...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 . . ....
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...ENTREPRENURESHIP SKILLS AND PRACTICES 1.0 Introduction Entrepreneurial skills and practices is one of the General Studies introduced in the curriculum for every undergraduate student in Osun state University regardless of the student’s course of study. The introduction of this course provides opportunity for the University to deliver on its vision and mission to students, national and international community. Specifically, the course help to challenge students to positively utilize the high quality teaching and learning experiences from other courses become entrepreneurial graduates capable of impacting on their environment while being globally competitive. Ideally, entrepreneurship education should be an off shoot of all disciplines. The primary discipline should provide skills capable of generating goods and services that would be demanded and create income. This education will thus help students to utilize learned skills to generate self employment thereby reducing the population of our graduate seeking jobs to the barest minimum. This will also reduce the level of unemployment nationally. The materials in the book are contributed by scholars from different intellectual backgrounds to produce a rich and highly stimulating compilation. The book gives a vivid background of the history of entrepreneurship from the rudimentary to the modern age. It provides ideas on principles and skills involved in sustaining entrepreneurship, potentials of businesses and entrepreneurs...
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