Entrepreneurs can be of different types. Some may prefer to go it alone or share the risk in groups with others.

They are found in every economic system and every form of economic activity as well as in other social and cultural activities. They are seen from amongst farmers, labourers, fishermen, tribals, artisans, artists, importers, exporters, bankers, professionals, politicians, bureaucrats and so many others. Basing on the above features C. Danhof has broadly classified entrepreneurs into four types. These are discussed below. 1. Innovative Entrepreneur: In the early phases of economic development, entrepreneurs have initiative to start new ventures and find innovative ways to start an enterprise. Thus, innovative entrepreneurs are those who introduces new products, new method of production techniques, or discovers a new market or a new service or reorganises the enterprise. It is the innovative entrepreneurs who built the modern capitalism. They are commonly found in developed countries. They are aggressive in nature who exhibit cleverness in putting attractive possibilities into practice. 2. Imitative Entrepreneur: There is a second group of entrepreneurs generally referred as imitative entrepreneurs. They usually copy or adopt suitable innovations made by innovative entrepreneurs. They are adoptive and more flexible. They are organisers of factors of production rather than creator. The imitative entrepreneurs are also revolutionary and important. They' contribute to the development of underdeveloped economies. 3. Fabian Entrepreneurs: The third type of entrepreneur is Fabian Entrepreneurs. Such type of entrepreneurs are very shy and lazy by nature. They are very cautious people. They do not venture to take risks. They are rigid and fundamental in their approach. Usually, they are second generation entrepreneurs in a family business enterprise. They follow the footsteps of their successors. They imitate only when they are very clear that failure to do so would result in a loss of the relative position in the enterprise. 4. Drone Entrepreneurs: The fourth type of entrepreneur is Drone entrepreneurs who refuse to copy or use opportunities that come on their way. They are conventional in their approach. They are not ready to make changes in their existing production methods even if they suffer losses. They resist changes. They may be termed as laggards. The above types of entrepreneurs is not comprehensive for it aims at highlighting the broad range of entrepreneurs found in business and profession. Following are some more types of entrepreneurs listed according to the type of business, use of technology, motivation, growth and stages of development.

According to the Type of Business

Depending on the nature size, type of business, entrepreneurs are divided into five categories. They are as follows : Business Entrepreneur: Business entrepreneurs are those entrepreneurs who develop an idea for a new product or service and then establish an enterprise to materialise their idea into reality. Most of the entrepreneurs belong to this category because majority of entrepreneurs are found in the field of small trading and manufacturing concerns. Trading Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur who undertakes trading activities whether domestic or overseas is known as a trading entrepreneur. He has to identify the potential market for his product in order to stimulate the demand for the same. He pushes many ideas ahead of others in the form demonstration to promote his business. Industrial Entrepreneur: Industrial entrepreneurs are essentially manufacturers who manufacture products and services which have an effective demand in the marketing They have the ability to convert the economic resources and technology into a profitable venture. Corporate Entrepreneur: Corporate entrepreneur is one who through his innovative ideas and skill able to organise, manage and control a corporate undertaking very effectively and efficiently. Usually, he is a promoter of the undertaking/corporation engaged himself either in business, trade or industry. Agricultural Entrepreneur: Agricultural entrepreneur is one who undertakes agricultural as well as allied activities in the field of agriculture. He engages himself in raising and marketing of crops, fertilisers and other inputs of agriculture through employment of modern techniques, machines and irrigation.

According to use of Technology

The entrepreneurs may be classified into the following categories on the basis of application of new technology in various sectors of the economy. Technical Entrepreneur: An entrepreneur who is technical by nature in the sense who is capable of developing new and improved quality of goods and services out of his own knowledge, skill and specialisation is called a technical entrepreneur. He is essentially compared to a craftsman who concentrates more on production than marketing.

Non-technical Entrepreneur: Non-technical entrepreneurs are those who are mainly concerned with developing alternative marketing and distribution strategies to promote their business. They are not concerned with the technical aspects of the product and services they are dealing with. Professional Entrepreneurs: Professional entrepreneurs are those who make it a profession to establish business enterprises with a purpose to sell it once it is established. He is always looking forward to develop alternative projects by selling the running business. He is not interested in managing and operations of the business established by him. He is very dynamic in his attitude.

