Entrepreneurial Motivation

Entrepreneurial motivation is the process of transforming an ordinary individual to a powerful

businessman, who can create opportunities and helps in maximizing wealth and economic
development. It is defined as various factors stimulate desires and activates enthusiasm in
entrepreneurs which make them attain a particular goal. Entrepreneurship is the process of
identifying strengths and opportunities which help in the realization of one’s dreams for
designing, developing and running a new business by facing threats and risks effectively.
Definition
Motivation is regarded as “the inner state that energizes activities and directs or channels
behavior towards the goal”.

Motivation is the process that arouses action, sustains the activity in progress and that regulates
the pattern of activity.

Nature of Motivation
The nature of motivation emerging out of above definitions can be expressed as follows:

1. Motivation is internal to man

Motivation cannot be seen because it is internal to man. It is externalized via behavior. It
activates the man to move toward his / her goal.

2. A Single motive can cause different behaviors

A person with a single desire or motive to earn prestige in the society may move towards to join
politics, attain additional education and training, join identical groups, and change his outward
appearance.

3.Different motives may result in single behaviour

It is also possible that the same or single behaviour may be caused by many motives. For
example, if a person buys a car, his such behaviour may be caused by different motives such as
to look attractive, be respectable, gain acceptance from similar group of persons, differentiate the
status, and so on.

4.Motives come and go

Like tides, motives can emerge and then disappear. Motives emerged at a point of time may not
remain with the same intensity at other point of time. For instance, an entrepreneur overly
concerned about maximization of profit earning during his initial age as entrepreneur may turn
his concern towards other higher things like contributing towards philanthropic activities in
social health and education once he starts earning sufficient profits.

5.Motives interact with the environment

The environment in which we live at a point of time may either trigger or suppress our motives.
You probably have experienced environment or situation when the intensity of your hunger
picked up just you smelled the odour of palatable food.

You may desire an excellent performance bagging the first position in your examination but at
the same time may also be quite sensitive to being shunned and disliked by your class mates if
you really perform too well and get too much of praise and appreciation from your teachers.
Thus, what all this indicates is that human behaviour is the result of several forces differing in
both direction and intent.

Entrepreneurial Motivating Factors

Most of the researchers have classified all the factors motivating entrepreneurs into internal and
external factors as follows:

Internal Factors
These include the following factors:

1. Desire to do something new.

2. Become independent.
3. Achieve what one wants to have in life.
4. Be recognized for one’s contribution.
5. One’s educational background.
6. One’s occupational background and experience in the relevant field.
External Factors
These include:

1. Government assistance and support.

2. Availability of labour and raw material.
3. Encouragement from big business houses.
4. Promising demand for the product.
CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND-SET:
Entrepreneurial mindset refers to a specific state of mind which orientates human conduct
towards entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. Individuals with entrepreneurial mindsets are
often drawn to opportunities, innovation and new value creation.
Characteristics include the ability to take calculated risks and accept the realities of change and
uncertainty. [1]

Developing an “Entrepreneurial Mindset” is important to the success of any entrepreneurWhat

sets the successful entrepreneur apart from the dormant dreamers, is the ability to turn those
dreams into action with a “mindset” that is fueled by a burning desire to make changes and
embrace new opportunities.
Entrepreneurs are always told that they need to be passionate enough about their ideas in order to
transform them into viable, sustainable, profitable businesses. Whilst passion and a burning
desire is important for entrepreneurs, it is not enough. These elements often mask several other
elements that are vital to an entrepreneur’s success.

A “mindset” is not any one characteristic, but a whole group of thoughts, attitudes and reactions
that come together to create a ‘frame of mind’.

DEVELOPING AN “ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET”

COMMITMENT

While that burning desire may lead you to starting your own business, it is your level of
commitment to yourself and to your dreams that will keep you going and allow you to persevere
despite all the difficulties inherent in the entrepreneurial lifestyle. Successful entrepreneurs are
able to identify what they value, what matters most to them and prioritize their commitments.
When you commit yourself to the entrepreneurial life, you will be better prepared for the tough
journey ahead.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE

A successful entrepreneur sees an opportunity when everyone else sees a problematic situation.

The right attitude will allow an entrepreneur to never obsess or stay stuck in the past and in the
rejection moment and be distracted from their vision; they will instead learn from the past and
move on to new and innovative ideas for improvement. The right attitude makes a lot of
difference to your predicament.
EMBRACE CHALLENGE AND CHANGE

Nothing endures but change. There is nothing like change; it might well be the only sure thing in
your business and it satiates an entrepreneur’s hunger. Creative minds usually prefer chaos and
work well then; only in such robust uncertainty do great minds perform the unthinkable.

