THE CONCEPT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

“The concept was first established in the 1700s, and it has evolved ever since.” To most,
entrepreneurship means putting up a business. Economists believe that it is more than simply starting
it. To most businesspeople, an entrepreneur is willing to bear and take the risk of creating a new
venture if there is a substantial potential for growth and profit. Others believe that the entrepreneur’s
role is to be the innovator of new products and services that delivers customer’s needs and demands.”

In the 20th century, an economist named Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) studied how the
entrepreneurs are motivated to look, innovate, and create new and better ways of doing business.

Business expert Peter Drucker (1909-2005) took this idea even further and described an
entrepreneur as someone who searches for things to change, responds to it by researching and taking
new ideas and trends, and exploits these changes as an opportunity to create and deliver something
better. Few good examples of changes are the usage of home phones to cellular phones, to the
internet in the communications industry, while long playing (LP) record to play music has been replaced
by mp3 players, and now the usage of music apps such as Spotify.
Most economists and businesspeople agree that entrepreneurship is a necessary component in
encouraging economic growth. It also gives employment opportunities to the increasing workforce and
helps resolve poverty in the society.
Benefits to Senior High School Students.

1. Classify individual entrepreneurial interests.

2. Apply basic marketing acumen.
3. Determine legitimate sources of resources.
4. Analyze ownership structures.
5. Convert threats into opportunities.
6. Adaptation of concepts and strategies for idea generation.
7. Evaluate feasibility of ideas.
8. Discovery of entrepreneurial innovators who also have the competence and edge to start their
own businesses.
9. Consider ethical and legal business practices.
10. Write a micro business plan.

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Importance of Entrepreneurship Education

1. Entrepreneurship is very important to our economy as key driver.

2. Entrepreneurship education is an individual lifelong learning process.
3. Entrepreneurship will energize school management.
4. Entrepreneurship will transform learners to be innovators.

What is Entrepreneurship? Let us talk about is Entrepreneurship. It is described as the process of

creating something new whether it is a product or a service that brings benefit by devoting the time and
energy needed to consider the financial, psychological and social risks, and achieving the possible
incentives for financial and personal satisfaction and freedom. To be an entrepreneur or a
businessman means someone has to be able to create something new that can offer value to its
chosen market to be able to get something in return and convert it to a profitable business.

Products are created because of a birth of an idea, which is then turned into either a physical
product or non-physical product, i.e. eBooks, audiobooks, and other educational programs. To become
successful in an enterprise, an entrepreneur must be willing to exert a ton of effort from the start to
finish of creation of a product or service.

One great thing about being an entrepreneur is that the rewards are really great to those who
are ready to take the challenge. Though there are lot of great things that can happen in a business, it is
imperative to consider that businesses fail because of different factors. Therefore, an entrepreneur
must be willing to take the risk and prepare for the worst possibilities.

An entrepreneur is an individual who plans, organizes and operates a business or businesses,

taking greater than normal financial risks, psychic and social risks. He is someone who creates, or
looks for ideas for business, which is then implemented to become a business. Idea creation is one; the
real deal is starting the business and making the idea a reality. There are lot of people who have great
ideas in mind but failed to start, until someone started it and they said to them, “that was my idea few
years ago…” Implementation is the KEY.

Another element that is important in becoming an entrepreneur is passion.

This is the reason why entrepreneurs, most of the times are people who decided to leave their
8am-5pm jobs and started their own venture and became their own boss.
It was because they wanted to do something that they are passionate about.
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 Key Areas Elements

WHAT
* Entrepreneurial behavior and mindset
Program Content
* Self-confidence, self-efficacy, and leadership
* “Out of the box” thinking through creativity and innovation
* Managing complexity and unpredictability
* Business skills and literacy
* Opportunity identification
* Negotiation skills
* Building relationship, network, and social capital

WHO
* Students
The Stakeholders
* Teachers and school administrators
* Professors, trainers
* Businesspeople and leaders in other sectors
* Entrepreneurs
* Mentors, coaches, and advisors

WHERE
* Formal School System (Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary)
Organization
– At all levels
– Across disciplines
– Compulsory and elective courses
* Informal system
– Local schools, training institutions
– Community centers and NGOs
– Government agencies and banks
– Workplace-based training programs
– Life-long learning

HOW
* Interactive learning pedagogies
Methods of Delivery
* Multi-disciplinary programs and projects
* Case studies, games, simulations, business plan competition
* Extensive use of visuals, digital tools, and multi-media
* Projects, internships, and start-ups
* Mentoring and coaching
* Interaction with entrepreneurs

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B. ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCIES

Entrepreneurial Competencies refer to the fundamental characteristics and traits possessed by

successful entrepreneurs that made them succeed in their chosen enterprise.

