What is entrepreneur?

Definition of entrepreneur
• An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a
business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.
• An employer of productive labor; contractor.
• Is the one to deal with or initiate as an entrepreneur.
• a decision-maker whose entire role arises out of his alertness to hitherto unnoticed
opportunities (Kirzner 1973).
• Schumpeter’s (1934) entrepreneur uses available resources in novel ways.
• Cantillon's (1755) entrepreneur engaged in arbitrage of processes and ideas as
well as good to establish equilibrium by assuming the risk and uncertainty
inherent in an economic society (Spengler 1954, 286)
• Say's (1803) entrepreneur was a master manufacturer who assigned the value to
goods in production (Koolman 1971, 271).

Role of entrepreneur in an organization

An entrepreneur is someone who organizes a system. He is the person who creates and/or
sells a product or service in order to gain profit. However, there is a general sense that
entrepreneurship involves the establishment of a new venture while adopting some of the
risk and being ready for failure. There is no general definition for the word, as it has been
used in a large variety of ways. Some scholars of entrepreneurship, such as Prof. W.
Long (citation) have tried to develop a specific definition by studying the evolution of the
word's usage. Individuals who display entrepreneurial behavior within large
organizations are often refered to as intrepreneurs to distinguish them from risk bearers
who create organizations.

Entrepreneur as a risk bearer

An entrepreneur is an agent who buys factors of production at certain prices in order to

combine them into a product with a view to selling it at uncertain prices in future.
Uncertainty is defined as a risk, which cannot be insured against and is incalculable.
There is a distinction between ordinary risk and uncertainty. A risk can be reduced
through the insurance principle, where the distribution of the outcome in a group of
instances is known. On the contrary, uncertainty is a risk, which cannot be calculated.
The entrepreneur, according to Knight, is the economic functionary who undertakes such
responsibility of uncertainty, which by its very nature cannot be insured, or capitalized or
salaried to. Mark Casson has extended this notion to characterize entrepreneurs as
decision makers who improvise solutions to problems which cannot be solved by routine
alone.

Entrepreneur as an organizer

An entrepreneur is one who combines the land of one, labor of another and the capital of
yet another, and, thus, produces a product.By selling the product in the market, he pays
interest on capital, rent on land and wages to laborers and what remains is his or her
profit.

Entrepreneur as a leader

Scholar R. B. Reich (citation) considers leadership, management ability, and team-building

as essential qualities of an entrepreneur. This concept has its origins in the work of
Richard Cantillon in his Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général (1755) and Jean-
Baptiste Say (1803) Treatise on Political Economy.

Entrepreneur is sometimes mistakenly equated with "opportunist". An entrepreneur may

be considered one who creates an opportunity rather than merely exploits it, though that
distinction is difficult to make precise. Joseph Schumpeter (1934) and William Baumol
(1980) consider more opportunistic behavior such as arbitrage one role of the
entrepreneur as he helps to generate innovation or mobilize resources to address
inefficiencies in the marketplace.
 INTRODUCTION OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS:

Women constitute almost half of the total population in the world. But their
representation in gainful employment is comparatively low. According to an
I.L.O. report in 1980, “women are 50 percent of the world’s population, do the
two-thirds of the world’s work hours, receive ten percent of the world’s income
and own less than one percent of world property. All because of an accident of
birth”. In most countries, average earnings of women are lower than those of men.
In several developing countries, marriage is the only career for most women.
Women have confined their activities to selected professions such as education,
nursing, medicine and office work, Very few women enter professions like
industry, engineering, trade, etc.

For centuries, women have been victim of social prejudices and

discrimination. Even today, parents prefer male child to female. Lakhs of fetus are
destroyed after pregnancy tests reveal it is female. Women are generally presumed
to be weak, passive, dependent and people-oriented. On the other hand, men are
considered strong, aggressive, independent and things-oriented. Assumptions
become reality when society prepares males and females for performance are
presumed roles. As a result, men and women enter organizations with different
skills sets. Women are taught to be dependent upon others, to limit their ambitions
and to avoid exposure and risk. Such orientations and role prescriptions inhibit
development of self-confidence, innovativeness, achievement motivation and risk
taking ability which are essential for an entrepreneurial career.

