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Unit-4 Entrepreneurship Development
Unit-4 Entrepreneurship Development
ENTREPRENEUR
Ideally speaking, anyone who has the capacity to start a venture and undertake
risks can become an entrepreneur. But not all entrepreneurs are successful. There
are certain characteristics of entrepreneurship that make for a successful venture.
So let us talk a little about these traits that an entrepreneur must possess in order to
be successful.
Characteristics of Entrepreneurship
This is the first and foremost trait of an entrepreneurship. Starting any business
involves a considerable amount of risk of failure. Therefore, the courage and
capacity to take the said risk are essential for an entrepreneur.
Innovation
In a world, where almost everything has been done, innovation is a priceless gift
to have. Innovation basically means generating a new idea with which you can
start a business and achieve a substantial amount of profits. Innovation can be in
the form of a product, i.e., launching a product that no one is selling in the market.
It can also be in the form of process, i.e., doing the same work in a more efficient
and economical way.
Another type of innovation can be the one concerned with usage. For examples,
cell phones are now used for various functions such as viewing, creating and
editing various files and documents, thus, eliminating the need for computers to a
large extent.
Visionary
Leadership
A single person cannot perform all the tasks and therefore it is important to bring
some more people to do it. This also makes leadership very important as a leader
provides the required direction to the efforts of the employees. Without proper
leadership, everyone would be working independently without achieving the
desired results.
Open Minded
This confidence comes from being well informed about the industry and
environment. Various legal and political policies enhance business and trade
opportunities, while some hinder them. Having a knowledge about these can
really help an entrepreneur make the right decision at the right time.
Role of Entrepreneurs
A lot of hard work goes into starting and eventually expanding an enterprise. This
hard work starts with the entrepreneur and trickles down the entire organization.
But this is a very broad definition and does not really appreciate and highlight the
actual role of entrepreneurs with respect to their enterprises.
So to explain it in a better way, let us break it down into points about how an
entrepreneur is vital to the enterprise.
Initiator
The entrepreneur is the one who initiates the process of creating an enterprise by
coming up with the idea for the business and planning out how to turn that idea
into a reality.
Risk Taker
In an enterprise, the entrepreneur, being the owner, is the biggest risk taker. He is
the one who finds the capital to back up his idea and also the person who is
accountable in the face of the failure of that particular idea.
Reduces Risk
It is also one of the most important roles of entrepreneurs to reduce the risk of an
enterprise failure by bringing in people that can help the organization grow. These
people can be shareholders or investors that have a stake in the company and
therefore are motivated to help the company succeed.
Allocator
To ensure that the enterprise adheres to legal norms and policies, such as
obtaining a license is also the duty of the entrepreneur. Not pertaining to these can
mean serious legal consequences for the enterprise. These could be in terms of
financial losses for the organization or something even more serious such as
shutting down of an enterprise.
Forecasting
Last but far from least, the role of entrepreneurs involve acting as a forecaster. The
enterprise works in a business environment and is affected by changes occurring
in various aspects of this environment. It could be internal, such as strikes,
machinery breakdowns, budget cuts etc. or these could be external, such as legal
policy changes, political or social unrest, technological advancements, etc.
An entrepreneur must be able to correctly forecast these changes and prepare the
organization to deal with these changes.