Lesson 11:Entrepreneurship Development

Lesson 10

=ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS=

INTRODUCTION
Dear learner, you are welcome to Lesson 10 of your course. This unit introduces you to entrepreneurship skills. Many factors have contributed to the high unemployment rate while formal wage employment is shrinking very fast. Self employment also called entrepreneurship is increasing and offering more job opportunities for you and your friends. Thus you, as an individual, should endeavour to learn the basic skills involved in entrepreneurship to help you set up your own business or enterprise. I hope you will enjoy this unit. The concept of entrepreneurship has developed over the years. An exposure to entrepreneurship skills will stimulate you and others towards different opportunities beside wage employment. I hope you will transfer to your peers the skills you will acquire in entrepreneurship. Besides, the skills you will acquire should guide your everyday work and experiences develop your entrepreneurial traitsmotivate you to establish your own enterprise and subsequently create jobs for others and improve upon your own quality of life and that of your families through better job opportunities. This unit is interesting and practical. You can use the ideas and skills in your everyday life. You will surely enjoy it!

Content
Hello learner, you are welcome to the very first section of the unit on entrepreneurship skills. As you will expect, this section introduces you to :-
 * 1) the concept of entrepreneurship.
 * 2) what we mean by entrepreneurship,
 * 3) who an entrepreneur is,
 * 4) characteristics of an entrepreneur,
 * 5) the difference between an entrepreneur and a business person
 * 6) sources of information for new entrepreneurs.

Who is an entrepreneur?
An entrepreneur is a person who develops a new idea and takes the risk of setting up an enterprise to produce a product or service which satisfies customer needs. All entrepreneurs are business persons, but not all business persons are entrepreneurs. Let us now think of why all business persons are not entrepreneurs. Think of a woman who sits by the roadside leading to your home and who has been selling the same type of food, from the same size of saucepan or pot, from the same table top, and may not have been able to change her standard of living to any appreciable extent. Such a woman may be a business person but not an entrepreneur. The entrepreneur, on the other hand is the business person who is not satisfied with his/her performance and therefore always finds ways to improve and grow.

Now let us consider the characteristics or some special qualities and strengths which make an entrepreneur different from a business person. It is important for us to note that a successful entrepreneur possesses the following characteristics.

Initiative
An entrepreneur takes actions that goes beyond job requirements or the demand of the situation

Opportunity seeking
An entrepreneur is quick to see and seize opportunities. He/she does things before he/she is asked to work by people or forced by situation.

Persistence
An entrepreneur is not discouraged by difficulties and problems that come up in the business or his/her personal life. Once she sets a goal she is committed to the goal and will become completely absorbed in it.

Information seeking
An entrepreneur undertakes personal research on how to satisfy customers and solve problems. He/she knows that different people have different capabilities that can be of help to them. He/she seeks relevant information from his/her clients, suppliers, competitors and others. He/she always wants to learn things which will help the business to grow.

Demand for quality and efficiency
An entrepreneur is always competing with others to do things better, faster, and at less cost he/she strives to achieve excellence.

Risk taking
Are you afraid of uncertainties? Then you cannot be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are not high risk takers. They are also not gamblers; they calculate their risks before taking action. They place themselves in situations involving moderate risk so they are moderate risk takers.

Goal setting
An entrepreneur sets meaningful and challenging goals for him/herself. An entrepreneur does not just dream. Him/she thinks and plans what he/she does. He/she is certain or has hope about the future.

Commitment to work
An entrepreneur will work long hours after into the night just to be able to keep his/her promise to his/her client. He/she does the work together with his/her workers to get a job done. He/she knows how to make people happy to work for him/her due his/her dynamic leadership.

Systematic planning and monitoring
An entrepreneur plans for whatever he/she expects in the business. He/she does not leave things to luck. He/she plans by breaking large tasks down into small once and puts time limits against them. Since and entrepreneur knows what to expect at anytime he/she is able to change plans and strategies to achieve what he/she aims at.

Persuasion and networking
An entrepreneur acts to develop and maintain business contacts by establishing good working relationship. Uses deliberate strategies to influence others.

Independence and self confidence
Most entrepreneurs start business because they like to be their own boss. They are responsible for their own decisions.

I am going to introduce you now to types of employment and the need to go into self-employment. This will help you to take decisions when you ’are going into employment Are you ready? Let us start by brain-storming with the following activity.

In your responses you may have mentioned wage employment and self employment. Let us now proceed with a discussion.

What is employment?

Employment is working to earn a living. Payment could be in the form of wages or salaries depending on the nature of the work.

Types of employment
There are two types of employment:


 * 1) Self-employment: Self-employment is owning your own business alone or in partnership with others or with members of your family. It is the alternative to wage employment
 * 2) Wage employment: Working for someone, an organisation or a company and getting for the work done.

Motives for self-employment
Self employment has some motives which you need to know. You may contact somebody or people who are already in self-employment to learn about them. However, here are a few suggested motives for self-employment.


 * 1) A person chooses to be self-employed if he/she:has a particular interest in the trade or business
 * 2) follows a family tradition: “my grandmother was a renowned caterer. My mother and elder sisters also are and therefore, I also want to be a caterer”
 * 3) has no other option of earning a living
 * 4) is meeting the present and future needs

Dear learner, the knowledge of the background to employment situation in Ghana will enhance your decision on your employment

My dear learner, I do not think you want to be one of those who will be trained and end up on streets selling dog chains.

Advantages of self-employment
Self-employment has several advantages. Can you think of some of them? Your list may include any of the following. Being self-employed enables a person to:


 * 1) lead rather than follow
 * 2) be creative and implement ideas
 * 3) have the potential for increased income with hardwork
 * 4) be independent
 * 5) take initiative, make own decision at own pace
 * 6) control his/her own workplace and the work that needs to be done
 * 7) continue to learn more about business each day and this could provide an opportunity for self-fulfillment
 * 8) be in business beyond retiring age.

If Ghana is to achieve the millennium goals, then my dear learner you and I need to consider going into self-employment