“Entrepreneurial mindset refers to a specific state of mind which orientates human conduct towards entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. Individuals with entrepreneurial mindsets are often drawn to opportunities, innovation and new value creation.” (Frazier, 2015)
In the modern days, in order to advance in greater heights technologically, socially, and economically, we have to become innovative. To the human benefits, being innovative help to improve our standard of living, help us effectively allocate our time to what is more important, which in turn, increases productivity, and help us use our natural resources efficiently. To a country, innovation can mean economic growth as it puts the country, and even an enterprise, at a comparative economic advantage such as creating cost effective products and services and creating values at the same time, as well as helping a country uses its resources such as natural resources and people’s time more efficiently and effectively. If a country is less innovative than others, it puts itself at a competitive disadvantage. Innovation is the first step on the road to creating a prosperous society. An entrepreneur comes into this society’s demand as innovators who are ready and capable of taking financial risks and continuously seeks and exploits new opportunities. Entrepreneurs see opportunities that others might regard as confusion or disorder, and create a business from such opportunity to potentially change the status co and redefining the landscape. Entrepreneurs can also provide services and products that people may not currently need but will need in the future. An entrepreneur can also be regarded as a creative individual. There are various types of entrepreneurs; such as creative and cultural entrepreneurs. According to Culent (Laopodi, 2013), “Cultural Entrepreneurs are cultural change agents and resourceful visionaries who organize cultural, financial, social and human capital, to generate revenue from a cultural activity. Their innovative solutions result in economically sustainable cultural enterprises that enhance livelihoods and create cultural value and wealth for both creative producers and consumers of cultural services and products.” This essay will examine how entrepreneurship is positively revolutionizing our society, through innovations, creating economic growth, job opportunities, and how it is important to foster an entrepreneurial mindset. This essay will also introduce facts and responses from the book ‘Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State’, and explore the entrepreneur world of Silicon Valley and the benefits of the increase in entrepreneurship in China. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” By Steve Jobs (Helmrich, 2015).
Entrepreneurs are mediators of innovation. They are constantly shaping the landscape with new and improved products and services. They are in some aspects, accountable for creating future needs that people didn’t think they would need, and competitions. Entrepreneurs start off with either a small business or a start-up. What differentiates a small business from a start-up is the solution to a need that they provide. According to Balaji Viswanathan on Quora (Viswanathan, 2015), to find a solution to a shelter against rain, a plant was used as a metaphor for a start-up and an umbrella is a metaphor for a small business. An umbrella provides a direct solution to the rain, whereas a plant has higher risk factors but provided more future solutions that people did not think of at the time, such as shelter and shade. In today’s society, the rise of start-up companies creates a new era of innovation. Why do entrepreneurs want to start a business, especially a start-up? Some people may be unemployed thus they seek to create a job for themselves and others may want ownership over what they do. The United States have prided themselves in being the nation that always creates new employment opportunities, and according to Vanguard (Osalor, 2016), the nation was able to be innovative, dynamic, and prosperous due to its numerous entrepreneurs that are willing to take risks and take their ideas to newer heights. The Silicon Valley in San Francisco, United States, was evidence of the success of the entrepreneurial minds. It is the home of many of the world’s most influential and successful technology companies as well as large numbers of propitious start-ups (Ankeny, 2015). Silicon Valley’s emphasis and fostering of entrepreneurial mindset can create multiple generations of entrepreneurs. With start-ups that promise new and better products and services, it put the United States in the big league in the economy. More and more people are becoming invested in start-ups because of the benefits and importance it holds in influencing our landscape. Start-ups, though has higher risk factors, it creates new markets and needs that people did not think of, for example, When Steve Jobs created the IPod, it created a whole MP3 industry itself. This also proves that while entrepreneurship creates start-ups, in itself, it also creates new employment opportunities.
According to the G.E.M youth report (GEM global entrepreneurship monitor, 2015), in 2015, 660 million young people were left unemployed after graduation and this seem to have impact on the rest of the world (Fig. 6). The most probable solution to this is that these youths will have to create their own job. Entrepreneurship is a key factor to creating new jobs and supplements to the economic growth of a country. Often, entrepreneurs need to take multiple risks in order to experience success; this attitude should serve as an indication for failing industries and economies. Governments that nurture entrepreneurialism will have the ultimate benefits (Trenchard, 2015). In the future, according to Pip Jamieson, founder of The Dots, in her lecture ‘Starting a Creative Business, Not Easy but Worth It’ at University of the Art London in 2016, a whole wave of industries will no longer exist, and will be replaced by robots. And according to Michio Kaku in Big Think (Kaku, 2011), jobs that robots cannot do will be the ones that survive. According to Jamieson, the creative industries would be the safest industry in the world. With many jobs disappearing in the future, it is now more critical than ever to create our own employments. Richard Trenchard has said, “In the UK alone more than 15 million people are employed by small and medium businesses; many of which will have been born out of an entrepreneurial spirit.” (Trenchard, 2015). Creating more jobs can also mean creating more competition, which results in the increase of productivity due to collaborations sprung from start-ups. In order to compete in the field, start-up companies need to recruit a team of collaborators in order to have collective intelligence to increase their productivity.
Asia’s biggest countries like China and India are benefiting economic growth from entrepreneurialism, in which China stands as the world’s second largest economy.
