Entrepreneurs

Some businessmen are born to have their ability in business. We say that Chinese are good in business and it is because they inherited it from their parents. The traits they inherited make them successful in life especially in business. But that doesn’t mean we, Filipinos can’t be successful in business or we call them entrepreneurs.

Now, what is entrepreneur? An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of a new enterprise, venture or idea and is accountable for the inherit risks and the outcome of a product. 

Here are 10 examples of the most successful entrepreneurs all over the world:

    1.      John D. Rockefeller

 

Rockefeller is the richest man of all time when adjusted for inflation and is certainly one of the ten most successful businessmen. He created Standard Oil and completely monopolized the oil industry, controlling every level of production from start to finish.

      

       2.     Henry Ford

      

Ford created the Ford Motor Company and essentially, the automobile industry. His developments changed the way factories ran, the way society operated and the face of the country. His company remains a major world force today.

    3.     Bill Gates

 Gates became one of the ten most successful businessmen of all time in the 1980’s when the software he developed—Microsoft—took over the computing world. Nearly all computers run Microsoft, and Gates is a major player in world economics.

 

     4.     Thomas Edison

Edison not only invented an item nearly every person in the world uses everyday, the light bulb, he also was the holder of over 1,000 patents at the time of his death. A symbol of innovation, persistence and entrepreneurship, he is definitely one of the ten most successful businessmen in history.

   5. Soichiro Honda

Honda is certainly one of the ten most successful businessmen in world history. He began making small motorcycles in Japan in the mid 20th century and then moved into the auto industry. His eponymous car company grew and gained a significant foothold in the United States, opening the way for Japanese exports and establishing a reputation for quality and reliability.

   6.Steven Jobs

Jobs was co-founder of Apple, the company that introduced a practical personal computer to the world, and is one of the ten most successful businessmen in the country. He has stayed at the helm of Apple, a company that continues to release incredibly popular products.

       7.  Carlos Slim

Slim moved into the spot of “world’s richest man” and obviously, one of the ten most successful businessmen in the world. He has made his money in the telecom industry and is the CEO of three companies.

      8. Andrew Carnegie

Carnegie was an immigrant bobbin boy in a factory as a child, and decades later, he became the biggest steel magnate the world had ever seen. In his later years, he gave away a large part of his vast fortune.

  

9. JP Morgan

Morgan, one of the ten most successful businessmen ever, was one of a handful of corporate titans on the American scene at the turn of the 20th century. He was a banker and oversaw industrial consolidations in major industries, such as steel and electronics. He stepped in during a financial crisis and saved many New York banks in 1907.

  

          10. Michael Dell

Dell was an engineering whiz as a youngster and started a computer building business while in college. His company, today, is one of the biggest tech firms in the world, and most Americans spend their time online using a Dell computer.

  

Some of you may know these famous entrepreneurs in the world. But don't forget that we, Filipinos  also have our talents in this industry. Let me show you another list of entrepreneurs but this time, you will know the Filipino entrepreneurs. I admit that they are almost Chinese and not Filipino but you can't remove the fact that they settled here for a long time and learned Filipino traits too.

 

1. Henry Sy. As a child, Henry Sy used to work twelve hours a day to help his father run their small family-owned convenience store. During the Second World War, their store was looted and burned so the young Sy switched to buying whatever he could to sell for a profit. Hard times and a humble background in retail shaped and molded the young Sy. Today, he is touted by the business community as the richest man in the Philippines. With over fifty malls and stores of various sizes, the most recognized of all famous Filipino businessmen has foothold in virtually all the major cities in the Philippines. They recently even expanded to Guam and China. To date, three of the ten largest malls in the world are owned and operated by his company.

2.Lucio Tan. Lucio Tan worked as a janitor in a cigarette factory. After a few promotions, he eventually resigned and started his own tobacco company. His tobacco company grew to capture a 60% share of the Philippine market. With its strong revenues, Tan was able to diversify. This famous Filipino businessman now owns several prominent Philippine companies, many of which are blue-chippers.  Among the top businessmen, Tan is arguably the most enigmatic.  Among his contemporaries, he is probably accessible and prefers to stay out of the limelight.

3.John Gokongwei. Another self-made man is John Gokongwei who lost his father at the age of thirteen. He had to work hard to help support his family by selling simple products like candles, soap and thread in a small local market and was able to expand to sell more lucrative products. He did this for many years until he ventured into the profitable instant coffee business. Nescafe of Nestle was the only instant coffee readily brand readily available so he focused on developing his own brand of instant coffee – Blend 45. His company did incredibly well and generated enough profits to develop other brands. Almost all of the famous Filipino food and beverage brands Gokongwei created are now market leaders in their respective categories. He eventually made his way in the local retail industry by building and running his own chain of successful shopping malls.

