Entrepreneur

How enterprising skills and qualities help business development, eg decision-making, determination, creativity.

Business plans documenting how organisations intend to operate and develop.

Role of the Entrepreneur

  • Enterprise occurs when an entrepreneur has an idea for product and turns this into reality. Their idea might be an improvement on an existing product, or a new product idea.

  • Entrepreneurs conduct market research to see if their idea is likely to be successful.
  • Entrepreneurs make decisions on what to produce, who to produce it for, how much to charge etc.
  • Entrepreneurs organise factors of production to be in place so that the product can be manufactured.
  • Entrepreneurs take risks eg their idea might fail and they may lose their investment.

Skills and Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs must have a willingness to take risks which may require personal qualities such as confidence.
Entrepreneurs need good communication skills to enable them to communicate effectively with their employees, suppliers and customers.
Entrepreneurs must have determination and enthusiasm to rise to a challenge and to stick with an idea and be able to overcome any obstacles to achieving their aims.
Entrepreneurs need good decision-making skills eg to decide which good or service to produce, which method of raising finance to use, what price to charge customers and which employees to hire.
Entrepreneurs may need numeracy skills so that they can use financial information to make business decisions.
Entrepreneurs need leadership skills to lead and motivate their employees to achieve the objectives of the organisation.

The Business Plan 

A business plan can be shown to potential lenders and investors to encourage them to
put finance into the business.  It can also give the business owner(s) a structure and focus for the operation of the business.

  • General Details – the organisation’s name and contact details, location and details of ownership eg whether it is a sole trader, partnership, limited company, charity.
  • Human Resources – types of workers to be employed and the responsibilities of the managers in the business.
  • The Product – description of the good or service that will be offered.
  • The Market – description of customers to be targeted – their characteristics, size of the market, location of the market.
  • Premises and Equipment – description of premises and equipment necessary to produce the product.
  • Financial Information – estimated costs, revenues, profits, cash budgets.