Mrs Sivil

 What is an entrepreneur? An ordinary individual who does extraordinary things which other ordinary individuals hesitate to do.  The act of doing is a distinctive element of the entrepreneur.

 Example: Two individuals speculate about the possibility of introducing an electric car into a specific market.  Individual A keeps on speculating while individual B does, in fact, introduce the electric car into the market.  Individual B qualifies as an entrepreneur by introducing a product into the market for the first time.  On the other hand, individual A failed to act and therefore failed to qualify as an entrepreneur.

 The word “entrepreneurship” is derived from “entreprendre” which means to ‘undertake, to pursue opportunities; to fulfil the needs and wants through innovation and starting businesses’.  An entrepreneur is a person who initiates an enterprise, organizes it, and acquires capital to finance it, taking into consideration the risk and reward that accompanies it.

 The primary inputs of the entrepreneur into the enterprise are initiative, talent, ideas, knowledge and, often, equity.  Entrepreneurs are, people who innovate, and innovation is the distinctive element of entrepreneurship.  The entrepreneur redirects resources from areas of low productivity and low return to areas of higher productivity and return.

 Although risk is involved, the true entrepreneur should not exceed the boundaries of “calculated risk”.

 5 Tasks of Entrepreneurs: 1. Introduces a new product or service into the market, or implements a new approach to existing problems. 2. Develops or implements new technology which could curb costs and improve efficiency. 3. Exploits a new market by launching products, services or technologies which did not previously exist in the market.

4. Discovers a new source of supply for a scarce resource or discovers methods to make the supply of existing resources more effective. 5. Reorganise an existing enterprise, whether private or public, by innovative management.

 The history of capitalism (or free enterprise system), can be attributed to the activities of entrepreneurs. Capitalism is thus the product of entrepreneurial action, & the entrepreneur is not the product of capitalism as is often claimed.  It appears that the lesser the interference of the state in regulating the free enterprise system, the greater the possibility of achieving an entrepreneurial culture in a country.

 Roles of Government:  Remove legal obstacles to starting and running enterprises.  Implement support structures for potential entrepreneurs with regard to training, consultation and financing.  Encourage entrepreneurial awareness through education and the media.  Curb government expenditure.  Introduce favourable tax incentives for small businesses.

 Considering the:  level of unemployment,  shortage of housing,  uneven distribution of wealth & income,  low level of education &  high population growth rate in SA,  it appears only a miracle can solve these formidable problems.

 Entrepreneurs:  Identify need of unemployment & housing.  Seek solutions to these problems.  Realise that the solution of one problem (housing) can solve unemployment problem.  To build a house:  Need to combine land, labour & capital.  Labour includes – skilled, semi-skilled & unskilled workers.  Done economically efficient & profitable manner.  Involves planning, organising, leading & controlling (POLC).