Wherever there is great change, there is great opportunity. Understand that and take advantage of
the changes ahead. Great entrepreneurs seize the opportunity, quickly adapt, and become creative
in order to survive and thrive. Take up challenges that scare you. Unexpected challenges and
problems appear constantly. Successful entrepreneurs rise to the occasion since a challenge helps
them to deal with calamity as it comes.

Related : Useful apps and websites for entrepreneurs and startups

IMPROVE

Becoming a better version of yourself is the ultimate aim of self-improvement.

Successful entrepreneurs never think that they have it all figured out and that they don’t need to
learn any more. They are not know-it-all nor do they claim to be. On the contrary, they are
highly motivated, they are excited and eager to learn, they anticipate opportunities that will help
them improve their skills and they never stop trying to become better at what they do and who
they are.

They see growth as opportunities that will lead to eventual success. Successful entrepreneurs
believe that they should grow as professionals and are always seeking to improve their skill sets.
Challenge yourself to learn something new everyday.
LACK OF FEAR OF FAILURE

Successful entrepreneurs are not afraid to fail! As a matter of fact, they learn to Plan for Failure.
These entrepreneurs are well aware of the challenges entrepreneurs face and they accept that
failure is indeed possible despite having the best marketing plan or the ideal location.

PERSEVERANCE

Setbacks will hurt both the entrepreneur and their business, but the successful entrepreneur is
self-disciplined enough to keep focused on what he or she has to do. The ability to hang tough
through repeated rejection, turndown, rebuff and disappointment is a crucial component needed
on an entrepreneur’s journey.

CONFIDENCE

Successful entrepreneurs often exude confidence; not to be confused with haughtiness, but rather
the obvious outlook that they believe in themselves and their business. These entrepreneurs
understand that in order for anyone to believe in them, in their ideas, or in their business, they
have to believe in themselves first.

The nature of corporate entrepreneur:

https://www.slideshare.net/danielprathikraj/corporate-entrepreneurship-27491181

https://www.slideshare.net/TufailAhmed/corporate-entrepreneurship

OPPORTUNITIES IDENTIFICATION:

Opportunity identification and selection are like comer stones of business enterprise. Better the

former, better is the latter. In a sense, identification and selection of a suitable business

opportunity serves as the trite saying ‘well begun is half done.’ But, it is like better said than

done. Why? Because if we ask any intending entrepreneur what project or product he/she will

select and start as an enterprise, the obvious answer he/she would give is one that having a good

market and is profitable. But the question is how without knowing the product could one know
its market?
Whose market will one find out without actually having the product? Whose profitability will

one find out without actually selling the product? There are other problems, besides. While

trying to identify the suitable product or project, the intending entrepreneur passes through
certain processes.

A brief mention about each of these follows in turn:

Consumers:
No business enterprise can be thought of without consumers. Consumers demand for products

and services to satisfy their wants. Also, consumers’ wants in terms of preferences, tastes and

liking keep on changing. Hence, an entrepreneur needs to know what the consumers actually

want so that he/she can offer the product or service accordingly. Consumers’ wants can be

known through their feedback about the products and services they have been using and would
want to use in future.

Existing Products and Services:

One way to have an enterprise idea may be to monitor the existing products and services already

available in the market and make a competitive analysis of them to identify their shortcomings

and then, based on it, decide what and how a better product and service can be offered to the

consumers. Many enterprises are established mainly to offer better products and services over the
existing ones.

Distribution Channels:
Distribution channels called, market intermediaries, also serves as a very effective source for

new ideas for entrepreneurs. The reason is that they ultimately deal with the ultimate consumers
and, hence, better know the consumers’ wants.

As such, the channel members such as wholesalers and retailers can provide ideas for new

product development and modification in the existing product. For example, an entrepreneur
came to know from a salesman in a departmental store that the reason his hosiery was not selling
was its dark shade while most of the young customers want hosiery with light shade. The

entrepreneur paid heed to this feedback and accordingly changed the shade of his hosiery to light
shade. Entrepreneur found his hosiery enjoying increasing demand just within a month.

Government:
At times, the Government can also be a source of new product ideas in various ways. For

example, government from time to time issues regulations on product production and

consumption. Many a times, these regulations become excellent sources for new ideas for
enterprise formation.

For example, government’s regulations on ban on polythene bags have given new idea to

manufacture jute bags for marketing convenience of the sellers and buyers. A prospective

entrepreneur can also get enterprise idea from the publications of patents available for license or
sale.

Research and Development:

The last but no means the least source of new ideas is research and development (R&D) activity.

R&D can be carried out in-house or outside the organization. R&D activity suggests what and
how a new or modified product can be produced to meet the customers’ requirements.

