Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EED 126
TABLE OF CONTENT
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Topic 4: Understand the role of Entrepreneurship in
economic development.
1. Identify resources and constraints of Entrepreneurship;
2. Classify the resources into economic, human, knowledge
and time;
3. Explain how Entrepreneurship leads to import substitution
and utilization of local resources;
4. Explain how entrepreneurship leads to socio-economic
development;
5. Distinguish between economic development and
economic growth;
6. Explain the role of an entrepreneur in grassroots /
local economic development.
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a. Moderate risk taking;
b. Goal setting;
c. Learning from feed back;
d. Taking personal responsibility;
e. Confidence and self reliance.
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COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP
COURSE CODE: EED 126
INTRODUCTION
GENERAL OBJECTIVE:
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TOPIC 1:
INTRODUCTION
This topic deals with efforts to comprehend the concept of enterprise and
its coverage which entail the process of combining resources: human and
materials to produce goods and services for some economic gains. It is
expected that the learners should be exposed to the business world
through enterprise building. Students learn to identify features of the
typical enterprises in their neighbourhood as well as the facilities and
opportunities available for self employment. They should be able to
identify successful entrepreneurs in Nigeria and evaluate the role of
entrepreneurship in wealth creation
CONTENT
1. Meaning of Enterprise
Wider Context: An idea that is translated into a planned and
implemented activity
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implementation,
successful completion of an activity, and
accepting the reward.
2. Different forms of Enterprises
Private vs Public
Profit vs Non-profit
Formal vs Informal
Individual vs Community
Local vs Foreign
Business vs Social
Small vs Large
Manufacturing vs Service
Consumer Vs Industrial
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community, the more prosperous the community becomes. The
synergistic nature of all enterprises in a community creates an
environment where there are lots of opportunities to be
exploited by enterprising men and women. It is therefore up to
these men and women to identify the opportunities available
and exploit them. Almost all communities have lots of
unexploited opportunities that can increase this synergy if
properly harnessed, to create even more opportunities for
everyone.
4. Classification of Enterprises
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Retail Food and Manufacturing Services Other
Recreation
Newspaper Grocery Machine shop Computer Distributorship
stand store Manufacturer's services Auctioneer
Clothing store Restaurant representative Print shop Wholesaling
Fashion Convenience Medical Landscaping Farming
boutique store equipment Rental service Artist
Bicycle shop Bar/cocktail Food Interior Building
Antique shop lounge processing/ decorating contractor
Camera shop Motel home products Warehousing Brokerage
Art and craft Fashion Industrial and storage Transportation
gallery equipment/ Auto repair Design work
Drugstore components shop Property
Gift shop Cosmetic and Accounting
Liquor store beauty and tax service
Florist products Business
Pet shop franchise
Auto services
dealership Car wash
Employment
agency
Travel/Tours
agency
Real estate
agency
Cyber café
Banking/Forex
Bureaux
Security
Size: The size of the enterprise may also be used for its
classification. Worldwide this type of classification depends
on either of or both of the capital employed or the number of
staff engaged by the enterprise. Below is the definition
adopted by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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Medium scale industries are defined as those with a total
investment of between fifty million naira (=N=50,000,000.00)
and two hundred million naira (=N=200,000,000.00) excluding
land, but including working capital; and/or labour force of
between 101 and 300 workers.
SPECIFIC BUSINESS OR
ENTERPRISE TITLE CLASSIFICATION
EXAMPLE NON-BUSINESS
1. Church
2. Electronics
Company
3. Farm
4. Information
Technology
Company
5. Children's Home
6. Private Hospital/
School
7. Construction Firm
8. Professional Firm
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11. Supermarket
12. Banking/Forex
Bureau
5. More Definitions
Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is first and foremost a mindset. Entrepreneur
is a person who habitually creates and innovates to build
something of recognized value around perceived opportunities.
In this definition, all words are key words:
'Entrepreneur' - can be an individual entrepreneur, but also
an entrepreneurial team or even entrepreneurial organization
'A person' - emphasizes a personality rather than a system
'Habitually' - just cannot stop being an entrepreneur
'Creates' - starts from scratch and brings into being
something that was not there before
'Innovates' - able to overcome obstacles that would stop most
people; turns problems into opportunities; and sees ideas
through to final application
'Builds something' - describes the output of the creation and
innovation process
'Of recognized value' - encompasses economic, commercial,
social, or aesthetic value
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o born/made ratio - 50/50, a synergy of genetic and
environmental influence
o motivation and emotion - independence, competitive spirit,
challenge, wealth
o behavioral characteristics - perseverance, determination,
orientation to clear goals, need to achieve, opportunity
orientation, creativity, persistent problem-solving, risk-
taking, integrity, honesty, internal locus on control
o personality attributes - preferred styles: extrovert/introvert;
sensor/intuit; thinker/feeler; and judger/perceiver
2. Environmental factors
o family background - entrepreneurial heritage
o age and education - begin entrepreneurial activity early; are
not over-educated
o work experience - most entrepreneurs first gain some work
experience in the line of business they later start up
3. Action factors
o making the difference - initiate change and enjoy it
o creating and innovating - a continuous activity, seeing
creative idea through to the end, and then start climbing
another mountain
o exploiting opportunities - able to see or create opportunities
that other people miss
o finding resources and competencies - experts at exploiting
contacts and sources
o networking - expertise oriented; know when they need
experts and how to use them effectively
o facing adversity - resolve problems under pressure; turn
problems into opportunities
o managing risk - not adventurers, but manageable risk
takers; their success lies in caution, learning, flexibility and
change during implementation
o controlling the business - paying attention to details and
essential ratios; exercising strategic control over their
business
o putting the customer first - listening to the customer and
responding to the customers' feedback
o creating capital - financial, social, and aesthetic
Wage Employment
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Self Employment
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for yourself is personal satisfaction. Personal satisfaction means
doing what you want with your life. Being self-employed will enable
you to spend each work day in a job you enjoy. For example, if you
like photography, you may start your own studio. Each time a
customer is pleased with a portrait, you will receive personal
satisfaction.
You may receive satisfaction from aiding the community in which
you live. Self-employed persons supply goods and services and
create jobs for others. They also buy goods and services from other
local enterprises, borrow money from local banks, and pay taxes.
b. Independence: Another advantage of being a self-employed person is
independence. Independence is freedom from control of others. You
are able to use your knowledge, skills and abilities as you see fit.
When you are self-employed you are driven by spirit of self-reliance
and individual survival. Compared to those who work for others,
self-employed persons have more freedom of action. They are in
charge and can make decisions without first having to get the
approval of someone else.
c. Profit and income: One of the major rewards expected when starting
a new business is profit. Profit is the amount of income left after all
expenses have been paid. Profits go to the owner of a business.
Being self-employed, you would be able to control your income. Very
often, increased time and effort put into the enterprise results in
increased income. This is not often the case when you work for
someone else. How much do you want to earn each year after your
business is running smoothly? Do you want to make 2,000, 5,000,
10,000 or more a year? It’s important to decide on income because
different types of businesses have different income potentials. A fast-
food restaurant has one income potential while a small
manufacturing business may have quite another. It’s probably
tempting to set your goal at a very high level – say 15,000 a year.
Many businesses have the long-run potential of being successful;
however, many businesses don’t become profitable operations very
quickly. One way to establish a personal income goal is to answer
the question “How much do I want to be making (per year) six years
from now?”
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e. Status: Status is a term used to describe a person’s social rank or
position. Self-employed persons receive attention and recognition
through customer contact and public exposure. As a result, they
may enjoy status above that of many other types of workers. Closely
related to social status is pride in ownership; most people enjoy
seeing their names on buildings, vehicles, stationery and
advertisements. To some degree, all people seek status. Businesses
have their status too. There are high-status businesses and low-
status businesses. For example, garbage collection is a low-status
business. Some people are very interested in the status of their
business and others are not interested at all. It may be an important
consideration in selecting the type of business for you. The key is to
choose a business that has a status that you’ll feel comfortable with.
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work fourteen or more hours a day, six or seven days a week. The
owner is often the first to arrive at the business in the morning and
the last to leave at night. Business hours are set at the convenience
of customers, not the desire of the owner. For example, many
market shops are open from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Some
entrepreneurs feel they cannot leave their businesses for more than
one or two days at a time.
e. Risks: A risk is always a risk. However, you stand the best chance of
success if you are prepared to take calculated risks. Calculated risks
allow you to estimate the chances of failure or success without
taking a gamble. Very low risk ventures have less reward in terms of
profits and may lead to limiting your ideas and their follow-up.
g. People contact: How do you feel about working with people? Do you
really enjoy it, or do you wish you could always work alone? Or are
you somewhere in between? There are really three types of people
contact in a small business: contact with customers, with
employees, and with suppliers. Most small business owners don’t
mind the contact with employees and suppliers, since the owner is
usually on the most comfortable side of the relationship. The owner-
customer relationship, however, differs greatly depending on the
type of business you’re in. For example, in selling real estate,
personal aggressiveness is important. If you don’t enjoy personal
selling, don’t choose a business where it’s required. Many
businesses have a much more impersonal sales approach. In most
retail operations, for example, successful selling depends more on
good merchandise, fair prices and advertising than it does on
personal contact with the customer. An extreme example of
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impersonal selling is mail order, internet or e-mail, where you never
even see a customer (the customers send in orders and the owner
sends out the merchandise).
It is pertinent to note that NCBI, NIDB and NERFUND have been merged
to form The Bank of Industries (BOI); and the new National Agriculture,
Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB) is a merger of
Peoples Bank, Family Economic Advancement Programme and the
Nigeria Agricultural and Cooperatives Bank (NACB).
There were also export incentives from the Nigeria Export-Import Bank
(NEXIM) to stimulate export loan facilities to SMEs, and export duty
draw-back schemes administered by the Nigeria Export Promotion
Council (NEPC).
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Other incentive programs were technical in nature, such as the provision
of manpower training, appropriate machinery selection and installation,
machine repairs and maintenance, and extension services. These
services were provided by institutions such as:
The Industrial Development Centers (IDCs)
The Center for Industrial Research and Development (CIRD),
The Center for Management Development (CMD),
The Project Development Agency (PRODA), and
The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC)
INTRODUCTION
You may not think that your small business can attract the attention of
any government or their agencies, but it does. For any business, even the
smallest, to grow and actually benefit from all the helps that are offered
by the government or its agencies, it would have to comply with a
number of its Local, State and Federal regulations. It is not in the long-
term interest of your business to ignore or avoid these regulations. So
you should take the time to work with your Business Support Counselor
to find out the applicable regulations for your type of business.
Bear in mind that regulations vary by industry. If you are in the food
service business and you are located in the FCT, for example, you will
have to deal with the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, (AEPB). For
any location in Nigeria you will need the National Agency for Food and
Drug Administration and Control. (NAFDAC). If your business uses
chemical solvents, you will have AEPB’s compliance to meet. Carefully
investigate the regulations that affect your industry. Being out of
compliance could lead to expensive penalties, and thus jeopardize your
business.
Below are a number of the most common requirements that affect small
businesses, but it is by no means exhaustive.
Business and Trading licenses
Health and safety
Business Insurance
Intellectual property protection
Employment Taxes
Employment law
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Business Licenses
For almost every business that you would want to start you will need a
license to operate legally. For more information on licenses that you
might require contact the closest Business Development Service
Counselor.
You should allow enough time for the authorities to process your
application, because you may not be able to start your business until the
licenses you need are approved.
The rules are different depending on the type of business that you are
setting up. These are examples of the sort of licenses you might need,
and where to apply for them:
Land related businesses you will need a valid land title like a
Certificate of Occupancy.
