INTRODUCTION TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP

INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship – Origin various scholars have written extensively on the origin of
entrepreneurship. What is interesting is that most of the scholars who wrote about the origin of
entrepreneurship are either economists or historians. Basically, the concept entrepreneur is derived
from the French concept “entreprendre” which literarily is equivalent to the English concept “to
undertake”. From the business point of view, to undertake simply means to start a business. From
the historical point of view, Schumpeter (1951) opined that the French economist Richard
Cantillon, was the first to introduce the concept "entrepreneur" in his work in 1755. He viewed the
entrepreneur as a risk taker (Burnett, 2000).
Definitions of entrepreneurship:
Self-employment of any sort; the activity that involves identifying opportunities within the
economic system; the creation of new organizations; the willingness and ability of an
individual to seek out investment opportunities in an environment and be able to establish and
run an enterprise successfully based on the identifiable opportunities.
Thus, we can say that entrepreneurship is an act of bearing risks, bringing innovation,
generating employment, and mobilizing resources.
Significance of Entrepreneurship:
Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship play a significant role in the socio-economic development
of a nation. Entrepreneurs set up enterprises and generate employment for people in their
enterprises. This helps in reducing unemployment, which is the main cause of all socio-
economic problems as well as results in increasing the total income of a country. Moreover,
goods and services produced by entrepreneurs, after meeting the domestic demand, are
exported to foreign countries to earn foreign exchange. In this way, entrepreneurs play a
significant role in the country’s growth and prosperity in terms of production, employment
generation, and export. The significance of entrepreneurship is explained in the following
points:
 Raises productivity through technical and other forms of innovation
 Generates employment opportunities by establishing new enterprises
 Facilitates the transfer of technology
 Plays a strategic role in commercializing new inventions and products
 Facilitates the proper utilization of resources
 Improves the standard of living
 Plays a crucial role in the restructuring and transforming economy
 Facilitates a balanced economic development
 Brings dynamism in industries by launching innovative products and services
 Creates new markets and facilitates expansion into international markets
Role of entrepreneurship in Economy:
 Generates Self-Employment
 Brings together all the factors of production
 Creation of corporation
 Generates employment opportunities
 Brings innovation to the business environment