Class: XII

PART A
Subject: Information Technology (802) Unit-4: Entrepreneurship Skills

Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneur

The word ‘entrepreneur’ is derived from the French word entreprendre, which means ‘to undertake’.

Characteristics of entrepreneurship
 It is an economic activity done to create, develop and maintain a profit-oriented organisation.
 It begins with identifying an opportunity as a potential to sell and make profit in the market.
 It deals with optimisation in utilisation of resources.
 It is the ability of an enterprise and an entrepreneur to take risks.

Entrepreneurship — Art and Science

Entrepreneurship is the perfect combination of art and science as it requires specific progression and
procedures to be followed and also the skill to digress(to deviate from customs) when required, and
yet make the entire activity profitable and growth oriented. An example of art is music. A musician
can play music notes in any combination to create soothing and soulful music.

Qualities of a successful entrepreneur

(a) Initiative: An entrepreneur must be able to initiate action and take advantage of an opportunity.

(b) Willingness to take risks

(c) Ability to learn from experience: An entrepreneur may make mistakes and should learn from them.

(d) Motivation: Once you get motivated to do something, you will not rest until you complete it.

(e) Self-confidence: For achieving success in life, a person needs to have confidence in oneself.

(f) Hard work: There is no substitute for hard work in life.

(g) Decision making ability: An entrepreneur should have the ability to make suitable and timely
decisions.
Type of entrepreneurs
There are many type of entrepreneurs, which include the following.

Service entrepreneurs
These entrepreneurs either create a new market for their services or provide a service in an existing
market.

Business entrepreneurs
These are entrepreneurs, who undertake business and trading activities and are not concerned with
the manufacturing work.

Industrial entrepreneurs
An industrial entrepreneur is, essentially, a manufacturer, who identifies the needs of customers and
creates products or services to serve them.

Agricultural entrepreneurs
Agriculture has always been considered as a low-yielding entrepreneurship. Agriculturists have now
introduced new and innovative technology to maximise the yield, giving birth to agriculture
entrepreneurship.

Technical entrepreneurs
The Industrial Revolution gave birth to technical entrepreneurs, who use their technical expertise to create
and offer machines, tools and methods. Technical entrepreneurs use their technical knowledge and skills to
innovate.

Non-technical entrepreneurs
These entrepreneurs use their expertise in providing services to create a market for technical entrepreneurs.
Their expertise is in non-technical aspects of a product or service.

Professional entrepreneurs
Such an entrepreneur starts a business, nurtures it and makes it reach a point of self-sustenance. Once the
project reaches that point, the entrepreneur sells the business and starts a new one, and then, follows the
same cycle.

IT entrepreneurs
People who take up entrepreneurship in the field of Information Technology (IT) are called IT
entrepreneurs. IT entrepreneurs are confined to innovation in the field of Information Technology.

Women entrepreneurs
As the name suggests, when women take up entrepreneurship, they are called women entrepreneurs.

Social entrepreneurs
Individuals, who focus on developing solutions that benefit the society, are called social entrepreneurs.
The term ‘social innovator’ is used interchangeably with social entrepreneurs.
Family business entrepreneurs
When a family or an individual runs a business successfully and passes it on to the next generation, then
such an entrepreneur is, generally, termed as family business entrepreneur.

First generation entrepreneurs

First generation entrepreneurs are those who do not have any entrepreneurship background. First one in
their family

Roles and functions of an entrepreneur

(a) Identifying entrepreneurial opportunity: There are many opportunities in the world of business.
These are based on human needs like food, fashion, education, etc., which are constantly changing. An
entrepreneur senses the opportunities faster than others.

(b) Turning ideas into action: Entrepreneurs must be capable of turning ideas into reality.

(c) Feasibility study: Entrepreneurs conduct studies to assess the market feasibility of a proposed product
or service.

(d) Resourcing: An entrepreneur needs various resources in terms of money, machine, raw material and
workforce to run an enterprise successfully. An essential function of an entrepreneur is to ensure the timely
availability of all these resources.

