The Copperbelt University

361: Entrepreneurship Studies

Lecture 1B: Characteristics of
Entrepreneurs
K. Mulenga
April 2020
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 Introduction
• Successful entrepreneurs have a wide
range of characteristics.
• They do not need specific inherent
characteristics, but a set of acquired
skills.
• There is evidence of an ideal
entrepreneurial characteristic.

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 Introduction Cont.
• Great entrepreneurs can be charismatic
or boring, analytical or intuitive,
gregarious or low key, good or terrible
with details, delegators or control freaks.
• What is needed is the capacity to execute
in certain key ways.

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 Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
• Desire for responsibility
• Preference for moderate risk
• Confidence in their ability to succeed
• Desire for immediate feedback
• High level of energy
• Future orientation

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 Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
Cont.
• Skill at organising
• Value achievement over money
• High degree of commitment
• Tolerance for ambiguity
• Flexibility
• Tenacity

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 Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
Cont.
• Determination
• Leadership
• Opportunity obsession
• Creativity and self reliance
• Motivation to excel

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 Desire for responsibility
• Entrepreneurs feel personally responsible
for the success or failure of their
ventures.
• The like to be in charge of their resources
and use the resources to attain goals
they have set for themselves.

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 Preference for moderate risk
• Entrepreneurs are calculated risk takers.
• They are not wild risk takers or gamblers.
• They set realistic and attainable goals,
though they may seem impossible to
others.
• The see opportunities in areas that
reflect their knowledge, backgrounds and
experience.
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 Confidence in their ability to
succeed
• Entrepreneurs are abundantly confident
in their ability to succeed.
• They are confident that they have chosen
the correct career path.
• They are highly optimistic, that why even
when they fail, they bounce back.

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 Desire for immediate feedback
• They love the desire associated with
running a business.
• They like to know how they doing and
want constant feedback.

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 High level of energy
• Entrepreneurs exhibit high levels of
energy than an average person.
• High levels of energy are critical success
factor needed to kick start a startup.
• Long hours of work and hard work are
the rule rather than an exception.

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 Future orientation
• Entrepreneurs have a well-defined sense
for opportunities.
• They look ahead and are less concerned
with what they did yesterday than what
tomorrow will bring.
• Real entrepreneurs stay focused on the
future.

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 Skill at organising
• Entrepreneurs are experts at bringing people
together to achieve a task.
• The ability to combine people and jobs allows
entrepreneurs to convert their visions into
reality.
• Building a company from the scratch is similar
to piercing together a giant jigsaw puzzle.

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 Value achievement over money
• Entrepreneurs are not primarily driven by
money.
• They are driven by achievement.
• They have the will to conquer, impulse to
fight, to prove oneself superior to others
and to succeed for the sake of suceess
itself.

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 High degree of commitment
• Entrepreneurship is about hard work and
launching a company successfully
requires total commitment.
• Business founders often immerse
themselves completely in their startups.

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 Tolerance for ambiguity
• Entrepreneurs have a high tolerance for
ambiguous, ever- changing conditions,
the environment in which they operate.
• Their ability to handle uncertainty
enables them to make decisions using
new and sometimes conflicting
information.

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 Flexibility
• Entrepreneurs have the ability to adapt
to changing customer needs and
business environment.
• They change their strategies if they fail to
achieve the intended targets.

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 Tenacity
• Entrepreneurs simply keep trying.
• The are not discouraged by obstacles,
obstructions and defeat.
• Schumpeter noted that success is a feat
of will not intellect.
• Milton Hershey's first three candy
businesses failed before successfully
launching Lancaster Caramel Company.
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 Determination
• With determination, entrepreneurs can
overcome incredible obstacles and also
compensate for other weaknesses.

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 Leadership
• Entrepreneurs are experienced,
possessing intimate knowledge of the
technology and market place in which
they operate.
• They have sound general management
skills and a proven track record.
• Entrepreneurs are teachers and learners
as well as doers and visionaries.
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 Opportunity obsession
• Successful entrepreneurs are obsessed
with opportunity not with money, image,
resources, contacts or networking.
• Obsessed with value creation and
enhancement
• Intimate knowledge of customers’ needs
and wants.

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 Creativity and self reliance
• Nonconventional, open-minded and
lateral thinker.
• Restless with the status quo.
• Quick learner
• Able to adapt to change and creative
problem solver.

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 Motivation to excel
• Goal and results oriented; high but
realistic goals.
• Drive to achieve and grow
• Low need for status and power.
• Awareness of weaknesses and strengths
• Insist on highest personal standard of
integrity and reliability.
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 Conclusion
• Entrepreneurs are not of one mould.
• No set of characteristics can predict who
will be an entrepreneur and whether
they succeed or not.
• Diversity seems to be a central
characteristic of entrepreneurs.

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