Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur

Not every person who starts a business succeeds at it, and commerce writers have tried to isolate the personal qualities that mark out a successful entrepreneur from one who merely attempts a venture. The AP Inter II year Commerce syllabus groups these qualities broadly as follows:

• Self-confidence -- a successful entrepreneur believes in their own judgement and ability to carry an idea through, even when others doubt it or when early results are discouraging.
• Vision and foresight -- the ability to picture where the enterprise should be in the future, and to plan today's actions around that future picture rather than only today's convenience.
• Willingness to take calculated risk -- an entrepreneur does not avoid risk, but also does not gamble blindly; a calculated risk is one taken after weighing the likely gain against the likely loss.
• Innovativeness and creativity -- the capacity to see a new product, a new process, a new market, or a new way of organising, rather than only repeating what already exists.
• Hard work and perseverance -- the willingness to put in sustained effort over a long period, and to keep going through setbacks that would discourage a less committed person.
• Ability to take decisions -- an entrepreneur is regularly required to decide quickly, often on incomplete information, and to accept responsibility for the outcome of that decision.
• Organising ability -- the skill of assembling land, labour, capital, and other resources into a coordinated, working unit.
• Good human relations -- the ability to deal effectively with employees, suppliers, customers, and financiers, since no enterprise, however small, is built by one person acting entirely alone.
• Knowledge of the business and the market -- a realistic understanding of the product, the competition, and the customers the enterprise intends to serve. …