Entrepreneurship definition
What is enterpreneurship?
The term entrepreneurship refers to the act of being an entrepreneur. The etymological origin of this word comes from the Latin prendĕre, meaning to trap, to catch, to take. Thus, this term from the French entrepreneur, meaning pioneer, refers to the ability to strive to achieve an objective or a goal.
Starting from this point, entrepreneurship is understood as the action of carrying out work, an idea, a business, or a project, harnessing opportunities, and adding value. Although most businesses have an economic aim, there are small, medium, and large non-profit enterprises, such as non-governmental and charitable organizations.
Their main goal is to turn an idea into a project of innovation, using tools and skills such as vision, persistence, creativity, exposure, and resistance to risk from those carrying it out.
What is an entrepreneurial ecosystem?
An entrepreneurial ecosystem is the term used for the confluence of all the actors involved in the entrepreneurship process, such as investors, chambers of commerce, trainers, incubators and accelerators, and so on. New York, Silicon Valley, and Boston are some of the cities where the leading entrepreneurship ecosystems are located; they are made up of technology companies and universities focused on research at companies with venture capital funds.
What are the characteristics of entrepreneurship?
- Innovation: this is understood to be the set of ideas that point to the solution for a certain problem with a novel, different approach, adding value to the project where it is being undertaken.
- Adaptability: the ability to be flexible. When dealing with new projects, it is common for them to transform over time to optimize times and processes and to turn them into something solid and stable. The idea of constant transformation is indispensable in any entrepreneurial project to enable the new company to adapt to the environment and circumstances in which it finds itself.
- Patience: businesses require time to develop, get established, and achieve profitability.
- Determination: following through in entrepreneurship requires determination to execute ideas and actions – that is, turning a vision into a reality.
- Scalability: every business should commit to growing over time so that, from a financial point of view, revenues exceed expenses and maintain profitability in the market where they operate.
What types of entrepreneurship are there?
The main kinds of entrepreneurship are:
- Small entrepreneurship: these are small projects and usually involve one or two partners. This is also often referred to as micro-entrepreneurship, and their initial investment is limited.
- Scalable entrepreneurship: these intend to have significant growth in the short and medium term. Their goal is to expand rapidly to become multinationals. In addition, they seek to meet the needs of millions of people.
- Social entrepreneurship: this type of entrepreneurship aims to generate positive impacts on a group of people or a community. They are usually in the fields of education, health, or the environment.
- Business entrepreneurship: these initiatives’ objective is to develop a business project. They usually arise when there are economic crises, which leads entrepreneurs to develop different, innovative ideas within a market in crisis that enable them to grow in a difficult context.
- Cultural entrepreneurship: these aim to maintain the symbolic value of products or cultural customs of a community or country.
- Mirror or imitation entrepreneurship: these projects usually replicate an idea, product, or business model that already exists and is successful. Franchises are a typical example of this type of entrepreneurship and usually require a significant initial investment.
- Opportunistic entrepreneurship: these arise at an opportune time to solve an urgent, acute need. This type of entrepreneurship stands out due to the ability of individuals or partners to carry them out quickly and creatively.
- Incubator entrepreneurship: this is the opposite of opportunistic entrepreneurship since it focuses on in-depth research on market needs in order to offer the most innovative solutions possible.
- Digital entrepreneurship: this refers to projects with strictly digital proposals, democratizing access to information and digital tools so that anyone can carry out their project thanks to the availability of that information.
What attributes should an entrepreneur have?
Entrepreneurs are usually directors and supervisors of each of the development phases of their entrepreneurship, and they are in charge of managing commercial aspects, production, and resources. Their main characteristics are:
- An ability to identify business opportunities.
- Risk tolerance and the ability to sacrifice their professional and financial security to develop an idea and project.
- Continual innovation.
