ARE ENTREPRENEURS BORN OR MADE?
The Chinese are one of the worlds most known and successful entrepreneurs,
but what drives Chinese people to become entrepreneurs themselves? How did
they become entrepreneurs? Are entrepreneurs born or made?
When the Chinese first settled in the Philippines their first major concern
was employment and source of livelihood. They could not apply for
government positions because they were not citizens and they either can't
apply or be hired by the business sector because of language difficulties.
They were left with not so much choice but to look for a means to survive
and end up working with their immediate environment and selling some of
their possession as a means of livelihood and enterprise. In the course of
it they become buyer and seller of goods.
The entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese people was not born out of birth
but was born out of nature and environment they are currently facing during
those times. It was the nature of their lives that pushed the Chinese to
become entrepreneurs.
But entrepreneurship is not instant learning and success it was being
processed through time, learning and experiences through the course of the
enterprise. The skills developed by the early entrepreneurs was mastered
and cultivated through time.
According to Professor Alenjandro Ferreria of the Asian Institute of
Management the mystique of entrepreneurship is not nature alone or by birth
nor nurture or made. The third component that brings together nature and
nurture is circumstances.
Prof. Ferreria said, "The circumstance will bring out or even force out the
natural entrepreneurial component. The natural component is the ability to
see and identify opportunities. The circumstance is often described as a
crisis or a survival situation".
People who have been through the downside of life and was able to surpass
such trial brings out and discovers their natural entrepreneurial ability,
only can they survive but also can enhance, practice, cultivate and nurture
the entrepreneurial ability.
And there are three key areas of mastering entrepreneurship: Self Mastery,
knowing your self, who you are, what you want to do and what are capacities
and capabilities; Situation Mastery, your internal and external
environment, micro and macro environment; and Enterprise Mastery, knowing
your product, customer, services and delivery, marketing, promotion, and
others.
According to the Oxford Thesaurus, Enterprise is defined as
resourcefulness, initiative, drive, imagination, enthusiasm, zest, dash,
ambition, energy, vitality, boldness, daring, audacity, courage; most of
which are characters found possessed by the youth, perhaps one of the
reasons why more young people are engaged with entrepreneurship or
enterprise.
Youth entrepreneurship is the practical application of enterprising
qualities such as innovation, creativity, and risk taking into the work
environment (either self-employment or small scale enterprise), using the
appropriate skills necessary for success in that environment and culture
With the global economy slowing down and the threatening situation of the
world's development, young people are at the edge of a mountain. Young
people constitute a huge number in the world population but at the same
time is the world's largest untapped resource.
With the circumstance that surrounds the youth of today: unemployment,
poverty and many more it will bring out the entrepreneurial spirit and
ability of the youth. It will be the creativity, innovativeness imagination
and enthusiasm of the young that will give birth to their entrepreneurial
ability, that will nurture and develop their entrepreneurship.
But the next question is how could we help young people further developed
and enhance their entrepreneurial spirit and ability?
So what do you think guys?
best,
catherine
Catherine Kamping <catherine@youthlink.org>
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