The term 'entrepreneur' is derived from the french word 'entrprendre' which means 'go between'

or 'to undertake'.
Thus an entrepreneur is any person who undertakes the risk of establishing and running of a new
enterprise.
Various views about an 'entrepreneur':
 As a risk bearer
 As an organizer
 As an innovator
Definition of entrepreneurship
"entrepreneurs are people who have the abilities to see and evaluate business opportunities,
together with the necessary resources to take advantage of them, and to ensure appropriate action
to ensure success."
(International labour organization)
"an entrepreneur is a person who starts a new venture, taking the initiative and risk associated
with it and does so by crating something new to provide value to customers."
(David holt)
"entrepreneurship is the art of turning an idea into a business."
(Fred Wilson)
Characteristics of an Entrepreneur

Creativity
 Entrepreneurs develop new ideas, new concepts and new ways of
 Solving problems
 Creativity is subjective
 For example, they discover niche markets
Innovative
 Innovation introduces change (for example with an existing product)
 Innovation is observed when a new idea is converted into a successful product
 This means that innovation is measurable
 The entrepreneur should initiate Research and innovative activities to produce new
goods and services. It is a never ending process.
Flexibility and multi-skilled
 Entrepreneurs have to carry out different tasks in different areas (human resources,
accounts, promotion)
 Entrepreneurs can change approaches when necessary.
Goal oriented
 Goals are targets
 These targets will be set for themselves and the people they employ
 The entrepreneur should be clear about the aims of the business and what he hopes to
achieve
Persistent
 Entrepreneurs should not be easily discouraged
 They should keep going in the face of adversity
 They should rethink ideas when the business seems as if it is failing.
Propensity to take calculated risks
 All business ventures will entail risks.
 Entrepreneurs will calculate the costs and the benefits.
 They will only pursue a venture if they believe they will earn a profit.
Achievement Motivation
 The achievement motivation is the most important characteristic of an entrepreneur since
all other characteristics emanates from this motivation.
 He must have a strong desire to achieve high goals in business. In fact, this achievement
motivation helps him to surmount the obstacles, supress anxieties, repair misfortunes and
device plans of success.
Maintenance Of Public Relations
 The extent of maintenance of public relations or human relations has a vital role to play
on the success or failure of an entrepreneur.
 A successful entrepreneur must have cordial relations with his customers to gain their
continued patronage and support. He must also maintain good relations with his
employees with a view to motivating them to higher levels of efficiency. Similarly, he
must maintain good relations with his suppliers, creditors and the community at large so
that he may succeed ion his venture.
Hard Work
 A successful entrepreneur is one who is willing to work hard from the very beginning of
future enterprise.
 An entrepreneur with his tenacity and hard work and pervasive perseverance can revive
his business even from on the verge of collapse.
Prudence
 A successful entrepreneur must be prudent in all his dealings.
 He should have the Ability to work out the details of the venture from all angles, assess
the favourable factors and pitfalls and take suitable measures to overcome the pitfalls.
Keen Foresight
 An entrepreneur must have keen foresight to predict the future business environment.
 He has the capacity to visualise the likely changes to take place in the market, customer's
attitude, technological developments, government's policy etc., and take timely actions
accordingly.
Planning And Organising Ability
 An entrepreneur is a firm believer in Planning and systematic work.
 Above all he must have the ability to bring together all scattered resources required for
starting up a new venture.
Risk-Taking
 An entrepreneur is not a gambler and hence, he should not assume high risk. However he
must love a moderate risk situation, high enough to be exciting but with a fairly
reasonable chance to win.
Leadership
 Entrepreneurs not only lead themselves, but they are also skilled at leading others.
 They know the importance of teamwork, and they understand the need to appreciate
others, support them, and reward them accordingly.
Social skill

 A skillset is an arsenal with which an entrepreneur makes his business work. Social Skills
are also needed to be a good entrepreneur. Overall, these make up the qualities required
for an entrepreneur to function.
Social Skills involve the following:
 Relationship Building
 Hiring and Talent Sourcing
 Team Strategy Formulation
Self-Discipline
 The entrepreneur must be organized and regimented in pursuit of a successful business
venture.
 This includes frugality, which is knowing how to stretch every cent so that expenditures
are as low as possible.

