The Copperbelt University

School of Mathematics and Natural

Sciences

BS 361: Entrepreneurship Skills

An introduction to entrepreneurship
K. Mulenga
April 2020
Thursday, April 23, 2020 K. Mulenga, April 2020 1
 Introduction
• Around the globe, growing numbers of
people are realising their dreams of
owning operating their own businesses.
• Globally, one in eleven adults is actively
engaged in launching a business.
• 550, 000 businesses are launched every
month in the USA.

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 Introduction cont.
• Entrepreneurs explore opportunities,
convert ideas into viable business
proposition and provide new products
and services to the society by bringing
together and combining various factors
of production.
• They change life style of the people and
contribute to economic growth.
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 Definition of entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship is defined differently by
different people.
• The concept of entrepreneurship was
first established in the 1700s, and the
meaning has evolved ever since.
• Many simply equate it with starting one’s
own business.

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 Joseph Schumpeter (1883- 1950)
• Entrepreneurship is a force of creative
destruction.
• The entrepreneur comes up with new
ways of doing things thereby rendering
old industries obsolete.
• Old ways of doing business are destroyed
by the creation of new and better ways
of doing them.
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 Shane (2005)
• An activity that involves the discovery,
evaluation and exploitation of
opportunities to introduce new goods
and services, ways of organizing,
markets, processes and raw materials
through organizing efforts that previously
had not existed.

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 Spinelli and Timmons(2007)
• Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking,
reasoning and acting that is opportunity
obsessed, holistic in approach and
leadership balanced.
• Entrepreneurship results in the creation,
enhancement, realization and renewal of
value not just for owners, but for all
participants and stakeholders.

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 Bioentrepreneurship
• Bioentrepreneurship is the integration of
two different disciplines, science, and
business.
• It is the flow of innovation from
academia to industry.
• It is the integrated activity that creates,
develops and commercializes the
biotechnology product.
Thursday, 23 April 2020 K. Mulenga, April 2020 8
 Bioentrepreneurship cont.
• Or Simply, an entrepreneurial business based
on the Biotechnology is known as
Bioentrepreneurship.
• Biotech-based business is usually started by a
researcher that’s why a bioentrepreneur has
more knowledge about the product than any
other entrepreneur.

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 Bioentrepreneurship cont.
• Bioentrepreneurship is the process of creating
value from life science innovation.
• It is referred to by several names including
bioscience entrepreneurship, life science
entrepreneurship or bioscience enterprise.
• It aims at moving a life science discovery or
invention from the research phase through
development to a commercial market.

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 Entrepreneurship vs
Bioentrepreneurship
ENTREPRENEURSHIP BIOENTREPRENEURSHIP

Starting a business based on an idea or invention from the various

The process of launching a new business based on a great idea.
fields of science, like biotechnology, etc.

Strict regulation – as the biotech industry is the highest strictly

No such prior restriction and regulation
regulated sector in business.

For normal startups, it takes less time for the development of However, biotech-based startups take more time for the
products — for example, IT-based startups or online-based development of products, for example making vaccines or drugs
startups. or antibodies, etc.

Nevertheless, if you are concerned with biology-based products,

In normal startups, you do not much need to worry about
then you need to get approval from ethical committees such as
ethical committees.
the FDA in the US.

Required huge investment – needs millions of dollars to turn your

A normal startup can start from minimal capital
idea into reality (products)

Also, the hurdle for bio-entrepreneurs is the high-risk that is

Not that much risk
scientific uncertainty.

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 Zilberman (2010)
• He opines that entrepreneurship occurs
in all areas of life. In business, academy,
government and NGOs.
• Entrepreneurs are everywhere, in Wall
Street, Kitwe, Kigali, and in the Sahel.
• Entrepreneurship can be used for good
and evil. The Godfather was an
entrepreneur that misused his talent.
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 Why study entrepreneurship?
• Knowledge of process of starting a
business.
• Basic principles applicable to any
business environment.
• Entrepreneurs drive the economy,
contributing significantly to the well-
being of society in general.

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 Why study entrepreneurship? Cont.
• The entrepreneurial process and
entrepreneurial management is
becoming increasingly relevant to the
way business is done today.
• Entrepreneurs shape society.
• They are change makers, visionaries and
movers and shakers.

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 Who is an entrepreneur?
• The word ‘entrepreneur’ is derived from the
French word ‘entreprendre’ meaning ‘to
undertake’.
• The traditional entrepreneur is one who
undertakes to control, coordinate and assume
the risk of a business in a competitive
marketplace.

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 Norman Scarborough
• An entrepreneur is one who creates a
new business in the face of risk and
uncertainty for the purpose of achieving
profit and growth by identifying
opportunities and assembling the
necessary resources to capitalize on
those opportunities.

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 Peter Drucker (1909- 2005)
• An entrepreneur is someone who
searches for change, responds to it, and
exploits change as an opportunity.
• In developing countries such as Malawi
and Zambia, successful SMEs are
responsible for job creation, income
growth, and poverty reduction.

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 Who is an entrepreneur? cont.
• A business founder.
• Someone who has turned a normal
community activity into business.
• Anyone who creates and introduces
value to customers through a product or
service and expect to get a financial
reward.

