Can Entrepreneurship be taught/learned?
by Louis Janse van Rensburg on 20/10/10 at 9:38 am
3 comments
I often get people asking me the question, are entrepreneurs born or made?
A silly question really, what if the answer is the former? Are we going to get pregnant mothers to read Richard Branson’s “Screw it, Let’s do it” 9 months-in?
In all seriousness though, the truth is that entrepreneurship is both an inherent trait of an individual, as well as a product of years of experience and development.
On the one-hand, in order to achieve entrepreneurial performance, the entrepreneur needs to focus on developing his:
- Business skills – for example referring to marketing skills, accounting standards, operations etc
- Entrepreneurial skills – for example referring to identifying and evaluating opportunities, creative thinking, innovation, risk-taking and much more.
All of these can be taught to budding entrepreneurs, business owners, managers or even company staff.
However, the trait that can not be taught; that trait with which certain individuals are born with; that secret ingredient that distinguishes the real entrepreneur from someone that just starts a business is Motivation. A drive. A fire. Nerve. Fortitude. Moxie.
Louis is one of those lucky people where his job is his hobby. He's the Joburg manager at digital marketing agency World Wide Creative and a contributor of The Heavy Chef Project. Louis runs his own blog as well where he writes about digital planning, research, business development and anything else online that catches his eye. Oh yes, Louis also happens to have a Masters Degree in Entrepreneurship from the University of Pretoria. You can find Louis on Twitter at @Louis_JvR View more articles by Louis Janse van Rensburg.
Tags: entrepreneur, Entrepreneur Qualities and Characteristics, Entrepreneurial Focus, entrepreneurial skill, entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship in South Africa, intrepreneur, intrepreneurship, SA Entrepreneur, South African Entrepreneur
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Del Chatterson
Oct 21st, 2010
I think we agree.
Anyone can “be” an entrepreneur – i.e start and operate a business and the basic skillls and knowledge can be learned.
But just like learning golf or the guitar, the requirement for success is TALENT… plus motivation, persistence, persuasiveness, and time.
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