1. Introduction 1.1 Definitions of entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an enterprising individual who builds capital through risk and/or initiative. The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to help launch a new venture or enterprise and accept full responsibility for the outcome.
Over time, scholars have defined the term in different ways. Here are some of their definitions.
a. 1725: Richard Cantillon: An entrepreneur is a person who pays a certain price for a product to resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making decisions about obtaining and using the resources while consequently admitting the risk of enterprise.
b. 1803: J.B. Say: An entrepreneur is an economic agent who unites all means of production- land of one, the labour of another and the capital of yet another and thus produces a product. By selling the product in the market he pays rent of land, wages to labour, interest on capital and what remains is his profit. He shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.
c. 1934: Schumpeter: Entrepreneurs are innovators who use a process of shattering the status quo of the existing products and services, to set up new products, new services.
d. 1949: C.H. Danhoff: Entrepreneurship is an activity or function and not a specific individual or occupation . . . the specific personal entrepreneur is an unrealistic abstraction.
Role and emergence: The entrepreneur leads the firm or organization and also demonstrates leadership qualities by selecting managerial staff. Entrepreneurs emerge from the population naturally because they perceive opportunities and see themselves as well-positioned to take advantage of them, or because they observe a problem