According to Motivation
Entrepreneurs basing upon their motivating factors can be classified into three types as spontaneous, induced and motivated entrepreneurs. Spontaneous Entrepreneurs: Spontaneous entrepreneurs are otherwise known as pure entrepreneurs who are motivated by their desire for self fulfillment and to achieve or prove their excellence in job performance. They undertake entrepreneurial activities for their personal satisfaction in work, ego, or status. Their strength lies in their creative abilities. They are the natural entrepreneurs in any society. They do not need any external motivation. Induced Entrepreneurs: Induced entrepreneurs are those who are induced to enter into entrepreneurship because of various governmental support provided in terms of financial assistance, incentives, concessions and other facilities to the people who want to set up of their new enterprises. Sometimes prospective entrepreneurs are induced or even forced by their special circumstance, such as loss of job or inability to find a suitable job according to their talent and merit to adapt to entrepreneurship. Motivated Entrepreneurs: Motivated entrepreneurs are those who are motivated by their desire to make use of their technical and professional expertise and skill in performing the job or project they have taken up. They have enough confidence in their abilities. They are highly ambitious and are normally not satisfied by the slow progress in their jobs. They entered into entrepreneurship because of the possibility of making and marketing of some new products or service for the use of prospective consumer. If the product or service is developed to a saleable stage and the customers accept the same, the entrepreneur is then further motivated by reward in terms of profit.

Other Categories of Entrepreneurs

Solo Operators: Solo operators are those entrepreneurs who essentially work alone or have a few employees. In the beginning, most of the entrepreneurs when start their enterprises perceive themselves like them. Active Partners: Active partners are basically solo operators who start an enterprise as a joint venture. It is important that all of them actively participate in the business of the firm. Partners: There are certain entrepreneurs who only contribute funds to the enterprise without actively participating in various activities of the firm are known as simply partners. Inventors: There are some entrepreneurs whose chief competence is their creativity and inventiveness to invent new product are called as inventors. They like to invent new products and services through their research and innovative activities and may need to set up a business enterprise to make them commercially viable. Their interest is basically in research, and they often-lack managerial experience or desire to run a business. Challengers: These are the entrepreneurs who get into the business because of the challenge it represents. They tend to get bored when it seems that challenges are met and doing well. Then they begin to search for newer challenges. Lifetimers: Lifetimers are those entrepreneurs who see their business as an integral part to their life. It is a matter of ego satisfaction and personal concern of lifetimers to run the business successfully. Family enterprises and business come in this category. Buyers: Buyers are those entrepreneurs who tend to purchase business rather than start one themselves as it appears to them to be less risky alternative. They do not like to bear much risk. Growth Entrepreneurs: These are the entrepreneurs who always take up high growth industries which have substantial growth prospects in future. Such entrepreneurs grow with the growth of industries and viceversa.

Super-Growth Entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurs who have shown tremendous growth performance in their enterprise are called as super-growth entrepreneurs. The growth performance of enterprise is characterized by liquidity of funds, profitability and gearing. First-Generation Entrepreneurs: These entrepreneurs start their industrial unit by means of their own innovative skill and expertise. They usually combine different technologies to produce marketable products or services for the consumers. They are essentially innovators having no entrepreneurial background. Classical Entrepreneurs: A classical entrepreneur is a stereotype entrepreneur who is concerned with the customers and marketing needs through a development of a self- supporting venture. His main aim is to maximise his economic gains at a level consistent with the survival of the firm with or without an element of growth. Modern Entrepreneurs: Modern entrepreneurs are those who undertake ventures which run smoothly along with the changing demand of the products or service in the market. They also take up such ventures which suit the current marketing needs of the consumers. Inherited Entrepreneurs: Inherited entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs by inheritance are seen in India where entrepreneurs inherit the family business through succession and pass it from one generation to another. Forced Entrepreneurs Sometimes circumstances compel persons to accept entrepreneurial activities, even if they lack proper understanding and training in the respective field. They are known as forced entrepreneurs. Unemployed youth/job seekers, rich farmers are few examples of such category. Men Entrepreneurs: When an entrepreneur is a male one who owns, manages, and controls the business enterprise is called a men/male entrepreneur. They are the key players in any developing economy particularly in terms of their contribution to economic development. Women Entrepreneurs:

