constraints facing Entrepreneurs
Introduction
Proverbs
6:6 “go to the Ants you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise”. This extract
from the scripture portrays the importance planning and working towards
achieving a desired goal. This is not far from the concept of entrepreneurship.
In this paper, we shall discuss in details, the concept of entrepreneurship,
paying special attention to the challenges and constraints facing entrepreneurs
in Adazi. To achieve this, we shall discuss in details, the concept of
entrepreneurship, who an entrepreneur is, the town Adazi, the challenges and
constraints of entrepreneur in Adazi, then we shall give a final conclusion.
DEFINTION OF
ENTERPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship has traditionally been defined as the process of
designing, launching and running a new business, which typically begins as a small business, such as a startup company, offering a product, process or service
for sale or hire.[1] It
is also the active process of recognizing an economic
demand in an economy, and supplying the factors of production (land, labor and
capital) to satisfy that demand, usually to generate a profit.[2]
Entrepreneurship can also be seen as the dynamic process of creating
incremental wealth. The wealth is created by individuals who assume the major
risks in terms of equity, time and or career commitment or provide value for
some product or service. The product or service may or may not be new or
unique, but value must somehow be infused by the entrepreneur by receiving and
locating the necessary skills and resources efficiently and effectively.[3]
The basic
concepts and characteristics of entrepreneurship are concerned with developing
a vision of what a company should be, and then executing that vision by
translating it into concrete steps and following through. Entrepreneurs tend to
be personally involved in building and shaping their companies, but business
success also depends on understanding personal limits, and developing
strategies and systems to transcend these limits.[4]
DEFINITION OF
ENTERPRENEUR
An entrepreneur is an enterprising individual who
builds capital through risk and initiative. The term was originally a loanword
from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard
Cantillon. [5]
Traditionally, an entrepreneur has been defined as "a person who
starts, organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually
with considerable initiative and risk".[9] "Rather than working as an employee, an entrepreneur runs a small business and assumes all the risk and reward of a
given business venture, idea, or good or service offered for sale. The
entrepreneur is commonly seen as a business leader and innovator of new ideas and business processes. Entrepreneurs tend to be good at
perceiving new business opportunities and they often exhibit positive biases in their perception (i.e., a bias towards
finding new possibilities and seeing unmet market needs) and a pro-risk-taking
attitude that makes them more likely to exploit the opportunity. [6]
To an economist, an entrepreneur is one who brings resources, labor,
materials, and other assets into combinations that make their value greater
than before, and also one who introduces changes, innovations, and a new order.
To a psychologist, such a person is typically driven by certain forces; the
need to obtain or attain something, to experiment, to accomplish, or perhaps to
escape the authority of others. To one businessman, an entrepreneur appears as
a threat, an aggressive competitor, whereas to another businessman the same
entrepreneur may be an ally, a source of supply, a customer, or someone who
creates wealth for others, as well as finds better ways to utilize resources,
reduce waste, and produce jobs others are glad to get.[7]
Pickle & Abrahamson defined an entrepreneur as one who organizes and manages a business
undertaking, assuming the risk, for the sake of profit. The
entrepreneur evaluates perceived opportunities and strives to make
the decisions that will enable the firm to realize sustained growth.”[8]
CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTERPRENEURS
Measured Risk
Entrepreneurs
are risk takers, staking money, time, and personal reputations to manifest
their visions. But, like heroes, entrepreneurs are rarely reckless. Rather,
successful entrepreneurs take measured risks, weighing the stakes and the
potential consequences, and then stepping into unknown territory to generate
results. As risk takers, successful entrepreneurs understand that failure can
be a vital part of success, and that learning from mistakes can be a way of
reaping benefits from situations that might otherwise feel like failures.[9]
Enterpreneural mind
Timmons describes entrepreneurial mind (which means the attitudes and behavior
of successful entrepreneurs) as those people who are capable of hard work, and
are driven by an intense commitment and determined perseverance. They see the
cup half full rather than half empty, they strive for integrity, they burn with
competitive desire to excel and win. They are dissatisfied with the status quo
and seek opportunities to improve almost any situation they encounter. They use
failure as a tool for learning and eschew perfection in favor of effectiveness.
They believe they can personally make an enormous difference in the final
outcome of their ventures and their life.[10]
It basically aims to enlarge the base of entrepreneurs in order to
hasten the pace at which new ventures are created. This accelerates employment
generation and economic development
ADAZI
Adazi is a town located in Anaocha local government area, Anambra
state. It is predominantly catholics, and is filled with religiously inclined
people. It has a population of about 200,000 people, about 90% of the
population are indigenes of Adazi while the remaining 10% are foreigners.
65% of the indigenes of adazi are not residing the town but only
comes back during the festive periods. Among these indigenes are great, wealthy
and influencial people. The sign of there presence is seen in the quality of
buildings seen in Adazi.
About 80% of the residents are not advanced in education. 65% of
them are papas/mamas, grandpas/grandmas. The common profession among them is
subsistence farming, labourers, petty business, like provision store, poultry,
goatry and selling of farm product, teaching etc. most of the residents are
common people with only very few influencial people.
Challenges Facing
Entrepreneurs in Adazi
1. Financing: ADAZI ENU is a town
filled up with a lot of farmers, who cultivate only what they eat. Majority of
the people we have in Adazi are commoners, basically labourers, petty traders,
school teachers etc. an entrepreneur in Adazi will likely face difficulties in
getting the capital to start up his business, this will be quiet difficult as
the people around him are mainly common people like him who depend on land
produce for their livelihood.
