1.

Entrepreneurship is the activity of setting up a business or businesses, taking on

financial risks in the hope of profit. A small business is a limited scale business
owned and operated by an individual or a group of individuals whereas an
entrepreneurship is defined as the process of designing, launching and operating a
new business, which usually starts as a small business and pursues growth. The main
aim of a small business is to make profits; however, the profit-making ability is
limited in a small business since the owner/owners do not wish to explore new
business opportunities.
2.
An entrepreneur is a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to
make money. Entrepreneurship is defined as the act of starting and running your own
business or a tendency to be creative and wish to work for yourself in your own ventures.
An example of entrepreneurship is a person who is running his own business. Some
people become entrepreneurs because they see it as a mandatory journey to take.
Entrepreneurs are driven with the need to succeed and control their own destiny. Owning
a business gives them no limitations on the profit and opportunities that they can gain.
The word entrepreneur was first introduced by Richard Cantillon. The concept of
entrepreneur is borrowed from the French words entreprendre, “one who undertakes”—
that is, a “manager.” The word entrepreneurship itself has its roots in the French word
entreprendre which literally means the ‘between-taker’.
In the early eighteenth-century, economist, Richard Cantillon, stated that the term
entrepreneur defines a person that acts as a ‘go-between’ the owner of resources and the
consumer in undertaking the role to finding new products or new markets to satisfy and to
make a profit. He claims that entrepreneurs bear risks and plans, supervises, organizes
and owns factors of productions.
However, in the early nineteenth century, Jean Baptiste Say argued that the
entrepreneur’s contribution was different from that of the capital provider and therefore
entrepreneurship was a different resource from capital. She proposed that the profits made
from entrepreneurship were separate from the interest rewards of capital ownership and
by the late 1800s, the returns on capital were called interests, contrast to profit earnings.
Following closely, in the 1950s the German economist, Joseph Schumpeter, said that
the entrepreneur is a man of action, someone who does not accept reality as it is but rather
someone who was an innovator and who ‘creatively destructs’. They were viewed as
agents of change and creators of new enterprise, and persons who maximize
opportunities.
Finally, in the late twentieth century, Morrs et al. described a focus on the integrative
or process approach of inputs. This included drivers of contemporary entrepreneurship
such as globalization and ICT. This was followed by Ronstadt describing a focus on
assessing the entrepreneur qualitatively and quantitatively including the strategies used
and the ethical perspectives employed.
After many years of meticulous studies and development from several persons,
entrepreneurship is alive and growing. Special drivers such as ICT, globalization, etc.
increase ease of entry to markets and provide opportunities for persons to become
entrepreneurs.
3. In today’s economy, globalization is crucial to the development and success of any
enterprise. The ‘global village’ is a phenomenon created by the speed of modern
travel and communication as well as the level of integration in business, governance
and culture. We now live in a world of global personalities, global brands and global
business. This global village allows entrepreneurs to access more information,
resources and ultimately a larger market. It allows them to connect with persons easier
and therefore be able to have access to a larger market and make more profits.
4. In the Caribbean, there are a number of organizations that support entrepreneurial
ventures and small businesses activities. One of such organizations is the National
Entrepreneurship Development Company Limited (NEDCO).
The National Entrepreneurship Development Company Limited (NEDCO) was
established in 2002 by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago with a
mandate to develop micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Trinidad and Tobago whose
needs cannot be met by traditional lending agencies.
NEDCO is a state owned private limited liability micro-finance company; it provides
funding and training to start or enhance small and micro-enterprises in Trinidad and
Tobago. NEDCO funding is specifically designed to assist those who have difficulty
accessing funding from banks or other commercial lending agencies.
Some services provided by NEDCO include: promoting and developing
entrepreneurship through the provision of dynamic and diverse products and services;
loan financing; acting as a catalyst in the development of an entrepreneurial culture by
employing strategies; training in business and lifestyle disciplines, advisory services,
mentoring, as well as other development support services.
NEDCO’s years of experience of fostering entrepreneurial growth, managing the
disbursement of small business financing and its ongoing relationship with the small
business community in Trinidad and Tobago, makes NEDCO the ideal partner for the
Entrepreneurial Relief Grant, an initiative of the Government of the Republic of Trinidad
and Tobago.

5. The myth that anyone can start a business can be debunked by the fact that not
everyone possesses the right minded, experience, ability to adapt to changes in the
market etc. For a business to be started, much time, effort, consideration, sacrifice and
research are expended by the entrepreneur before the business is started. The barriers
to enter the market when starting the business depends on the nature of the business.
This will make it challenging for the entrepreneur to even start operations. However,
the most important thing in starting a business is that the entrepreneur and business
owner possesses the relevant business know-how, the required experiences, the
adaptability and flexibility to respond to changes impacting on the venture.