Women or female entrepreneurs are those section of the female population who venture out into industrial activities in the field of manufacturing, assembling, job works, repairs/servicing and other business. The women take the lead, organise and manage the business or industry and help in providing employment to others. Rural Entrepreneurs: Rural entrepreneurs are those who want to carry out their entrepreneurial activities in the rural and backward sector of the economy. They set up their enterprises in rural areas. Urban Entrepreneurs: Urban entrepreneurs are those who establish their enterprises in the urban or developed sector or the economy and carry out their entrepreneurial activities more successfully than the rural entrepreneurs. Besides the above types of entrepreneurs a large number of other types of entrepreneurs are also seen in the economy who have established their business undertakings and perform entrepreneurial activities successfully. They are retail entrepreneurs, services entrepreneurs, large scale entrepreneurs, traditional entrepreneurs, skilled, national, international, bureaucratic entrepreneurs and many more. Let us look at the usual or more common reasons people have for starting their own business! Owning your own business is a great dream for most people. It remains dreams for many but some people turn this dream into action and take the plunge. Owning a business is a boon, provided you get into it the right way and knows what to expect and what to do, otherwise it can be a nightmare. Entrepreneurial motivation is a term that is used to describe the quest for new venture creation as well as the willingness to sustain the venture. One quickly learns that it is easy to start a business. But running a business is an entirely different ball game. Running your own business is probably tougher than anything you have done before. So, you owe it to yourself to honestly explore the reason you decided to start your own business. Take your time about it and figure it out before you commit your time, money and resources to a new venture.
1. Control:

You do not like to have a boss. You want to be your own boss and make your own decisions. That is great-as long as you realize that even in your own business, many of your decisions will be dictated by government regulations, customers, and even your employees. But having your own business gives you far greater opportunity to exercise your own free will.

2. The Idea:

You have this one great idea or a product that will revolutionize the world. No one is currently offering it and you think you should not waste any time in going ahead.
3. Flexibility:

You want a schedule that allows you work when you want to and to spend time with your kids when you want to. Running your own business does give you the flexibility if you want it but now probably you will be spending much more time on the job. Remember, now the buck stops with you.
4. Money:

It is the oldest and the most common reason. Most people start a business because they feel that it is the only logical way to become wealthy. Most of the wealthy people have got their money through business, either by starting one or by inheriting one. Not everybody who starts a business ends up being wealthy. The success rate may be around 10 per cent and many of the successful ones would achieve success very late in life. So, it is not them but their children who will enjoy the fruits of their labour. Many would-be entrepreneurs make a grave mistake. They just want to be in business. They are not sure what that means, but they have some vague dreams of success and think that they will recognize it when they see it. They may hate their job, are bored, or have just been laid off-they are moving away from something negative (such as escaping a job or a bad situation) rather than towards something positive (such as building a business with a clear vision for the future). This may not be the right path to entrepreneurship. Many people start their businesses with what they think are clear reasons (more money, prestige, a sense of accomplishment, more flexible work time, being their own boss, and so on). That is a good first step, but you need more. Begin by defining your primary goal, then work from there. From the very beginning, you should plan and think about what you hope to get out of your business, in the short term and in the long term. What do you hope to achieve by being an entrepreneurpersonally, financially, and professionally? How much money do you want to make? How much free time you want for you and your family? How many or how few employees do you want to have? When you are ready to retire, will you want to pass the business on to your children, shut it down altogether, or sell it? It may seem unnecessary to answer these questions before you start, but that is exactly the right time to do it. You can increase your odds of success by thinking clearly, from the very beginning, about your primary goal and what you are willing to give up to achieve it.

There are always trade-offs, and the sooner you have them clearly in mind, the better off you will be. For example, it is going to be hard to give equal weightage to the goals of maximizing income, working part-time and having no debt. Any of these are valid goals, but you will have to choose less of some to have more of others. Set clear goals. If money is the main motivation factor, understand how much money you want to make and how much money you need to make. (These two are usually not the same.) Aim high, set financial targets beyond what you are making now, but be realistic. Once you have set goals and have a realistic expectation of what you have to do and what you have to give up in order to achieve those goals, it will be easier to work towards those goals. Also, it will be easier to stay motivated if you have your sights set on desirable and achievable goals. Let us now run through a list of advantages and disadvantages of running your own business.
Disadvantages:

(i) You are alone. (ii) All decisions are yours. (iii) All losses are yours. (iv) Work may not be satisfying. (v) You will need to put in long hours. (vi) Lack of success will affect self-esteem. (vii) Exiting the business is difficult. (viii) Pressures will affect social and family life.
Advantages:

(i) You are the boss. (ii) All profits are yours. (iii) There will be great variety in roles and tasks. (iv) Increases self-confidence. (v) Work can be very satisfying.