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level of insurance you need to replace or rebuild. You must also
understand the terms of the insurance, including any limitations or
waivers of coverage.
(Check with Min. of Labour & Productivity or Min. of Industries for the
latest details.)
When your business employs people, even if they are your relatives, it
has to comply with a number of legal requirements. Employment law
covers many different issues, including:
Working hours and holidays
Minimum wage
Pensions
Tax and National Insurance
Maternity and parental leave
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There are also special safety regulations for certain types of businesses
doing one or more of the following things:
Working in a factory or workshop
Using heavy machinery
Using hazardous substances (like chemicals or pesticides)
Doing a lot of lifting and carrying
Fire safety
If you employ staff, you have certain responsibilities when considering
fire safety in your workplace. These include:
Doing a risk assessment of possible fire hazards and taking steps to
reduce the risk.
Making sure fires can be detected quickly, for example by installing a
smoke alarm.
Providing fire-fighting equipment and making sure it's properly
maintained.
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(b) when they do not want to commit their full time to
the enterprise,
(c) when risks may be reduced by spreading their
investment portfolio, and
(d) when they do not have the capacity to manage
such an enterprise.
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make the final decisions and control all aspects of
business operations.
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TOPIC 2.
INTRODUCTION:
It is important to state the historical background of entrepreneurship in
the country with emphasis to how it started and developed to its present
level. This topic also highlights the contribution of entrepreneurship vis-
à-vis the promotion of the country’s economic position. A practical
outcome is that students should learn to obtain any required information
from the net
CONTENT:
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"agent who buys means of production at certain prices in order to
combine them" into a new product (Schumpeter, 1951). Shortly
thereafter, the French economist J.B. Say added to Cantillon's definition
by including the idea that entrepreneurs had to be leaders. Say claims
that an entrepreneur is one who brings other people together in order to
build a single productive organism (Schumpeter, 1951).
Over the next century, British economists such as Adam Smith, David
Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill briefly touched on the concept of
entrepreneurship, though they referred to it under the broad English
term of "business management." Whereas the writings of Smith and
Ricardo suggest that they likely undervalued the importance of
entrepreneurship, Mill goes out of his way to stress the significance of
entrepreneurship for economic growth. In his writings, Mill claims that
entrepreneurship requires "no ordinary skill," and he laments the fact
that there is no good English equivalent word to encompass the specific
meaning of the French term entrepreneur (Schumpeter, 1951).
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Marshall believed entrepreneurship was simply the driving force behind
organization, many economists today, but certainly not all, believe that
entrepreneurship is by itself the fourth factor of production that
coordinates the other three (Arnold, 1996). Unfortunately, although
many economists agree that entrepreneurship is necessary for economic
growth, they continue to debate over the actual role that entrepreneurs
play in generating economic growth. One school of thought on
entrepreneurship suggests that the role of the entrepreneur is that of a
risk-bearer in the face of uncertainty and imperfect information. Knight
claims that an entrepreneur will be willing to bear the risk of a new
venture if he believes that there is a significant chance for profit
(Swoboda, 1983). Although many current theories on entrepreneurship
agree that there is an inherent component of risk, the risk-bearer theory
alone cannot explain why some individuals become entrepreneurs while
others do not. For example, following from Knight, Mises claims any
person who bears the risk of losses or any type of uncertainty could be
called an entrepreneur under this narrow-definition of the entrepreneur
as the risk-bearer (Swoboda, 1983). Thus, in order to build a
development model of entrepreneurship it is necessary to look at some of
the other characteristics that help explain why some people are
entrepreneurs; risk may be a factor, but it is not the only one.
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truly innovators in the traditional sense of the word. For example,
entrepreneurs in LDCs rarely produce brand new products; rather, they
imitate the products and production processes that have been invented
elsewhere in the world (typically in developed countries). This process,
which occurs in developed countries as well, is called "creative imitation"
(Drucker, 1985) The term appears initially paradoxical; however, it is
quite descriptive of the process of innovation that actually occurs in
LDCs. Creative imitation takes place when the imitators better
understand how an innovation can be applied, used, or sold in their
particular market niche (namely their own countries) than do the people
who actually created or discovered the original innovation. Thus, the
innovation process in LDCs is often that of imitating and adapting,
instead of the traditional notion of new product or process discovery and
development.
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entrepreneur does not of course have to finance the business from
personal savings alone. The necessary finances and other resources
could be borrowed. It is therefore a function of the entrepreneur to
finance the business.
Entrepreneurship in Nigeria
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bureaucrats and are plagued with red-tapism. Thus, these firms are
typically run according to state procedures, instead of according to cost-
cutting and profit-maximizing concerns. The typical result is rampant
inefficiency (Elkan, 1988). Although Nigeria was at one time
characterized by such inefficiencies, it has recently pursued
entrepreneurship encouragement policies, and the initial indicators
suggest that the policies have been successful.
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better prepared for employment as well as creators of knowledge-based
enterprises.
Four years ago, we had a similar problem in telecoms; then, we had not
more than 400,000 phone lines. But today, four years after telecoms
deregulation the story is different. This reform agenda of the government
that liberalized the telecoms sector and provided an enabling operating
climate for private sector participation in that sector has yielded positive
results. About 50 million lines, the majority of which are either mobiles
or fixed wireless are now operational in the country. So we are able to
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cross the bridge of infrastructural deficiency in the telecoms sector
through getting our policy and regulations right as well as using
transparent means to license private sector operators.
First of all, you have to understand the mindset of the small business
owners in Nigeria. They own their businesses, and they like to control it
themselves. Unlike what obtains in USA, Canada and Europe where most
people wanting to start a business will look for a partner, somebody with
equity. The philosophy is "Let's share the risk together. Let's leverage on
the knowledge of one another," and things like that. But back in Nigeria,
the prevailing philosophy is "I want to start it myself. I want to do it
myself, at least up until the particular level that I know I have full
control. Then, maybe I can sell part of it, but for now, let me do all the
sweating, and let me do all the things that come with that sweating."
The second side is that up until five, maybe not more than eight, years
ago, the financial services sector had been used to lending through debt,
not equity, so the mindset, again, is different. Most lending has to be
done with collateral, so if you default, they sell off your collateral. In the
new participatory case, there is nothing to sell off, which means they
have to do their homework a lot more to know the right type of
businesses to invest in--whether they are growing businesses or not.
They need to know all that, and that is where they can get their reward.
So that has also become a challenge for them. The challenge for the
banks is that they need to learn the ropes of venture capitalists.
On both sides, there are real challenges, and these have slowed down the
investments in equity. There is need for value orientation and sound
financial education.
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and outcomes. I think the outcomes documentation is likely due to Small
Business Administration (SBA) requirements, which we don't have. But
beyond the SBA requirements, the fact that entrepreneurs are able to
document their processes helps them to consistently control the
outcome. That is one learning point that must be imbibed by all
entrepreneurs. In addition we need to start documenting some of the
processes which have been successful as well as documenting various
operational challenges and the solutions to these, using daily reflection
journals. This leads to effective use of feedback mechanisms in future
operational plans as well as in developing their own strategic plans.
Singapore is a small island city-state and has few natural resources that
it can exploit in order to promote economic development. Thus,
Singapore has had to largely rely on its people and human capital for the
sustainment of development. Initially, the government improved the
country's human capital by dedicating a large amount of the annual
budget to education expenditure. However, now that the country can
boast of high literacy rates, traditional human capital development is no
longer sufficient to sustain economic growth.
Recognizing the need for a new strategy for economic growth, Singapore's
government turned towards the technology sector. With the creation of
the Technopreneurship 21 Initiative and Ministerial Committee,
Singapore began promoting technopreneurship encouragement policies.
For example, the government now sponsors university courses on
technopreneurship and helps connect venture capital companies with
budding technopreneurs. This greater openness has encouraged many
new start-ups to form, and the country is well on its way to fully
integrating itself into the New Economy. Singapore's success with
technopreneurship policies has influenced other Asian countries to begin
such initiatives. For example, Malaysia recently launched its Multimedia
Super Corridor to encourage domestic technology development, and
Hong Kong recently completed the construction of its CyberPort, a
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technopreneurship-friendly business district. Finally, technopreneurship
encouragement has also taken place in certain cities in India.
The historical and contemporary records reveal a long and robust history
of family- owned businesses in Nigeria. There is evidence that the
colonial legal and administrative policies purposefully discouraged
Nigerians from owning a business and achieving economic independence.
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Despite de-facto and legal discrimination before independence, Nigerians
throughout the region have a track record in a full range of commercial
enterprises. They have distinguished themselves as industrialists, skilled
artisans, real estate developers, professionals, bankers, merchants, and
as players in every other conceivable area of commercial enterprise.
Moreover, there is a strong appetite, as well as cultural and political
mandate among Nigerians for enterprise development. It is avidly
embraced by and unifies - historically and today -- all segments of the
political spectrum. It is supported by churches, nationalist groups, and
political parties. Enterprise development is considered the answer to not
only personal wealth and achievement, but also the larger historical
political and social agenda of National economic and community
development.
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5. Describe the role of Entrepreneurship in the development of
enterprises;
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3. Develop entrepreneurship encouragement programmes: By passing
legislation that is friendly towards entrepreneurs, countries can
make it more culturally acceptable and less risky to be an
entrepreneur. Additionally, entrepreneurship encouragement
programmes, like the Technopreneurship 21 Initiative in
Singapore5, can assist entrepreneurs in finding capital, setting up
a business plan, and complying with the various business and tax
regulations.
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All of the above recommendations are general policy suggestions that
governments can pursue. The specific policies that a country
implements, however, must be made appropriate for the specific
circumstances that the country faces. For example, in a country where
the majority of entrepreneurship takes the form of small family-owned
enterprises, there is initially little need for venture capitalists; instead it
would be more appropriate for this country to implement micro-credit
programs to assist potential entrepreneurs. Thus, the policies that an
LDC implements to increase its supply of entrepreneurship must be
crafted individually for the country's specific case and stage of
development. Additionally, like most development policies, many of the
above recommendations require government expenditure. However, since
entrepreneurship is necessary for economic development, expenditure on
encouragement policies is as justified as much as expenditure on any
other development policy.
In general, the package of incentives can be grouped into five; these are:
i. Fiscal measures of taxation and interest rates.
ii. Effective protection with import tariff
iii. Export promotion of Nigerian products.
iv. Foreign currency facility for international trade.
v. Development Banking.
TAXATION
Fiscal measure has been fashioned out to provide for deduction and
allowances in the determination of taxes payable by manufacturing
enterprises. The fiscal measures targeted at aspect of industrial activities
are as follows:
a) Pioneer Status
By the provision of income tax relief Act 1958 (Amended by Decree No.
22 of 1971) Public companies are granted specific tax holiday on
corporate income. This is to encourage such industries that government
consider beneficial to Nigeria. During the period of exemption, the
companies are expected to achieve a reasonable level of profitability. The
relevant company or product is declared a pioneer industry or pioneer
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product. This Act is applicable to both public and private limited liability
companies.
The relief covers non renewable period of five years for pioneer industry
and seven years for such industries located in economically
disadvantaged areas.
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e) Tax Relief for Investments for Economically Disadvantaged Local
Governmental Areas
Enterprises who invest in economically disadvantaged local government
areas are entitled to special income and other concessions.
These include:
i. Seven years income tax concession under the pioneer status
ii. Special concession by relevant state government.
iii. Additional 5% and above the initial capital depreciation allowance
under the company income tax.
For the purpose of administering these incentives, the country has been
grouped into the following zones;
1. Industrially and economically developed local government
areas
2. Less industrially and economically developed local
government areas
3. Least industrially and economically developed local
government areas.