2. Hiring employees: he/she will find
difficulties in employing people who will have to work with him as a team or as
workers. Basically, relatives, brothers and sisters may be around hoping to be
employed, and if he fails to employ them, the kindred or clan will seriously
frown at it, and he will be considered as an evil man, and if he employs them,
there is great tendency that they will be carefree in their duties, since the
company belong to their kinsman
3. Delegation of task/ team building:
he/she will face the challenge of delegation of task, he will have to sit,
think and discern what type of work his team members or workers can do, and the
one they can best fit into.
4.
choosing what to sell: the choice of what to sell or what to
produce is one of the big challenges any entrepreneur will face in Adazi, lots
of things he must put into consideration, and must make lots of research and
ask lots of questions. This will equally cost him some cash
5.
Lack of market information and
Poor experience in the line of business: people in Adazi are predominantly
Igbos, and have this mentality of secrecy, they are not willing to help one
understand the business they do, (with exception of cultivation) this is
because when the person is fully balanced, some of their customers will be
taken away from them. As a result of this, the entrepreneur will find it very
difficult to know the full details of the business he is venturing into and how
it is done.
6.
Low demand for product: at
first, there will be very low demand for the product, this can be quite discouraging
7. Self-doubt: he/she will have to
defeat self-doubt in order to gain confidence. Defeating self-doubt can really
be challenging as people are always around to fuel it, by trying to discourage
the entrepreneur
8. Abandoning another career: the entrepreneur
will have to abandon his former career or give lesser attention to it in order
to embrace the new one he is going for.
9. Being the visionary: an entrepreneur
will have to be smart, and filled with ideas to combat competitors,or
unpleasant circumstances.
10. Decision making: the entrepreneur
will have to make lots of decision, some which are simple to make, some which
are difficult and some which are highly risky.
The Constraints Of
Enterpreneural Development
1. Absence
of electricity. Adazi for more than 1year now has not seen electricity. This is
as a result of been faithful to paying electricity bills only to see light for
2 hours in a month. The town decided to opt out from NEPA entirely
2. Limited
gsm network signal: Adazi is in the village area, and the network is very
limited. Sometimes you may have to take a bike to some distance in other to get
a strong service. This thereby can affect the entrepreneur in his business
3. Funding:
the issue of funding is quite a big one. Getting fund for the business is quite
difficult as one lives among fellow commoners. And the banks make much demand
with a high interest. Which one may not be able to afford. It is just like
making effort and after everything the bank takes the whole gain as their
interest.
4. Lack
of access to quality tools: Due to the setting of Adazi, one may not have
access to sophisticated tools in his production and may only have access to local tools thereby producing
inferior products
5. Bad
road network: the absence of good road in remote part of Adazi is one of the
constraints any entrepreneur will experience
6. Distance
to source of raw material: to get raw material, the entrepreneur needs to
travel some far distance as the neighboring town is not something different
from Adazi
7.
Crime,
theft and social disorder: there is possibility of thieves breaking into the
shop or company to steal away the machinery or goods
8.
Tedious
registration and licensing procedure: the entrepreneur will have to register
his/her business. The registration is both with the local and possibly the
state government. And this is not done free of charge, neither is it without
stress and much demands
9.
Corruption
and bad legal system: due to the corrupt nature of the country, the entrepreneur
will have to pay his way out in order to get what he deserves to get
10. Multiple taxation
Conclusion
In conclusion, I will say that nothing goes for
nothing and nothing good comes easy. For one to make it, he/she has to pay the
price. The challenges and constraints facing the entrepreneur in adazi is not
something that cannot be overcomed. Determination and confidence conquers all.
REFERENCE
Brian
Morris, Small Business Resource Center,The
Top 10 Challenges Faced By Entrepreneurs Today. https://www.deluxe.com/blog/top-10-challenges-faced-entrepreneurs-today-solved/
Frederic Odeigah (Mpia), An Adventure With An
Inspiring And Dedicated Young Man, Introduction To Entrepreneurship Development. https://fredericodeigah.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/introduction-to-entrepreneurship-development/
Jesse Hopps,Constraints To Small
Business Growth: Entrepreneurship And Small Business Enterprise Growth In
Uganda,http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1639/60-Constraints-to-small-business-growth-Entrepreneurship-and-Small-Business-Enterprise-Growth-in-Uganda.html
Larry
Alton, The 8 Biggest Challenges for New Entrepreneurs. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/254721
Uzondu
Chigozie, Challenges
Facing Entrepreneurs In Nigeria. http://zondrealestate.com/news/challenges-facing-entrepreneurs-in-nigeria/
Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia,
Entrepreneurship, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurship, last
edited on 27 May 2017.
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[1] Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia,
Entrepreneurship, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurship, last
edited on 27 May 2017.
[2] Frederic Odeigah (Mpia), An Adventure With An
Inspiring And Dedicated Young Man, Introduction To Entrepreneurship Development. https://fredericodeigah.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/introduction-to-entrepreneurship-development/
[3] Ibid.
[5] Frederic Odeigah (Mpia), An Adventure With An
Inspiring And Dedicated Young Man, Introduction To Entrepreneurship Development. https://fredericodeigah.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/introduction-to-entrepreneurship-development/
[6] Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia,
Entrepreneurship, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurship, last
edited on 27 May 2017.
[7] Frederic Odeigah (Mpia), An Adventure With An
Inspiring And Dedicated Young Man, Introduction To Entrepreneurship Development. https://fredericodeigah.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/introduction-to-entrepreneurship-development/
[8] Frederic Odeigah (Mpia), An Adventure With An
Inspiring And Dedicated Young Man, Introduction To Entrepreneurship Development. https://fredericodeigah.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/introduction-to-entrepreneurship-development/
[10] Frederic Odeigah (Mpia), An Adventure With An
Inspiring And Dedicated Young Man, Introduction To Entrepreneurship Development. https://fredericodeigah.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/introduction-to-entrepreneurship-development/
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