(vi) Success will give you immense satisfaction.

An entrepreneur performs a series of functions necessary right from the genesis of an idea up to the establishment and effective operation of an enterprise. He carries out the whole set of activities of the business for its success. He recognises the commercial potential of a product or a service, formulates operating policies for production, product design, marketing and organisational structure. He is thus a nucleus of high growth of the enterprise. According some economists, the functions of an entrepreneur is classified into five broad categories: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Risk-bearing function, Organisational function, Innovative function, Managerial function, and Decision making function.

1. Risk-bearing function: The functions of an entrepreneur as risk bearer is specific in nature. The entrepreneur assumes all possible risks of business which emerges due to the possibility of changes in the tastes of consumers, modern techniques of production and new inventions. Such risks are not insurable and incalculable. In simple terms such risks are known as uncertainty concerning a loss. The entrepreneur, according to Kinght, "is the economic functionary who undertakes such responsibility of uncertainty which by its very nature cannot be insured nor capitalised nor salaried too." Richard Cantillon conceived of an entrepreneur as a bearer of non-insurable risk because he described an entrepreneur as a person who buys things at a certain price and sells them at an uncertain price. Thus, risk bearing or uncertainty bearing still remains the most important function of an entrepreneur which he tries to minimise by his initiative, skill and good judgement. J.B. Say and other have stressed risk taking as the specific function of the entrepreneur. 2. Organisational Function: Entrepreneur as an organiser and his organising function is described by J.B. Say as a function whereby the entrepreneur brings together various factors of production, ensures continuing management and renders risk-bearing functions as well. His definition associates entrepreneur with the functions of coordination, organisation and supervision. According to him, an entrepreneur is one who combines the 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 interest on

capital, rent on land and wages to labourers and what remains is his/her profit. In this way, he describes an entrepreneur as an organiser who alone determines the lines of business to expand and capital to employ more judiciously. He is the ultimate judge in the conduct of the business. Marshall also advocated the significance of organisation among the services of special class of business undertakers. 3. Innovative Function: The basic function an entrepreneur performs is to innovate new products, services, ideas and informations for the enterprise. As an innovator, the entrepreneur foresees the potentially profitable opportunity and tries to exploit it. He is always involved in the process of doing new things. According to Peter Drucker, "Innovation is the means by which the entrepreneur either creates new wealth producing resources or endows existing resources with enhanced potential for creating wealth". Whenever a new idea occurs entrepreneurial efforts are essential to convert the idea into practical application. J.A. Schumpeter considered economic development as a descrete dynamic change brought by entrepreneurs by instituting new combinations of production, i.e. innovation. According to him innovation may occur in any one of the following five forms. The introduction of a new product in the market with which the customers are not get familiar with. Introduction of a new method of production technology which is not yet tested by experience in the branch of manufacture concerned. The opening of a new market into which the specific product has not previously entered. The discovery of a new source of supply of raw material, irrespective of whether this source already exists or has first to be created. The carrying out of the new form of oranisation of any industry by creating of a monopoly position or the breaking up of it. 4. Managerial Function: Entrepreneur also performs a variety of managerial function like determination of business objectives, formulation of production plans, product analysis and market research, organisation of sales procurring machine and material, recruitment of men and undertaking, of business operations. He also undertakes the basic managerial functions of planning, organising, coordinating, staffing, directing, motivating and controlling in the enterprise. He provides a logical and scientific basis to the above functions for the smooth operation of the enterprise thereby avoids chaos in the field of production, marketing, purchasing, recruiting and selection, etc. In large establishments, these managerial functions of the entrepreneur are delegated to the paid managers for more effective and efficient execution.