Confidence

 Without confidence or self-belief, entrepreneurs cannot possibly succeed.

 They have to be confident both in themselves and in the products or services they sell.
 If they believe in themselves, they will have the ability to stay the course regardless of
difficulties or discouragement.

Decision Making
 Being able to make decisions quickly is an important characteristic for entrepreneurs
because it can be the difference between success and failure.
 Successful entrepreneurs not only need to have good decision-making skills, but also
must have the capacity to make those decisions quickly in order to avoid missing
opportunities. This necessitates quickly considering the facts and then deciding.
Entrepreneurial Process

Definition: The Entrepreneur is a change agent that acts as an industrialist and undertakes the
risk associated with forming the business for commercial use. An entrepreneur has an unusual
foresight to identify the potential demand for the goods and services.

The entrepreneurship is a continuous process that needs to be followed by an entrepreneur to

plan and launch the new ventures more efficiently.
1. Idea Generation
2. Building your team
3. Opportunity Analysis
4. Developing Planning
5. Collecting Resources
6. Forming Organization
7. Growing Business
8. Exiting your business
Idea Generation
▸ The stage in which an entrepreneur
 Generates ideas
 Recognises opportunities
 Determines the feasibility of ideas
 Gather data about market, ventures(for example: tastes, market trends, demographics of
area, consumer needs and wants)
 For example idea of switching from hand held devices to mobile phones.

Building a team:
Once you have a business idea, you need to start building a team of like-minded individuals who
will help you turn your idea into a reality. This team will include people with different skillsets
and expertise, so it’s important to choose wisely.

Opportunity Analysis

After identifying the opportunity, the entrepreneur will evaluate it. They will see if the
opportunity provides any value to the business or the consumer, whether it will be sustainable in
the long term if the profit is healthy, the market competition, the risks associated with the
opportunity, and the entrepreneur’s product or service will be different or better than the
competition.

The entrepreneur should look to answer for following questions:

 Is the opportunity worth investing capital, resources, and energy?

 Can we offer better solutions than existing ones?
 Can we beat the competition?
  Is the business sustainable in the long run?
 What are the risks?
If the answers are generally positive, entrepreneurs move to the next step.

Developing Plan

After analyzing the opportunity, the entrepreneur develops a plan to realize it and launch the
company. This is a crucial step in the entrepreneurial process. The plan will have a business
strategy and operating structures, including steps for the formation of the company. It will
provide details on business objectives, goals, mission statement, and details of products or
services.

Collecting Resources

Launching a new business requires resources, including financing, human labor, materials, and
more. If the entrepreneur is self-sufficient, they can self-finance. However, they may go to
investors or financial institutions to get the funds.

These days, entrepreneurs have a new option called crowdfunding. Using these platforms,
entrepreneurs raise awareness about their business and ask for support.

If the idea resonates with the audience, businesses can quickly raise a significant amount.

Forming Organization

Once the entrepreneur secures the funds and resources, they will launch the company and form a
legal entity. The structure of the organization will depend on its requirements.

The entrepreneur will name the company and file the papers with the government to form LLC,
WLL or PLC, Corporation, or a Non-profit.

Growing Business

After launching the company, it will start producing products or offering services. The
entrepreneur will ensure that the business is running smoothly and growing. Now the operating
plan will be executed. The entrepreneur will have regular status updates and compare the actual
progress with the planned progress. If things are not going as planned, they will take corrective
actions to bring the progress on track.

Exiting your business:

Eventually, you may want to sell your business or take it public. This is the final step of
entrepreneurship development, and it can be a very lucrative one if done correctly.
1.Opportunity Recognition
Opportunity recognition is a process through which entrepreneurs and businesses identify
potential methods of growing their ideas or beginning new ventures. It gives entrepreneurs the
chance to brainstorm for new and better ideas constantly.
In addition, opportunity recognition makes the available products and services better through
continuous process improvement
2.Opportunity Recognition
 Converting an idea into a business opportunity is the key element of the process of
business creation
 Entrepreneurs are attuned to opportunity
 Opportunity must take priority over innovation
 Opportunities are generated by change