EFFECTIVE PROTECTION
Tariff level provides a simple and straight forward measure of protection
against imports but may not provide the total effect anticipated.
Government therefore put in place other measures to ensure that
locally made goods are competitive in both domestic and export market.
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Nigeria or subsidized by any government or authorized outside
Nigeria.
EXPORT PROMOTION
A variety of measures ranging from export insurance to outright grant to
export oriented industries are applicable to manufacturers producing for
export. These have been articulated in Decree No. 18 1986.
i. Import Duty Draw Back
Importers can claim repayment of import duty paid for
materials used in producing export goods. Repayment will be
made in full if materials are imported for use in the
production of goods which are exported. The objective of the
duty draw back is to encourage the production of various
export goods as a way of diversifying the economy away from
it.
ii. Export License waiver
No export license is required for the export of manufactured
or processed products. Also, export products are exempted
from excise tax
iii. Export Credit Guarantee and Insurance Scheme
In order to make Nigerian products compete effectively in the
international market as well as to insure genuine exporter
against some political and other risk including default in
payment, the government has approved the establishment of
an export credit guarantee and insurance scheme.
iv. Export Development Fund.
This should be used to provide financial assistance to private
exporting companies to cover part of their initial expenses in
respect of export promotion activities.
v. Export Expansion Fund;
This shall be used to provide cash inducement for exporters
who have exported a minimum of N50, 000 worth of semi
manufactured or manufactured products.
vi. Export Adjustment Scheme Fund
This has been established to serve as a supplementary
export subsidy.
vii. Rediscounting Of Short Term Bill For Export
This facility will enable all exporters to rediscount their short
term bills under the scheme in the central bank of Nigeria.
viii. Capital Allowance
Additional annual capital allowance of 5% on plant and
machinery is granted to manufacturing exporters provided
that the product has at least 40% local raw materials
content or 35% value added.
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ix. Tax Relief on Interest Income
Company income tax Act has also been amended to grant tax
relief on interest accruing from any loans granted to and
investment in export oriented industries.
DEVELOPMENT BANKING
Industrial development banks have been set up at both federal and state
levels to offer specialized services to industry. Paramount among these
services is the provision of soft loans and advances to large, medium and
small scale, and cottage type industries on concessionary terms. These
concessions are reviewed regularly in line with policy objective of
government. These banks include Bank of Industry (BOI) and Nigeria
Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB).
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TOPIC 3:
INTRODUCTION:
This section highlights a comprehensive typology and significance of
entrepreneurship. The real values, forms and attributes of
entrepreneurship are also discussed. Students should be able to analyze
life situations in which people may find themselves and enumerate the
benefits to be derived from the above situation.
CONTENT:
1. "Entrepreneurship involves seeking and pursuing opportunity.
Successful entrepreneurship captures the value from
opportunity" - Colin Turner
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5. Allocate venture resources
6. Provide performance and risk rewards
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– Dynamic leader – Energetic and forceful
– Profit-oriented
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is no formula for success. However, most successful entrepreneurs share
these ten characteristics. Check if you possess any one of them:
1. Think success. To attain the kind of success that you want, you need
to dream big. Every success story starts with big dreams. You need to
have big dreams for yourself - which you want to be somebody rich,
famous or fulfilled. You need to have a clear vision of what you want to
achieve. But it doesn't stop in dreaming alone. You should actively
visualize success in your mind that you can almost feel it, touch it or it is
within your reach. Play this image back at every opportunity. What does
it feel to triple your current income? How will your life change? What will
your business look like if you achieved the million-dollar mark?
2. Be passionate with what you do. You start a business to change any
or all part of your life. To attain this change, you need to develop or
uncover an intense, personal passion to change the way things are and
to live life to the fullest. Success comes easily if you love what you do.
Why? Because we are more relentless in our pursuit of goals about
things that we love. If you hate your job right now, do you think you will
ever be successful at it? Not in a million years! You may plod along, even
become competent at the tasks, but you will never be a great success at
it. You will achieve peak performance and do what you have to do to
succeed only if you are doing something that interests you or something
that you care about. Entrepreneurs who succeed do not mind the fact
that they are putting in 15 or 18 hours a day to their business because
they absolutely love what they do. Success in business is all about
patience and hard work, which can only be attained if you are passionate
and crazy with your tasks and activities.
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3. Focus on your strengths. Let's face it; you cannot be everything to
everybody. Each of us has our own strengths and weaknesses. To be
effective, you need to identify your strengths and concentrate on it. You
will become more successful if you are able to channel your efforts to
areas that you do best. In business, for example, if you know you have
good marketing instincts, then harness this strength and make full use
of it. Seek help or assistance in areas that you may be poor at, such as
accounting or bookkeeping. To transform your weakness to strength,
consider taking hands-on learning or formal training.
4. Never consider the possibility of failure. Ayn Rand, in her novel The
Fountainhead, wrote, "It is not in the nature of man - nor of any living
entity, to start out by giving up." As an entrepreneur, you need to fully
believe in your goals, and that you can do it. Think that what you are
doing will contribute to the betterment of your environment and your
personal self. You should have a strong faith in your idea, your
capabilities and yourself. You must believe beyond a shadow of a doubt
that you have the ability to recognize and fulfill them. The more you can
develop faith in your ability to achieve your goals, the more rapidly you
can attain it. However, your confidence should be balanced with
calculated risks that you need to take to achieve greater rewards.
Successful entrepreneurs are those who analyze and minimize risk in the
pursuit of profit. As they always say, "no guts, no glory."
5. Plan accordingly. You have a vision, and you have enough faith in
yourself to believe that you can achieve your vision. But do you know
how to get to your vision? To achieve your vision, you need to have
concrete goals that will provide the stepping-stone towards your ultimate
vision. Put your goals in writing; not doing so just makes them as
intangible fantasies. You need to plan each day in such a way that your
every action contributes to the attainment of your vision. Do you foresee
yourself as the next Martha Stewart of hand-made home furnishings?
Perhaps today, you need to see an artist to help you conceptualize the
new line of hand-made linens that you hope to launch. Intense goal
orientation is the characteristic of every successful entrepreneur. They
have a vision, and they know how to get there. Your ability to set goals
and make plans for your accomplishment is the skill required to succeed.
Plan, plan and plan - because without which failure is guaranteed.
6. Work hard! Every successful entrepreneur works hard, hard and hard.
No one achieves success just by sitting and staring at the wall every
single day. Brian Tracy puts it out this way, "You work eight hours per
day for survival; everything over eight hours per day is for success." Ask
any successful businessperson and they will tell you immediately that
they had to work more than 60 hours per week at the start of their
businesses. Be prepared to say goodbye to after-office drinks every day,
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or a regular weekend get-away trip. If you are in a start-up phase, you
will have to breathe, eat and drink your business until it can stand on its
own. Working hard will be easy if you have a vision, clear goals, and are
passionate with what you do.
9. Persevere and have faith. No one said that the road to success is easy.
Despite your good intentions and hard work, sometimes you will fail.
Some successful entrepreneurs suffered setbacks and resounding
defeats, even bankruptcy, yet managed to quickly stand up to make it big
in their fields. Your courage to persist in the face of adversity and ability
to bounce back after a temporary disappointment will assure your
success. You must learn to pick yourself up and start all over again.
Your persistence is the measure of the belief in yourself. Remember, if
you persevere, nothing can stop you.
10. Discipline yourself. Thomas Huxley once said, "Do what you should
do, when you should do it, whether you like it or not." Self-discipline is
the key to success. The strength of will to force yourself to pay the price
of success - doing what others don't like to do, going the extra mile,
fighting and winning the lonely battle with yourself.
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Intrepreneurs
Techno-entrepreneurs
Institutional Entrepreneurs
1. Social Gathering;
2. Visiting A National Park;
3. Subsistence Farming;
4. Political Campaign;
5. City Life/Rural Life;
6. Unemployment;
7. Using Internet;
8. Vocational Training;
9. Hunger/Drought;
10. Family and Home
11. Being In a Foreign Country; and
12. Family Business.
1. Activities and situations in life are many and varied. These situations
change over time and according to location. Things happen to you, to
your family, within your community, and even in your government that
demand things be changed and done differently. Events in your natural
environment, the legal sector, the financial sector, the labour market,
and even the weather can all force you to do things differently. Even
events happening far away from your area can affect you either directly
or indirectly.
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3. Everybody has the potential to initiate action in any situation if they
have the will, drive and motivation. Most men or women have innate
talents and capabilities that would enable them to come up with valued
responses to any challenges brought about by new situations. However,
the majority of people tend to be slow in reacting or wait for other people
to act first. Enterprising men and women are action or task oriented,
proactive and willing to adopt leadership roles.
3. Who Is To Do It?
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7. How Should It Be Done?
Technological Entrepreneurship
The term "technopreneur" arose from within Singaporean culture to
describe an individual whose entrepreneurial endeavours focus on a
technology-centered enterprise. The government of Singapore has
embraced technopreneurship and has launched several initiatives to
promote technopreneurship as a means of economic development. In the
past three years. For example, the government now sponsors university
courses on technopreneurship and helps connect venture capital
companies with budding technopreneurs. This greater openness has
encouraged many new start-ups to form, and the country is well on its
way to fully integrating itself into the New Economy. Singapore's success
with technopreneurship policies has influenced other Asian countries to
begin such initiatives.
To utilize the educated youth, who have been trained in engineering and
computer programming, international IT companies began locating in
India, particularly in Bangalore. The result is that Bangalore has become
a powerhouse for software production. Although Indian technopreneurs
were not originally at the center of Bangalore's technology development,
they are now beginning to pop up throughout southern India, largely due
to the government's help in creating "the right climate to encourage this
sunrise industry" (Soota, 1998).
Several countries today are building techno-parks where the youths are
encouraged to get involved in IT-related activities or in some cases other
forms of hi-tech activities. These parks are solely devoted to the
development of technopreneurs.
Social Entrepreneurship:
The idea of “social entrepreneurship” has struck a responsive chord. It is
a phrase well suited to our times. It combines the passion of a social
mission with an image of business-like discipline, innovation, and
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determination commonly associated with, for instance, the high-tech
pioneers of Silicon Valley. The time is certainly ripe for entrepreneurial
approaches to social problems. Many governmental and philanthropic
efforts have fallen far short of our expectations. Major social sector
institutions are often viewed as inefficient, ineffective, and unresponsive.
Social entrepreneurs are needed to develop new models for a new
century.
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sales by offering discount prices and operating with very low
overhead.
6. Acquirers: Those who take over a business started by somebody
else and use their own ideas to make it successful. This often
happens when there is a financial problem in the current
operation. Fresh management ideas may save the business.
7. Buy-Sell Artists: Those who buy a company for the purpose of
improving it so that they can sell it again for a profit.
8. Speculators: Those who purchase a commodity and resell it for a
profit. Real estate, art, antiques and crops are typical speculator
items.
9. Internal: Those who create new ideas and turn them into a
successful project within an existing business. Although they have
neither the profit nor the personal financial risk of their own
business, they need to use the same methods of operation as an
entrepreneur.
10. Franchisee: A franchisee is an individual who starts a
business for which a widely known product image has already
been established. The franchisee owns the business and assumes
its operating responsibilities subject to specifications set out by the
franchisor.
11. Necessity: Unemployed person who chooses to establish his/her
own business in order to survive rather than die of hunger or
continue to be dependent on parents, e.g. shoe shine boy.
Entrepreneurs answer the hard questions that add value to the quality of
life for Society. These include:
• WHAT IS TO BE PRODUCED?