5. Decision Making Function: The most vital function an entrepreneur discharges refers to decision making in various fields of the business enterprise. He is the decision maker of all activities of the enterprise. A. H. Cole described an entrepreneur as a decision maker and attributed the following functions to him. He determines the business objectives suitable for the enterprise. He develops an organization and creates an atmosphere for maintaining a cordial relationship with subordinates and all employees of the organization. He decides in securing adequate financial resources for the organisation and maintains good relations with the existing and potential investors and financiers. He decides in introducing advanced modern technology in the enterprise to cope up with changing scenario of manufacturing process. He decides the development of a market for his product, develops new product or modify the existing product in accordance with the changing consumer's fashion, taste and preference. He also decides to maintain good relations with the public authorities as well as with the society at large for improving the firms image before others. An entrepreneur is a person who is motivated to satisfy a high need for achievement in innovative and creative activities. He is a great motivator to start his new business and manage it successively. He is the investor and takes risk in the enterprise. He perceives and exploits opportunity and works for his satisfaction to get positive results, whereas a manager (Professional Manager) takes care of the general functions of running an organisation such as strategic planning, operation planning, organising the resources, staffing, coordination, motivation and controlling work of the organisation. Normally a professional manager acquires such knowledge through formal education and training. He has to work within the policy framework set by the entrepreneurs (owners) of the organisation. The success of an enterprise new or old depends upon the qualities or characteristics of an entrepreneur or entrepreneur. In order to be successful, an entrepreneur must possess certain qualities which are unique of its kind. If we go through the business history of India, we come across the names of Tata, Birla, Modi, Dalmia and others who started their business with small size and made good fortunes. This is possible only because they possess all the entrepreneurial qualities. McClelland has identified these qualities or characteristics or features of a successful entrepreneur as "an individual with technical competence, risk-taking, high initiative, good judgment, intelligence to analyse and solve problem areas, leadership qualities, confidence,

positive attitude, high level of energy, creativeness, honesty, integrity emotional stability and fairness." Robert D. Hisrich identified adequate commitment, motivation and skills to start and build some of the important qualities of an entrepreneur. Flexibility, good social behaviour, open mind and desire to take personal responsibilities will fit in the qualities of a true entrepreneur. Some of the important qualities or characteristics that are necessary for a successful entrepreneur are discussed below : 1. Desire to Excel: The first and foremost quality an entrepreneur should possess refer to a burning desire to excel. The entrepreneur should always engage in competitions with self imposed standards with himself to beat his last best performance. According to Mc Clelland, this high achievement motive strengthened him to surmount the obstacles, suppress anxieties, repair misfortunes and devise expedients. The entrepreneur must have a strong desire to be a winner. 2. Hard Work: Entrepreneurs who successfully build new enterprises possess an intense level of strong determination and willingness to work hard. They possess a capacity to work for long hours and in spurts of several days with less than normal amount of sleep. Through their hard work and intense desire to complete a task or solve a problem or overcome hurdles, they can able to achieve the never ending goal of excellence. 3. Self Confidence: Entrepreneurs must have confidence and belief in themselves to achieve their desired objectives. They strongly believe that they can beat any one in the field. They do not believe in status quo, rather they believe that the events in their life are self-determined and have little belief in fate. 4. Initiative: An entrepreneur must have initiative seeking personal responsibility for actions and use the available resources for optimisation of objectives. They take full credit for the success and assume full responsibility for the failure of the enterprise. 5. Moderate Risk-Taker: An entrepreneur must be a moderate risk taker and learn from failures. The successful entrepreneurs are neither high risk takers, nor gamblers. They work in between the two extremes. They take moderate challenging risk to attain moderate returns which are influenced within their abilities and decisions. 6. Innovative:

