Can Everyone Become an Entrepreneur?

Can Everyone Become an Entrepreneur?

By Nelson KORKOR

Chief Executive, Nelson Institute of Entrepreneurship Science

“A doctor and a teacher, who is more important?” asked a man who deals in children’s books at my local bus terminal. One middle-aged woman who sat by me in the vehicle I had boarded for my trip responded vehemently: “if the teacher does not teach the doctor, how will he ever end up as a doctor?” The bookseller then responded, “Oh, it’s just an argumentative essay. The number of points you raise and the quality of your arguments determine your pass mark.” I shuddered to think how many of us have had to write such an argumentative essay in school.

In case you also feel the urge to ask, “if everyone were to run their own businesses, who would work for them?, let me quickly point out that this topic is also highly argumentative. The quality of your argument and the points you raise determine whether you are right or wrong. But my motive is to make an argument that everyone can become an entrepreneur. Not everyone may become, but everyone can. Let’s move on.

Can everybody succeed?

Anyone who has the burning desire to succeed in life can do anything including entrepreneuring. Contrary to common opinion, neither entrepreneurs nor intrapreneurs are motivated by money; instead, they are driven by a personal need to achieve. And this is the reason why everybody has what it takes to become an entrepreneur. If the answer to the question, “can everyone succeed?” is yes, then really, everybody can become an entrepreneur!

Let us take a look at a few cases of success chalked by some individuals who were not naturally inclined to areas where they achieved outstanding success. Let’s begin with sports.

Sports

Do you know that majority of footballers in the world today and in history were not the typically talented ones? They were folks who decided to play and were simply determined to do so. And we know them: David Beckham, who learnt the art of the game from childhood; and Wayne Rooney, who started out as a boxer.

Ministry

Even though there are exceptional ministers of the gospel who have impacted the world with their healing, teaching and preaching ministries, a lot of these ministers did not have all the gifts they needed to excel. Many of them just went out with the ‘little’ they had and trusted God for the rest of the other gifts. Their strong desire to excel moved God to release those gifts to them.

Music

Most of the musicians making the waves are not the most talented. They simply wanted to sing. All they had was a desire and the rest they say is history. But please do not misunderstand me. I agree that there are the exceptionally gifted ones, but those who challenged themselves to learn to sing have probably made more impact than the gifted ones.

You don’t always have to follow your passion!

One of the commandments that motivational speakers and life coaches often give to emerging entrepreneurs is for them to follow their passion. They argue that you can hardly succeed at something that is outside your area of strength. But entrepreneurs like Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic have defied those rules. All that is needed is the desire to succeed and the willingness to learn the success attributes. You can excel in whatever you want to do if and only if you feel led and are ready to pay the price.

The transition: from an intrapreneur to an entrepreneur

Many people who happen to work in corporate organisations often find themselves running their own business later. How does this happen? It may not necessarily be their intention to run their own enterprise but the privilege of working with these organisations ‘fires’ their own entrepreneurial potential. The creative environment that exists in large corporations often awakens and ignites the drive in a person to be entrepreneurial. The point is this: every human can become entrepreneurial once the environment is created. All that is needed is to unravel the hidden entrepreneurial potential found in every man.

John Forbat was an immigrant to London from Hungary, at the age of seven. After qualification as an aeronautic engineer, his professional life started with companies in the aircraft and aviation industries and in the electronics industry.

Those years involved highly capital- and development-oriented business, giving him the experience of how large companies are managed and mismanaged. It also enabled him to experience the extent to which entrepreneurship can be stifled by excessive corporatist attitudes in business.

He then moved to a number of highly entrepreneurial businesses encompassing product-creation, product innovation, and services worldwide, where it became necessary to achieve the impossible – at least according to the text books. His success – and few failures – taught him the essentials of entrepreneurship and what the defining characteristics of entrepreneurs are. This he chronicled in his bestselling book, “Entrepreneurship: Seeds of success.”

Apprenticeship before entrepreneurship?

I have heard some people argue that everyone who aspires to become an entrepreneur must necessarily undergo apprenticeship. This argument is premised on the issue of risk-management – which assumes the position that the apprenticeship period will afford the would-be entrepreneur the privilege to appreciate the challenges inherent in new business ventures. That may be a good dose but it is not a necessity. You can always start from scratch, make your mistakes, learn quickly and move on. But I don’t discount the fact that entrepreneurs who have some level of experience from working in larger corporations may have some advantage over those who do not. But in the case of the former, while networks and customer-service experience may be beneficial to them as business owners, they may also harbour certain attitudes of employees that stifle entrepreneurship and innovation.

Behold the corporate entrepreneurs!

Gifford Pinchot III is a consultant on intrapreneuring and founder of the School for Intrapreneurs at the Tarrytown Conference Centre in New York. His bestselling book, Intrapreneurship: Why You Don’t Have to Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur, which he authored over two decades ago introduced the concept of an intrapreneur ¾defined as a person in a large corporation empowered to create new products without being constrained by standard procedures. He argued that large corporate structures dominate in business, and the ability to compete in a global marketplace is crucial to success. Intrapreneuring shows business leaders how large organisations can develop innovative talent from within their ranks with the speed and productivity that the coming years will demand.

According to Pinchot, “corporations must innovate to survive; the best method is to encourage creative people to become entrepreneurs within the company structure ("intrapreneurs") by allowing them to earn the freedom and resources ("intracapital") with which to pursue their visions (establish "intraprises")”.

Pinchot contends that innovation is stagnating in large organisations as a result of entrenched analysis and control systems—just at the time when new competition is making innovation necessary for survival. The problem is compounded by venture capitalists bidding away the most creative people in the organisation and thus freeing them to become entrepreneurs.

Corporations can thus retain their innovative people and reap the benefits of their innovations by providing the freedom and resources intrapreneurs require to pursue their goals. Firms must learn how to manage the process of intrapreneuring and establish a system by which intrapreneurs can earn funds to back their projects - what Pinchot calls "intracapital."

"Intrapreneurs," Pinchot explains, "introduce and produce new products, processes, and services, which in turn enable the company as a whole to grow and profit."

The success factors can be learnt

Let us revisit our question: can everyone become an entrepreneur? As stated earlier, some entrepreneurs do possess outstanding qualities that account for their accomplishments. But that notwithstanding, these qualities are learnable by everyone who is willing to tread that road to wealth-creation and societal transformation. You can learn to be creative and innovative. You can improve on your leadership ability. It can be done!

You too can become an entrepreneur!

Yes, you can! Entrepreneurs are not superhumans. They are not individuals with special genetic codes. They are just ordinary folks who have attempted the extraordinary. If you can work for people to produce outstanding results, then you can also excel in running your own enterprise. You don’t have to stay “hungry and foolish.”

May you excel in whatever you lay your hands on as you seek to unleash your entrepreneurial potential.

Enjoy the rest of the week.