The media is touting entrepreneurship as the remedy for just about everything - wealth creation, the solution to this recession and the list goes on.
Recently I read a series of articles, and what came across to me is that this seems too simple. Take for instance this extract:
"What if we were to understand that people are a nation's greatest asset and were to go out in joy not only developing our people to the fullest but instilling in them the confidence to quit their current employer and develop their own start-up, spin-out, and scale-up enterprise and become their own boss hence gaining control of their own destiny?"
Which appeared in [WEALTH DISTRIBUTION - BASIL SPRINGER COLUMN WHICH APPEARED IN THE BARBADOS ADVOCATE'S BUSINESS MONDAY ON AUGUST 5, 2013]
My mind went on to extrapolate this base information, and the result was chaos. All Chiefs no Indians. Is this really what is required when building a productive society in which entrepreneurship is expected to thrive? Somehow, I do not think so.
Yes the human resources are important, but we must be mindful of what they want. Not everyone is geared or have the desire to be an entrepreneur. I have met many people who desired to have their own business. Upon a more in-depth series of meetings, it was found that they really should not embark on the enterprise as they were ill prepared for the challenges of running a business.
Here's why:
- They lacked capital / access to capital
- They lacked knowledge of the elements of operations required to run their type of entity
- They did not know who their competition was in the market they wanted to operate within
- They lacked the dexterity, discipline, and tenacity to find out / to do certain things
- They quickly found out that more than a big dream was required
- Business needs people in order to function, it is not what you know, but also who you know and how useful they can be in helping you realize your potential achievements
- Planning is a skill. It requires being able to develop and systematically layout steps necessary to reaching your objective. It is not a collection of wishes
- It may mean sharing ownership of your business to truly advance it to realize its potential
Here's another article that you can read about entrepreneurs who turned their passions into the livelihood. They short stories of what they did to become successful does not mean they did so without challenge. It meant that they considered and worked on the aforementioned why's as well as others that are not on this incomplete list.
That being said, are we in the right environment for entrepreneurship? Our governments have to be careful about the climate they create that would support entrepreneurship. One that's too heavy on taxes and too light on incentives can create a sluggish environment for business start ups and expansions. There needs to be the right mix that enables business development while government realizes their revenue needs.
In closing, let's stop making entrepreneurship seem more simple than it really is. It does not mean that we don't simplify the processes, but we must be realistic in our observations about the area of business development.
Richie B. works as a business consultant & trainer, since 1995 operating from Barbados, West Indies. He's practical in his applications and offers sound information which can be quickly acted upon. Richie operates in the Caribbean region predominantly and via the internet offers solutions to some North American entities.
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