An entrepreneur must be innovative and creative. Through his innovative ideas and creative thinking an entrepreneur can be able to engage himself in the analysis of various problems and situations in order to deal with them. An innovative entrepreneur introduces new products, develops new method of production, discovers new market and reorganises the enterprise. 7. Motivation: An entrepreneur should have a strong motivation towards the achievement of a task and must be able to exert considerable efforts in getting things done by others. He should be a person who likes working with people and has skills in dealing with them. He has to motivate people to act, through his interpersonal skills. 8. Optimistic: Entrepreneurs do not believe that the success or failure of a new business venture depends mostly upon luck or fate or external uncontrollable factors. They are highly optimistic about the success of the enterprises. They use positive knowledge to support their thinking. They are rarely negative. They always look at the brighter side of the situation. They are never disturbed by any internal or external threat to their business or intermittent problems in accomplishing their goals. 9. Analytical Ability: Entrepreneur must be realistic in their approach. They should not be affected by the personal likes and dislikes. At the time of crisis, they must select experts rather than their friends and relatives to solve the problems. They must analyse the problem in detail before taking any decisions. 10. Mental Ability: Mental ability refers to the inner strength of an entrepreneur which helps him to reach his goal. It is that ability which helps him to quickly respond to difficult situation. It consists of intelligence and creative thinking of an entrepreneur. Through this ability, entrepreneurs are able to adjust themselves with the changing business environment. 11. Communication Ability: An entrepreneur must be well-versed with the art of communication. It is that skill through which both the sender and receiver understand each other and are being understood. Entrepreneur are required in many situations to influence customers, employees, suppliers, creditors, and government and make them think in his way and act accordingly. An entrepreneur who can effectively communicate and convince the above people will be more likely to succeed than the entrepreneur who does not. 12. Flexibility:

Entrepreneurs should be flexible in their decisions in the sense that they should not be very rigid in the decision making process. If the situation demands a change in the decision that will be beneficial to the enterprise, then after analysing the pros and cons of the decision, the entrepreneur should revise or modify or change the decisions. 13. Independence: Successful entrepreneurs do not like to be guided by others. They prefer to work in an environment free from interference. They like to be independent in the matters of decision making of their own business. They want to be their own masters and resist to be pigeonholed. 14. Leadership: An entrepreneur must possess good leadership qualities to become a successful entrepreneur because leadership is the important aspect of entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur must have an ability to lead so that he can induce the people to work with confidence and zeal. It is an aid to authority and helps in better utilization of manpower. 15. Good Human Relations Ability: Entrepreneurs must have the abilities to maintain and establish good relations with customers, employees, suppliers, financiers and other people related with the business to run it effectively and efficiently. Emotional stability, tactfulness and warm human relations are some important qualities which bring success to an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur who maintains good human relations is much more likely to succeed in his business than the individual who does not practice such relations. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) was established as wholly owned subsidiary of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) under the small Industries Development of India Act 1989. It is the principal institution for promotion, financing and development of industries in the small-scale sector. It also coordinates the functions of institutions engaged in similar activities. For this purpose, SIDBI has taken over the responsibility of administrating Small Industries Development Fund and National Equity Fund from IDBI. Capital. SIDBI started its operations from April 1990 with an initial authorised capital of Rs. 250 crore, which could be increased to Rs. 1000 crore. It also took over the outstanding portfolio of IDBI relating to small scale sector held under Small Industries Development Fund as on March 31,1990 worth over Rs. 4000 crore.

What are the objectives of SIDBI?

In the setting up of SIDBI, the main purpose of the government was to ensure larger flow of assistance to the small-scale units. To meet this objective, the immediate thrust of the SIDBI was on the following measures:

(i) initiating steps for technological upgradation and modernisation of existing units; (ii) expanding the channels for marketing the products of the small scale sector; and (iii) promotion of employment-oriented industries, especially in semi- urban areas to create more employment opportunities and thereby checking migration of population to urban areas.

What are the functions of SIDBI?

SIDBI provides assistance to the small-scale industries sector in the country through the existing banking and other financial institutions, such as, State Financial Corporations, State Industrial Development Corporations, commercial banks, cooperative banks and RRBs. etc. The major functions of SIDBI are given below: (i) It refinances loans and advances provided by the existing lending institutions to the smallscale units. (ii) It discounts and rediscounts bills arising from sale of machinery to and manufactured by small-scale industrial units. (iii) It extends seed capital/soft loan assistance under National Equity Fund, Mahila Udyam Nidhi and Mahila Vikas Nidhi and seed capital schemes. (iv) It grants direct assistance and refinance loans extended by primary lending institutions for financing exports of products manufactured by small-scale units. (v) It provides services like factoring, leasing, etc. to small units. (vi) It extends financial support to State Small Industries Corporations for providing scarce raw materials to and marketing the products of the small-scale units. (vii) It provides financial support to National Small Industries Corporation for providing; leasing, hire purchase and marketing help to the small-scale units.

