I found an interesting essay I wrote back in college on the topic. This is very timely as the country is currently experiencing an Entrepreneur Revolution as evidenced by the media coverage given to the GoNegosyo Caravan, Entrepreneurs School of Asia, and the publication of The Entrepreneur Magazine by Summit Publishing.
Check it out:
One of the most perplexing questions that has endured history for so long a time is the notion that successful people especially leaders and individuals who have somehow shaped the course of history are born to become that way or to act that way. History has shown us people like former US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who guided America during the Second World War and helped create a better world through his sponsorship of the United Nations, Albert Einstein who changed the course of science and technology, and William “Bill” Gates III who as founder of Microsoft Corporation created the biggest corporation on earth while in the process becoming also the world’s richest man. The belief that these people were somehow fated to become great resonates in many corners of the globe. But is success really something written on the stars? Or is success largely based on man’s own hands? - October 13 - Bill Gates is currently Number 2 according to Forbes magazine, new number one is Carlos Slim of Mexico. Microsoft Corporation is also no longer occupying the biggest corporation slot in terms of Assets, General Electric is (excluding banks).
In this essay I am not going to delve much into the issues presented in the article assigned about entrepreneurship but rather I would present some observations of mine that I believe will shed light on the matter. Being born to a rich, prosperous family is no guarantee for a successful future, as well as on the other hand, being born to a poor one doesn’t necessarily mean you end up living a miserable life. But what factor separates the successful from the failure?
Before I go on trying to give my answers to these questions, it is good to try to define success first. It is very hard to define success, as people from different walks of life have a meaning for the word of their own. Like for example, a businessman would define success as starting a great business and maintaining it. For a priest, success would come as he is promoted from parish priest to bishop to cardinal or probably even being elected pope. For a politician, success comes as he wins in elections.
In this regard, I will be concentrating on what makes entrepreneurs tick. What makes them become successful in an environment that’s not only highly competitive but that requires a certain degree of passion that is rarely seen. Not all individuals on earth can become entrepreneurs, though some may argue that it is. It is hard to debate on that point. Man will never really be able to determine with certainty why people become successful and why others do not. All we can do is extrapolate on the life of those successful entrepreneurs, who not only made their dreams come true but also lived a life full of surprises, failures and successes. A life of an entrepreneur may not necessarily be extraordinary but it is also not ordinary. Usually it is in between and sometimes it’s really amazing, the likes of Bill Gates, Lucio Tan, John Gokongwei, Stanley Ho and Li-Ka-Shing would come into mind. These individuals not only became successful businessmen, they are known for their phenomenal lifestyle and attitude towards life, towards their businesses.
So, what makes these individuals tick? What makes them achieve what many people can only aspire to? Some will say that they are fated by the gods or by God to become successful. That somehow it is already written in the stars or the palms of their hands that they will be successful. For me, nothing can be further from the truth. For one, God wouldn’t favor any one of us over the other. God would not have created man equally if that were true. Somehow, this line of reasoning has resulted from the fact that it is very hard to quantify the success factors that makes these entrepreneurs achieved the impossible. It is because environmental factors can only be qualitatively measured that’s why this line of reasoning continues to be held by the larger public.
Though I believe not everyone can become entrepreneurs or successful businessmen, I also believe that all of us have the given abilities and the potential to be entrepreneurs. It’s only that because human nature is so unpredictable and the possibilities for what we can do are endless – that’s why there are those who become successful businessmen or entrepreneurs. But who can say, whether those national artists, those great poets, writers, and performers of the arts are also not successful or great. Surely, Jose Rizal helped shaped the course of our country’s history, yet he chose to become a writer fighting for independence rather than follow the footsteps of his father and his father’s father of managing their hacienda. I believe even though we are given the chance to become successful entrepreneurs, we chose not to because our interests lie elsewhere.
I, for one, would want to live wealthily but since I am also good intellectually, I am in a dilemma. Should I start my own business when I graduate or should I pursue further studies? Even though, they say, it runs in the family because my parents are successful businessmen, I am somehow inclined to pursue further studies. I am more inclined to study further since I might never have the enthusiasm again to undergo college life again. So in my case for example, it’s not an easy choice. I am facing two mutually exclusive alternatives, when I choose to study further, I could no longer start my own business or manage my family’s business. - I stand corrected from this belief, as the people who started Google, MySpace, Facebook and a host of other new technology companies today have shown, it is very much possible to study while also starting your own business.
What I had just illustrated is a case wherein I personally believe I have what it takes to become an entrepreneur. I have a great passion for innovation and creative ideas. I am a risk-taker, I am hard working, industrious, and I believe I have good communication skills. So, for me, being capable alone is not what makes an entrepreneur. It is also a life’s passion to bring products or services to customers. For an entrepreneur’s job is to find a need of customers that is not being met or is being met with poor products or services. Entrepreneurs early on realize the potential of what they have discovered, and they are willing to risk their lives, their money, sometimes their families’ trust so they can make it a reality.
