CaRAPN - Caribbean Regional Agriculture Policy Network

Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking, reasoning and acting that is opportunity based, holistic in approach and leadership balanced. Entrepreneurship results in the creation, enhancement, realisation and renewal of value not just for the owners but for all participants and stakeholders.

Timmons and Spinelli (2004)

 The word entrepreneur originates from the French: "entre" - to enter and "prende" - to take. The word entrepreneurship literally means “to take or carry between” in the sense of an economic transaction; to be a market-maker. 'Entrepreneur' is subject to a wide range of interpretations, from individuals of very high aptitude who pioneer change, to anyone wanting to work for him/her-self. Entrepreneurs re viewed differently from ordinary business persons who mainly perform traditional management functions, such as, planning, organization and coordination. They are also a subset of those described as 'the self-employed'.

Markku Virtanen (1997) observed that "a rich and multidimensional group of entrepreneurship theories and concepts are continuously evolving. The theories differ based on economic, psychological, sociological, anthropological, managerial or ecological perspectives. The concepts also differ based on (a) an entrepreneur - individual actor in the market, (b) entrepreneurial - behaviour in the market, (c) entrepreneurship - combines the actor (entrepreneur) and the behaviour in the market, (d) entrepreneurial process - combines times dimension and behaviour in the market"

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) approaches the concept of entrepreneurship as a process and considers people in entrepreneurial activity in different phases as illustrated below from conception to early 'gestation', to the established phase and possibly discontinuation of the business. New firms are, most often, started by individuals and individuals typically determine the entrepreneurial attitude of established businesses, regardless of size.

GEM distinguishes two broad categories of entrepreneurs—early stage and established—based upon the age of their business.

Early stage entrepreneurs: those involved in owning and managing, alone or with others, a nascent business or one that has not been in operation for more than 42 months. This stage indicates the dynamic entrepreneurial propensity of a country, i.e., it shows the percentage of population willing and able to undertake an entrepreneurial venture.
Established entrepreneurs: those involved in owning and managing, alone or with others, a business that has successfully survived in the market for more than 42 months; the approximate critical period within which a business is more likely to fail.

These two measurements are both very important as they convey different information about the entrepreneurial landscape of a country. Within this context, GEM provides an umbrella under which a wide variety of entrepreneurial characteristics, such as motivations, innovativeness, competitiveness, and high-growth aspirations, can be systematically and rigorously studied.

Hamid noted that 'entrepreneurship is a necessity for some and an opportunity for others'. In fact the GEM research described it further as
improvement-driven opportunity entrepreneurship - where individuals are 'pulled into' entrepreneurial activity, motivated by the desire for independence and to increase incomes as compared to, for instance, being an employee;
necessity-motivated entrepreneurship - where individuals are 'pushed into' entrepreneurship, because they have no other means of making a living and to maintain current income.

The experiences of the Kredifanm Project in Haiti and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh best illustrate the point that there is nothing wrong with enabling or empowering 'necessity-motivated' enterprise. It also shows the impact of empowering such enterprise out of the absolute necessity to reduce social and economic disadvantages of under-resourced rural inhabitants. For many, the ability to start a small business can be a stepping stone to becoming a true entrepreneur. The experiences also show the multiplier effect and sustainable impact of empowering women, by providing them with the means - micro credit- to move themselves and their families out of poverty. Necessity entrepreneurs have a critical and basic role in socio-economic development of any country. This type has shown to be one the most effective means of poverty reduction in developing countries. Further, there is also nothing stopping a necessity-motivated' entrepreneur from evolving into 'improvement-driven opportunity" entrepreneur once the conditions are suited to enable same.

This therefore begs the question as to 'who' is an entrepreneur. There is no one answer to this question and as seen in the literature, the 'entrepreneur' is "one of the most intriguing and most elusive characters. The entrepreneur is recognised as the apex of the hierarchy that determines the behaviour (entrepreneurial attitude) of the firm or business regardless of size. They have a certain responsibility not only to themselves, but also to their customers, suppliers and associates. The following presentation seeks to shed more light on the subject.