Meaning of an entrepreneur

Meaning of an entrepreneur

The term entrepreneur has had varied meanings. The term entrepreneur is a French word which literally means ‘between’ or ‘go-between’. A female entrepreneur is sometimes known as an entrepreneuse. An entrepreneur is a person who operates a new enterprise or venture and assumes some accountability for the inherent risks.

An entrepreneur is simply an individual who has the ability to see and evaluate business opportunities, gather the necessary resources, start a business and once started to take appropriate actions to ensure its success. Entrepreneurs are people who have a high drive and creativity. They constantly strive to achieve success using their own efforts and they take credit of whatever outcome. Likewise, they take responsibility for any failure that may befall their businesses. In other words, an entrepreneur is a person who:

• Perceives his/her needs, analyses him/herself in relation to what he/she would like to be in future
  
• Scans the environment and identifies business opportunities that he/she could possibly do in order to achieve his/her goals in life
  
• Conducts a market survey to assess the feasibility and viability of the identified business opportunities to select the most suitable one
  
• Calculates the risks involved in doing the selected business opportunities so as to find out if he/she can reduce them to manageable levels, and if not, leave and choose another alternative
  
• Mobilizes the necessary resources to start the selected business
  
• Sets an organization or arrangement through which the planned business will be operated
  
• Regularly monitors business performance against set or planned targets
• Takes corrective actions to achieve his/her targets.

Students' Activity 2

1. What do you think an entrepreneur is?

2. Identify any entrepreneurs you know or any famous entrepreneurs in your local communities.

3. Do you consider yourself to b