Entrepreneurs - hungry or brilliant?

Entrepreneurs – hungry or brilliant?

Is there a test to determine if you are an entrepreneur? And would the test be relevant if you were poor and hungry? Would it matter if you were illiterate?

This email got me thinking about these questions. Read the email and my response. I am interested in your comments. And when you comment please indicate if you are an entrepreneur.


----- Original Message -----

Subject: Help!

A Senior Professor asked if I could produce a questionnaire for successful local entrepreneurs. Once having done that, produce another questionnaire to give to aspiring entrepreneurs. I think the assumption is that the responses from the first would provide direction for the second. However, in the province of Limpopo with the highest unemployment in the country with many also being illiterate, the driving force is usually hunger, rather than an incredibly brilliant idea owned by a creative, ambitious risk taker.

Have you ever addressed the issue of poverty and entrepreneurship and if so is the info available on line.

June de Jager
DevFTI
Turfloop Graduate School of Leadership
University of Limpopo
Edupark
Polokwane, SOUTH AFRICA

------- my reply ---------
Hi June,

An unusual request.

Why did you ask me?

And you might notice your perceptions coloured by your statement "an incredibly brilliant idea owned by a creative, ambitious risk taker."

I believe that is not true. I believe that entrepreneurs are driven by some form of hunger.

What was brilliant about McDonalds?

And many entrepreneurs struggle on the edge of poverty.

Entrepreneurs are willing to accept responsibility for their lot in life and do something about it. You might say that they are revolutionaries. (not thugs)

hope this helps

George Torok
Business In Motion