it into a service, which is unprecedented or not onwards, the business and trading entrepreneur is
available in the market. It is irrespective of the responsible for stimulating demand for the product. The
product may be existent in a foreign market but the
nature and size of operations but is essentially person is able to stimulate demand for the same in local
a service. market
 Industrial entrepreneurs Agricultural entrepreneurs

An industrial entrepreneur is, essentially, a

manufacturer, who identifies the needs of Agriculture has always been considered as
customers and creates products or services to a low-yielding entrepreneurship.
serve them. Such an entrepreneur is product Agriculturists have now introduced new
oriented, who starts through an industrial unit and innovative technology to maximise the
to create a product like electronic industry, yield, giving birth to agriculture
textile unit, machine tools, manufacturing unit, entrepreneurship.
etc.
 First generation
Women entrepreneurs
entrepreneurs

As the name suggests, when women take First generation entrepreneurs are those who do
not have any entrepreneurship background. They
up entrepreneurship, they are called
can be of different age groups and backgrounds.
women entrepreneurs. A number of An individual, who starts at the age of 50 years
women entrepreneurs are taking initiatives without any entrepreneurship background, is also
in starting entrepreneurial activities and a first generation entrepreneur and someone else,
many of them have even made it to the who starts at the age of 17 years, is also a first
generation entrepreneur
top.
 Roles and functions of an entrepreneur
a) Identifying entrepreneurial opportunity: There are many opportunities in the world of business. These are
based on human needs like food, fashion, education, etc., which are constantly changing. These opportunities are
not realised by the general public. But an entrepreneur senses the opportunities faster than others. The
entrepreneur, therefore, has to keep one’s eyes and ears open at all times. A person, who wants to become an
entrepreneur, requires imagination, creativity and innovativeness.
(b) Turning ideas into action: Entrepreneurs must be capable of turning ideas into reality. They should be able to
collect information regarding ideas, products and practices to meet the market demand.
(c) Feasibility study: Entrepreneurs conduct studies to assess the market feasibility of a proposed product or
service. They anticipate problems and assess quantity, quality, cost and sources of inputs required to run the
enterprise. Such a blueprint of all activities is termed as a ‘business plan’ or ‘project report’.
(d) Resourcing: An entrepreneur needs various resources in terms of money, machine, raw
material and workforce to run an enterprise successfully. An essential function of an entrepreneur
is to ensure the timely availability of all these resources.
(e) Setting up an enterprise: For setting up an enterprise, the entrepreneur may need to fulfil some
legal formalities. The person must also try to find a suitable location, design the premises, install
machinery and do many other works.
(f) Managing the enterprise: One of the important functions of an entrepreneur is to run the
enterprise. The person has to manage the workforce, material, finance and organise the production
of goods and services. The person has to market each product and service, after ensuring
appropriate returns (profits) of the investment. Only a well-managed organisation yields the
desired results.
(g) Growth and development: Once the enterprise achieves the desired results, the entrepreneur
has to explore another higher goal for its growth and development. The person is not satisfied only
with achieving a set goal but constantly strives for achieving excellence.
hat motivates an entrepreneur?
Standard of excellence Uniqueness

An entrepreneur constantly sets For an entrepreneur, one of the

high standards and strives to most important qualities is to
Every human has a nature to create and pro-create, and to dream
attain the standard of excellence
and work to fulfill those dreams. But not every human is able to remain unique in everything the
by working hard and showing
person does and the way it is
handle failures. An entrepreneur, on the other hand, has the innovativeness.
done.
potential and willingness to overcome every hurdle that comes in
way of the person’s entrepreneurial endeavours. The person finds
out ways and means to pursue one’s dreams and fulfil the goals.

Focus on long-term goals

Long-term goals are those that are distant in terms of time
period. An entrepreneur focusses more on what is to be
achieved in distant future rather than in near future. The
person will plan and work patiently to achieve the long-
term goals.
 Need to influence
The entrepreneur perceives one’s ideas as revolutionary and expects them to influence the world in
a substantial way. For most entrepreneurs, their ideas have impacted the world and some have
completely changed the look of the world.

A wage employed person is someone, who works for an individual or organization and gets paid
for the same. An entrepreneur is a self-employed person, who strives to make the business better
by taking risks and trying new ideas.

Entrepreneurship is the act of setting up and running a business, and taking risks in order to earn
profits
 Identifying opportunities and risk taking

• Community concerns: Look for issues that concern your community. Sometimes, starting locally can reap huge benefits.
Identify the inefficiencies, analyse how an idea can help and evaluate the risks involved.
• Personal experiences: Many powerful world changing ideas come from the experiences and challenges an entrepreneur faces
in life. If you aspire to become an entrepreneur, you must listen to the personal stories of successful entrepreneurs and draw
inspiration. Their experiences may teach you powerful lessons in entrepreneurship and give an insight into some business
strategies that you may adopt to become successful.
• Research with others: Speak to like-minded people, get involved through social groups and join local startup groups. Many a
time, discussion with others opens various doors of opportunities. It also helps to learn the nuances of business.

For an entrepreneur, it is all about spotting the right opportunity and taking the leap of faith. Mark Zuckerberg thought about a
simple idea of connecting with his college friends through Internet. His simple idea sparked the ‘social movement’, and today,
almost all of us are connected through ‘Facebook’.
 Startups
A startup is a company that is in the first stage of its operations. A
startup and a traditional business venture are different, most notably
for the way they think about growth. A startup is often financed by
the founders until the business gets off the ground, and it gets
outside finance or investments
 Barriers to Entrepreneurship

You must have watched a 100m hurdle race for women or 110m hurdle race for men in
school or stadium. Some of them were obstacle races, in which there would be hurdles
— you would need to jump over to get to the end line and if you ran fast enough, you
would win. A business venture is a lot like hurdle race. It, usually, involves risks. A risk
is any situation, which involves danger. So, while running the race as an entrepreneur,
many hurdles, such as financial constraints may come in way. These things can stop the
person from achieving success. These are called ‘barriers’. One day while going to
school, a tree falls on road. It stops all vehicles. It is a barrier that is stopping you from
reaching school on time.
 Environmental barriers
One of the biggest barriers that entrepreneurs face is environmental factors. Environmental factors
can be many. But the most common ones include the following.
• Lack of adequate resources or raw material
• Non‑availability of skilled labour
• Lack of requisite machinery and other infrastructure
• Unavailability of monetary resources on time
These barriers can be easily overcome by studying the market well enough before taking a decision
about the venture. Research, market surveys and mentor guidance can help overcome such barriers.
 Personal barriers
Forming a team and teamwork
Self-doubt

It is easy to get discouraged when something goes wrong in a Finding suitable people and training them to
business. One starts doubting oneself and may even feel like
put in their best for the business is a tedious
giving up. Self-doubt comes when we do not have confidence in
ourselves and our abilities. One of the best ways to deal with self- and dificult exercise. As an entrepreneur, one
doubt is to work towards one’s goals. When we lack motivation, must find people, who think and feel like the
just looking at our goals and knowing that the tasks we are doing
today are contributing to our long-term goals help us feel better. rest of the team. When new people fit into the
Having family and friends, who know our goals and support us culture of the team, work can happen better
when we are doubting ourselves, also help.
and faster.