McClelland and McBer (1985)

1. Initiative

The entrepreneur should take initiative in learning their industry they belong to, go the extra
mile, and do more than what is expected from them. An entrepreneur always looks for new and
better ways of doing things, getting ahead of others and aims to lead in their chosen industry or
line of business.

Examples

• Greeting customers upon entering the door of a fast food shop and thanking them when
leaving.
• Extending and serving more customers by opening outlets in new areas and creating new
products or services by proactively researching what the market needs.

2. Sees and acts on opportunities

An entrepreneur always has the eyes open for new opportunities and most importantly acting
on them. As an entrepreneur, it is very important to always look at the industry trends, anticipate
needs of customers, even new technologies that will help them give value to the customers, as well
as opportunities that could help them expand their existing business. After knowing the market, an
entrepreneur should be able to act and execute as soon as possible to get ahead in offering
products and services to its customers.
Examples
• Apple Company known as personal computer manufacturer expanding its business to
iPods, iPhone, iPad and even iTunes. The company saw the demand of consumers for
communication and entertainment and created products that enable them to provide for
their customers.

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 • Jollibee started its business as an ice cream parlor, found out that Filipinos wanted
hamburgers being offered by McDonalds, and later created its own line of hamburger
sandwich products.

3. Persistence

In today’s business world, there are lot of competitors that are trying to take a share of the pie
or the socalled market. The entrepreneur’s main job when it comes to competition is to be able to
persist in aiming and taking actions for the firm’s growth by getting the greatest number of
customers.

Examples

• KFCs new products come out every three months and test how customers accept it as
part of their effort to pull more customers to their restaurants.
• Samsung competing head to head with Apple in providing electronics and technology
products to consumers.

4. Information Seeking

Access to information has never been easy as today. In fact, there is so much information that
the question now is how to find the right information and use it to the company’s advantage and
create better products and services for the buyers. It is very essential for an entrepreneur to make
sure that he/she gets the appropriate and significant information, the quickest time possible.

Examples

• Augmented realities being introduce now with the used of Virtual Reality (VR) devices.
• Consulting industry experts in getting relevant and up to date information.
• Seeking information or asking questions to clarify customer’s needs and concerns.
• Doing market research, analysis, or investigation.

5. Concern for Work Quality

Each entrepreneur started an enterprise because of an idea, but it does not end there. The

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 entrepreneur should always strive to improving and enhancing the products or service to deliver
the best work for its customers. This is the reason why companies have their Research and
Development (R&D). A company that does not innovate will for sure loose in the game.
Additionally, there should always be a company standard to have consistency in delivering to its
customers.

Examples

• Strong yearn to produce and sell a top or best quality product or service.
• Jollibee having a standard from measurement of every ingredient up to number of
minutes a meal should be served to the customer.

6. Commitment to Work Contract

Starting a business is one, but to execute and delivering on time to customers is another. An
entrepreneur should always have in mind that company’s reputation builds by delivering great
products and service to customer and delivering on time is very important. 80/20 Rule, known as
Pareto Principle states that the last 20% of the task needs the 80% effort, and if the entrepreneur
doesn’t understand that finishing task’s importance, the customers will be short changed and
therefore company loose it chance in proving itself in the marketplace, and will likely lose
customers and it business.

Examples

• Doing all extraordinary effort to complete a job to satisfy customers.

• Accepting full responsibility for problems and therefore ready to provide resolution.
• Having a customer service hotline for customer complaints.
• Real concern for satisfying the customer.