Since two-thirds of the total production of goods and services focus on
the consumer sector, consumers comprise the group who determines
what is to be produced. The entrepreneur takes note of consumer needs,
analyses them and takes decisions on what to produce.
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services) and/or those who are in occupations in high demand
(businesses want their skills).
It has been said that “if a man/woman builds a better mousetrap, the
world will beat a path to his/her door”. In a market economy there is a
“golden opportunity” for profit, recognition and service for anyone with the
imagination, energy and drive to do a job better, or provide a better service
than others. The essence of the free enterprise system is competition. It
is competition that makes a man/woman who is already doing a good job
to try harder, instead of “resting on his/her laurels”.
This competition provides, in the end, a better standard of living for the
consumer by offering choices. The consumer “shops” to get the best value
and the best quality. When the purchase is made, the money paid is
“votes” in favour of the product or the service chosen. Those products or
stores or services which do not receive sufficient support (sales) in the
way of “Naira-votes” from customers will perish.
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before anyone else, he/she can get a head start on his/her competition.
If the location is good, he/she will soon have business neighbours but,
even then, they may not be direct competition as they may represent
different products and services and actually bring more business.
The point is that anyone with imagination and a little courage to take a
chance on his/her own ability and ambition can generally be successful
in business provided the individual has progressed to the point in
his/her life when he/she is a good business risk. One must acquire the
basic education, skills, knowledge and maturity in order to reduce the
chances of business failure. Any business is a risk. The chances of
failure can be greatly reduced by education, experience and the exercise
of good judgment.
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TOPIC 4:
INTRODUCTION:
The contribution of entrepreneurship in the promotion of economic
development should not be underestimated and therefore the need to
highlight it is essential. The entrepreneurs are the change agents and the
prime movers of the economy. It has been established that no country
can grow economically without the positive support of the entrepreneurs
and entrepreneurship. Students should be able to classify the resources
into economic, human knowledge and time and distinguish between
economic development and economic growth.
CONTENT:
1. Resources and Constraints of Entrepreneurship/Classify The
Resources Into Economic, Human, Knowledge And Time
ECONOMIC RESOURCES
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The value of any equipment depends on the efficiency with which it is
used. Even the best equipment cannot think or act on its own.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Knowledge: A real zest for life and an active curiosity stimulate learning.
Reading, observing and listening are ways of staying in the mainstream
of life. Each individual must take responsibility for acquiring a certain
amount of knowledge by developing communication skills such as
reading, writing, speaking and listening.
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opportunities, but also screening and evaluating them to determine the
most viable, attractive propositions to be pursued.
Goods that are imported into a society must of necessity have local
demands. The strength of this demand is a measure of how successful
the product has been in the market. Entrepreneurs can take any locally
available raw materials and work out the process for creating similar or
identical products (substitutes) thus reducing the need for imports. In
most cases the local substitute is much better than the imported one.
The case of locally produced frozen chicken has shown that fresh local
chicken have better taste and are more desirable.
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life better for everyone concerned by creating new products, developing
new and efficient methods, and offering lower prices through effective
competition.
The successful entrepreneur recognizes what consumers want or might
want, and produces it in a competitive manner for sale. Profit is the
return to a business if demand is met effectively, and loss is what a
business gets if it does not meet this demand.
The entrepreneur also makes effective decisions on how to produce
efficiently in order to obtain competitive products whose prices and
quality are acceptable to the customer. A socially responsible
entrepreneur also makes products which meet safety, environmental and
other legal requirements.
Entrepreneurs also make decisions on how to distribute the goods and
services that are produced to those customers willing and able to pay for
them. Through competition, entrepreneurs are able to offer prices that
influence consumers’ decisions to buy.
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To a great extent, leadership is an attitude which is demonstrated in the
approach entrepreneurs have toward “getting the job done.” A leader is
usually willing to assume challenges which may involve great risks and
potentially great opportunities.
A leader understands the total task to be accomplished and is able to
determine new and innovative ways to accomplish the task. To maintain
morale, a guideline for good leaders to follow is “treat others as you
would like to be treated.” Trying to view a situation through the eyes of
the other people involved will help in developing a positive “you” attitude
towards employees.
A good leader achieves a balance between the following two types of
responsibilities. Sometimes certain situations, such as forming a new
group, call for paying attention to people more than tasks. Other
situations, such as the introduction of a new procedure, will probably
require more attention to tasks rather than people. Understanding
leadership can help entrepreneurs become more effective leaders.
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Clarify the role of the grass roots in the Nigerian
society of the future
Learn how to prepare and carry out a shared
community project
Learn how to map local communities for development
Learn how to establish personal or group micro-
business by teaching entrepreneurial skills
Learn how to select projects/events that will foster
bonds and rapport in the community.
The ability of the ordinary citizens to gain the skills of income generation
and project selection and to improve the status of grassroots
women/youths through self actualization shall mean the establishment
of an enduring political culture. The entrepreneurial component of this
project help to create income for the grassroots women/youths; and
foster linkages between them and their local authorities in a more fruitful
and rewarding manner.
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grassroots agricultural enterprises as well as local value addition; and
massive grassroots participation in local development activities. The
advocacy component of this programme will create local values as well as
a generation of citizens that will demand transparency and
accountability from their local government officials.
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TOPIC 5:
UNDERSTAND ENTREPRENEURIAL
CHARACTERISTICS AND ATTITUDES
INTRODUCTION:
It is very important that the students, who are expected to be potential
entrepreneurs, comprehend the qualities, characteristics and attitudes
involved with entrepreneurial undertakings. It is against this background
that this section is presented so as to guide all stakeholders on
entrepreneurship. Students should learn to evaluate a project
considering its resources: management of time, personnel, equipment
and money as well as understand constraints and problem solving
techniques
CONTENT:
1. Explain the Philosophy, Values, Scope, Need and Characteristics of
Entrepreneurship
There are certain characteristics that people should possess or have the
potential to develop if they wish to be entrepreneurial. As a group, when
measured on various personal characteristics and skills, a number of
traits emerge (such as risk-taking ability and leadership) where
entrepreneurs differ from non-entrepreneurs.
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Important Entrepreneurial Traits
Hard Working: running a business requires a lot of energy and drive.
This involves the ability to work for long hours when necessary, to work
intensely in spurts and to cope with less than a normal amount of sleep.
Self-Confident: to succeed, entrepreneurs have to believe in themselves
and in their ability to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. This
is often shown by a belief that “if you want something badly enough and
are prepared to work at it, you’ll usually get it”.
Builds for the Future: the goal for most successful business people is to
build a secure job and income for themselves which is based on their
own abilities. This means entrepreneurs understand that it may take
several years to build up business income to a reasonable standard.
Profit-Oriented: interest in generating money is a clear indicator of an
entrepreneur’s suitability for being a business owner. This means
recognizing that the business comes first. Once profits are generated, the
entrepreneur can make decisions about how the profits can be used – to
expand the enterprise or for personal use.
Goal-Oriented: success in business depends upon being able to set
realistic goals or targets and to work with determination to achieve them.
This ability to set goals (for things the person thinks are worthwhile) and
to work to achieve them is fundamental to being an entrepreneur.
Persistent: all businesses have their problems and disappointments.
Being persistent in solving a problem is one of the keys to being a
successful entrepreneur.
Copes with Failure: All business ventures inevitably contain
disappointments and failures as well as successes. Coping with failures
involves recognizing these failures, learning from them and seeking new
opportunities. Without this characteristic, early failures may end a
person’s attempt at self-employment.
Responds to Feedback: entrepreneurs are concerned to know how well
they are doing and to keep track of their performance. Obtaining useful
feedback and advice from others is another important characteristic of
entrepreneurs.
Demonstrates Initiative: research shows that successful entrepreneurs
take the initiative and put themselves in positions where they are
personally responsible for success or failure.
Willing to Listen: the successful entrepreneur is not an inward looking
person that never uses outside resources. Self-reliance does not exclude
the ability to ask for help when needed from such people as bank
officials, accountants and business advisers. Being able to listen to the
advice of others is a key characteristic of an entrepreneur.
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Sets Own Standards: setting standards of performance and then working
to achieve them is another indicator of a successful entrepreneur. These
standards can be income, quality, sales or product turnover. Most
entrepreneurs want to do better each year, to set and achieve higher
standards from year to year.
Copes with Uncertainty: being an entrepreneur is much more uncertain
than being employed. This uncertainty is about sales and turnover, but it
often also exists in other areas such as material delivery and prices, and
bank support. An ability to cope with this uncertainty without becoming
too stressed is a necessary trait of being an entrepreneur.
Committed: starting and running an enterprise demands total
commitment by the entrepreneur in terms of time, money and lifestyle. It
has to be a major priority in the entrepreneur’s life.
Builds on Strengths: successful business people base their work upon
the strength(s) they have, such as manual skills, interpersonal skills,
selling skills, organizational skills, writing skills, knowledge of a
particular product or service, knowledge of people in a trade and ability
to make and use a network of contacts.
Reliable and Has Integrity: the qualities of honesty, fair dealing and
reliability in terms of doing what one has promised to do are essential
traits of an entrepreneur.
Risk-Taker: being an entrepreneur involves some risks. Entrepreneurs
have the ability to take measured or calculated risks. Such risks involve
working out the likely costs and gains, the chance of success and the
belief in oneself to make the risk pay off. Entrepreneurs may be
considered risk avoiders when they reduce their risks by having others
assume part of the risk. Those who assume the entrepreneur’s risk may
be bankers, suppliers and customers.
Not all entrepreneurs have all the traits above. However, each
entrepreneur is strongly driven by his personal motive and enjoys doing
what they do irrespective of the amount of hard work required.
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financial house.
I had worked in currency exchanges for ten years, and I was determined
to have one of my own someday. In the beginning I had difficulty getting
enough capital. I think banks were reluctant to help me because I’m a
woman. But I needed financial assistance, because I didn’t have enough
money of my own.
Crime is a problem if you own a business in my community. It’s the
biggest difficulty I have with the exchange. Customers might get robbed
as they leave, so I’ve had to spend money for a security guard.
I don’t want to lose my business, so I’ve got to work hard to make a
living. To tell you the truth, I thought I’d be making more money; but, I’m
only breaking even. But I’m happy. I wouldn’t want to have to work for
anyone else again. I’m my own boss and I’ve accomplished something.
I’ve actually made my dreams come true. To me, owning my own
business is just a beautiful, beautiful thing.
The time was right for me to start my own business. I had a wife who
worked; we had one child, no responsibilities, and some money. I’d
worked for a small advertising agency for seven years, and I left on very
good terms. I didn’t take any accounts with me, so there were no hard
feelings. A business like mine can be started without a large investment.
I think my major investment was a personal computer. I put down a
deposit for a phone, bought several filing cabinets, and traded
professional services for office space.
When I opened, I sent announcements to everyone I knew. People don’t
call you right away, but they put your name in the back of their minds
and call you later. I also sent out a newsletter to business acquaintances
I thought might be clients some time in the future. Any business (I don’t
care what it is) is 99 per cent selling. If you can’t sell, you won’t make
money.
Emmanuel owns an art gallery which specializes in signed prints and art
posters. Emmanuel is 25 years old. He has little or no formal education. His
talent as an artist was encouraged by visiting artists to the neighbouring
university campus.
When I first thought of opening a gallery, I went around and talked to people
in the art community. I asked them what I needed to know to open a gallery.
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The more people I talked to, the more ideas I got. You never should be shy
about asking other business owners for help. Not everyone’s going to be nice
about sharing ideas, but most business owners are friendly and believe that
competition is healthy. Besides, successful entrepreneurs love to talk about
their successes.