15 most essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur

Prashanth Reddy

The knowledge of entrepreneurial competencies or traits has been sharpened over the last five decades. It made the people to believe that entrepreneurs are made not born. According to this view, a person possessing a judicious combination of knowledge, skill and motives can be a successful entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) study to identify what makes an entrepreneur successful found that possession of a set of entrepreneurial competencies or

characteristics is necessary for superior performance. Mere possession of competencies is not enough. One should develop these competencies through training, experience and guidance. As per EDI study, following is a list of major traits of entrepreneur that contributes towards top performance.

15 most essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur

i. Initiative: Initiation of any business activity should come from the entrepreneur. It is the entrepreneur who takes action that goes beyond job requirements or the demand of the situation. He does things before being asked or forced by the events. ii. Looking for opportunities: A successful entrepreneur is one who always is on the look for and takes action on opportunities. He must be always in readiness to exploit it in maximising the interest of the organization. iii. Persistence: An entrepreneur should take repeated actions to overcome the obstacles that get in the way of reaching goals. He should never be disheartened by failures. He should believe in the Japanese proverb, "Fall seven times, stand up eight". iv. Information seeking: An entrepreneur is always in search of new ideas and informations from various sources to help reach objectives or clarify problems. He can consult experts for business or technical advice. He personally undertakes research, analysis or investigation on his own to get information in realising his goals. vi. Concern for quality products: Successful entrepreneurs always believe in high quality standards of their products with reasonable prices. They believe in excellence. They act to do things that meet Or beat existing standards of excellence. vi. Commitment to work: Successful entrepreneurs do every sacrifice to get the task completed. They put highest priority for accomplishing their objective. They are committed to their work. They also express a concern for satisfying their customers. vii. Efficiency orientation:

Successful entrepreneurs find ways to do things faster with fewer resources at lower costs. They are always interested in devising new methods aimed at promoting efficiency. viii. Systematic Planning: Entrepreneurs develop and use logical, step-by-step, realistic and proper plans to accomplish their goals. They believe in systematic planning and its proper execution to reach goals. ix. Problem solving: Successful entrepreneurs are challenging by nature. They always try to find out ways and means to overcome the problems that come in their way. They also identify new and potentially unique ideas to achieve their targets. x. Self-Confidence: Successful entrepreneurs must have a strong belief in themselves and in their own abilities. They have full faith and confidence on their own knowledge, skill, and competency to complete a task or meet a challenge. They are not at all cowed down by difficult situations. xi. Assertiveness: A successful entrepreneur must be assertive in nature so that he can assert his issues with others for promotion of interest of his enterprise. He tells others what they have to do and rebuke or disciplines those failing to perform as expected. xii. Persuasion: A successful entrepreneur must be able to persuade others to do the work the way he wants them to do. He is able to convince others through his knowledge and competence. He asserts strong confidence in his own company's product or services. He must possess the ability to convince everybody - sellers, consumers, employees, creditors etc. xiii. Monitoring: Successful entrepreneurs ensure regular monitoring of the working to achieve the organization's goal in the best possible manner. They personally supervise all aspects of their project to ensure completion of the work within the schedule time and cost. xiv. Concern for employee's welfare: Concern for employees welfare should be at the top of the agenda of successful entrepreneurs. They give priority to improve the welfare of the employees because it is the employees whose dedication and commitment services lead to super performance of the organization. (xv) Effective strategist:

Successful entrepreneur develops and uses varieties of effective strategies to accomplish own objectives. They also evolve relevant strategies which will safeguard and promote the interest of the organization. Besides the above major competencies identified by the EDI study, several individual scholars have also undertaken research studies to identify entrepreneurial competencies. The findings of a few studies are given below: JAMES. J. BERNA: James J. Berna in his studies has stated the following competencies in a good entrepreneur: a. He is an enterprising individual. b. He is always growth oriented. c. He is interested in introducing advanced and improved technology for improving the quality of his products. d. He looks for any change like watch-dog and is willing to assume risk involved in the change. B.C. TANDON: According to B.C. Tandon, a successful entrepreneur should possess the following four qualities: a. He is enough risk-bearer. b. He is ready to adopt change, if the situations warrant. c. He has the ability to Marshall resources at his command. d. He is a good organiser as well as a good manager. All the competencies described above are instrumental in making a person successful entrepreneur.