7. Efficiency Orientation

To succeed, an entrepreneur must always find ways of doing things more efficiently and
effectively, with fewer resources and at a lower cost as possible. Companies constantly think of
efficiency in operations and delivering to its customers. Start-up companies normally have less
financial capital, so knowing their situation and being able to produce quality products with limited
resources is really critical for them.

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 Examples

• Using internet to sell products rather that opening a physical store.

• Using video presentations product write-ups and posted on social media platforms as
marketing tools.
• Jollibee using video contents such as “Best Friend”, “Cashier”, “Crush”, “Perfect Pair
and “Apo”.

8. Systematic Planning

As the saying goes, “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail”. There are lot individuals that started
businesses and just closed shop after few months because of lack of careful and systematic
planning. The entrepreneur should develop a logical, timely, step-by-step plan to reach the
company goals.

Examples

• Making and formulation plan of actions to follow for smooth operation.

• Anticipating expenses by creating a good cash flow projection.
• Evaluating alternatives.
• Taking a logical and systematic approach in executing activities.
• Having back-plans in place to solve unanticipated scenarios.
9. Problem Solving

Business problems are inevitable. There will always be something that an entrepreneur can do
to minimize the impact of a problem to continue in operation. The challenge of thinking what to do
in tough times is in the hands of the entrepreneur. A song goes, “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You
Stronger”, means every problem solved makes the entrepreneur more knowledgeable and
prepared for the next challenges. The point is, it is a requirement for an entrepreneur to know how
to solve problems if he wants the business to be in the market for long time.

Examples

• Changing strategies in case of problems to reach organizational goals.

• Generating new ideas or innovative solutions.
• Looking at problems as an opportunity.
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10. Self-Confidence

Who would like to do business with a person who is not confident about his or herself, or the
products or services that he or she sells? It is safe to say that if you will transact for a business,
you will always want to look for someone who can carry a conversation and will be able to sell his
or her products effectively. To become a successful entrepreneur, one must have a strong belief
in self and own abilities.

Examples
• Show confidence in one's ability to carry out tasks, particularly in difficult situations.
• Persist with own judgment in the face of opposition or early lack of success.

11. Assertiveness

As stated, problems are inevitable and therefore the only way to avoid more problems is to face
and solve the existing ones. As an entrepreneur, you must have the courage in looking for
solutions, and find for resources, and even people who can help in those tough times.

Examples
• Communicate to others what they must do and not to.
• Reprimand those failing to perform and inform them of the possibilities for continuance
of the behavior.

12. Persuasion
Persuasion means influencing others reach company goals. Great entrepreneurs are great
salespeople. Finding resources is a tough task that requires guts in proving oneself that a certain
business will work and grow to get approval for loans.

Examples

• Convincing someone to buy a product or service.

• Convince a firm to provide financing.

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13. Use of Influence Strategies

Developing a great relationship with other businesspeople is a very important task of an

entrepreneur. Collaboration is one great way of expanding a business and great networker as sure-fire
of becoming a success in a business. As an entrepreneur, one must learn to work with influential
people to reach business.

C. CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ENTREPRENEUR:
A good entrepreneur has a set of attributes that demonstrate qualities of creativity and leadership.

1. Ambition

A successful businessman is motivated to make something out of himself. He knows what he

wants, and he is setting a course for achieving it. Often his desire to do something can be daunting and
the drive to create himself can be very consuming. The passion of an entrepreneur is often the main
ingredient which takes him off his chair and brings him into practice , making his daydreams a reality.

2. Enthusiasm

Also going hand in hand with determination, passion plays a big part in inspiring the
entrepreneur. Although ambition is perhaps the key to the ignition of the entrepreneur, excitement is
the gas. Every successful businessman has a positive outlook which gives him the energy to pursue
his endeavours. An entrepreneurial project will gradually wither away into inactivity and failure without
enthusiasm.

3. Creativity

You can rely on imagination to help you out when problems occur. In the first place, creativity is
probably what led you to envision your company and it will be creativity that will help you understand
the potential solutions to any hitches that may come your way. Successful entrepreneurs will find
motivation in the process, and also find ways to turn roadblocks into opportunities.