Idea Generation:
Sources of Ideas:
In a sense, opportunity identification and selection are akin to, what is termed in marketing

terminology, ‘new product development.’ Thus, product or opportunity identification and

selection process starts with the generation of ideas, or say, ideas about some opportunities or
products are generated in the first instance.
The ideas about opportunities or products that the entrepreneur can consider for selecting the

most promising one to be pursued by him/her as an enterprise, can be generated or discovered

from various sources- both internal and external.

These may include:

(i) Knowledge of potential customer needs,

(ii) Watching emerging trends in demands for certain products,

(iii) Scope for producing substitute product,

(iv) Going through certain professional magazines catering to specific interests like electronics,

computers, etc.,

(v) Success stories of known entrepreneurs or friends or relatives,

(vi) Making visits to trade fairs and exhibitions displaying new products and services,

(vii) Meeting with the Government agencies,

(viii) Ideas given by the knowledgeable persons,

(ix) Knowledge about the Government policy, concessions and incentives, list of items reserved

for exclusive manufacture in small-scale sector,

(x) A new product introduced by the competitor, and

(xi) One’s market insights through observation.

Methods of Generating Ideas:
Focus Groups:
A group called ‘focus group’ consisting of 6-12 members belonging to various socio-economic

backgrounds are formed to focus on some particular matter like new product idea. The focus

group is facilitated by a moderator to have an open in-depth discussion. The mode of the
discussion of the group can be in either a directive or a non-directive manner.
Brainstorming:
Brainstorming technique was originally adopted by Alex Osborn in 1938 in an American

Company for encouraging creative thinking in groups of six to eight people. According to

Osborn, brainstorming means using the brain to storm the issue/problem. Brainstorming

ultimately boils down to generate a number of ideas to be considered for the dealing with the
issue/problem.

However, brainstorming exercise to be effective needs to follow a modus operandi involving

four basic guidelines:

1. Generate as many ideas as possible.

2. Be creative, freewheeling, and imaginative.

3. Build upon piggyback, extend, or combine earlier ideas.

4. Withhold criticism of others’ ideas.

ENTREPRENEURIAL IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY :

https://www.slideshare.net/ialwaysthinkprettythings/creativity-and-innovation-13536114

SUCCESSFUL ENTRPRENEURS:
1) Ritesh Agarwal - Age 24

Ritesh Agarwal has had an interesting childhood. He was never fond of studies so he dropped
formal education out of his plans. The idea of Oravel Stays struck him when he was 18. The
basic idea was a budget hotel chain that provides B&B. Realizing that no other service offered a
room for a budget traveller, Ritesh took the idea from Oravel stays to OYO rooms and voila!
Agarwal started OYO with 11 only rooms in a Gurgaon hotel. This is one of the best successful
entrepreneurs stories in India. Today, OYO has 65000 rooms in about 5500 properties across 170
cities in India.
Ritesh started his entrepreneurial journey when he was 17 years old. He dropped out of college
and launched his first start‐up Oravel Stays Pvt. Ltd. in the year 2012. Oravel was designed as a
platform to enable listing and booking of budget accommodation. Being an avid traveler, he soon
realized that the budget hospitality sector lacked predictability. Therefore, he pivoted Oravel to
OYO Rooms in 2013 with the key proposition of offering affordable and standardized
accommodation.

Ritesh Agarwal has benefited the society in more than one ways. He has also managed to achieve
what most of the people only think of. Below listed are some of the accomplishments of this
teenager. He has been named among the top 50 entrepreneurs by the TATA first dot awards in
2013. Finalist of the global student Entrepreneurship Awards India. He has been named one of
the 8 hottest teenage startup founders in the world by a BusinessInsider in the year 2013. He is
the World’s youngest CEO at 17.

Nandan Reddy

Nandan Reddy along with his mate Sriharsha Majety, changed the way India eats. They both
started with Bundle, a logistics aggregator, which connected SMEs to courier service providers.
A year later, when the business was doing pretty well, they shifted their focus to the food service
industry when Swiggy, the food delivery app rolled out into reality. Since its
inception, Swiggy has rapidly grown to become a leader in the Indian food delivery sector by
consistently shrinking delivery timelines and improving customer experience.

Phanindra Sama

RedBus has made booking bus tickets way easier than before and it all started when its founder,
Phanindra Sama could not go home for Diwali due to the notorious Bangalore Traffic. He
realized some key issues with the then-existing bus model and found internet as the best medium
for solving these issues by putting together information on a platform where customers could
access it easily and take better decisions. By April 2014 RedBus launched hotel booking
powered by Ibibo Group’s followed by redbus teaming up with Uber.

