An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of a new enterprise, venture or idea and assumes

significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome.[1][note 1] The term is originally a
loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish economist Richard Cantillon.
Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to the type of personality who is willing to take upon
herself or himself a new venture or enterprise and accepts full responsibility for the outcome.
Jean-Baptiste Say, a French economist is believed to have coined the word "entrepreneur" first
in about 1800. He said an entrepreneur is "one who undertakes an enterprise, especially a
contractor, acting as intermediatory between capital and labour.

According to Webster's dictionary, an entrepreneur is one who

organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.
Entrepreneurs live in the future. They have creative personalities, are
innovative, and thrive on change. But what makes an entrepreneur
successful? Research done by Southern Methodist University's Cox
School of Business came up with common characteristics of over 200
successful entrepreneurs. Successful was defined as being in business
for at least 5 years and who has gross revenues of at least $1 million.
Common Traits in a Successful Entrepreneur
1. Good health. Successful entrepreneurs must work long hours for
extended periods of time. When they get sick, they recover quickly.

2. A Need to Control and Direct. They prefer environments where they

have maximum authority and responsibility and do not work well in
traditionally structured organizations. This is not about power, though.
Entrepreneurs have a need to create and achieve by having control over
events.

3. Self-confidence. Findings showed that as long as entrepreneurs were

in control, they were relentless in pursuit of their goals. If they lost
control, they quickly lost interest in the undertaking.

4. Sense of Urgency. They have a never-ending sense of urgency to do

something. This corresponds with a high energy level. Many enjoy
individual sports rather than team sports. Inactivity makes them
impatient.

5. Comprehensive Awareness. They have a comprehensive awareness of a

total situation and are aware of all the ramifications involved in a
decision.

6. Realistic Outlook. There is a constant need to know the status of

things. They may or may not be idealistic, but they are honest and
straightforward and expect others to be the same.

7. Conceptual Ability. They have superior conceptual abilities. This helps

entrepreneurs identify relationships in complex situations. Chaos does
not bother them because they can conceptualize order. Problems are
quickly identified and solutions offered. The drawback is that this may
 not translate well to interpersonal problems.

8. Low Need for Status. Their need for status is met through
achievement not through material possessions.

9. Objective Approach. They take an objective approach to personal

relationships and are more concerned with the performance and
accomplishment of others than with feelings. They keep their distance
psychologically and concentrate on the effectiveness of operations.

10. Emotional Stability. They have the stability to handle stress from
business and from personal areas in their lives. Setbacks are seen as
challenges and do not discourage them.

11. Attraction to Challenges. They are attracted to challenges but not to

risks. It may look like they are taking high risks, but in actuality they
have assessed the risks thoroughly.

12. Describing with Numbers. They can describe situations with numbers.
They understand their financial position and can tell at any time how
much they have in receivables and how much they owe.

As a leader

The entrepreneur is the main person behind a firm; he can demonstrate his quality as a leader by
choosing the right managers for the firm.

Scholar Robert. B. Reich 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 (1755) and Jean-Baptiste Say (1803 or 1834)[note 3] in his
Treatise on Political Economy.

A more generally held theory is that entrepreneurs emerge from the population on demand, from
the combination of opportunities and people well-positioned to take advantage of them. An
entrepreneur may perceive that they are among the few to recognize or be able to solve a
problem. In this view, one studies on one side the distribution of information available to would-
be entrepreneurs (see Austrian School economics) and on the other, how environmental factors
(access to capital, competition, etc.), change the rate of a society's production of entrepreneurs.
[citation needed]

A prominent theorist of the Austrian School in this regard is Joseph Schumpeter, who saw the
entrepreneur as innovators and popularized the uses of the phrase creative destruction to
describe his view of the role of entrepreneurs in changing business norms. Creative destruction
dealt with the changes entrepreneurial activity makes every time a new process, product or
company enters the market..
Types of Entrepreneurs
Classification on the basis of:
1. Type of business
2. Use of Technology
3. Motivation
4. Growth
5. Stages in Development
6. Other s

