The Components of Entrepreneurship: How People Become Enterpreneurs

The term and meaning of an entrepreneur has evolved along the centuries. They were known as a person who is a risk taker in 15th Century which was first introduced by an Irish banker Richard Cantillon (1680-1734). Beginning of 20th Century, Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) relates entrepreneurship with innovation. When we mentioned the word ‘Entrepreneur’, our mind will automatically think of someone who is never satisfied with status quo, they are passionate and dedicated in getting things done. Their mind seems to have a different form of insight where they see things differently then the most of us, this is what we call innovative thinking. They are a person who loves challengers, welcome change and always the first one to jump and take the leap of faith when they are confident that something will work.

In the world that we lives nowadays, change is the only constant thing happening around us. Through the acceleration of change complexity and uncertainty, an employee would tackle a task predefined by their leader with an entrepreneurial mindset. In the light of focusing on innovation and identify new opportunity. A study shows that 40-50% of students entering university in year 2016 in the USA will be self employed or freelance at some point in their carrier. These students are made up of Millennials population who strive to work with passion and wants to make an impact in things they does.

Entrepreneurship is considered as an engine of global economic development, the need for creating people and organizations with entrepreneurial mindset and competencies is more urgent than before. Having said that, does an aspiring entrepreneur has what it takes to successfully start-up a business just fuel with passion and creative thinking, without proper knowledge of actually running a business?

Made or Born?

Many has debated and numerous studies has been carried out on this golden question as to successful entrepreneur is either born to be one, or has slowly develop into one. He claims that entrepreneurs are born, not made. He maintains that his subjects share common characteristics, which include: restlessness, independence, a tendency to be a loner, and extreme self confidence. On the other hand, other personality characteristics that are uniquely entrepreneurial including innovative, action oriented, high on need for personal control and highly autonomous. In many instances, entrepreneurs are often described as impulsive, gambling adventurer, intoxicated by his or her own adrenaline. But though they put themselves at risk, they are actually motivated to achieve something greater, which is what separates them from the rest of people.

One example of an entrepreneur who was born is Henry Ford. Ford’s dropping out of school at age 16 and his interest in building a horseless carriage that attracted investors and eventual business startups and his determination to build cars that has appeal and affordable to the masses are the proof of his talent as entrepreneur. “He placed himself at the forefront of social revolution that had an immeasurable impact on American life”. Alongside with Ford, is Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Both had similar encounter of being dropped out with minimal proper educational background or environment that fosters or encourages them to become entrepreneur but they have an innate sense of entrepreneurial traits; an intuition that guides them in building their enterprises.

On the other hand, David Burnett claims that entrepreneurs can be supplied if two important factors are present: opportunity and willingness to become an entrepreneur. According to Praag (1995), opportunity “is the possibility to become self-employed if one wants to. ” And willingness is the relative valuation of work in self-employment compared to one’s other options for employment. Krueger and Brazeal (1994) offer a dynamic model in their approach towards understanding the entrepreneurial behaviors. It suggests that entrepreneurial intention is based on the interaction between personal characteristics, perceptions, values, beliefs, background, and environment (situational context). This approach suggests that entrepreneurial not only can be learned but can vary across individuals and situations.

As the theory of entrepreneurship has evolved and more understanding has been gained of this idea, it is apparent that no clear-cut response can be provided to answer this question but according to my opinion entrepreneurs can be made.

Learning from the Big Company

Entrepreneurs are willing to take more risk than managers, they usually operate in a more uncertain environment and pursue opportunities without regard of resources controlled. This factor has lead them face risks that are related to growth and change, human resources issues, sales and marketing, strategy and business planning, and strategy implementation. While relevant competencies can be developed through own experience or interaction with another entrepreneur, one can acquire and improve them through training, coaching and mentoring. Adequate competencies are instrumental in the transition from an entrepreneurial to a professional company. Throughout the journey, the individual competencies will be replaced by all of the people in the organization. There is a growing volume of research acknowledging the importance of Entrepreneurship Learning and Development Program as a source of increased rates of start-up intentions, survival and growth.