Who is an entrepreneur?

‘A person who habitually creates and innovates to build

something of recognised value around perceived
opportunities.’ Bolton & Thompson, 2000

Entrepreneur is an innovator or developer who recognizes and

grabs opportunities; convert those opportunities into
marketable ideas; adds value through time, effort, money and
skills and assumes the risks of the competitive marketplace to
implement these ideas. Entrepreneur also called catalyst of
economic change (Latest definition: Frederick& Kuratko
2010)
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 Business and social entrepreneurs
… are different!
Business entrepreneurs:
-are driven by the profit motive.
-seek growth and profits within the business.
-are constant innovators
-always are trying to capture larger market shares in the
competitive marketplace.
-always exploit innovative venture opportunities and create
new market at home and abroad.
Social entrepreneurs:
-are driven by a mission to improve society
-seek to find innovative ways to solve problems that can’t be
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addressed by either the market or the public sector.
Entrepreneurs and small businesses

… are also different!

Small business owners often:
-operate in existing markets and never grow large
-prefer a more stable and less aggressive approach to
running these business.
-Would rather exploit established markets

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 Characteristics of entrepreneurs
• Have a clear vision (Know where they want to go).
• Keep driving in pursuit of his/her goal and grow.
• Spot and Exploit Opportunity (Constant awareness of the opportunities that exist in everyday life).
• Don’t try to be all things, be famous for just one thing
• Uniquely optimistic, committed, and dedicated (these can help entrepreneurs to overcome obstacles and
setbacks. Investors can measure these quality levels by willingness to mortgage their house, take a cut in
pay, sacrifice family time and reduce their standard of living).
• Willing to take risks in order to create value (But they are not gamblers. They do everything to get the odds
in their favour).
• Works creatively and innovatively to establish new resources or endow old ones with a new capacity
• Do everything for the purpose of creating wealth.

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 Characteristics of entrepreneurs
• Use sound judgement and planning.
• Strive for integrity and reliability (these two qualities are the glue and fibre that bind successful personal
and help to build and sustain the trust and confidence).
• They use failure as a tool for learning (failure for them is a learning experience that will enable them to be
even better. They don’t become disappointed, discourage, or depressed by a setback or failure).
• High tolerance of ambiguity (Uncertainties are of no concern to them).
• Have enough confidence in themselves (they don’t believe the success or failure of their venture will be
governed by fate, luck, or similar forces. They believe these things happen due to their own actions).
• Seeking and using feedback (They have a strong desire to know how well they are doing and how they
might improve their performance. Feedback is also central to their learning from their mistakes and
setbacks).
• Taking initiative and personal responsibility (They always like to take the initiative in solving problem and
put themselves in situations where they are personally responsible for the success or failure of the
operation)

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Entrepreneurship
– A dynamic process of vision, change and creation
– Application of energy and passion
– Towards implementation of new ideas and creative
solutions

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Why be an entrepreneur?

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Entrepreneurs and risk

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Sources of stress

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 Questions on Video Clip
1. What challenges the Entrepreneurs face in getting fund from
traditional sources especially during financial crisis and why?
2. What has been suggested by speaker to resolve this crisis?
3. What are the alternative sources funds Entrepreneur look
into, why?
4. Are the situations similar in Australia?
5. What is the overall learning from the survey results reported
in the video?

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The circle of life

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