When you think of entrepreneurship, you quickly think of being an entrepreneur. Owning and running your own business. That is true in most cases, but it doesn’t have to be. Entrepreneurship can also be found within an organization. Then it is called internal entrepreneurship. So doing business within a company.Many people think that entrepreneurship is the same as making money. Because that’s the purpose of business, right? Or not? Watch the short video for the answer.
Watch the 1 minute video what entrepreneurship is Entrepreneurship runs on money, but that’s not the point
The definition of entrepreneurship has three parts. The concept can be seen as a process. It means seeing opportunities, seizing opportunities and thereby creating value for yourself and others. When creating value you can of course think of money. Of course you provide an income for yourself with money. And if you have people in work, you also have to take care of their income. That entails risks, but that is why you are an entrepreneur. That is part of being an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurship runs on money, but that’s not the point. Because, if all goes well, you also offer value to your customers. You are selling something that your customers need in their lives. You deliver something that solves their problem. The customer pays you for delivering the solution. That is your income. If you subtract the cost of making the solution from that, you’re left with money. At least if you have asked for more money than it costs. That extra value is called added value.
Start A Business
So value is much more than just money. Consider, for example, the freedom to do what you want as your own boss. There is no one who decides what you should do, you decide that yourself. Many people start a business because they want to manage their own time.
With value for others you can also think of the people who live and work near your company. They now have the opportunity to come and work with you, close to their home. Because you are nearby, they can buy your products. And they no longer have to go to the city by car, for example. Because of your company, the neighborhood flourishes again.
Entrepreneurship as a condition for entrepreneurship
Seeing and taking advantage of opportunities again and again says something about how enterprising someone is. This can be someone with their own company, but also someone who works for an organization. This means that someone who does not have a company or job can also be very enterprising. Being an entrepreneur is therefore not the same as having your own company.
There are about 1 million entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, but they are not automatically all equally enterprising. Someone who is very enterprising does not always own a company or ever become an entrepreneur. So it doesn’t matter if you are an entrepreneur, but how enterprising you are. If you are not enterprising , so do not see opportunities and know how to use them, entrepreneurship becomes quite difficult.
Seeing opportunities, exploiting them and creating value for yourself and others
The question what is entrepreneurship is therefore about the combination of three activities. Seeing opportunities, making use of opportunities and offering added value. The first two parts of the term deal with entrepreneurial behaviour: seeing and taking advantage of opportunities. This is also known as the entrepreneurial attitude.
You can use that entrepreneurial attitude anytime, anywhere: at work, at school and in your spare time. Providing added value means that you are of value to others when you take advantage of the opportunities you see. This ultimately also provides you with value, such as money, an income, satisfaction or a contribution to society. Entrepreneurship is therefore not about money, it is a means. So it’s about the value you add to it for yourself and others. How happy do you make yourself and others with your entrepreneurship?
What is the difference between Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship?
Stichting Jong Ondernemen has a new board and a new ambition: to introduce every child in the Netherlands to entrepreneurship! Yesterday, together with the other former board members, I handed over the baton to the new board: Hubert Deitmers, Jacqueline Zuidweg, Heleen Dura van Oord and Walter Mutsaers.
Entrepreneurship must be given an even stronger place in all education. From primary education to higher education. For example, the Global Entrepreneurship Week is organized annually. This is happening simultaneously in 115 other countries. Through various activities, pupils and students get to know the entrepreneur in themselves and does it offer the opportunity to stimulate entrepreneurship among young people or is it precisely about their entrepreneurial spirit?
Entrepreneurs of tomorrow?
Earlier research by the Amsterdam Center of Entrepreneurship into the ‘ Status for the entrepreneur of the future’ shows that self-employment does not (yet) score very high among higher educated students. It ranks eighth in the status ranking. The profession of judge is number 1, followed by the doctor.
The attractiveness of a profession is largely determined by its status and that also applies to entrepreneurship. However, there is a positive relationship between the desire to become an entrepreneur, familiarity with entrepreneurship and subsequent assessment of status. Why is this important?
Highly educated entrepreneurs
The interest lies in more high potentials who now choose to become a top manager in a large company, will choose entrepreneurship with the associated social benefits. Another Entrepreneurship update ‘ Entrepreneurship and Education’ from ACE shows that the entrepreneur’s success is related to the entrepreneur’s education.
Success is measured by revenue, survivability, growth and profit. Entrepreneurs with higher education earn more, their companies survive longer, they grow faster and have higher profits. Reason enough for more attention to entrepreneurship in education.
Entrepreneurship or Entrepreneurship?
We have now developed E-Scans to stimulate entrepreneurship for the entire continuous learning line from primary to university education. Not only to train well-educated entrepreneurs of tomorrow, but also to prepare enterprising employees for the labor market.
Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurialism seem to be about the same thing, but there is a clear difference. The definition of entrepreneurship involves three key concepts: seeing opportunities, seizing opportunities and creating value. Entrepreneurship is part of that. Watch this 1 minute animation about entrepreneurship.
Seeing opportunities, seizing opportunities and creating value
The first two concepts concern the entrepreneurial attitude: seeing opportunities and knowing how to use them. This attitude can be applied very broadly. The last concept, creating value, relates to running your own business in order to ultimately create value, for yourself and for the environment. Value is much more than money or income alone.
It is often about satisfaction and recognition. Creating value often requires an entrepreneurial attitude: (again and again) seeing and exploiting opportunities. Entrepreneurship is an umbrella term for an entrepreneurial attitude and behavior. An important condition for entrepreneurship.
For a student, an entrepreneurial attitude means that the student actively looks for opportunities to develop new initiatives. But also that the student sees and recognizes opportunities and seizes them. The student then translates these opportunities into concrete actions and thus builds an entrepreneurial attitude at school, work or private life.
Can teachers also be enterprising?
To stimulate entrepreneurship and enterprising, you automatically end up with the teachers. They are the ones who play an important role in the development process of the learner. Jong Ondernemen is the ideal platform for this, and as main sponsor we will continue to support it. My heart for Jong Ondernemen continues to beat.
Entrepreneurship is gradually gaining a permanent professional position in education. It is then important to join forces and coordinate activities, so that national policy in the field of education and entrepreneurship is further strengthened. But more importantly: the entrepreneurs of tomorrow stand up.