NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT

It is a strong psychological driving force behind human action in influencing entrepreneurial behaviour.

It is perceived  that individuals with a high need for achievement have a strong desire to be successful and are consequently more likely to act entrepreneurially.

 Empirical evidence suggests that there is significant association between need for achievement and entrepreneurship success.

TYPES OF CAPITAL

Bourdieu (1977) stated that  capital includes all the goods, material, and symbolic, without distinction, that present themselves as rare and worthy of being sought after in a particular social formation. 

He distinguishes between three forms of capital: economic capital (command over economic resources: cash and assets), social capital (resources based on group membership, relationships, networks of influence and support), and cultural capital (forms of knowledge, skills, education, and advantages that a person has, which give them a higher status in society).

Cultural Capital

Bourdieu defined cultural capital as forms of knowledge, skills, education, and any advantages a person has, which give him/her a higher status in society, including high expectations (1993). According to Bourdieu, cultural capital can be acquired, to a varying extent, depending on the period of time, the society, and the social class (1986). Bourdieu used cultural capital to explain differences in educational performances in France. According to him differences in educational performance depend on the cultural capital, which has been passed down by the family, which, in turn, is largely dependent on social class. Different capabilities and competences are determined by cultural capital obtained from the family (Dumais, 2002).

 It is argued that children who have more cultural capital (having been exposed to it from birth in their upper middle- and upper-class families) feel more comfortable in schools, communicate easily with teachers, and are therefore more likely to perform well in schools. On the other hand, lower-class students find the school environment different from their home environment and therefore lack the capital necessary to perform well in school (De Graaf et al., 2000).

Social Capital

Bourdieu (1986:249) defines social capital as "the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition". He treats the concept as instrumental, focusing on the advantages that owners of social capital can have; and the deliberate construction of sociability for the purpose of creating this resource (Portes, 1998). 

Apart from Bourdieu, Coleman (1988) defines social capital in terms of the social relationships that are established between individuals, authority and relationships of trust and norms. Like other forms of capital, social capital is productive, making possible to achieve certain goals that would not be possible in its absence. Coleman identified three distinct forms of social capital: obligations and expectations, information channels, and social norms. In addition, Putnam also defines social capital as the characteristics of the social organization such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit (Putnam, 1995:67). 

In relation to entrepreneurship, social capital provides sources for accessing important information and opportunities necessary for business start-ups and for business growth (Renzulli, Aldrich & Moody, 2000). In addition, it is argued that social networks provided by family members, community people, or organizational relationships can supplement the effects of other capitals (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Whiteley, 2000; Davidsson & Honig, 2003).

Economic Capital

According to Bourdieu, economic capital is the ability to command over economic resources (i.e. cash or assets), and is that which is immediately and directly convertible into money (Bourdieu, 1986).  Capital must exist within a field in order for the field to have meaning and participants to relate with. In other words, goods or resources must be perceived as “rare and worthy of being sought after in a particular social formation” (Bourdieu, 1977). Economic capital is more than financial capital. However, focus on access to financial capital is very paramount for success in business.

Financial capital is one of the obstacles which hinder small entrepreneurs to expand their businesses 

Entrepreneurs do bring solution to the society problems

The entrepreneurs not only starts a business ventures but also contributes to the objectives of employment creation, production growth, technological development, improvement in the quality of production, export promotion, import substitution and supply of goods at a reasonable price to the customers.

Some Definitions on Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial capability

Abilities behind creativity, recognition of and willingness to seize opportunities and turn them into marketable ideas for gain through the production of products or services.

Entrepreneurial skills

Intrinsic skills inherent to members of the community  in terms of; ability to take advantage arising from opportunities, creativity and innovation, commitment, enthusiasm, product development, managing, organizing, operations and budgeting.

SET YOUR GOALS

If what you are doing is not moving you towards  your  goals, then it is moving you away from your goals.

It is therefore very imperative to check your steps each day to say whether your steps leads you towards your goals otherwise daily you will be fulfilling other people's goals

Why start a small business and entrepreneurial ventures?

Owning a small business and entrepreneurial venture is a great dream for most people. It remains a dream for  most people, but some people turn this dream into action and take the plunge. Owning a business is a boon, provided one get into it the right way and know what to expect and what to do, otherwise it can be a nightmare.

Entrepreneurial motivation is a term that is used to describe the quest for new venture creation as well as the willingness to sustain the venture.

One quickly learns that it is easy to start a business. But running a business is a an entirely different ball game. Running one’s own business is probably tougher than anything you have done before.So one is owed to himself to the reason of starting a business. One is supposed to take time about it before committing   the time, money and resources to a new venture.

The following are the reasons why people like to start their business:

Control

The people start business because they do not like to have a boss. This means they want to make their own decisions. That is great-as long as they realize that even in your own business, many of their decisions will be dictated by government regulations, customers, and even their employees. But having, own business gives people far greater opportunity to exercise their own free will.

The idea

One is having one great idea or a product that will revolutionize the world. No one is currently offering it and you think you should not waste any time in going ahead.

Flexibility

Starting ones business allows one to work when ones want to and spend time with their kids when they want to. Running one’s own business does give the flexibility if one want it but now probably one will be spending much more time on the job. Remember, now, the buck stop with you

Money

It is the oldest and the most common reason. Most people start a business because they feel that it is the only logical way to become wealthy. Most of the wealthy people have got their money through business, either by starting one or by inheriting one.

