An entrepreneur can be defined as a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. As such to be an entrepreneur is not a case for a weak hearted individual.
If one looks at the nature of an entrepreneur, you will find that an entrepreneur usually possesses the following characteristics, namely risk taking, creativity, innovative and independence. An entrepreneur as such has to be a risk taker and should be ready to face any negative consequences of the business which he starts. Creativity and innovation are two sides of a same coin. One should be creative while being innovative. This brings out the best in a new business. And finally independence is also important because if you are not given a free hand to do what you wish, then it will become extremely difficult to pursue your dream project.
Many a time, it also pays if you have an entrepreneurial team comprising of friends and acquaintances. This stems from the fact that many minds give better results. If people with different skills or talents come together, then it should be easy to find solutions to a problem. The synergy which sets in should have a positive effect on the outcome.
However one has to be clear in the goals that he or she wishes to achieve. If clarity exists than even when the going gets tough, the goals appear clear. Yet the idea which excites an entrepreneur may not always last for long. At this time one has to relook at the reasons as to why he wanted to start the business, and maybe his current job or alternate jobs may be able to fill this void. Infact there are some entrepreneurs who have become entrepreneurs only because they wished to get away from their mundane jobs or dissatisfied jobs and get into something totally different. Direction, guidance and good advisor could do a world of good in such cases. Investing in time and effort could certainly make your dissatisfied job more exciting and interesting.
Entrepreneurship can also be lonely. As you only know what you are doing, many a time when things go wrong you may not have any shoulder to cry upon. This could be frustrating leading to even abandoning the project on which you are working. Support from family or the sponsor could go a long way in making life more easy for a budding entrepreneur.
Across Goa many BBA and MBA colleges offer entrepreneurship as a subject for the students. Although given a project to undertake during the course, most students take it up as an assignment which has to be completed in the shortest period of time. A marketing feasibility, technical feasibility and a financial feasibility is all that they would do. Yet entrepreneurship is way beyond a project or a theoretical assignment. It is the passion and zeal which a person possesses before he undertakes the project.
Some of the key requirements to be a successful entrepreneur are doing research and planning on what you wish to do. The product or service should be unique and provide value to the customers as compared to the existing products or services. Back up plans are also required as with the changing environment, the plan also tends to change. Finances are also important and if you are not aware of your finances, you could be running into severe losses. The plan should envisage a time frame wherein you will be able to break even and then be able to make profits. And finally your team should be well selected to prevent the business from running into failure.
Many Goans have become successful entrepreneurs. They have worked their way up from scratch and have created empires for themselves. Some have branched into other fields, related or unrelated and have become successful there too. This is because they have carried their experience and expertise into these new and varied areas. However not everyone can be called an entrepreneur. Starting just any business can hardly be called an entrepreneur. As mentioned earlier, the business should be innovative, creative, and carry risk.
The word entrepreneur excites the average student nowadays and if asked atleast 40-50 percent of the students in a management class will state that they wish to be entrepreneurs. This is good for the state as well as the country. With the prime minister sending the strong message of Make in India, the time is certainly right to encourage these students to venture into this area. However what is also required is guidance, finance and independence to work on their goals for a reasonably long period of time. Nothing gets done in a day. And entrepreneurship drives this same point across.