Nothing can compare to the encouragement to youngsters more than reading the success stories
of these visionary entrepreneurs. The journey has not been comfortable with strikes, shortage of
labor and workforce, policy changes, corruption, and economic slowdowns. Still, they started
from nothing and rose to the top of the game over the years in the Indian growth history. At
Strawberry Branding, we salute these young achievers and hope they continue to inspire us to
drive success.
 Dhiru Bhai Ambani- India’s largest private sector company. Created an equity cult in the
Indian capital market. Reliance is the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.
Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. His life journey is reminiscent
of the rags to riches story. He is remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history
and built a truly global corporate group.

Dhirubhai Ambani alias Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on December 28, 1932, at
Chorwad, Gujarat, into a Modh family. His father was a school teacher. Dhirubhai Ambani
started his entrepreneurial career by selling “bhajias” to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the
weekends.

After doing his matriculation at the age of 16, Dhirubhai moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked
there as a gas-station attendant, and as a clerk in an oil company. He returned to India in 1958
with Rs 50,000 and set up a textile trading company.

In 1992, Reliance became the first Indian company to raise money in global markets, its high
credit-taking in international markets limited only by India’s sovereign rating. Reliance also
became the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.

Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century by the Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). A poll conducted by The Times of India in
2000 voted him “greatest creator of wealth in the century”.

Dhirubhai Ambani died on July 6, 2002, at Mumbai.

Must Watch Guru Movie to more about Dhirubhai Ambani - Tycoon of India From Rags to
Riches.

Karsanbhai Patel – Man behind NIRMA

The ‘Nirma’ success story of how an Indian Entrepreneur took on the big MNCs and rewrote the
rules of business :
It was in 1969 that Dr. Karsanbhai Patel started Nirma and went on to create a whole new
segment in the Indian domestic detergent market.
During that time the domestic detergent market only had the premium segment and there were
very few companies , mainly the MNCs, which were into this business.
Karsanbhai Patel used to make detergent powder in the backyard of his house in Ahmedabad and
then carry out door to door selling of his hand made product.
He gave a money back guarantee with every pack that was sold. Karsanbhai Patel managed to
offer his detergent powder for Rs. 3 per kg when the cheapest detergent at that time was Rs.13
per kg and so he was able to successfully target the middle and lower middle income segment.
Sabki Pasand Nirma!
Nirma became a huge success and all this was a result of Karsanbhai Patel’s entrepreneurial
skills.
The best case of – Give your consumer what he wants, when he wants, where he wants and at the
price he wants, selling will be done quite automatically. This is the marketing ‘mantra’ of Nirma.
The company that was started in 1969 with just one man who used to deliver his product from
one house to the other,today employs around 14 thousand people and has a turnover of more than
$ 500 million.
In 2004 Nirma’s annual sales were as high as 800000 tonnes.According to Forbes in 2005
Karsanbhai Patel’s net worth was $640 million and it’s going to touch the $1000 million mark
soon.
Yoga Health Foods
Founders: Suhasini Sampath (left) and Anindita Sampath

Area of Operations: Manufactures and retails healthy snack bar, Yoga Bars
Sales: Over 15,000 units a month

Suhasini Sampath, 30, a former manager at KPMG, was well versed with the problems of the
traditional retail channel. So when she launched Yoga Bars, a preservative-free health snack
earlier this year, she did not even attempt to get her products stocked in a supermarket or a kirana
store.

She launched Yoga Health Foods in January with her sister Anindita Sampath, 32, and started
selling the product in gyms and yoga studios.
In Bangalore, they stock their snack bars, priced at Rs 30 for a 40 gram pack, in centres like
Golds Gym, 1000 Yoga, 136.1 and Chai Point.

Solving distribution challenge: Sells products through gyms, yoga studios and offices like
Google, Intel and InMobi.
Indra Nooyi
Born in Calcutta, India, Indra Nooyi is one of the most powerful women in business having held

executive positions in many of the world’s top companies.

She is currently Chairwoman and CEO of Pepsico which is the second largest food and drink

company on the planet. She has not only excelled in business but also in academia, earning
degrees in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics as well as an MBA in management in her native

India, she then went on to earn a Master’s degree in Public and Private Management at Yale.

Oprah Winfrey
No list of the top women entrepreneurs would be complete without Oprah.

Worth an estimated $2.7 billion, it’s no wonder she can afford to hand out free cars to her

audience members, her fortune has been largely down to creating television that women love to

watch. And not just being content with appearing on the TV, she has gone on to excel in many

other forms of media. As for being influential, she has had president Obama on her show twice,

amongst many other world-famous people and has donated 100s of millions to make this world a

better place.