(e) Setting up an enterprise: For setting up an enterprise, the entrepreneur may need to fulfil some legal
formalities. The person must also try to find a suitable location, design the premises, install machinery and
do many other works.

(f) Managing the enterprise: One of the important functions of an entrepreneur is to run the enterprise.
The person has to manage the workforce, material, finance and organise the production of goods and
services.

(g) Growth and development: Once the enterprise achieves the desired results, the entrepreneur has
to explore another higher goal for its growth and development.

What motivates an entrepreneur?

The qualities that motivate an entrepreneur.
Standard of excellence
An entrepreneur constantly sets high standards and strives to attain the standard of excellence by working
hard and showing innovativeness.

Uniqueness
For an entrepreneur, one of the most important qualities is to remain unique in everything the person does
and the way it is done.
Focus on long-term goals
Long-term goals are those that are distant in terms of time period.

Identifying opportunities and risk taking

Aspiring entrepreneurs can identify new business opportunities and evaluate their potential and risks are as
follows.
• Community concerns: Look for issues that concern your community. Sometimes, starting locally can
reap huge benefits.

• Personal experiences: Many powerful world changing ideas come from the experiences and challenges
an entrepreneur faces in life.

• Research with others: Speak to like-minded people.

Startups
A startup is a company that is in the first stage of its operations.

Barriers : These things can stop the person from achieving success. These are called ‘barriers’.

Environmental barriers
One of the biggest barriers that entrepreneurs face is environmental factors. Environmental factors can be
many• Lack of adequate resources or raw material
• Non-availability of skilled labour
• Lack of requisite machinery and other infrastructure
• Unavailability of money on time

No or faulty business plan

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Every entrepreneur wants a successful business. But if a person does
not make an action plan, it may lead to a chaotic situation.
Personal barriers

How long will the business last? How much profit will it make? Will my customers like my product? Will
I have enough money to support my family? These are the questions that might go through an
entrepreneur’s mind before the person actually starts a business venture.

Self-doubt
Self-doubt comes when we do not have confidence in ourselves and our abilities. It is easy to get
discouraged when something goes wrong in a business
Forming a team and teamwork
A good team can take business to new heights.
Entrepreneurial attitudes through different exercises.
Decisiveness
Decisiveness is the ability to make profitable and quick decisions.

Decisiveness can be developed through the following process

Initiative
Initiative is the ability to take charge and act in a situation before others.

Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal means dealing with relationships.

Listening
It is important to listen when someone talks. Listening with interest to what someone is saying helps build
trust with the person.

Body language
Facial expressions, gestures and postures are important while working with people.
Positive attitude
Having a positive attitude, generally, implies being optimistic about situations, interactions and oneself.
People with a positive attitude are hopeful and see the best even in difficult situations.

Stress management
That state of mental pressure or tension is called ‘stress’. Sometimes, one experiences stress while working
with other people.

There are many ways people deal with stress. Some of them are as follows.
1. Taking a walk in nature
2. Doing a physical activity like running swimming, etc.
3. Practising deep breathing exercises
4. Practising meditation or yoga

Perseverance
Perseverance is the ability to continue to do something, even when it is difficult.

Organisational skills
Organisational skills refer to the ability of making optimal use of one’s time, energy and resources to
achieve one’s goals.

Time management
Time management is the process of planning and following a conscious control of time spent on specific
activities. It is the ability to use one’s time well. Time management includes the following.
1. Planning well
2. Setting goals
3. Setting deadlines
4. Giving important work responsibilities to other people in a team
5. Conducting the most important tasks first

Goal setting
A goal is somewhere we want to reach. It is the aim or result that we want from an activity. Goal makes us
work harder, motivates us to complete what we start and achieve the target.

Efficiency
Efficiency is the ability to do things well, successfully, without wasting time.

Managing quality
Managing quality in a business means setting and maintaining a standard of excellence for products
or services being provided to customers.