To understand how China became the second-largest economy in the world, we have to look back at its 1980’s era, the era of China’s economic reform, led by the Communist Party’s leader, Deng Xiaoping. Private ownership was a major issue in Communist China due to the systematic crackdown from the post-Tiananmen leadership. In the 1970’s, entrepreneurs risked arrest and persecution. Chinese government policies did not help nurture entrepreneurialism; private entrepreneurs back then could only start a small business like selling apples and teas because their government only allowed them to do these kind of activities (Huang, 2008, pg. ix). The repression of the private sector in China due to its political obstacles and policies constraints held entrepreneurship in contempt. Mao Zedong, the founder of People’s Republic of China and communist re
volutionary, and Deng Xiaoping, both recognized and understood the entrepreneurialism potential of China’s rural inhabitants. Mao was quoted in 1955 “As is clear to everyone, the spontaneous forces of capitalism have been steadily growing in the countryside in recent years, with new rich peasants springing up everywhere and many well-to-do middle class peasants striving to become rich peasants.” (Huang, 2008, pg. 55), whereas the Chinese Communist Party saw that there were many skillful and capable people in the rural areas and understood that they should be using their expertise and support their efforts. Both understood the impact these ‘peasants’ could have on the economy, where Mao saw it as a possible political ramification, therefore tried to destroy it. Mao recognized the attributes of the peasants were that they were very entrepreneurial and spontaneous, and they always strive to become richer (Huang, 2008, pg. 56); perhaps this proves that anywhere in the world, the poorest or those who don’t have a supportive government tend to be the most entrepreneurial to provide for themselves. According to Huang (Huang, 2008, pg. 66), SEBS 1991 asked rural entrepreneurs for their motivations for going into entrepreneurship, and 62% responded, “to make a living”. In the 1980’s, rather than trying to overshadow the potency of these rural entrepreneurs, the reformers created policies and environments to encourage and permit entrepreneurial activities. The decade of 1980’s in China, due to the reformers, became a rural phenomenon; in which entrepreneurialism helped China managed the reduction of its poverty and income inequalities, and helped the nation achieve economic growth and social performance (Huang, 2008, pg.51). According to The Ministry of Finance (Huang, 2008, pg. 56), the fastest income gains in history were experienced by the Chinese peasants in the 80’s, and saw a vibrant entrepreneurial development and experienced general economic success. Perhaps the entrepreneurship incentives and mindset was what got China to where it is today, in the second-largest economies in the world. This has also proven that it is important to nurture an entrepreneurial mind.
Today, many have recognized the importance of entrepreneurship and the significance of honing such mindset. According to Marie Forleo, entrepreneur, host, and philanthropist, “Entrepreneurship is a mindset that every person on the planet needs.” (van Heerden, 2015). People often think that entrepreneurship cannot be taught and it is only reserved for those who have excellent product ideas. Everyone have it within himself or herself the potential to succeed as an entrepreneur, and the mindset is actually a strategy to put one self’s at a competitive advantage. Entrepreneurship is the ability to convert an idea into reality, in which a person needs courage and creativity. In an era that calls for individuals with superior skills and knowledge, with creative and critical thinking, and individuals who can solve problems and are decision-makers, this mindset is necessary for the young people. This mindset shapes the foundation for successful start-up businesses; increase employment rates, and heightens an individual’s role in society. As the global markets keep changing and jobs are disappearing, people need to learn to adapt and be creative to create their own employment. According to Tumi Frazier (Frazier, 2015), having an entrepreneurial mindset put an individual at a personal and professional lead, as employees with an entrepreneurial mindset are more conscious and sensitive to their environment and framework, and therefore are able to take advantage of prospects. A company’s success also depends on the ability of the innovation and risk-taking of the team. This has proven that this mindset should be taught and developed at a young age, and educational systems should be reformed to meet the needs of the today’s fast-changing global market. There are now more and more social platforms that help nurture entrepreneurialism, help entrepreneurs collaborate with others, and find potential funding for their projects, like ‘MeetUp.com’.
To conclude, the impact of entrepreneurship has a wide radius of impact. Entrepreneurs are agents of innovation and to some degree, responsible for the change in the global market landscape. They create future needs that people did not think that they would need, and in the process, create employability. With the improvements of technology and the rise of Artificial Intelligence, a wave of industries will disappear in the future, and robots will replace many jobs, it is now critical, more than ever, to create our own employment and increase employability. This increase in employment also contributes to the economic growth of a nation, which is proven in the United States, and China during the reforms in the 1980’s. Entrepreneurialism should be nurtured and encouraged at a young age through educational systems and in workspaces. It can put an individual at a competitive advantage socially and personally as those who have an entrepreneurial mindset have more courage, are more innovative, are problem-solvers, vigorous decision-makers, and risk-takers, and this era favors those with superior skills and knowledge. In the workforce, employees with this mindset are more conscious of their environment, and therefore are able to seize opportunities. Innovation in a company is an important factor to their success as it makes a business more creative and productive, putting the business in the big leagues, like Google and Apple, who are major corporations, started by entrepreneurs, and are obsessed with hiring young and entrepreneurial employees. Entrepreneurship has proven to positively revolutionizing our society, putting businesses and countries at a competitive advantage, increasing employability, growing the economies, and has positive impacts on the mindset of individuals, making them more creative and innovative.