The Copperbelt University

BS 361: Entrepreneurship Skills

Lecture 1C: Benefits and Drawbacks

of Entrepreneurship
K. Mulenga
April 2020

Friday, 08 May 2020 K. Mulenga, April 2020 1

 Create
Destiny
Do what Create a
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Benefits of
Entrepren
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Contribu Reach
te to Full
Society Potential
Huge
Profits

Friday, 08 May 2020 K. Mulenga, April 2020 2

 Opportunity to create own destiny

• Owning a business provides

entrepreneurs the independence and the
opportunity to achieve what is important
to them.
• Entrepreneurs want ‘to call the shots’ in
their lives and they use their businesses
to make that desire a reality.

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 Opportunity to create a difference

• Increasingly, entrepreneurs are starting

businesses because they see an
opportunity to make a difference in a
cause that is important to them.

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 Opportunity to reach full potential
• Too many people find their work boring,
unchallenging, and unexciting.
• But to most entrepreneurs, there is little
difference between work and play; the
two are synonymous.
• “When I come to work every day, it’s not
a job for me. I’m having fun!” Rodger
Levin.
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 Opportunity to reap impressive profits

• Although money is not the primary force

driving most entrepreneurs, the profits
their businesses can earn are an
important factor in their decisions to
launch operations.

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 Opportunity to contribute to society

• Often, small business owners are among

the most respected and trusted members
of their communities.
• These owners enjoy the trust and
recognition they receive from the
customers and the communities they
have served faithfully over the years.

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 Opportunity to do what you enjoy and
have fun at it.
• A common sentiment among small
business owners is that their work really
isn’t work.
• Most successful entrepreneurs choose to
enter their particular business fields
because they have an interest in them
and enjoy those lines of work.

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Other benefits of Entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurs are their own bosses.
• It offers the prestige of being the person
in charge.
• It creates an opportunity for a person to
make a contribution e.g. Steve Jobs.
• It offers a greater possibility of achieving
significant financial rewards.
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 Drawbacks of entrepreneurship
• Uncertainty of income
• Risk of losing your entire investment
• Long hours and hard work
• Lower quality of life until the business
gets established.
• High levels of stress
• Complete responsibility
• Discouragement
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 Uncertainty of income

• Opening and running a business provides

no guarantee that an entrepreneur will
earn enough money to survive.

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 Risk of losing your entire investment

• Business failure can lead to financial ruin

for an entrepreneur; the small business
failure rate is relatively high.

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 Long hours and hard work

• Start-ups often demand long hours from

their owners.
• The average small business owner works
52 hours a week.

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 Lower quality of life until the business
gets established.
• Business owners often find that their
roles as husbands or wives and fathers or
mothers take a back seat to their roles as
company founders.
• As a result, marriages, families and
friendships are too often casualties of
small business ownership.

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 High levels of stress
• Entrepreneurs have made significant
investments in their companies; have left
behind the safety and security of steady
salaries and mortgaged everything to go
into business.
• Failure may mean total financial ruin, and
that creates intense levels of stress and
anxiety.

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 Complete responsibility

• It is great to be the boss, but many

entrepreneurs find that they must make
decisions on issues about which they are
not really knowledgeable.
• Many business owners have difficulty
finding advisors.

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 Discouragement
• Launching a business is a substantial
undertaking that requires a great deal of
dedication, discipline and tenacity.
• Despite the challenges that starting and
running a business pose, entrepreneurs
are very satisfied with their career
choices.

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