1. Type of business

• Business entrepreneur: Convert ideas into reality; deal with both manufacturing and trading
aspect of business (Small trading and manufacturing business)

•Trading entrepreneur: Undertakes trading activities; concerned

with marketing (Domestic and international level)
•Industrial entrepreneur: Undertakes manufacturing activities only;
new product development etc (textile, electronics, etc)

•Corporate entrepreneur: Interested in management part of organisation; exceptional

organising, coordinating skills to manage a corporate undertaking (Ambani, Tata families)

•Agricultural entrepreneur: Production and marketing of

agricultural inputs and outputs (Dairy, horticulture, forestry)

2. Use of Technology
•Technical entrepreneur: Production oriented, possesses innovative
skills in manufacturing, quality control etc.
•Non technical entrepreneur: Develops marketing, distribution
facilities and strategies
Professional entrepreneur: Uses the proceeds from sale of one
business to start another one. Brimming with ideas to start new
ventures
3. Motivation
•Pure entrepreneur: Psychological and economic rewards motivate
him
•Induced entrepreneur: Incentives, concessions, benefits offered
by government for entrepreneurs motivates him
•Motivated entrepreneur: Sense of achievement and fulfillment
motivate him
•Spontaneous entrepreneur: Born entrepreneurs with inborn traits
of confidence, vision, initiative

4. Growth
•Growth entrepreneur: One who enters a sector with a high growth
rate; is a positive thinker
•Super growth entrepreneur: One who enters a business and
shows a quick, steep and upward growth curve
5. Stages in Development
•First generation entrepreneur: Innovator, risk taker, among the
firsts in family to enter business
•Modern entrepreneur: Who considers feasibility of business, which
can adapt to change and dynamic market

•Classical entrepreneur: One who gives more importance to

consistent returns than to growth; concerned about customer and
marketing needs

6. Others

•Area- Rural and Urban entrepreneur

•Gender/Age- Men and Women entrepreneur
•Scale- Small and Large scale entrepreneur

Function of enterpreuner:

An entrepreneur undertakes three types of main function. They are described in brief detail as
follows:

• Organizational function:
An organizer mentally first of all decides certain things like what, how, and how much to
produce. He estimates the demand for the commodity and initiates the production. He
decides the location of the industry, scale of production and estimates the availability of
raw materials, labor, capital etc.

Then he co-ordinates the other factors like land, labor and capital in proper proportion,
so that he can minimize the cost of production and reap more and more profit by
producing more and more quantity at a cheaper price. He supervises the entire
production activity. After production is over, he finds proper market for his product and
sells them. From the sale proceeds, he distributes the remuneration for other factor
owners.

• Risk bearing function:

An organization not only organizes the entire production process but also undertakes
risks and uncertainties. An organizer starts production with an anticipation of demand
for his product. But when he actually brings the product to market, there may or may
not be demand for his product. This is an non-insurable risk he has to undertake. Thus a
brave organizer has to shoulder certain insurable and non-insurable risks also.

• Innovation function:
An entrepreneur must be an innovator to survive in the market and to retain the same
position for his product. Innovation means introducing new changes in production or
technology or market for the product. Profit as a reward for innovation is not a stable
one. It appears, disappears and reappears. Only the imaginative skillful few will remain in
the industry for ever.
Difference between an entrepreneur and an intrapreneur:
An entrepreneur takes substantial risk in being the owner and operator of a business with
expectations of financial profit and other rewards that the business may generate. On the
contrary, an intrapreneur is an individual employed by an organization for remuneration,
which is based on the financial success of the unit he is responsible for. Intrapreneurs share
the same traits as entrepreneurs such as conviction, zeal and insight. As the intrapreneur
continues to expresses his ideas vigorously, it will reveal the gap between the philosophy of
the organization and the employee. If the organization supports him in pursuing his ideas, he
succeeds. If not, he is likely to leave the organization and set up his own business.