Definition of Entrepreneurship

Often times in recent past, the term 'entrepreneur' has been bastardized; just as anyone can be branded 'Doctor' or 'Bishop' in Africa so it seems anyone can be branded 'Entrepreneur'. In Zambia, it has become a term to describe anyone who can pronounce the word entrepreneur, and make some money doing it.
The term entrepreneur is a word that first appeared in the French dictionary entitled "Dictionnaire Universel de Commerce" in 1723. It is defined as an individual who organizes or operates a business or businesses.
The Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon defined the term first in his Essay based on the Nature of Trade in General, a book which was considered the "cradle of political economy". Cantillon saw the entrepreneur as a risk-taker who is a person who pays a certain price for a product and resells it at an uncertain price: "making decisions about obtaining and using the resources while consequently admitting the risk of enterprise."
The term "entrepreneur" is often mixed up with the term "small business". While most entrepreneurial ventures start out as a small business, NOT all small businesses are entrepreneurial in the strict sense of the term! Many small businesses are sole proprietor operations consisting solely of the owner, or they have a small number of employees, and many of these small businesses offer an existing product, process or service, and THEY DO NOT AIM AT GROWTH! In contrast, entrepreneurial ventures offer an innovative product, process or service, and the entrepreneur typically aims to SCALE UP the company by adding employees, seeking international sales, and so on, a process which is financed by sales profits, venture capital and angel investments. Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to lead a business in a positive direction by proper planning, to adapt to changing environments and understand their own strengths and weakness.
So, NOT all small businesses are entrepreneurial. This is a very important distinction due to the fact that, while many business people are complacent with a subsistence existence to make ends meet in a risk free environment, there are others making strides in the true definition of entrepreneurship, and are actually changing the landscape of business across Africa. When we have many small business men not taking any risks to grow and become enterprises, but want to carry the term 'entrepreneur', they bastardize the term and it loses authenticity.
My point is that we have to let entrepreneurship be something to aspire to as Small and Growing Businesses (SGB) by not trivializing it. If you have the tag of entrepreneur, the burden of proof is on you show us how you are different from the mediocrity in your circle.
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Tapera Industries Limited
biofuels & natural soaps
Forbes 30 under 35 most promising businesses 2016 | MWF 2014 Fellow
www.taperabio.biz | +260953739768