4.Tony Tan Caktiong. At a time when McDonalds has virtually dominated the fast food industry in the region, Caktiong’s famous Filipino owned Jolibee has topped the local fast food scene year after year. In 1978 when he first started, this famous entrepreneur initially envisioned and set up an ice cream parlor. However, he saw the demand for inexpensive and quick meals on the go, so he overhauled Jolibee’s menu with burgers and fries as its main offering.  Sales skyrocketed and profits flowed in. By the mid-90’s, Jollibee had an outlet in virtually every nook and cranny in the Philippines. His company also purchased several competitors and even opened restaurants in Asia, the Middle East and the United States.

 
5.George Ty. Yet another in a distinguished line of famous Filipino entrepreneurs is George Ty. Among the famous Filipino businessmen, he had perhaps the most comfortable childhood, since his family owned a large flour mill. At the age of 29, he founded Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company with several partners. Today, this famous Filipino owned bank is one of the biggest financial institutions in the Philippines.

These two list I showed you are the list of people  with great characteristics in the business industry. All of us wants to be successful in life just like them, not only in business but in school too. As a student, We should also follow Personal Entrepreneurial Competences or what we call PEC. 

Behavioral scientists and psychologists who have been studying entrepreneurs for more than 20 years have found that successful entrepreneurs all over the world have some characteristics in common. they were able to identify ten personal entrepreneurial characteristics or PECs of these successful entrepreneurs. these PECs are classified into three clusters namely, the achievement cluster, the planning cluster, and the power cluster.

Achievement Cluster

 Successful entrepreneurs are people who accomplish things. They have what psychologist call "the need  to achieve". They want to perform tasks excellently not only for prestige and money but for the sake of excellence itself. When entrepreneurial individuals work on something, they like to know afterwards that it was a job well done and this alone is enough to make them happy.

Opportunity-Seeking

An entrepreneur is said to be a good opportunity -seeker if he or she sees and acts on new business opportunities and seizes unusual opportunities to acquire financing, land work space, or assistance.

Persistence

A persistent individual is one who takes repeated or different actions to overcome an obstacle; makes personal sacrifice or spends extraordinary  efforts to complete a job; and sticks to his or her judgement in the face of opposition or early lack of success.

Commitment to the Work Contract

  The true-blue entrepreneur is committed to the work that he has agreed to do. When he accepts a job, he takes full responsibility for its completion. No job is too small, too dirty, or too difficult to be done. When necessary, he pitches in for workers to things done. He exerts effort to satisfy the customer. In the end, if he fails, he would take full measure of the blame. But if he succeeds, he expects to get full credit.

Risk-Taking

A gambler is a person who takes high risks and so he tends to lose all money even his shirt in the end but an entrepreneur is not a gambler. A successful entrepreneur takes calculated, moderate, or reasonable risks where he perceives the chances for winning to be good. In other words, he states a preference for situations that involve moderate risk.

Demand for Quality and Efficiency

A true entrepreneur is not satisfied with mediocre work. He or she sets a high standard of performance. The high standards of performance makes him act to meet or exceed existing standards of excellence or improve on past performance. He or she strives to do things better, faster, or cheaper.

Planning Cluster

An entrepreneur does not plunge into a business on the basis of inspiration. Going into business is the result of deliberate goal-setting, tireless information-seeking, and systematic planning and monitoring by the entrepreneur.

Goal-Setting

As a careful planner, the successful entrepreneur always thinks not only of what he or she wants to accomplish day-to-day but also in one, two or five years from now. In other words he or she sets clear and specific short-and long-term objectives. He or she thinks of today's activity as a small step towards that which he or she eventually wants to accomplish.

Information-Seeking

As a careful planner, the successful entrepreneur always makes it a point to seek information that it is relevant and useful to his present or future business. He or she obtains information from clients, suppliers, experts, competitors, contacts, and information networks. He or she also consults experts for business or technical advice.

Systematic Planning and Monitoring

The successful entrepreneur does not only set short and long term foals. He does not only seek information regularly. He also systematically plans and monitors his activities and performance. he develops and uses alternatives and monitors his progress. He is ready to switch to alternative strategies when necessary to achieve his goals. 

Power Cluster

The personal motto of a successful entrepreneur is "I can". He thinks that he can achieve things; he can convince people to his way of thinking; and he can influence the outcome of events. He is a natural leader. He is decisive and he believes in his power. The power cluster consists of the following PECs persuasion and networking and self confinece.

Persuasion and Networking

A persuasive person who readily establishes a network or personal and business contracts around him usually makes a good entrepreneur. In order to persuade or convince others, the entrepreneur uses deliberate strategies. In order to accomplish his business objectives he uses his network of useful friends and acquaintances.

Self- Confidence

The entrepreneur exudes self-confidence. He strongly believes in himself and his own abilities. No challenge is too difficult nor is a task too big that the entrepreneur would indulge in self doubt. When he enters a business, it is because he is confident that the business would be successful, it is because he is confident that the business would be successful and profitable.                 

What I learn

After discussing this lesson, I already knew all the characteristics of an entrepreneur. I find out that some of the characteristics are connected to me. After this, I am now planning to be a successful entrepreneur.