Not everybody who starts business end up being wealthy. The success rate may be around 10% and many of the successful ones would achieve success very late in life. So it is not them but their children who will enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Many would be entrepreneurs make a grave mistake. They just want to be in business. They are not sure what that means, but they have some vague dream of success and think that they will recognize it when they see it.They may hate their job,are bored, or have just laid off-they are moving from something negative(such as building a business with a clear vision for the future)

This may not be the right path to entrepreneurship. Many people start their business with what they think are clear reasons.(more money, prestige, a sense of accomplishment, more flexible work time, being their own boss and so on).That is good first step, but you need more. Begin by defining your primary goal, then work from there. From the very beginning, you should plan and think about what you hope to get out of your business, in the short term and in the long term.

What do you hope to achieve by being an entrepreneur-personally, financially and professionally. How much money do you want to make? How much free time you want for you and your family? How many or how few employees do you want to have? When you are ready to retire, will you want to pass the business on to your children, shut it all together, or sell it? It may seem unnecessary to answer these questions before you start, but that is exactly the right time to do it. You can increase your odds of success by thinking clearly, from the very beginning, about your primary goal and what you are willing to give up to achieve it.

There are always tradeoffs, and the sooner you have them clearly in mind, the better off you will become. For example, it is going to be hard to give equal weightage to goals of maximizing income, working part time and having no debt. Any of these are valid goals, but you will have to choose less of some to have more of others.

Set clear goals. If money is the main motivation factor, understand how much money you want to make and how much money you need to make.(These two are usually not the same).Aim high, set financial targets beyond what you are making now, but be realistic. Once you have set goals and have a realistic expectation of what you have to do and what you have to give up in order to achieve those goals, it will be easier to work towards those goals. Also it will be easier to stay motivated  as you have you sights set on desirable and achievable goals.

Advantages and Disadvantages of running  own business

Advantages

(i)                 You are the boss

(ii)               All profits are yours

(iii)             There will be greater variety in roles and tasks

(iv)             Increases self confidence

(v)               Work can be very satisfying

(vi)             Success will give you immense satisfaction

Disadvantages

        (i)You are alone

        (ii) All decisions are yours

       ( iii) All loses are yours

       (iv)  Work may no be satisfying

       (v) You will need to put in long hours

       (vi)       Lack of success will affect self esteem

(vii)           Exiting the business is difficult

(viii)         Pressure will affect social and family life

Informal Sector

According to the informal sector survey of 1991, small enterprises operating at that time in the informal sector alone numbered more than 1.7 million businesses, engaging about three million persons, accounting for about 20% of the country's labour force (United Republic Tanzania, 2003)

Hart (1973) used the term informal sector to describe "the urban sub-proletariat" in that country. Hart argued that the informal sector could be used to denote the existence of informality in the income-generating activities of the sub-proletariat. In Hart's view, the distinction between formal and informal income opportunities is based essentially on that between wage earning and self-employment.

In a broad term informal economy refers to that economy that is not taxed, monitored by government or included in the gross national product like the formal economy.It is part of the economy which is very rampant in the developing world.

Other terms used to refer to informal economy include black market, the shadow  economy, the underground economy and off the books economy.

Women are the greatest group in the informal economy because it is easy to employ oneself in the informal economy and it also it is easy to employ in this type of economy even from home or even in the street as a street vendors also most importantly is that most women in the developing world did not have access to education and therefore most know only the rules of the informal economy and the formal one.

Local communities and entrepreneurial capabilities

Schumpeter (1934) asserted that an entrepreneur is an innovator or developer who recognizes and seizes opportunities, converts those opportunities to marketable ideas, adds value through skills and effort, assumes the risks of competition and realizes the rewards.

Entrepreneurial capabilities develop and maintain the fit between the changing opportunities and objectives for superior performance. Factors such as location, support activities and intensity affect performance.

An entrepreneur recognizes and exploits beneficial opportunities by moving an idea from the mind to the potential client.

 As argued by Lerner and Haber (2000), often people with greater efficacy are more likely to exploit opportunities when expected demand is high, the margins are high, product life cycle is young, the intensity of competition in a particular opportunity space is neither too low nor too high, the cost of capital is low, and population learning from others is available.

Competition

Competition

Research your idea. See if there is a demand. A lot of people have great ideas, but they don’t know if there is a need for it. One has to research his competition-Magic Johnson

Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition-In  having put forth the best within you –Henry Kaiser

BUSINESS COMPETITION

It is nice to have valid competition; it pushes one to do better.

Business competition becomes more intense when there is tough times in the economy.The entrepreneurs normally fears competition.

Other entrepreneurs avoid it,keep an eye on it and sadly try to squash it by using unethical tactics like gossip and back stabbing,this is even intense in small communities.

To avoid unethical tactics,the entrepreneurs is supposed to make sure that he/she delivers highest value to his/her customers so that even if his opponents are backstabbing him,they may get ashamed because of the value he produces.

You must have complete determination.The worst opponent one can come across is the one whose aim has become an obsession-Bruce Lee(1972).

In business the aim is always to serve customers better which will in turn lead to rewards which is profit.This should not only be an objective but an obsession.

In business,no sales,no revenue and no business.