Running a business takes a great deal of time. You have to be willing to work
seven days a week. You have to think about the business 24 hours a day.
Sometimes it gets lonely. There’s no one to turn to, and all the problems are
yours. Having some experience in sales helped me in the business. But many
specific things had to be learned on-the-job. Business schools don’t teach
you how to wrap packages, but that’s an important part of the retail
business.
My advice to anyone thinking about going into business, especially a retail
business, is to be flexible. Move with the market trends. Don’t stock what
you think customers ought to have. Stick to your standards and tastes but
don’t blame the customer if your merchandise doesn’t sell. My gallery is a
great source of pride to me. Still, I always have to keep working to make my
business grow. I don’t feel I’ll ever be able to sit back, put my feet up and
say “I’ve done it.” I shall always have problems, and my task is to solve
them.
John has owned a small restaurant for three years. Like Emmanuel, John
has little or no formal education. It is interesting to know that John has lost
his parents while in the primary school. He had no one to help him with
further education. He is just 28 years old.
I started by working at a restaurant in another town. I waited on tables,
cooked, did the purchasing and bookkeeping and picked up a basic
understanding of the business. Later, I spent some time at two other
restaurants in town learning about managing a restaurant. Most people
think if they are good cooks they can open a restaurant. It’s not that
simple! You’ve got to know every area of the food business, such as
purchasing, advertising, cooking, managing employees and customer
relations.
Young people come to me and say, “I want to learn about operating a
restaurant from you so I can open my own.” I tell them, “That’s okay with
me, I’ll have you cook, bartend, wait on tables and clean up tables.” They
say, “You don’t understand. I want to learn how to manage.” Well, I
believe that you’ve got to “feel the business” from the ground up before
you can run it.
I enjoy the freedom of being in business. I like being my own boss. I have
twelve employees, and it gives me a good feeling when they ask me for
advice. It would be difficult for me to work for somebody else. But I might
become an employee in the future. I’m only twenty-eight years old, and
my career could take many turns. I hope that if I did have to work for
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someone else, I could pretty much do what I wanted. I like making
decisions and being a leader.
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many possibilities. People who enjoy trying new things can take
disappointment because they balance it against the occasional
thrill they get from implementing a really good idea.
A loss of any one part and motivation is on the rocks. For example:
• If you have a unique idea but don’t like taki ng risks, idea is all you
will ever have.
• There must be something in your life that turns you on. You can
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start by analyzing the lifestyle of your dreams. Remember, money
is not a goal; it is a reward for achieving a goal.
7 Rules of Motivation
1 Set a major goal, but follow a path. The path has mini goals that go
in many directions. When you learn to succeed at mini goals, you
will be motivated to challenge grand goals.
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The Social Environment: Changes include the make-up of the
surrounding residential areas, make-up of the clientele frequenting the
business community, and changes in the social climate influencing
demand for various products and services. When neighborhoods change
from predominantly young families to middle-aged or elderly residents,
consumer demand also changes.
Remedies: The fact is that we are all dependent on the world around us.
And small business, just like each individual in our society, must cope
with the changes in our environment.
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of the most effective methods of adjusting and adapting take time to
implement and even more time to produce the desired results. The
longer a person waits to act when change can be anticipated, the more
one limits available options and the effectiveness of the actions.
All this person needs to know is that a prospective benefit can be derived
from a change, and then he or she is ready to move. Not waiting for the
outside world to change, this person looks ahead and lets the
anticipation of change serve as a driving force. By understanding how all
these different factors interact to bring about change, you can make a
more meaningful decision about how you want to handle the problems
associated with change in your own business.
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(2) how they can improve the likelihood and level of its impact;
(3) whether there is a less expensive way to achieve the same
results; and
(4) whether, all things considered, the benefits justify the costs.
Products:
Description of the product including specifications relating to their
physical, mechanical and chemical properties;
Uses of the products
Processing Activities:
Description of the process showing simplified flow charts indicating
comprehensive materials and energy requirements;
Consideration of alternative processes and justification for
adopting the chosen process;
Project Location:
Map showing project location
Desirability of location in terms of distance from the source of raw
materials, market and other factors
Desirability of location in terms of infrastructure, and utilities
supply
Comparative study of different locations indicating advantages and
disadvantages
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Project Layout:
Description of the project layout showing buildings and facilities
Types of buildings and estimated cost
Land improvements such as assess roads, drainages, etc
Type of supplementary local utilities and cost
Raw Materials:
Description and specifications relating to their physical,
mechanical and chemical properties
Current and prospective costs of raw materials including source of
materials
Local availability, continuity of supply all year round, and prospect
for importation
Waste Disposal:
Description and quantity of waste to be disposed of
Description of the chosen waste disposal method and cost
Comparison with other methods to indicate cost benefit
Compliance with legal requirements with regards to environmental
impact
Manpower Requirements:
Skilled and unskilled labour requirements
Technical and managerial staff requirement
Training needs assessment and training schedules
Proposed remuneration including fringe benefits
When doing business, you need to make routine decisions every day: Do
I have to order raw materials? To what date? From where? Sometimes,
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however, you need to make decisions with a high impact on the future of
your business: Should I enlarge the capacity of my workshop? Should I
hire or fire workers? Should I change my products? Because of their
importance, these latter decisions need to be well-reasoned. For that
reason, it’s worth thinking about a process which leads to such well-
reasoned decisions. The following hints may help to improve your ability
to analyze problems and make decisions.
Process
Before you can make a decision, you have to know, what are the
problems to solve, what are your goals, what are the possibilities you
have to solve the problems and what advantages and disadvantages
every solution has. Thus, the process of making good decision is as
follows:
Step 5: Decide!
You now have enough information to make important decisions about
the future of your business. However, your resources (money, equipment
and workers) are limited. You cannot solve all your problems or take
advantage of all opportunities all at once. You will have to decide which
problems to address first, and which opportunities offer the best chance
of improving your business. In other words, it is necessary to set
priorities and make plans.
Exercises:
Think about your own business and do the following:
· Analyse your present situation and write down the most important
problems.
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· Analyse your future potential: What are the market trends? What will be
the direction of technical development? What are the expected
government strategies? Write down the expected effects of these aspects
on your business.
· Think about your goals. Write them down, ranking them according to
their priorities.
· Think about your problems and your goals. What problem has the
highest priority? Make a ranking and write it down.
· Think about your resources. Write down how much money and labour
you could invest in a project to improve your situation.
· Make some decisions. What problem(s) should be solved first and which
solution(s) should be chosen?
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Step 4: Instruct your workers!
Make sure every worker knows what he has to do and when
he has to do it.
Exercise:
Considering the problem(s) and solution(s) you have chosen, think about
implementation:
· Make an action plan of things to be done.
· Your action plan should indicate:
· What action is necessary?
· Who is responsible for each action?
· When each action should be carried out.
· Write down the specific instructions for each person who has
responsibility for part of the action plan.
Leadership Styles
Entrepreneurs are responsible for setting goals and making plans for
their business. To a great extent, the work of employees plays a large
part in implementing these plans and achieving goals. Developing and
maintaining morale is, therefore, an important task of the entrepreneur.
Leadership qualities must be self-developed because these qualities vary
from person to person. Knowing that you are personally responsible for
your leadership ability will help you to strive to make improvements.
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There is no single best way to be a leader. Entrepreneurs are individuals
who have developed their own personal styles of leadership. The following
three styles of leadership are commonly used:
1. the “iron fisted” or autocratic leader makes decisions and
gives orders without asking the opinion of employees;
2. the “let’s vote” or democratic leader gives group members a
voice in decisions;
3. The “hands-off” or laissez-faire leader leaves all decisions up
to the group members.
Most leaders use a combination of styles, depending on the group and
the situation.
Leaders in the business world have two main responsibilities:
(a) Task responsibilities, or “getting the job done”, and
(b) People responsibilities, or maintaining employee morale.
To a great extent, leadership is an attitude which is demonstrated in the
approach entrepreneurs have toward “getting the job done.” A leader is
usually willing to assume challenges which may involve great risks and
potentially great opportunities.
A leader understands the total task to be accomplished and is able to
determine new and innovative ways to accomplish the task. To maintain
morale, a guideline for good leaders to follow is “treat others as you
would like to be treated.” Trying to view a situation through the eyes of
the other people involved will help in developing a positive “you” attitude
towards employees.
A good leader achieves a balance between the following two types of
responsibilities. Sometimes certain situations, such as forming a new
group, call for paying attention to people more than tasks. Other
situations, such as the introduction of a new procedure, will probably
require more attention to tasks rather than people. Understanding
leadership can help entrepreneurs become more effective leaders.
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and in particular coping with change. The four steps are:
understanding the situation, define the problem, find alternatives, and
select action.
The first question is, what changes can you anticipate in the driving
forces and restraining forces acting on your small business? Will the
new shopping area draw customers away from the present business
district? Will any of the big customer-drawing businesses be relocating?
Is your business district showing signs of physical deterioration? Are
customers already dissatisfied with the shopping convenience of the
business district? If you take no special action, what are the chances of
declining profit and eventual business collapse? You need to examine
every aspect of the situation before you can even define the problem.
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With our example, the four action alternatives presented above reflect the
degree of involvement in the change as we define the problem. Each of
those four alternatives calls for specific alternative actions to achieve
basic objectives.
For instance, the final alternative, taking advantage of the draw of the
new market area, presents several alternatives. They include relocating
in the market area when it opens, keeping the present store location and
opening a sister store in the market area, closing the present business
operation and reinvesting in a different kind of business in the new
market area, and others.
The third alternative, directly countering the draw of the new market
area, offers several choices. One is to work with the city to improve the
appeal and convenience of the business district. After all, the city will
eventually lose taxes if the business district deteriorates and collapses.
Another is to work with neighbouring businesses to establish a central
theme for widespread remodeling projects, which would create a more
appealing atmosphere for the customer.
The small business owner could replace the negative impact of the new
market area in a number of ways without taking any of these decisive
actions. The store could be redecorated, remodeled, or rearranged inside
to be a more pleasant place. New product lines could be added to draw
new customers or provide a better selection. New services could be
added. In short, by making special efforts to keep the customers
satisfied you can make the drawing power of the new shopping area a
little less strong.
4. Selecting Action: Once all the alternatives have been spelled out
and the impact and potential of each has been studied, it is time to select
the action that best fits your goals and objectives, your capabilities and
limitation, and follow through.
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TOPIC 6:
INTRODUCTION:
For entrepreneurship to succeed there are certain prerequisites which
form the core competencies that are basic for attaining success. These
competencies are discussed and highlighted in this section. Students
should learn to collect data about themselves, and use such data to
determine “who am I”, assessing personal efficiency, rating of concepts,
self-knowledge as well as identifying core skills, and success factors
required for entrepreneurship. Students would also observe the
behavioural pattern in moderate risk taking, goal setting etc. and also
learn how to play relevant business games.
Content:
1. MAJOR COMPETENCIES REQUIRED FOR SUCCESSFUL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Definitions
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_ Skill is the ability to apply knowledge.
