Who are entrepreneurs?

An ‘entrepreneur’ is a person who is in control of a commercial undertaking. The word has also come to mean a person who is ‘enterprising’, who is ready to engage in a bold or difficult activity.

Who can start and run an enterprise?

People from all walks of life start enterprises and small businesses. You can, too, whether you’re:

  • a young person who’s just left school
  • a qualified tradesperson
  • a new graduate
  • an inventor or adventurer
  • pursuing a hobby or special interest
  • an author, performer or artist
  • recently retrenched or made redundant
  • a new parent with a child to look after
  • a carer looking after a relative
  • re-entering the workforce after a break
  • a public servant looking for other work options
  • a community worker or volunteer
  • a corporate manager setting up as an expert consultant
  • a newly arrived migrant
  • a person recovering from an accident or other trauma.

What matters is that you have a good idea for a business, and you’re determined to do everything necessary for that business to succeed.

Characteristics of entrepreneurs

An ‘entrepreneurial’ person is someone who is prepared to take some kind of risk in order to accomplish a task they find attractive. First and foremost, a successful entrepreneur is creative.

Entrepreneurs are also:

  • confident
  • enthusiastic
  • not afraid to make decisions
  • determined.

Entrepreneurs know:

  • what they want
  • where to get the best information

Entrepreneurs can:

  • see opportunities that others can’t see
  • take on a challenge rather than always opting for the safe path
  • plan for different possible outcomes
  • learn from their mistakes.

Entrepreneurs have:

  • a high level of energy
  • appropriate skills, or they know people who possess them
  • access to the necessary resources.

Some other skills, abilities and qualities of successful entrepreneurs are:

  • the ability to see opportunities, and the confidence to seize them
  • the ability to identify what other people want—existing customers, potential new customers, employees, colleagues
  • knowing how to satisfy people’s needs and wants
  • tenacity, persistence, determination and a willingness to work hard
  • self-motivation and enthusiasm
  • the ability to work as a member of a team
  • the ability to take independent action
  • openness to new ideas and new ways of doing things
  • goal-setting skills
  • skill in locating and mobilising the resources needed to achieve a goal
  • reliable intuition—a good entrepreneur is an educated risk taker
  • vision—the ability to see how products or practices might be improved, and to plan for different possible outcomes
  • readiness to look at things differently, to ‘think outside the box’ or to take innovative action
  • readiness to learn from their mistakes and those of others
  • problem-solving ability, and a desire to solve problems so that all involved parties are satisfied with the outcome.