Entrepreneur Born Or Trained?

The word entrepreneur is derived from the French “entreprendre”, meaning ‘to undertake’ and Joseph Schumpeter (a pioneer of entrepreneurship and innovation) accounts entrepreneur “a person who creates innovation” ⁽¹⁾. Lloyd E. Shefsky defines entrepreneur by tracing the word's three syllables ‘entre, pre, and neurto’ their Latin roots. Entre means enter; pre means before; and neur means nerve center therefore, an entrepreneur "as someone who enters a business-any business-in time to form or change substantially that business's nerve center." ⁽²⁾.

According to Robert D. Hisrich, Michael P. Peters and Dean A. Shepherd “Entrepreneur is an individual who take initiative to bundle resources in innovative ways and is willing to bear the risk and/or uncertainty to act” and further to an economist, “an entrepreneur is one who brings resources, labour, materials, and other assets into combinations that make their value greater than before and also one who introduces changes, innovations, and a new order” ⁽³⁾.

In today world, “an entrepreneur is considered to be an innovator or developer who recognises and seizes opportunities; coverts those opportunities into workable/ marketable ideas; add value through time, effort, money or skills; assumes the risk of the competitive marketplace to implement these ideas; and realises the rewards from these efforts” ⁽⁴⁾. As per Donald F. Kuratko “An entrepreneur is the aggressive catalyst for change in the world of business in which he or she is an independent thinker who dares to be different amid a background of common events” and he further added that “entrepreneurs are individuals who recognize opportunities where others see chaos or confusion and they are heroes of today’s marketplace” ⁽⁵⁾.  

Donald F. Kuratko believes “anyone can be entrepreneur who wants to experience the deep, dark canyons of uncertainty and ambiguity; and who wants to walk the breathtaking highlands of success” ⁽⁵⁾ whereas Lloyd E. Shefsky thinks that entrepreneurs are made and not born ⁽²⁾. In an article ‘Entrepreneurs born or made?’ Robert B. Matthews, Charles R. B. Stowe, and G. Keith Jenkins mentioned that there are certain identifiable skills that increase the chances of being a successful entrepreneur for anyone, whether "born entrepreneur" or not ⁽⁶⁾. Further, multiple studies have indicated that there may be an ‘entrepreneur gene’ or at least that people with certain genetic characteristics and personality traits are more likely to be successful entrepreneurs than others⁽⁷⁾.

References:

1-    Solow, Robert (2007) “Heavy Thinker”, Review of Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction, by Thomas K. McCraw. The New Republic, May 21, 2007, pp. 48-50.

2-    Lloyd E. Shefsky (1994) “Entrepreneurs are Made… Not Born”, McGraw-Hill Inc., 1994, pp. 206

3-    D. Hisrich, Robert, P. Peters. Michael, a. Shepherd. Dean, (2010). Entrepreneurship. 8th ed. pp.6, McGraw-Hill, Singapore

4-   Donald F. Kuratko, (2009), “Entrepreneurship”, Theory, Process, Practice, 1st ed. pp. 4, South-Western Cengage Learning, USA

5-  Howard H. Frederick, Donald F. Kuratko, (2010), “Entrepreneurship”, Theory, Process, Practice, 2nd ed. pp. 11, China Translation & Printing Services, China

6-  Matthews, Robert B; Stowe, Charles R B; Jenkins, G Keith. ‘Entrepreneurs – Born Or Made?’Allied Academies International Conference. Academy of Entrepreneurship. Proceedings; Arden 17.1: 49-55. Arden: Jordan Whitney Enterprises, Inc. (2011)

7- Jason Daley, September 2013, “Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made? “Entrepreneurs Journal. Available from:https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228273