Knowledge
Possessing information on, or familiarity with:
• A business opportunity
• The market
• Customers
• Competitors
• Production processes
• Technical matters
• Business management
• Sources of assistance
Skills
May be of a technical or managerial nature. They relate to abilities to
perform tasks or functions in areas such as:
Technical Managerial
• Engineering • Marketing (including selling)
• Computing • Financial management
• Carpentry • Organization
• Mechanics • Planning
• Catering • Leadership
Traits
Personal characteristics of successful entrepreneurs:
• Takes initiative
• Sees and acts on opportunities
• Is persistent
• Personally seeks information
• Is concerned for high quality
• Is committed to fulfilling contracts
• Is oriented to efficiency
• Plans systematically
• Solves problems in original ways
• Demonstrates self-confidence
• Takes calculated risks
• Is assertive
• Is persuasive
• Uses influential strategies
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2. KEY SUCCESS FACTORS IN SETTING UP A SMALL BUSINESS
Ability
Another important question is whether the individual or others involved
have particular abilities – these may be knowledge, technical or
managerial skills of relevance to the business or project. One way of
making up for any lack in this area could be to team up with people who
have the necessary expertise, or buy it in.
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Resources
Finally, the extent to which the person(s) involved can acquire or
organize resources in adequate measure will not only influence
performance but also, in some cases, whether they start at all. Examples
here include capital, cash, premises, materials, equipment and labour.
The availability of infrastructure (e.g. utilities like electricity, telephone,
roads) and support services might also be important.
Business Plan
In order to turn the above 4 components into reality, a plan would be
required. In business, this is normally referred to as a Business Plan. On
the whole a business plan should show four main things, namely:
• Where you currently are with your idea, project or business;
• What you wish to do;
• How you propose to go about it; and
• That the project is worthwhile.
Resources
_ Desktop PCs, all networked
_ Dial-up, broadband or wireless connection
_ Account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or satellite provider
_ Software to manage transactions and accounts
_ Desks and chairs
_ Air conditioners or fans
_ Staff to run/supervise
Ability
_ IT or computing knowledge and skills
_ Able to install software and do routine maintenance and repair
_ Book-keeping and basic organization
_ Able to teach/train clients in basic computing and internet browsing
_ Familiarity with internet search engines and e-mail
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Motivation and Determination
_ Able to work or operate long hours for 6 or7 days a week
_ Innovative
_ Able to use influential strategies
_ Problem-solver
_ Takes initiative
_ Concern for efficiency
The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in
life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you
have to concentrate your efforts. You'll also quickly spot the distractions
that would otherwise lure you from your course. More than this,
properly-set goals can be incredibly motivating, and as you get into the
habit of setting and achieving goals, you'll find that your self-confidence
builds fast.
By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride
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in the achievement of those goals. You can see forward progress in what
might previously have seemed a long pointless grind. By setting goals,
you will also raise your self-confidence, as you recognize your ability and
competence in achieving the goals that you have set.
We start this process with your Lifetime Goals, and work down to the
things you can do today to start moving towards them.
To give a broad, balanced coverage of all important areas in your life, try
to set goals in some of these categories (or in categories of your own,
where these are important to you):
Artistic:
Do you want to achieve any artistic goals? If so, what?
Attitude:
Is any part of your mindset holding you back? Is there any part of
the way that you behave that upsets you? If so, set a goal to
improve your behavior or find a solution to the problem.
Career:
What level do you want to reach in your career?
Education:
Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular? What
information and skills will you need to achieve other goals?
Family:
Do you want to be a parent? If so, how are you going to be a good
parent? How do you want to be seen by a partner or by members of
your extended family?
Financial:
How much do you want to earn by what stage?
Physical:
Are there any athletic goals you want to achieve, or do you want
good health deep into old age? What steps are you going to take to
achieve this?
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Pleasure:
How do you want to enjoy yourself? - you should ensure that some
of your life is for you!
Public Service:
Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how?
Exercise:
Spend some time brainstorming these, and then select one goal in each
category that best reflects what you want to do. Then consider
streamlining and prioritizing again so that you have a small number of
really significant goals on which you can focus.
As you do this, make sure that the goals that you have set are ones that
you genuinely want to achieve, not ones that your parents, family, or
employers might want (if you have a partner, you probably want to
consider what he or she wants, however make sure you also remain true
to yourself!)
Then create a daily to-do list of things that you should do today to work
towards your lifetime goals. At an early stage these goals may be to read
books and gather information on the achievement of your goals. This will
help you to improve the quality and realism of your goal setting.
Finally review your plans, and make sure that they fit the way in which
you want to live your life.
Staying on Course
Once you have decided your first set of plans, keep the process going by
reviewing and updating your to-do list on a daily basis. Periodically
review the longer term plans, and modify them to reflect your changing
priorities and experience.
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State each goal as a positive statement: Express your goals
positively - 'Execute this technique well' is a much better goal than
'Don't make this stupid mistake.'
Set priorities: When you have several goals, give each a priority.
This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals,
and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.
Write goals down: This crystallizes them and gives them more
force.
Keep operational goals small: Keep the low-level goals you are
working towards small and achievable. If a goal is too large, then it
can seem that you are not making progress towards it. Keeping
goals small and incremental gives more opportunities for reward.
Derive today's goals from larger ones.
Set performance goals, not outcome goals: You should take care to
set goals over which you have as much control as possible. There
is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal goal
for reasons beyond your control. In business, these could be bad
business environments or unexpected effects of government policy.
In sport, for example, these reasons could include poor judging,
bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck. If you base your goals
on personal performance, then you can keep control over the
achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them.
Set realistic goals: It is important to set goals that you can achieve.
All sorts of people (employers, parents, media, society) can set
unrealistic goals for you. They will often do this in ignorance of
your own desires and ambitions. Alternatively you may set goals
that are too high, because you may not appreciate either the
obstacles in the way, or understand quite how much skill you need
to develop to achieve a particular level of performance.
SMART Goals:
A useful way of making goals more powerful is to use the SMART
mnemonic (memory aid). While there are plenty of variants, SMART
usually stands for:
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S Specific
M Measurable
A Attainable
R Relevant
T Time-bound
For example, instead of having “to sail around the world” as a goal, it is
more powerful to say “To have completed my trip around the world by
December 31, 2015.” Obviously, this will only be attainable if a lot of
preparation has been completed beforehand!
Achieving Goals
When you have achieved a goal, take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of
having done so. Absorb the implications of the goal achievement, and
observe the progress you have made towards other goals. If the goal was
a significant one, reward yourself appropriately. All of these help you
build the self-confidence you deserve!
With the experience of having achieved this goal, review the rest of your
goal plans:
If you achieved the goal too easily, make your next goals harder
If the goal took a dispiriting length of time to achieve, make the
next goals a little easier
If you learned something that would lead you to change other
goals, do so
If you noticed a deficit in your skills despite achieving the goal,
decide whether to set goals to fix this.
Failure to meet goals does not matter much, as long as you learn from it.
You should feed lessons learned back into your goal setting program.
Remember too that your goals will change as you get older. Adjust them
regularly to reflect growth in your knowledge and experience, and if goals
do not hold any attraction any longer, then let them go.
Key points:
Goal setting is an important method of:
Deciding what is important for you to achieve in your life;
Separating what is important from what is irrelevant, or a
distraction;
Motivating yourself; and
Building your self-confidence, based on successful achievement of
goals.
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If you don't already set goals, do so and start now. As you make this
technique part of your life, you'll find your career accelerating, and you'll
wonder how you did without it!
“Games are… the most ancient and time-honored (sic) vehicle for
education. They are the original educational technology, the natural one,
having received the seal of approval of natural selection. We don’t see
mother lions lecturing cubs at the chalkboard; we don’t see senior lions
writing their memoirs for posterity. In the light of this, the question, ‘Can
games have educational value?’ becomes absurd. It is not games but
schools that are the newfangled notion, the untested fad, the violator of
tradition. Game-playing is a vital educational function for any creature
capable of learning.” (Crawford 1982)
Computer games are fast becoming a growing part of our culture; the
global market is worth billions of dollars. In 2002, the world market for
‘games and edutainment/reference software’ realized 16.9 billion US
dollars, with 3.3 million games consoles being sold in the UK alone
(ELSPA 2003). People of all ages, but most visibly children, play these
games, often dedicating long periods of time in total concentration.
Today, researchers, teachers and designers of learning resources are
beginning to ask how this powerful games medium might be used to
support learning. Rather than shutting the door of the school against the
computer game, there is now increasing interest in asking whether
computer games might be offering a powerful new resource to support
learning in this information age. There is a considerable current thinking
about the role of computer games in supporting learning inside and out
of school.
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communication
application of numbers
negotiating skills
group decision-making
data-handling.
There are two key themes common to the development of games for
education:- namely:
1. The desire to harness the motivational power of games in
order to ‘making learning fun’.
2. A belief that ‘learning through doing’ in games such as
simulations offers a powerful learning tool.
CATEGORISING GAMES
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action games - these can be sub-categorized into shooting games,
‘platform’ games (so called because the players’ characters move
between onscreen platforms) and other types of games that are
reaction-based
adventure games - in most adventure games, the player solves a
number of logic puzzles (with no time constraints) in order to
progress through some described virtual world
fighting games - these involve fighting the computer-controlled
characters, or those controlled by other players
puzzle games - such as Tetris
role-playing games - where the human players assume the
characteristics of some person or creature type, eg elf or wizard
simulations - where the player has to succeed within some
simplified recreation of a place or situation e.g. mayor of a city,
controlling financial outlay and building works
sports games
strategy games - such as commanding armies within recreations of
historical battles and wars.
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In theory, as more powerful gaming technology and graphics capabilities
become standard, so simulation games can become more realistic in
terms of appearance and plausibility. However, this is not necessarily the
case; real-world situations often involve long periods of inactivity,
punctuated by periods of action, which does not map well onto the
‘continuous flow’ and engagement of a game. The value of collaborative
learning, and the role of computers in promoting such activity have been
thoroughly researched. Whilst such collaboration cannot be assumed,
and children have to learn to work together, computer-based activities
can help in this process. How this collaboration translates into a
multiplayer gaming environment and how these environments might be
used to support learning, remain some of the most interesting areas for
potential further research and development
1 Learning ‘Competencies’
Research into the wider context of games play indicates that, contrary to
populist media opinion, games are often a facilitator to social,
communication and peer activities. This has always been the case; in the
early years of computer gaming, a ‘playground culture’ of discussing,
swapping, buying and selling games emerged. Interactive communities
often develop around mainstream games with or without developers’
encouragement, as enthusiasts create websites, discussion boards and
other communication environments to exchange information, experiences
and even resources related to a game.
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3 Learning to Participate in Practice
Risk taking is an integral part of business and life, but so few people
know how to manage it properly. The word risk has a slightly negative
connotation to it — it implies danger, tension, and possible loss. But
risk also has a positive side, the chance of hitting a big win, of getting
more on the back side than you invest on the front side.
All risks are not equal, however. Some risks are just plain dumb, and
you should never take them. But even in those cases, there’s usually
some emotional benefit. The city of Las Vegas (famous for its array of
casinos) thrives on such benefits. But what about intelligent
risks? Those are obviously the ones where the upside outweighs the
downside, at least probability-wise. You won’t find too many of those
risks in casinos.
Now we all know it’s generally a bad idea to take dumb risks, where your
expected outcome is negative and the potential upside is very
limited. But guess what… It’s equally stupid to pass up an intelligent
risk, where your expected outcome is positive and the potential downside
is very limited.
The most intelligent risks are those where the potential downside is
limited, but the potential upside is virtually unlimited. Those are the
risks you should jump to take.
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This planet has enough total and complete idiots. Please don’t be one of
them. You will lose a lot more by missing big opportunities (by not
taking risks) than you ever will from making mistakes.
Here are some examples of intelligent risk taking (indicating the worst
expected outcomes as well as the best):
Most of us are pretty good at avoiding dumb risks, unless you happen to
be reading this from a jail cell. But we’re exceptionally lousy at taking
intelligent risks. The stupidest mistakes we make are errors of omission.