Entrepreneurs are not only risk takers; they also work hard and seek information that can help their businesses. As the article assigned has shown, time management and work ethics are important features of an entrepreneur’s life.
Are entrepreneurs then made? I believe so, and here lies the most important argument I will be making. I believe entrepreneurs are made for the simple reason that entrepreneurs take it into their hands to make sure they learn to play the game better than anybody. That game is taking the risk now, for expected greater returns in the future. Bill Gates did that when he negotiated with IBM for the licensing of the DOS operating system in the late 1970s. Bill Gates and his partners didn’t write the code for that O/S, they bought it for $50,000 from one computer programmer who was happy to take the offer. Bill Gates saw Apple Computer’s mistake in not licensing its O/S software with other computer manufacturers, so they took matters into their own hands, bought that simple O/S from an unknown programmer, and negotiated with the computer manufacturers especially IBM. It takes guts to be able to do something like that. And I doubt Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Paul Allen, were born to become great observers of the computer industry. They banded together and searched for the next big thing in business while attending Harvard University.
They founded Microsoft Corporation which today ranks as the world’s number one corporation. It controls 90% of the operating system market for computers. That cannot happen simply because you were born to build that. You have to have the interest and the passion to see it through.
In the Philippine setting, John Gokongwei and Lucio Tan started from humble beginnings. And yet they became the richest Filipino businessmen to have ever been born. Both early on in life decided they were going to build something great. Though they didn’t know what it was, they knew they were going to do something. You can see that in lifestyle sections of newspapers and magazines today that continually emphasize their humble past, and their path to success. Entrepreneurs early on in their life decide that they are going to become businessmen – people who serve their customers with the best product or service possible.
I do believe though that political and cultural environments influence the potential of a country to produce entrepreneurs. In the US example, small businesses account for more than 80% of businesses. Small businesses play an important role in bringing customized products and services to the masses. And almost all entrepreneurs have humble beginnings.
It is because they have tasted misery early on in life that is why they strive harder so their children or even they themselves will not taste it again. But that is not the only reason why entrepreneurs become successful there are those that truly want to provide the best product or service to the larger public. Those who truly are conscious of their capabilities and the role they should play in enriching their communities and their country. Going back to my example, in the US, it is ingrained in their way of life, in their culture – that children should become independent when they reach legal age. That’s why a lot of high school graduates are already working, it is a cultural phenomenon in the United States that parents ask their children (when they turn 18) whether they will still stay in their homes or move out. It is seen as an encouragement for the children to take their destiny into their own hands, to become the master of their futures.
In contrast, here in the Philippines, parents are somehow obliged to see to it that their children are educated up to college all expense paid. Filipino culture does not emphasize independence but rather “pakikisama.” Something strange to most foreigners, though in some ways it is good for relationships between peoples. On the other hand, it has made our country a hotbed for lazy students. Children who wait on their parents all their life. Wait for their parents’ help, their parents’ money, and their parents’ advice. Filipino adolescents do not learn the importance of giving a hand to the family early on. I am not saying here that all adolescents are like that but most do.
And that fact shows why Filipinos are doing catch up in the world of business, in the world of science and technology, because there are seriously few risk takers among us. Few risk to make their dreams come true. Few even dream big. And that is what distinguishes the ordinary Filipino to the Filipino entrepreneur. And he is not born. He is made.
The Filipino entrepreneur is a usual sight in the Philippines but he still needs more risk taking before he can truly become a globally competitive entrepreneur. He should be resourceful, should be information seeking, and should be persistent in his efforts. The Filipino entrepreneur is made because despite the poverty that persists in the country today, despite the lack of government assistance, despite the seeming incompatibility of most of his culture with the concept of entrepreneurship, and the harsh economic conditions in the country, he persists and decides to take a risk, to build a business on his own. The Filipino entrepreneur makes his way through. He travels the less traveled road. He unites his Catholic predisposition with the mechanics of capitalism. The Filipino entrepreneur makes himself successful. It is not by freak accident or by having that inborn talent. He truly makes himself successful by hard work and a healthy dose of courage. He perseveres despite the dire conditions.
In all this, the Filipino entrepreneur proves he can be who he wants to be. That is what Lucio Tan, John Gokongwei, Henry Sy, Eugenio Lopez Sr., and a host of other Filipino entrepreneurs have shown. They proved to the world that the Filipino can become great, could be great and is in fact great. These Filipinos established their own footprints in Philippine history by making their dreams come true. Nobody comes into the world knowing what he’ll eventually do. But everyone, enlightened by the truth in reality, eventually decides who he wants to be and tries to make it a reality. And that is how all entrepreneurs live. Dangerously.
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