Entrepreneurship is the capacity to develop, organize and manage a business venture with the business owner (entrepreneur) incurring all risks in order to make profit. A great example of entrepreneurship is the case of Bill Gates, an entrepreneur that revolutionized the way we use home computers.
Entrepreneurship and business development are twin concepts that play a key role in the economic and social development of any society. Any startup or business usually sets off with the business owner either singly or with the help of others, working hard to build a business to generate revenue for themselves through the business. However, in the long run, this business goes beyond just providing for the business owners and their families. Several economic and social benefits result from the business, and this benefits permeates through the local communities, states, regions and the whole country as a whole.
Entrepreneurship directly translates to wealth creation and sharing of resources. Through businesses, entrepreneurs are directly or indirectly investing their resources in a bid to attract capital from investors and possible share holders in their business. This utilizes public wealth and thus, creates room for people to benefit from the outputs of the business entity. Wealth creation and distribution is a good imperative for economic development.
Entrepreneurship is important because it improves standard of living through wealth creation, not only for the entrepreneurs, but also for related businesses.
On a national scale, entrepreneurs are the biggest contributors to growth in GDP and Per Capita Income. Entrepreneurs are in a better position than non-entrepreneurs to utilise the factors of production like land and capital to develop products and services that increase the national income, national product and per capita income of the country.
Consequently, the living standard within the community surrounding the business will improve. This is usually through balanced regional development and job creation made possible by the business entities. On a national scale, countries with more entrepreneurs are likely to exports more commodities to the foreign markets. Exports are essential ingredients of economic development given that it provides easy access to bigger market, leads to currency inflows and as a result improves the strength of the local currency against foreign ones. All this put together, leads to economic development at local and global levels.
On the other hand, there are social benefits that can be derived from entrepreneurship. This is true because entrepreneurs form their business around tackling societal problems through innovation and provision of new goods and services. Some of the examples of societal issues addressed by entrepreneurs include some of the biggest societal problems such as HIV, mental ill-health, crime, drug abuse as well as illiteracy. Entrepreneurship creates room for a social capital while promoting equity in the society.
Essentially, entrepreneurship is a positive force that promotes social and economic development and should be allowed to thrive at all levels.
Now it's your turn!
What do you think? How can we nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship in the young vibrant youths of today. Let's have a chat in the comments!