This is one of the reasons it’s so important to install good habits. In the
short-term, it’s a struggle, often a painful one. We have to deal with
disappointment again and again. We fall flat on our faces, dust
ourselves off, and throw ourselves into the ring anew, only to be
pummeled once again. And we use that same tired mantra, “This time it
will be different!” — a mantra that fails 19 times out of 20.
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success on that belt somewhere ahead, and the faster the belt moves, the
sooner it will arrive.
It’s amazing how much long-term difference just a small change you
make today can make. Just a little more self-discipline, a little more
courage, a little more persistence, a little more enthusiasm — these can
produce huge gains in the long run.
The flat period is the hardest because you’re working hard and getting
very little to show for it. Maybe you keep working on your social skills
but can’t seem to get a date to save your life. Maybe you keep working
on your internet skills but still can’t figure out how to make your own
web site. Maybe you start a new business and just can’t seem to get
anything going.
That’s life. Give yourself permission to work hard and have little to show
for it, as long as you intelligently hold a positive long-term outlook.
Love is more powerful than fear. I overcome fear of risk by tapping ever
more deeply into what I love most. The thought of taking a risk produces
excitement instead of anxiety.
Find an intelligent risk you can take today. Most likely it won’t pan
out. But what if it does? Celebrate either way because no matter what
the outcome, you’ll gain courage just by making the attempt.
The car is packed and you're ready to go, your first ever cross-country
trip. From the Garden City of Port Harcourt to the rolling hills of Jos
through Benin, Akure, Lokoja, Abuja, you're going to see it all. You put
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the car in gear and off you go. First stop, the ancient city of Benin of
Fame and on .. and on till you reach destination.
A little while into the trip you need to check the map because you've
reached an intersection you're not familiar with. You panic for a moment
because you realize you've forgotten your map.
But you say the heck with it because you know where you're going. You
take a right, change the radio station and keep on going. Unfortunately,
you never reach your destination.
Too many of us treat goal setting the same way. We dream about where
we want to go, but we don't have a map to get there.
What is a map? In essence, where is the guide in written word for getting
to the destination from where we are now?
What is the difference between a dream and a goal? Once again, the
written word.
Goal setting however is more than simply scribbling down some ideas on
a piece of paper. Our goals need to be complete and focused, much like a
road map, and that is the purpose behind the rest of this article.
If you follow the 7 goal setting steps I've outlined in this article you will
be well on your way to becoming an expert in building the road maps to
your goals.
1. Make sure the goal you are working for is something you really want,
not just something that sounds good.
When setting goals it is very important to remember that your goals must
be consistent with your values.
For example, you can't buy a =N=7,500,000.00 house if your income goal
is only =N=500,000.00 per year. This is called non-integrated thinking
and will sabotage all of the hard work you put into your goals. Non-
integrated thinking can also hamper your everyday thoughts as well. We
should continually strive to eliminate contradictory ideas from our
thinking
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3. Develop goals in the 6 areas of life:
Setting goals in each area of life will ensure a more balanced life as you
begin to examine and change the fundamentals of everyday living.
Setting goals in each area of life also helps in eliminating the non-
integrated thinking we talked about in the 2nd step.
Work for what you want, not for what you want to leave behind. Part of
the reason why we write down and examine our goals is to create a set of
instructions for our subconscious mind to carry out. Your subconscious
mind is a very efficient tool, it can not determine right from wrong and it
does not judge. It's only function is to carry out its instructions. The
more positive instructions you give it, the more positive results you will
get.
Instead of writing "A new home," write "A 4,000 square foot contemporary
with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and a view of the mountain on 20 acres of
land.
Can you close your eyes and visualize the home I described above? Walk
around the house. Stand on the porch off the master bedroom and see
the mountain. Look down at the garden full of tomatoes, green beans and
cucumbers. And off to the right is the other garden full of a sunflower,
carnations and roses. Can you see it? So can your subconscious mind.
Shoot for the moon; if you miss you'll still be in the stars. If I never make
it, everything I do to reach that goal will make me a better person. If I
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make it, but don't go as high as planned, then I am still among the top in
my field in the nation. Shoot for the moon!
Writing down your goals creates the roadmap to your success. Although
just the act of writing them down can set the process in motion, it is also
extremely important to review your goals frequently. Remember, the
more focused you are on your goals the more likely you are to accomplish
them.
First of all, unless someone is critical to helping you achieve your goal(s),
do not freely share your goals with others. The negative attitude from
friends, family and neighbours can drag you down quickly. It's very
important that your self-talk (the thoughts in your head) are positive.
Reviewing your goals daily is a crucial part of your success and must
become part of your routine. Each morning when you wake up read your
list of goals that are written in the positive. Visualize the completed goal,
see the new home, smell the leather seats in your new car, feel the cold
hard cash in your hands. Then each night, right before you go to bed,
repeat the process. This process will start both your subconscious and
conscious mind on working towards the goal. This will also begin to
replace any of the negative self-talk you may have and replace it with
positive self-talk.
Every time you make a decision during the day, ask yourself this
question, "Does it take me closer to, or further from my goal." If the
answer is "closer to," then you've made the right decision. If the answer
is "further from," well, you know what to do. Remember the ‘straight line
law – the shortest distance between two pints’.
If you follow this process everyday you will be on your way to achieving
unlimited success in every aspect of your life.
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5c. LEARNING FROM FEEDBACK
We can argue with subjective feedback. It's not based on fact. It's subject
to interpretation and frames of reference. Informal learning and
relationships are based on delivering this feedback. Referees, juries and
critics all make judgment calls about our conduct. We get told we are out
of bounds, guilty or breaking the rules. We also receive word that we are
exceptional, valuable or likeable. It depends on who says it, how they see
us, which mood they are in at the moment and what we've done to our
relationship with them.
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from how they are treated, framed and allowed to deviate the norm. They
discover feedback in everything.
Let's get personal and talk about you for a moment. Are you perfectly
happy with the way things are at this time, or do you wish things were
better? Chances are you are neither perfectly happy nor completely
unhappy, for most of us lie somewhere between both extremes. However,
if you're not totally satisfied, what are you doing about it? If you continue
to do the same things, everything will remain the same. Nothing will
change until you do.
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of questions and writing the answers for later study. Here's what I mean.
Do you ever say to yourself or others any of the following? Life is so
unfair. I'm unlucky. No one wants to help me. It's not my fault that I'm
the way I am. Life is an endless struggle; there are too many burdens to
bear. Terrible things are always happening to me. My parents (spouse,
friends, co-workers, boss, health, the weather, or the political situation)
make me depressed (angry or frustrated). I feel overwhelmed and
helpless. Some people get all the breaks; I'm just unfortunate. I'm sick
and tired of being sick and tired. There's nothing I can do; it's just the
way the world is. I'm unsuccessful because of the prejudice (age
discrimination, sexism, jealousy, hatred, stupidity) of others. I would be
successful if it weren't for the idiots holding me back. Self-help books,
positive thinking, or the advice of others can't help me.
Can you see where I'm going with this? All the above thoughts express
the mindset of a self made victim. Instead of taking personal
responsibility and taking charge of one's life, that kind of thinking is
used to blame others or life for one's own failures. That type of thinking
is dead-end thinking; and self-defeating thinking. With these thoughts in
mind, and tongue in cheek, Ambrose Bierce (1842 ~ 1914) defines
responsibility in his "The Devil's Dictionary" as follows:
Yes, it's easy to shift the responsibility and blame others or events. But
what good is that? All it does is keep us in a rut. We cannot make any
real progress until we admit to ourselves, "Only I can hold myself back.
Only I can stand in my own way. Only I can help myself. Only I can take
personal responsibility. Only I can transform myself from a victim of
circumstances to a reasoning, choice-making, action oriented person.
Only I can make the decision to stop acting like a victim and start taking
charge of my life."
Let me end by saying, all this emphasis on making the right choices and
accepting personal responsibility is for your benefit only. That is, use
these ideas to improve yourself, but not to judge others. You can never
enter the mind, heart, and body of another, so you are unaware of the
reasons for their failures. Not everyone is as ready as you are to change.
That's why it is written in the Talmud (Rabbinical writings of the 1 ~ 6
centuries AD), "A man may not be responsible for his actions in an hour
of tribulation and pain." You have enough problems already; don't add to
them by endlessly complaining, for that only entrenches them deeper
into your life. Rather, look for the good, appreciate it, and take
responsibility by making the most of what you have. Happiness is a
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choice, just like misery is; we all have the responsibility to make the right
choices. We owe it to ourselves to do so.
Julie is six years old. She’s shy and indecisive and doesn’t have any close
friends. Julie’s teacher, Mrs. Sterling, often keeps Julie company at
school and gives her extra help. Mrs. Sterling doesn’t mind. Julie is such
a quiet and well-behaved girl.
Eventually, Julie grew out of her wanderlust and became a polite little
girl. But maybe we overdid it, say Julie’s parents. Now she isn’t
interested in doing anything on her own. She just waits for us to advise
her.
Mrs. Sterling suggests that they give Julie a light chore—something she
could easily accomplish. Maybe that will help Julie feel like she’s in
charge and already has permission to do a good job on her own. Julie’s
parents agree.
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In a few weeks, Mrs. Sterling notices that Julie is seeking less help and
spending longer periods with the other children. Then one day in a burst
of pride Julie tells Mrs. Sterling the proper way to empty a dishwasher
and put away the dishes. Mrs. Sterling thanks Julie for the lesson and
smiles as Julie runs off to play with her new friends.
Now let’s take a look at how you can teach your children independence,
self-reliance and the joy of confidence.
Encouragement
Parents need to support their children in their natural quest for
independence. A great way to do this is with chores. Most kids are in a
hurry to grow up; helping out around the house teaches them
responsibilities and shows them they can make a difference through
their actions.
But be careful. Your child can sense if you’re concerned about their
abilities. Let them know that it’s a big help to have them involved and
give them jobs they can accomplish. If you’re apprehensive about their
safety or performance give them another job.
Allowance
Children who are allowed to do things on their own develop self-reliance.
Early on, leave your child alone for small periods. They’ll learn that
they’re safe and can do things without you in the same room. Later,
friendships teach them to cope in different situations. Chores, hobbies
and homework develop independence, too. Here are some methods to
help your children succeed on their own.
• Model self-reliance in your own behavior.
• Show them step-by-step how a project is done.
• Make sure they know the goal so they go in the right direction.
• Make the project fun! Time it. Do it backwards. Dance. Make a game
out of it.
• Set timelines for a project, but let your children complete it their own
way.
• Let them do the job in parts so they succeed each time they work on it.
• Let them fail. Let your children try things their way and learn from
failure.
• When they forget to do a chore, show them the consequences, but don’t
do the job for them.
Support
Knowing when to step in and help your child with a project can be
challenging. Here are some guidelines, but observe how your children
solve problems and support them appropriately.
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• Step in to support your children when their approach is unsafe,
unhealthy or disruptive.
• In general, make yourself available to help, but encourage them to work
through any snags they hit on their own.
• If you do step in, emphasize what’s working and then suggest ways to
do the job better, or consider doing the job together.
• If the job is done well enough… leave well enough alone. Perfection is
not the aim. Unless the work needs to be corrected for very good reasons
congratulate your children on their efforts. And praise them often.
Protecting your children from harm is vital, but it’s also important to
allow them to explore, to engage in life and even to fail. That’s how they
learn self-reliance. In the long run, if children aren’t taught
independence they lack self-confidence—and that’s very difficult to learn
later on.