In Hindu scriptures, a woman has been described as the embodiment of

Shakti (Durga). But in real life she is treated as abla (weak and dependent).
Women in traditional societies are still confined to the four walls of home,
children, household affairs and family rituals. Very few get the opportunity to
come out of the four walls and enter economic activities. In a male-dominated
society, women are not treated as equal partners. To conclude, man has not been
fair to the fair sex in economic life.
 THE CONCEPT OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS:

Women entrepreneurs may be defined as the women or a group of women

who initiate, organize and operate a business enterprise. According to Schumpeter
an entrepreneur in an innovating individual who introduces something new into
the economy. However, such innovators are rarely found in the underdeveloped
countries. What is primarily needed in this countries per se is not innovators, but
imitators or the humbler entrepreneurs capable of exploiting the hitherto existing
possibilities on a small scale. The enterprise of these people may be small and
unimpressive when judged by standards of the developed countries. But the high
propensity to imitate can set in motion the chain reaction which leads to
cumulative progress. Thus in the Indian context, entrepreneur is more an adapter
and imitator than a true innovator. He is more the Marshall’s organizer of
productive factors than Schumpeter’s creative disturber. Any women or group of
women which innovates, amitates or adapts an economic activity may be called
women entrepreneurship.

According to the government of India, a women entrepreneur is defined as

“an enterprise owned and controlled by a women and having a minimum financial
interest of 51 percent of the capital and giving at least 51 percent of the employing
generated in the enterprise to women”. Women entrepreneurs are opposing the
condition of employing more than 50 percent women workers. They point out that
this condition is discriminatory. Enterprises set up by women should be provided
with incentives and support on the basis of their ownership and management
characteristic and not linked with employment of women.
 FUNCTIONS AND ROLE OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS:

Like a male entrepreneur, a women entrepreneur must perform five functions.

1. Explore the prospects of starting new enterprises.

2. Undertaking of risks and the handling of economic uncertainties.
3. Introduction of innovations.
4. Coordination, administration and control.
5. Routine supervision.

All these functions appear to be some what uneven in character. Moreover,

these functions are not always of equal importance. For instance, risk taking and
innovation are paramount for establishing or diversifying an enterprise.
Coordination and supervision became increasingly important in improving the
efficiency and assuming smooth, balanced operation of the undertaking. In women
enterprises, usually the same lady performs all these functions. Most likely, she is
also the owner of the enterprise.

Women entrepreneurs can more easily undertake three types of industrial

enterprises:
(1) operate purely as a sub-contractor on raw materials provided by the customer;

(2) Manufacture the item to the long or short term order of another enterprise
usually a large scale unit; and

(3) Manufacture the item for direct sale in the market. Generally, the first two
types of enterprises are known as ancillaries. Women entrepreneurs produce both
consumer goods and intermediate goods which are used in the production of the
other articles.
 ROLE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR’S
ASSOCIATIONS:

These are the following objectives of women entrepreneurs association:

1. To provide a meeting ground for women entrepreneurs.

2. To promote & develop feeling of unity & brotherhood among the

entrepreneurs.

3. To develop self-confidence & hope among female entrepreneurs.

4. To present the problem of women entrepreneurs before the concerned

authorities for consideration and redressal.

5. To secure various concessions, subsidies, and assistance for women

entrepreneurs.

6. To conduct entrepreneurial development programme for women.

7. To organize seminars and conferences on entrepreneurship with the help of

other national and international bodies.

8. To secure wider dispersal o entrepreneurship among women.

 TYPES OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
ASSOCIATIONS:

1. WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS WING OF NAYE: -

The national alliance of young entrepreneurs. It has a separate wing for

women entrepreneurs in India. It seeks to create unity among female
entrepreneurs& encourages them to participate actively in the country’s
industrialization. It urges the central and state government to provide
special incentives and facilities to women entrepreneurs such as liberal
allocation land, sheds, etc.

2. INDIA COUNIL OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: -

It is situated in New Delhi and is rendering valuable services for the

promotion of women entrepreneurship in the country.

3. FICCI LADIES ORGANIZATION: -

This is known as Federation of Indian chamber of commerce and industry.

This organization inspires women, to take a active part in business and
other fields. It organizes meetings and discussions. It also recognizes
women who have made a mark in the field of industry.

4. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON SELF EMPLOYED WOMEN IN

INFORMAL SECTOR : -

This commission expects the vast network of Mahila Mandals in India, to

obtain raw material, credit and market assistance for women entrepreneurs.
It has suggested consumer cooperatives, super market state emporia and
government depots, as channels for marketing produce of women
entrepreneurs.

5. WORLD ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS: -

This association organizes international conferences on women

entrepreneurship sponsored by NAYE at New Delhi in 1984. its aim is to
 bring together all women who are qualified to take up an active and leading
part in employer organizations, along with their male colleagues. It seeks to
explore and advise on the means by which the rights and duties of women
in business and industry should be asserted and improved. The association
has a membership of more than 27,000 women entrepreneurs from all over
the world.

There are also some state level associations of women entrepreneurs such
as:
1. Association of women entrepreneurs of Karnataka.
2. Self-employed women’s association of Ahmedabad.

These associations are also doing considerable work for the benefit of women
entrepreneurs.