Entrepreneurship Development
Entrepreneurs are assets for the economy because of their immense contribution to the country, be it by giving new employment opportunities or adding to the growth and development of a nation.
According to the Harvard School (Cole, 1949), entrepreneurship comprises any purposeful activity that initiates, maintains, or develops a profit-oriented business in interaction with the internal situation of the business or with the economic, political, and social circumstances surrounding the business.
Do you think entrepreneurship skills are inherent? No, not always, they can be developed by anyone who wants to become an entrepreneur. But how can we learn or develop these skills? We can develop these skills by learning the entrepreneurship development process.
Entrepreneurship Development Process
Entrepreneurship development is the process of enhancing the skillset and knowledge of individuals regarding the development, management, and organization of a business venture while keeping in mind the risks associated with it. Entrepreneur development focuses on training individuals interested in commencing their venture or expanding their existing one.
It focuses on studying entrepreneurial behavior, the dynamics of business, and its development and expansion. The objectives of entrepreneurship development programs are to increase the knowledge and skill of existing entrepreneurs and encourage others to become one.
Entrepreneurship Development Program
Entrepreneurship development program helps in innovation and evaluate the growth potential of an enterprise. This development process helps new firms to perform better and achieve their goals and expand their businesses with results in the economic growth of a country.
To conduct an effective entrepreneurship development program one must
Set a clear objective: “According to Glenn Gutek, CEO of Awake Consulting and Coaching, It is good to know why you are launching your business”. Setting a clear objective and then drafting a plan to have a clear idea of the program's aim. Having a clear direction and objectives help in making the program a success. The absence of both will result in loss of time, money, effort, and most of all, the valuable potential of the individual.
Choose Mentors/Training Professionals: Entrepreneur development is about training individuals who want to start a new venture or diversify the existing one. You require trained professionals who are experienced in this domain and help aspiring entrepreneurs furnish their talents and learn the intricacies of operating a business.
Identify the Markets: Desaulniers said too often, people jump into launching their business without spending time to think about who their customers will be and why those customers would want to buy from them or hire them. Market research helps you understand your target customer as well as your industry and competitors. While planning to conduct sessions and programs related to this, the best way to begin is to reach out to local markets
Choosing the right location to conduct the program: For the success of an event, the choice of location and resources is very important. Entrepreneur developmental programs should be organized in such areas where the program can attract a large number of people, who want to become an entrepreneur and take advantage of the program.
Tie Up with Institutions: The governments are also promoting entrepreneurship and is funding several aspirants to become an entrepreneur. Colleges and universities can give a real-world experience as they can cater to people from different fields and have infrastructure also. Therefore entrepreneurship development programs can be conducted by tie-ups with several NGOs, private institutions, and universities.
Assess Effectiveness & Seek Feedback: At the end of the program, it is very important to get feedback from the participants. Ensure that you get honest feedback from the people and know how it could have been better. Constructive criticism should always be welcomed and try to incorporate important points into the next program. The program should be the solution to the issues they are facing or at least ensure it becomes the seed to the growing entrepreneurial tree.
What are the 4 types of entrepreneurship development?
Entrepreneurship development plays a vital role in the success and growth of small businesses and startups. It is the process of identifying and nurturing individuals with the potential to become successful entrepreneurs. Four primary types of entrepreneurship development are:
Small business: Small business owners may focus on a single product or service. They use their savings to start their business and only make money if they are successful in their venture. According to Small Business Administration (SBA), more than 99% of all U.S. businesses are considered small businesses, and a majority of them are entrepreneurial ventures.
Scalable startups: They attempt to grow quickly with multiple offerings to be profitable. They aim at gaining investors which allows them to grow and scale up. As the name suggests, they are scalable i.e. they have the potential to keep increasing their revenue while keeping their incremental costs at a minimum. Uber, Airbnb, and Basecamp are present-day examples of scalable startups.
