What is Entrepreneurship
In today’s world, many people consider entrepreneurship to be a hotbed of innovative ideas, technological innovations and resourceful methods. Entrepreneurship therefore covers the wide range of activities that are engaged in by entrepreneurs, who have made a business their own through careful planning and execution. Entrepreneurial activity is not confined to the technological, scientific, and academic sectors alone. In fact, the definition of entrepreneurship actually includes several business activities that involve the implementation of an idea or a set of plans that are developed to make a certain business more successful and profitable. All of this set of activities is actually part of entrepreneurship.
There are several different factors that contribute to the definition of entrepreneurship. The first of which is competition. Entrepreneurs usually face stiff competition from other entrepreneurs who also want to become part of the corporate world. With that definition in mind, entrepreneurship is seen as transformation, normally involving high risk, beyond what is usually encountered in beginning a business which can include other more critical and even devastating factors, such as natural disasters, adverse economic conditions, and others.
Another factor that is often looked at when talking about entrepreneurship and its definition is government programs and grants. There have been many government programs designed to assist entrepreneurs in starting new ventures. There is a program for government assistance in setting up new businesses called the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA is also tasked with helping entrepreneurs obtain loans for their new venture, and most especially to help new business owners retain their businesses after they are established.
There is also a government program called the Technology Development Act of 2021 which seeks to promote the participation of women in entrepreneurial ventures. It also seeks to help disadvantaged women and girls establish or start-up businesses. These programs aim to increase entrepreneurship’s contribution to the economic development of the nation. These programs further empower women through training, mentoring, and providing knowledge on how to properly run a start-up business.
One way to make entrepreneurship more palatable to women is for governments to promote the idea of being a woman entrepreneur. For instance, in Nigeria, the government recently announced that it would be funding female owned businesses. In response, organizations like the Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund (Wefor) and the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Business Enhancement Program (WBE) were established. These organizations believe that empowerment of women should come from the grass root level, meaning from birth, and should therefore start from their own homes.
This idea is slowly gaining ground in other parts of the world and is now gaining momentum in the United States. The US government now has official support to further support women entrepreneurs. In June of 2021, President Barak Obama signed into law legislation that aims to help women entrepreneurs get a loan from the Small Business Administration. The legislation is called the SMARTCA and is currently being implemented. This may be the beginning of a more comprehensive push by the United States government towards helping women enter the entrepreneurial circle.