HOW AN

ENTREPRENEURIAL MIND
AND SKILLSET CAN
IMPACT ECONOMIC AND
SOCIAL WELLBEING

Stacey Campbell S1314339

Module Code: M3N222480

Tutor name: Dr Anne MJ Smith
Graduates with an entrepreneurial mind and skill-set enable the creation of new business and
development of existing business, all of which are critical to social and economic well-being in our
modern society.

Introduction
In todays’ society, social and economic wellbeing have become increasingly significant, with many
works highlighting the correlation between social wellbeing and economic growth – improved social
wellbeing leads to economic growth. People in society become holistically fit and able and are
supported and encouraged to bring more money into an economy, and to spend more from an
increased disposable income (OECD, 2013). Graduates can be looked to for how they can support
this wellbeing with their mind and skillset.
This essay aims to look at how the graduate entrepreneurial mind and skillset can be utilised during
social entrepreneurship, and the start-up and growth stages of business. Each of these topics will
include ways in which the graduates can support this process and a possible barrier/limitation with
supporting evidence throughout.
What are the entrepreneurial mindset and skillset?
The mindset of the entrepreneur is crucial in order for them to think their way out of problems that
may arise, create new ideas, being brave enough to take risks and ask questions and having an
adaptable approach. Growth mindset drives motivation, learning and achievement for themselves
and the people around them and empathy allows them the advantage of being able to relate to their
teams. The skillset of the entrepreneur is a vast array of elements including teamworking,
researching, utilising technology, public speaking, creativity and pitching their ideas effectively
(Venturelab, 2017).
Social Entrepreneurship
An area we can look to for the societal wellbeing effects of business creation and development is
social entrepreneurship, which tackles “major social issues – poverty, healthcare, equal
opportunities etc. - with the underlying desire, passion even, to make a change”, (Tidd et al., 2015).
This form of entrepreneurship requires a graduate to be passionate about the cause, motivated,
tenacious, creative and open to taking calculated risks in order to affect the desired positive social
change. (Volini et al., 2019) reviewed the data and trends from the Deloitte Global Human Capital
Trends survey which had almost 10,000 participants in 119 countries and found that social
enterprise is becoming more important to organisations over time.
Bill Gates is a prominent social entrepreneur with incredible passion, motivation and creativity who
became so personally invested in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he founded with his wife in
2000 he left his job at Microsoft which is one of the most successful technological ventures in history
and propelled him to billionaire status, securing his position as one of the most successful
entrepreneurs of all time. It would be unreasonable to assume that these billions of dollars did not
give the BMGF a huge advantage in start-up and development, however the foundation has made
significant commitments, with dozens of projects across the world such as: equal access to
healthcare and education globally, teaching farmers about sustainability, increasing college
completion rates, and perhaps most importantly they are making immense financial investments in
science and technology to eradicate or control infectious diseases worldwide, such as malaria, HIV
and polio. The social and economic wellbeing implications for the work of this foundation are
immeasurable. Not only will assisting agriculture and education grow the economy of the worlds’
poorest countries but providing healthcare and lifesaving vaccinations to the most disadvantaged
people across the world is a worldwide social wellbeing improvement effort.
However, how does this apply to the average graduate entrepreneur without the Bill Gates financial
resources? This is where social entrepreneurship becomes trickier, as commercial sustainability is
still required (Tidd et al., 2015) – if the business is not profit motivated, they need to get creative in
their strategy as money is still required. The venture needs premises, materials, equipment, people,
advertising and all has various other assets, liabilities and expenditures a profitable business has but

