EnTrends

Fully one in ten adults in the United
States today is an entrepreneur. This
phenomenon is by no means restricted
to North America. The leading country
for entrepreneurship is Brazil with one
in eight adults an entrepreneur.
Australia is not far behind the U.S. with
one in twelve. These countries - Brazil,
the United States and Australia - lead
the way. Contrast, for example,
Germany (one in 25), the United
Kingdom (one in 33), Finland and
Sweden (one in 50) and Ireland and
Japan (less than one in 100).
(Source:Global Entrepreneurship
Monitor

2000.)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
DEFINED

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
1999 defined entrepreneurship as "any
attempt at new business or new venture
creation, such as self-employment, a
new business organization, or the

expansion of an existing business, by an
individual, a team of individuals, or an
established business."

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
- AN HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE

Entrepreneurship is a major contributing
factor to the economic well-being of a
country both in terms of economic
growth and job creation. Traditionally,
entrepreneurial ability tended to focus
on the following four attributes:

=> Initiative - the entrepreneur takes
the initiative to bring together the
economic resources of land, labor and
capital to produce a commodity
(whether a good or a service) with the
hope that such production will create a
profitable business venture.

=> Decision-making - the entrepreneur
makes the basic business policy
decisions for the business, thereby
setting the course of the enterprise.

=> Innovation - the entrepreneur is an
innovator, attempting to introduce new
products and new ways of doing things.

=> Risk-taker - the entrepreneur risks
his or her time, effort, business
reputation and invested funds in the
entrepreneurial venture.

THE MODERN
ENTREPRENEUR

Until recently, the above attributes,
especially innovation and risk-
taking, were the dominant factors that
defined the characteristics of those who
chose to become entrepreneurs.

Now, however, with corporate
downsizing being a fact of life, many

entrepreneurs find themselves thrust
into the role by default. The question
for anyone either finding themselves in
this position involuntarily or thinking
about leaving corporate life for the
heady world of entrepreneurship is
whether you have what it takes to be
successful ... the "right stuff" in other
words. Some people do, in spades.
Others simply don't.

If you're one of the ones who just
doesn't, either resign yourself to
working for someone else or

cultivate in yourself the qualities that
successful entrepreneurs share.
Believe it or not, entrepreneurs are not
just "born". Well, some, of course,
seem to be natural-born entrepreneurs,
but for the rest of us, the qualities of
entrepreneurship can definitely be
acquired by hard work and application.

COMMON ISSUES

The "common denominator" issues
facing all entrepreneurs are planning,
finance and implementation.

=> Planning

All entrepreneurs face the challenge of
starting a new business, be it through
innovation (inventing something new or
doing something a different way),
finding the right opportunity to get into,
or buying a franchise. Whichever road
you choose, it will involve serious
planning.

=> Financing

Unless you have ready funds at your
disposal, getting finance is the next
major challenge and cannot be
attempted until your business plan is in
place. You will need to prepare

funding proposals and applications for
loans, venture capital, and funds from
angel investors.

=> Implementation

This is make or break time. Many
people think just getting started is the
hard part - and it is hard. But where
many businesses stumble is not in the
planning and financing stages but in
implementing their business plan. Why
this is so is not certain. There are
various hypotheses including the idea
that ideas people and implementation
people are two very different breeds
and it is highly unusual to find one
person who can do both. More likely
though, is the simple fact that
implementation requires such a broad
range of skills that no one person can
possibly be adept at all of them.

The real challenge and skill of the
entrepreneur, then, is to recognize what
you do well and then appoint
employees or subcontractors to do

the rest. Of course, if you're running
a business on a shoestring, this simply
may not be possible! So be brutally
honest and objective in assessing
your particular strengths and
weaknesses BEFORE you cash in
your day job and your 401K.

The areas to think about in terms of
implementation are the same as those
encompassed by a broad definition of

management: promotion (marketing
and advertising), public relations,
sales, employees, communications,
legal issues, plant and equipment, risk
management, disaster planning, crisis
management, insurance, technology,
computer systems, taxes,
bookkeeping, finance, and the
internet.

PERSONAL QUALITIES

Equally important as the common
issues shared by all entrepreneurs are
the personal qualities of the
entrepreneur him or herself. To start
you thinking about whether you have

the right stuff to make a success of an
entrepreneurial venture, here's a list
of character traits and work ethics

common to successful entrepreneurs.
Although it is not necessary that you
possess all of them, you should
possess most:

=> Passion - entrepreneurs have a
strong passion for their idea or
concept, so much so that their work
is their play. If you don't like what
you do, you won't stick it out when

challenges come along, as they
inevitably will.

=> Curiosity - entrepreneurs need to
understand how things work. They
ask a lot of questions. Curiosity
therefore triggers innovation.

=> Sponges - entrepreneurs are
sponges. They devour information
about their industry and are always
current on new and emerging trends
and technologies, not only in their
specific industry but in closely related
industries. This habit of scanning
their environment is a rich source of

discovery of new opportunities.
Entrepreneurs are ALWAYS

looking for new markets,
applications, products or twists on

an old concept.

=> Optimism - entrepreneurs think of
problems as opportunities for
improvements and new ideas.

=> Forward looking - entrepreneurs
are never satisfied with the status quo
and are always proactively carving
out their future.

=> Careful about money -
entrepreneurs are careful with money