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TOPIC 7:
INTRODUCTION:
Motivation and the role it plays in the conduct of entrepreneurship and
how it positively affect the entrepreneur is very significant to the study
and practice of entrepreneurship. In this section efforts is made to
highlight the assessment of these motivational patterns in relation to the
process of entrepreneurial practice. Students should be able to explain
motivation, objectives, merits and demerits as well as carryout analysis
on the motive strength from Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT) scores.
Also they should be able to explain the spirit of Achievement Motivation
Test, (AMT)
CONTENT:
1. MOTIVATION
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process. In addition, bouncing back requires starting again at
square one.
A loss of any one part and motivation is on the rocks. For example:
• If you have a unique idea but don’t like taking risks, idea is all you
will ever have.
• There must be something in your life that turns you on. You can
start by analyzing the lifestyle of your dreams. Remember, money
is not a goal; it is a reward for achieving a goal.
7 Rules of Motivation
1 Set a major goal, but follow a path. The path has mini goals that go
in many directions. When you learn to succeed at mini goals, you
will be motivated to challenge grand goals.
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7 Take risk. Failure and bouncing back are elements of motivation.
Failure is a learning tool. No one has ever succeeded at anything
worthwhile without a string of failures.
Creating a Vision
When you begin the process of strategic planning, visioning comes first.
When visioning the change, ask yourself, "What is our preferred future?"
and be sure to:
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Your mission statement must be a short statement, not more than
one or two sentences.
Benefits of Visioning
The process and outcomes of visioning may seem vague and superfluous.
The long-term benefits are substantial, however. Visioning:
Vision Killers
As you engage in the visioning process, be alert to the following vision
killers:
Tradition
Fear of ridicule
Stereotypes of people, conditions, roles and governing councils
Complacency of some stakeholders
Fatigued leaders
Short-term thinking
"Nay-Sayers"
It is five years from today’s date and you have, marvelously enough,
created your most desirable district. Now it is your job, as a team, to
describe it - as if you were able to see it, realistically around you.
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How has the job market changed?
What have we done to prepare our students for success in this
world?
What do we (including teachers, parents, and local government
administrators) spend most of our time doing?
How are our meetings structured?
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more conservative definition, as measured by standard intelligence tests,
yet unmotivated to dedicate this intelligence to certain tasks.
Drives and desires can be described as a deficiency or need that activates
behaviour that is aimed at a goal or an incentive. These are thought to
originate within the individual and may not require external stimuli to
encourage the behaviour. Basic drives could be sparked by deficiencies
such as hunger, which motivates a person to seek food; whereas more
subtle drives might be the desire for praise and approval, which
motivates a person to behave in a manner pleasing to others.
By contrast, the role of extrinsic rewards and stimuli can be seen in the
example of training animals by giving them treats when they perform a
trick correctly. The treat motivates the animals to perform the trick
consistently, even later when the treat is removed from the process.
Achievement Theory
David McClelland’s achievement motivation theory envisages that a
person has need for three things but people differ in degree in which the
various needs influence their behavior: Need for achievement, Need for
power, and Need for affiliation.
Entrepreneurs are usually highly motivated individuals who seem to
enjoy work regardless of what they do. Most people are able to
accomplish goals which are similar to what they want to do. However,
entrepreneurs are able to motivate themselves to produce high output in
the work they have to do.
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was developed in 1935 by Morgan and Murray. Ironically, it was initially
used in a study of normal personalities done at Harvard Psychological
Clinic.
The test comprises 31 cards. One card is blank and the other thirty
include blurred but emotionally powerful (or even disturbing)
photographs and drawings. Originally, Murray came up with only 20
cards which he divided to three groups: B (to be shown to Boys Only), G
(Girls Only) and M-or-F (both sexes).
Card 6GF again features a sofa. A young woman occupies it. Her
attention is riveted by a pipe-smoking older man who is talking to her.
She is looking back at him over her shoulder, so we don't have a clear
view of her face. Another generic young woman appears in card 12F. But
this time, she is juxtaposed against a mildly menacing, grimacing old
woman, whose head is covered with a shawl. Men and boys seem to be
permanently stressed and dysphoric in the TAT. Card 13MF, for
instance, shows a young lad, his lowered head buried in his arm. A
woman is bedridden across the room.
With the advent of objective tests, such as the MMPI and the MCMI,
projective tests such as the TAT have lost their clout and luster. Today,
the TAT is administered infrequently. Modern examiners use 20 cards or
less and select them according to their "intuition" as to the patient's
problem areas. In other words, the diagnostician first decides what may
be wrong with the patient and only then chooses which cards will be
shown in the test! Administered this way, the TAT tends to become a self-
fulfilling prophecy and of little diagnostic value.
The patient's reactions (in the form of brief narratives) are recorded by
the tester verbatim. Some examiners prompt the patient to describe the
aftermath or outcomes of the stories, but this is a controversial practice.
The TAT is scored and interpreted simultaneously. Murray suggested to
identify the hero of each narrative (the figure representing the patient);
the inner states and needs of the patient, derived from his or her choices
of activities or gratifications; what Murray calls the "press", the hero's
environment which imposes constraints on the hero's needs and
operations; and the thema, or the motivations developed by the hero in
response to all of the above.
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Clearly, the TAT is open to almost any interpretative system which
emphasizes inner states, motivations, and needs. Indeed, many schools
of psychology have their own TAT exegetic schemes. Thus, the TAT may
be teaching us more about psychology and psychologists than it does
about their patients!
Survey
Most Achievement Motivation surveys are constructed in the same
manner. They ask a number of questions designed to explore certain
behavioral characteristics. The surveys have related groups (or
components) of questions that are scattered throughout the
questionnaire. The questions may ask the respondents their likes and
dislikes of various topics. Other questions may ask respondents to rate
themselves or their abilities. By having related groups of questions, the
survey can ask the respondent the same question in different
manners and compare how the student answered each time. In this
manner the consistency of the respondents answers can be checked. The
answers to the questions are presented as a Likert – type scale. Typically,
there are between five and seven answers the respondent can select
(Chiu, 1997; Jagacinski & Duda, 2001; Sagie, 1993; Wagner, Powers &
Irwin, 1985).
Summary
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The probability of success also has bearing on an individual’s
achievement motivation. An individual may not need to put forth much
effort to accomplish an easy task. A difficult task may be thought to take
too much effort. Tasks of moderate difficulty seem to be preferred by
individuals with high achievement motivation. An individual’s perception
of the outcome also affects their achievement motivation. If the outcome
of a task is not viewed as unimportant, little or no effort may be made in
attempting the task.
The diagnostic results of the test can be used for personnel selection
purposes as well as for identifying individual training needs as part of
personnel development. AMT can be successfully applied where a large
number of applicants are concerned, for example for the selection of
managerial staff, industrial workers, and for the founders of new
businesses.
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using AMT-B significantly increases the predictive validity of classical
test batteries for trainees. Norms specific to trainees in industrial and
commercial branches are available.
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NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION
Begin and end each day by reflecting on the day’s activities. Then
you will get twice as much done, increase your Power, and hit your
targets faster. Always take the straight path to your Target. Always
make the Strengthening Decision.
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DAILY TARGET SETTING
TO DO LIST
DO IT DELIBERATE
DUMP IT
(Focused Attention) (Mental Box)
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NATIONAL BOARD FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION
ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION
Motivational Quotes for your meditation:
"Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you're going
to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that
goal, and by maintaining focus."
"What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it
becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which
he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit
until he finds it."
"The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the
result of steady accretion... It is the man who carefully advances step
by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider - and progressively
better able to grasp any theme or situation - persevering in what he
knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is
bound to succeed in the greatest degree."
“Sloth makes all things difficult; but industry, all things easy. He that
rises late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at
night; while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes
him.”
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that is the stuff
life is made of.”
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a
habit."
"It concerns us to know the purposes we seek in life, for then, like
archers aiming at a definite mark, we shall be more likely to attain
what we want."
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"First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective.
Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends: wisdom,
money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that
end."
"For what is the best choice, for each individual is the highest it is
possible for him to achieve."
“You may never know what result comes of your action, but if you do
nothing there will be no result.”
“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting
goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become
endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task,
no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your
dreams.”
"It is those who concentrate on but one thing at a time who advance
in this world. The great man or woman is the one who never steps
outside his or her specialty or foolishly dissipates his or her
individuality."
“A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to
fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to
accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine.”
"Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once,
whether you're ready or not, to put this plan into action."
"Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit."
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"I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work.
That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get
you pretty near."
"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a
day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had
everything to do and you've done it."
"Success follows doing what you want to do. There is no other way to
be successful."
"If you expect nothing, you're apt to be surprised. You'll get it."
"Thinking well to be wise: planning well, wiser: doing well wisest and
best of all."
"Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their
jobs."
"Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only
with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at
the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."
"To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he
has already achieved, but at what he aspires to."
"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision"
"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to
accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."
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"A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much
knowledge that is idle."
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
"Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come
tomorrow. You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed
if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles."
"It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the
time that others waste."
"I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not
know what can't be done."
Here's one last quote from Walt Disney: "All our dreams can come
true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
"At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you
are and you know what you want."
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"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are
heading."
Here's one last quote from Lao Tzu: "A journey of a thousand miles
must begin with a single step."
"There are three classes of people: those who see, those who
see when they are shown, those who do not see."
"Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold
weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the
mind."
"It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole
scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and
bad things are very easy to get."
"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them
as impossible."
Here's one last quote from Pablo Picasso: "Action is the foundational
key to all success."
"It is far more important to be able to hit the target than it is to haggle
over who makes a weapon or who pulls a trigger."
"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless,
but planning is indispensable."
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"We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else,
a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend
to that one objective."
"Pessimism never won any battle; No one can defeat us unless we first
defeat ourselves."
"Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived,
stop thinking and go in."
"Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what is
possible for your life."
Here's one last quote from Oprah Winfrey: "Every day brings a
chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance. "
"My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but
doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next
moment."
"Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do
better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those
who never mount the high wire."
"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your
goal, you can get there if you're willing to work."
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Here's one last quote from Les Brown: "We must look for ways to be
an active force in our own lives. We must take charge of our own
destinies, design a life of substance and truly begin to live our
dreams."
"I advise you to say your dream is possible and then overcome all
inconveniences, ignore all the hassles and take a running leap
through the hoop, even if it is in flames."
"Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your
motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the
obstacles that will invariably come your way."
“The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.”
"You are never given a dream without also being given the power to
make it true. You may have to work for it, however."
“Since all the world is but a story, it were well for thee to buy the more
enduring story, rather than the story that is less enduring.” St. Colum
Cille (St. Columba of Scotland)
“In order to live free and happily you must sacrifice boredom. It is not
always an easy sacrifice.” Richard Bach.
"He, who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows
that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through a labyrinth of
the most busy life."
"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small
ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go
to sleep in peace." Victor Hugo, a French poet, playwright, and
novelist.
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"My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think
is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a
strength."
"I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.
I don't do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can
expect half-hearted results."
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300
games. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is
why I succeed." Michael Jordan
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time
we fail."
"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."
"If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all
means paint, and that voice will be silenced."
"The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible,
but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for
remaining ashore."
"It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish. "
"True happiness involves the full use of one's power and talents."
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“In my experience, there is no such thing as luck.”
You didn't create your body, nor are you able to control the body's
functions. An intelligence greater than the human mind is at
work. It is the same intelligence that sustains all of nature. You
cannot get any closer to that intelligence than by being aware of your
own inner energy field -- by feeling the aliveness, the animating
presence within the body. - Tolle
"You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take
risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that
are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that
kind of feeling for what it is you're doing, you'll stop at the first giant
hurdle."
"You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going.
Put blinders on and plow right ahead."
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