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 Who is an entrepreneur? cont.
• The entrepreneur is the individual (or
team) that identifies the opportunity,
gathers the necessary resources, creates
and is ultimately responsible for the
performance of the organization.
• An entrepreneur is a vision-driven
individual who assumes significant
personal and financial risk to start or
expand a business

Thursday, 23 April 2020 K. Mulenga, April 2020 19

 Joseph R Mancuso
• “It is not the critic who counts, nor the observer who watches from a safe
distance. Wealth is created only by doers in the arena who are marred with dirt,
dust, blood, and sweat. These are producers who strike out on their own, who
know high highs and low lows, great devotions, and who overextend themselves
for worthwhile causes. Without exceptions, they fail more than they succeed and
appreciate this reality even before venturing out on their own. But when these
producers of wealth fail, they at least fail with style and grace, and their gut soon
recognizes that failure is only a resting place, not a place in which to spend a
lifetime. Their places will never be with those nameless souls who know neither
victory nor defeat, who receive weekly paychecks regardless of their week’s
performance, who are hired hands in the labour in someone else’s garden. These
doers are producers and no matter what their lot is at any given moment, they will
never take a place beside the takers, for theirs is a unique place, alone, under the
sun. They are entrepreneurs!”

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 Who can be an entrepreneur?
• There is not one single quality or skill to
define an entrepreneur.
• Successful entrepreneurs come in various
ages (Colonel Saunders, Erick Yuan), gender
(Monica Musonda, Bwalya Chiti), race (Bill
Gates, Carlos Slim, Aliko Dangote) and social
status (Oprah Winfrey, Sergey Brin).
• They also differ in education and experience.
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 Who can be an entrepreneur? Cont.

• However, research indicates that most

successful entrepreneurs share certain
personal attributes, including: creativity,
dedication, determination, flexibility,
leadership, passion and self-confidence.

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 Types of entrepreneurs
• Opportunity entrepreneurs
• Necessity entrepreneurs
• Serial entrepreneurs
• Social entrepreneurs
• Innovative entrepreneurs
• Drone entrepreneurs

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 Types of entrepreneurs cont.
• Copycat entrepreneurs
• Copreneurs
• Part time entrepreneurs
• Intrapreneurs
• Technopreneurs
• Bioentrepreneurs

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 Opportunity entrepreneurs
• They are entrepreneurs that start a
business because they have spotted an
opportunity in the marketplace.
• They constitute 62% of all entrepreneurs
activity in the USA.
• In Denmark, they make up 81% of all
entrepreneurs.
• They are also known as pulled
entrepreneurs.
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 Necessity entrepreneurs

• Necessity entrepreneurs are those who

start businesses because they cannot
find work any other way.
• Necessity entrepreneurs are also known
as pushed entrepreneurs.

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 Serial entrepreneurs

• Serial entrepreneurs are those who

repeatedly start businesses and grow
them to a sustainable size before striking
out again.
• Examples of serial entrepreneurs include
Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Elon
Musk, Jack Dorsey and Rod Drury.

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 Social entrepreneurs
• These are entrepreneurs who use their
skills not only to create profitable
businesses but also to achieve social and
environmental goals for the common
good.
• Muhammad Yunus, the founder of
Grameen Bank of Bangladesh is a classic
example of a social entrepreneur.

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 Innovative entrepreneurs

• Entrepreneurs who aggressively pursue

innovation in new products through
experimentation and search markets.

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 Drone entrepreneurs

• Entrepreneurs who follow traditional

methods of production.

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 Copycat entrepreneurs
• Copycat entrepreneurs start their
businesses by copying successful
entrepreneurs.
• Copycat entrepreneurs are common in
Zambia.

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 Copreneurs
• Copreneurs are entrepreneurial couples
who work together as co-owners of their
business.
• Caterina Fake and Sewart Butterfield,
founders of Flickr, a photo-sharing
website are a case in point.

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 Part time entrepreneurs
• Starting a part-time business is a popular
gateway to entrepreneurship.
• Part-timers have the best of both worlds.
• They can ease into a business without
sacrificing the security of a steady salary.
• A major advantage of going into business
part-time is the lower risk in case the
venture flops.
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 Intrapreneurs
• An intrapreneur is someone who thinks like an
entrepreneur but is an employee within an
organization.
• Steven Sasson, the engineer at Kodak who
invented the portable digital camera and
Spencer Silver, who developed the Post-It note
while at 3M are classical examples of
intrapreneurs.

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 Technopreneurs
• Technopreneurs are entrepreneurs who is tech
savvy and are using technology for the
purposes of entrepreneurship.
• Examples of technopreneurs include Bill Gates
(Microsoft), Michael Dell (Dell Computers),
Larry Page (Google), Steve Jobs (Apple), Jack
Dorsey (Twitter), Kelvin Systrom (YouTube)
and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook).

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 Bio entrepreneurs
• The biotech entrepreneur possesses the same
attributes all other entrepreneurs do, the
biotech entrepreneur is usually an
accomplished scientist, bioengineer, physician,
or businessperson.
• Examples of bioentrepreneurs include Dennis
M. Brown (DelMar Pharceuticals), Linda
Rhodes (Aratana Therapeutics), and Leroy
Hood (Integrated Diagnostics).
Thursday, 23 April 2020 K. Mulenga, April 2020 36
 Conclusion
• Entrepreneurs make things happen.
• Entrepreneurship lies at the heart of a
free market economic system.
• Capitalist economies depend on
entrepreneurs to provide the drive and
risk taking necessary for the economic
system to supply people with goods and
services they need.
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