The True Concept of Entrepreneurship

INTRODUCTION

The concept of entrepreneurship is gaining momentum around the world because of its important role in economic development and wealth creation. However, it has been around as long as man existed. Entrepreneurship is a common vocabulary to many people today, a topic that occupies a prominent position on the research agenda of scholars from variety of backgrounds and disciplines including economics, seciology, political science, and psychology since the concept was established in early 1770s (Hinddle & Gillin, 1992; Hebert & Link, 1988). It is a subject that has elicited a lot of interest of people from all walks of life and occupations including scholars, educators, researchers and policy makers.

Concept of Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurs

The term entrepreneur is derived from a French word "entreprendre" meaning to undertake. It is the entrepreneur who undertakes to organize, manage andassume the risks of business (Bird, 1989; Kuratko & Hodgetts, 1989). Further, an entrepreneur is aninnovator who recognizes and seizes opportunities, coverts those opportunities into workable ideas, addsvalue through money, time, effort and skills, assumes the risks of the competitive market place to implementthese ideas and realizes the rewards from these efforts.

The entrepreneurial class leadership in resource change, innovation, technical progress and capital formation to produce new knowledge, new production techniques/possibilities, profits and economic growth. Historically entrepreneurship development in Nigeria has remained excluded from industrial policy until changes began to occur in 1980s due to am bivalency of competition and increasing service sector According to Audretsch and Thurik (2001) the role of the entrepreneurial sector changed when industrial comparative advantages shifted towards knowledge-based economic activities Large firms lost their competitive edge while smaller and more flexible entrepreneurial firms gained new importance in the increasing knowledge-based economy. New dynamic ventures are acknowledged to be drivers of innovation.

Entrepreneurship, as seen by Timmons (1999:27), and Van Vuuren and Nieman (1999), is regarded as the starting of a business (utilising of an opportunity) and/or the growth and development of that specific business. Small business management is seen as the starting of the business growth and development up to a certain stage, then the loss of its entrepreneurial flair.De Clerq, Crijns and Ooghe (1997) point out the distinguishing characteristics of a dynamic entrepreneur, in contrast to those of the average small business

The Characteristics of an Entrepreneur versus the Average Small Business Owner

Entrepreneurship is of two types; opportunity-based entrepreneurship and necessity-based entrepreneurship. In opportunity-based entrepreneurship, an entrepreneur perceives a business opportunity and chooses topursue this as an active career whereas in necessity based entrepreneurship, an entrepreneur is left with noother viable option to earn a living It is not the choice but a compulsion, which makes him/her chooseentrepreneurship as a career. Two points are worth noting in the two types of entrepreneurship: one is themotivation to entrepreneurship, which can be opportunity or necessity-led. Secondly, entrepreneurship, whether opportunity or necessity-led is pursued as a viable career option.