In order to have a successful business you need a first-rate entrepreneur to create and grow the business, and you need to support a robust business eco-system, which includes market opportunity, financing, strategy, branding, stakeholders, ethics, operations, new product and public relations (McCubbrey, 2009). Market opportunity asks the questions: Is there a customer for the product/service? Is someone willing to purchase your product/service? What are the demographics of a customer? What is the cost to acquire and repeatedly sell to a customer? Is my timing right to launch my new product? Can I sell at a profit? (McCubbrey, 2009) Financing opportunities can come from micro-financiers, family or friends, support from NGO’s (Non- Governmental Organizations), savings, venture capitalists and bank loans (McCubbrey, 2009). Examples of good business strategies are low cost leader, luxury cost leader, first to market creating sustainable growth, creating societal wealth and having a paradigm shifting brand (McCubbrey, 2009). These are some of the reasons why some companies get far ahead of the game. Another reason is to have a good ethical, value-based company culture (McCubbrey, 2009). You get respect from the business community and your customers, and it makes for good public relations (McCubbrey, 2009). The entrepreneur for the company needs to have vision, creativity, focus, passion, drive, perseverance, opportunistic nature, good problem-solving abilities, self-discipline, frugality, empathy, social responsibility, spirituality, good timing and luck (McCubbrey, 2009).
In their overall purpose in a business, an entrepreneur is basically concerned primarily with the necessary components to start up a business (Lewis, 2017). Whereas a business manager is usually concerned with sustainability, and must focus on working within the existing framework of the company (Lewis, 2017). Entrepreneurs tend to be visionaries, while business managers will limit themselves to the entrepreneur’s vision (Lewis, 2017). Both managers and entrepreneurs are concerned with business growth (Lewis, 2017). Sometimes an entrepreneur also manages their own business (Lewis, 2017).
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Bill Gates has been hailed as the most successful entrepreneur of the 20thcentury (Kaura, 2014). Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft. In June of 1980 they started their first operating system with ‘ms-dos.’ (Kaura, 2014) June 25, 1981 he became CEO and chairman of Microsoft (Kaura, 2014). Between 1982 and 1985 Gates introduced Windows 1.0 (Kaura, 2014). In 1986, Gates became the youngest person to become a billionaire at age 31 (Kaura, 2014). In 1990, Microsoft’s sales went over $1 billion (Kaura, 2014. Between 1990 – 1994 he produced windows 3.0 with graphics (Kaura, 2014). In 1994, he received the national medal of technology from President George W. Bush (Kaura, 2014). Also in 1994, Gates becomes world’s richest man (Kaura, 2014. “We weren’t trying to just go public and get rich” Bill says of his early days with Microsoft (Kaura, 2014). “At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas, but the image is they all came from the top” says Gates (Kaura, 2014). “I’m afraid that’s not quite right.” (Kaura, 2014)
References
McCubbrey, D. J. (2009). Business Fundamentals. Florida. Orange Grove Texts Plus.
Lewis, J. (2017). Traits of an Entrepreneur vs. a Manager. [mobile phone post]. Retrieved from:
smallbusiness.chron.com/traits-entrepreneur-vs-manager-38558.html.
Kaura, S. (April 22, 2014). Bill Gates, The Most Successful Entrepreneur of the 20th Century. Retrieved
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