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they are dependent on government and investor funding and donations to keep the enterprise
thriving. Social entrepreneurship requires creative graduates, people who are passionate about their
project and are therefore willing to work hard through challenging times because the end goal –
social wellbeing, community and societal development– is too important for them to give up.
Entrepreneurial mind and skillset during stages of business
Business start-up and growth are two hugely important determining factors in economic and social
wellbeing. A successful new market entry or addition to existing market can boost economic growth
even on the most rudimentary of measurements, such as increased Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
However, if we are considering economic and social wellbeing as linked, some traditional economic
measurements such as GDP can prove to be quite limiting and elitist. For example, GDP does not
take into consideration the “hidden economy” of people participating in unpaid work such as caring
for an elderly or chronically ill relative, nor does it factor in social inequalities such as standard of
living, a rise in GDP can simply mean that the rich get richer and the poor see no benefit from this
(BBC, 2019). In quarter 3 of this tax year, the GDP of the UK grew by 0.2%. if this is all we are basing
our growth on then it (wrongly) implies a positive change. If we look at the social wellbeing of the UK
in the same timeframe, we see a drastic rise in homelessness and the opening of dozens of new food
banks. This is unacceptable and a flagrant disregard for societal wellbeing – unless it applies to rich
people.
As of 2010, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have measured wellbeing alongside economic
growth to get a more holistic view of the changes in these areas. This looks at factors such as
education, personal finances, physical health, the environment, disposable income and household
spending (ONS, 2019).
Starting stages
The correct mindset and skillset of the entrepreneur are vital at the starting/early stages of a
business in order for it to be a viable concept. Looking at the Timmons Model of the Entrepreneurial
Process, the entrepreneur sits at the base level, as the “founder” of this process. Problem solving
and opportunity recognition are used by the founder to see a new business opportunity, a gap in
their market or perhaps something new altogether. Communication and networking skills are then
used to leverage - and secure - resources and leadership and soft skills such as communication and
active listening are used to get a team of people involved and invested, (Timmons, 1989). All 3
elements of this process are interdependent, meaning that any imbalance (such as the lack of an
effective team) could topple the entire process and cause it to be a failure. It is the job of the
entrepreneur in this process to be highly motivational and optimistic and to get everyone on board
with their growth mindset, while remaining adaptable to the many changes and challenges
throughout the start-up process.
A counterargument for using this model and its approach to business creation is that the information
is quite dated. It is not always the case that information and theories age well, and in fact can often
be made entirely redundant by changes in factors such as societal attitudes, technology etc. For
example, Maslow’s’ “Hierarchy of Needs” pyramid (1943) is still used in academic teachings
however, comes under fire by many professions today, being written off as “lacking sufficient
empirical research”, (Cook, 2017). This model is a prime example of a study being obnoxiously White
Western male-centric in its observation subjects, so it does not account for the recent focus on
diversity and inclusion in the workplace and society.
However, this leads us to consider the other business infancy stages models in our research, such as
Kazanjian and Drazins’ (1990) with its stages of conception, commercialisation, growth and stability,
or Galbraiths’ (1982) model of proof-of principle, prototype, model-shop and start-up stages. Both of
these models were developed in a similar time period as Timmons’, and have similar variables and
factors in their mix, but in terms of structure they differ. Kazanjian and Drazin and Galbraith both
presented their models as linear, implying that every entrepreneur/business should move from one
to the next. Kazanjian and Drazins’ work makes the assumption of all businesses reaching a growth
and finally a stability stage, yet in a more realistic business climate this is a very back and forward

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process with peaks and dips in business growth, loss, stability and challenging or instable climate and
neither model appears to consider the development or engagement of a team as a crucial factor for
success in their process. Timmons’ model of three interlinked key factors which considers the
opportunity, its conception, the resources required to make it happen and the people who are
crucial in landing the venture and turning it into a success seems to be a piece of theory which
stands the test of time as it is as adaptable as it requires the “founders” to be.
Growth stages
The growth stages of any business can be decidedly rocky terrain with (Tidd et al., 2015) highlighting
that only 40% of ventures survived past the two-year mark. Numerous reasons for failure can be
inferred, such as lack of manager capability and industry experience, poor budgetary control, and
weak growth strategy.
Churchill and Lewis (1983) had a five-stage business growth model which operated from existence,
survival, growth, maturity and decline. This model had a focus on proactive management being able
to understand which stage of this process they were in and then plan ahead for future problems and
solutions. This model, despite its simplicity, has aged well. Thanks to the shift in societal focus
towards wellbeing, proactive and forward-thinking management is now something that people are
expecting from their leaders.
Greiner (1972,1998) proposed six stages of growth, with a new crisis occurring in the transition
between each stage. The crises of this growth model are leadership, autonomy, control, red tape
and growth itself and include a range of issues starting from an initial breakdown in leadership
communication to the business running out of growth opportunity – no new ideas, reduced room for
growth. This crisis and transition model requires a motivated, adaptable, agile and solution
orientated entrepreneur leading the team through to the other side of the chaos with their focused
growth mindset. A limitation of this model is that it assumes a constant crisis triggered by periods of
transition, which reads as though there’s not enough consideration being given to the strength and
resilience of a good team, a lot of people see transition as a positive period of growth and reflection.
“Without disruptive changes, we can’t grow as people and our companies can’t realize their full
potential”, (Craig, 2017). The alternative, a reactive “firefighting” approach causes problems, errors,
pressure and stress and has a very detrimental effect on social and economic wellbeing as it
negatively impacts employee productivity and business profits as well as the mental wellbeing of
those individuals suffering. Proactive, employee wellbeing focused management is one of the most
popular business topics increasingly over the last decade. With the plethora of medical and scientific
research being conducted around mental health and wellbeing today, organisations are running out
of ways to avoid the subject. If a business wants to grow, it needs the workforce to make that
happen, and the workforce are shouting out for proactive growth/transition management.
CONCLUSION
Social and economic wellbeing seem to come hand in hand in modern society, and the
entrepreneurial graduate should have a keen understanding on these concepts, know how to assist
them with the creation and growth of business and know ways in which they can be a social
entrepreneur. Growth mindset is required from todays entrepreneurial graduate along with a varied
skillset including adaptability, problem solving, proactive management, empathy, teamworking and
communication.
With the ongoing political situation in the UK, the graduate can expect many more transitions,
changes and curveballs and will need to hone their skills to make it out there in the world of
business, and to really make a difference to society and their community.

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References

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Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamcraig/2017/11/13/accepting-
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