4. Decision-making

Entrepreneurs call in all the actions needed. Although their imagination makes them men of
ideas, that will make them men of action is their ability to make decisions. The decisions taken by
businessmen will decide the company's destiny, because it is only by decision-making that things

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really will happen. An entrepreneur with poor decision-making skills will see his company placed in a
state of inactivity and degradation; good decision-making skills, on the other hand, will ensure the best
possible steps are applied in setting up the firm.

5. Perseverance

Maybe the most significant of all entrepreneurs' characteristics is their ability to withstand the
troubles that come with starting a company. Starting a new company is an incredibly challenging
experience and as an entrepreneur, if you want your venture to be a success, you'll have to stick
through the storms and pressures. It often takes years for a good idea to start making money, but
when it does, you'll be pleased that you've stood up against adversity.

D. ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A CAREER

As an entrepreneur, you need to be work hard, be smart in making decisions, creative and think
about improvement of the business, be willing to take risks accompanied with plan of actions, and be
good with people since they will be the one aside from you who will do work for the business and for
your clients.

To be successful in the career of entrepreneurship, one must have a heart to continue even if
everything doesn't fall into place or challenging situations happen, have a lot of motivation because
you believe in what your company and business vision and mission and have that drive to always be
focused on your goals.

One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is the wide-open possibilities. You get to talk
with a lot of people in your field, learn from their knowledge and experiences, and even create
relationships with other businesspeople.

There are also downsides of entrepreneurship. As the owner of a starting business, you will be in-
charge with operations, finance and marketing your products. This means that you will not have
regularly scheduled day-offs, sometimes you will not have day-off on difficult situations. Managing
cash flow is difficult most especially to the ones that has limited funds.

The opportunities in entrepreneurship are ultimately endless. The rewards can be high as well are
the risks. It requires maturity from the owner in making hard decisions. But, if you are driven, creative,
willing to learn and have the desire to be your own boss, this may very well be the career for you.

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 E. BEST SMALL BUSINESS IDEAS IN
THE PHILIPPINES
1. Digital Marketing Services
Capital: P1,000 – P5,000
Monthly Income: P30,000 – P500,000
Difficulty: High
Requires (Skills): Technical, Marketing,
Networking, Sales, and Communication.
2. Vending Machine
Capital: P10,000 – P20,000
Monthly Income: P1,000 – P20,000
Difficulty: Low
Requires: Good location & maintenance.
3. Street Food
Capital: P5,000 – P10,000
Difficulty: Low
Requires: Good location
4. 3D printing service
Capital: P10,000 – P40,000
Difficulty: Medium
Requires (Skills): Design, Technical, and
Marketing.
5. Videography business
Capital: P40,000 – P100,000
Difficulty: Medium
Requires: Equipment, Video Editing
Software, Design, and Marketing.
6. Cake Making/Baking
Love baking? Folks love a good cake and other
baked goodies. Whether it is a creamy red
velvet cupcake or an Elmo-inspired birthday
cake, there will always be demand for rich,
delicious bakes.
7. Food Cart or Food Stand
The boom of Food parks in the last few years is
testament of the Filipinos craving for a good spot
that serves a variety of food. If you have a good
product, you can sign up for a spot on a food park.
8. Food Delivery Business Online food delivery
services like Foodpanda and Honestbee make it
easy for Pinoys to order their food online. Others
cook and deliver homepacked meals to busy
working Pinoys who do not have the time to leave
their desks for a delicious meal.
9. Clothing Boutique
Got an eye for fashion? You can source your
inventory directly from clothes makers/printing
shops or buy in bulk at Divisoria and set up a
boutique to house your products.
10. IT & Network consulting and training
services
Capital: P5,000 – P20,000
Difficulty: High
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Requires: Standard Equipment, Technical,
and Marketing.

11. Photographer/Photography
Business
Offering your camera skills to capture
memories (weddings, birthdays, etc.) or for
professional purposes (businesses,
commercial use) makes great use of your
creative skills while generating a handsome
fee.

12. Graphics, Animation, & Multimedia

Design Business
Put your creative juices to good use!
Companies and clients pay a handsome fee
for services that produce rich and amazing
multimedia content.

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F. THE MOST SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS IN THE WORLD

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