Large companies: They may look for intrapreneurs who are willing to take risks within their organization or create entirely new ones. These intrapreneurs are employees of some big company but see the potential to spin off new products or services that take on a life of their own. One of the great intrapreneurship examples is DreamWorks Animation, the media behemoth that gave us “Madagascar” and “Kung Fu Panda”
Social entrepreneurs: They are entrepreneurs who use their skills to bring about positive change in local communities by solving societal problems through sustainable solutions. Bill Drayton is recognized as one of the pioneering social entrepreneurs.
What are the steps of entrepreneurship development?
The entrepreneurship development process involves various types of activities like educational programs, financial assistance, networking, and guidance. Each type has its specific steps that must be taken to develop a successful business. Furthermore, entrepreneurs need to have access to resources such as mentors and advisors who can provide feedback regarding their progress. The steps involved in entrepreneurial development are
Generate a Business Idea: The first step in this process is to analyze the market and customer, then choose a business idea to find your niche. An idea can be an innovation or a possible solution to a problem in the existing market or product or service.
Evaluation of opportunities: In the next step you need to evaluate whether an opportunity or idea is worth investing in or not. The product is required or not? What competitive advantage do we have in comparison to other products? What is the capital required to put into the business, and where to get this capital from? Moreover associated with all risks that are inherent with the product or service.
Create a Business Plan: One of the vital stages of the entrepreneurship development process is to create a comprehensive business plan to make the most of this opportunity. Business planning requires time and effort, and the vision, goal, objectives, capital, and product itself must be figured out in this process. Both strategy planning and operational planning are done in this phase.
Finding Resources: Finance and humans are the most important resources for setting up a business. Finding investors and recruiting individuals per their skills and abilities to carry out different business activities is the next step in the entrepreneurial development process.
Forming a company: Once everything is allocated now go through the process of choosing the right form of corporate entity and actually creating the venture as a legal entity. An entrepreneur must form a hierarchy in the organization that makes resolving any problem easy.
Growth plan: Once the business is formed the company works toward creating its product or service, generating revenue, and moving toward sustainable performance. Based on actual data generated by the company and pitting it against the projected ones, an entrepreneur decides to invest in expansion and plan for the future.
What are the 5 Levels of Entrepreneurs?
When we say “entrepreneur,” we think about a business owner. Did you know there are different levels of entrepreneurship, and that becoming an entrepreneur is a process?
Brad Sugars, world-renowned business author and founder of ActionCOACH, the world’s largest business coaching firm, identifies five different levels of entrepreneurs.
Level 1 - Self-employment: Self-employment is to work for oneself rather than working for any employer who pays you a salary. This level teaches you everything from sales, marketing, management, accounting, legal, finance, and HR.
Level 2 - Employer & Manager: At this level, you learn to employ, train and manage people who work for you. You have a limited number of people under you and you do much of the work of your business by yourself.
Level 3 - The owner/leader of the business: At this level, you have built your employees and management team to a level where they do the work of your business without you having to work in it. The business then is ready for the next level – the cash flow and capital. A proper balance of cash flow and capital should be maintained in an organization.
Level 4 - The investor: When you maintain a balance between the cash flow and the capital you can think of investing now. At this level, you learn how to invest in the business, real estate, and stock market, and why balancing investments is important. This helps you to create wealth now.
Level 5 - An Entrepreneur The fifth and last level is an entrepreneur whose goals and dreams turn into reality. These people are in profit and use other people’s money, ideas, talent, and time to create wealth.
Conclusion
It takes lots of effort and hard work to learn new things and pass through various stages of entrepreneurial accomplishment. Hardworking and smart leaders reach the ultimate goal and become entrepreneurs.
FAQ
1. What are the benefits of entrepreneurship development?
Ans. Entrepreneurship development gives new markets/businesses through innovation and also provides job opportunities in an economy which adds to the national income of a country.
2. What are entrepreneurship development basic concepts?
Ans. Entrepreneurship is a complex and multi-faceted process of enhancing the skillset and knowledge of entrepreneurs regarding developing and managing a business venture, keeping the risks in mind.
3. What motivates you to become an entrepreneur?
Ans. The basic factors that motivate you to become an entrepreneur are that you have full control & freedom to work on your idea and vision. Another reason is that you leave an impact on society as an innovator and job provider. All above it help you to create huge wealth.