Types of Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are not a single uniform category; commerce writers classify them on several different bases, and the AP Board syllabus expects a student to be familiar with the more common classifications.

On the basis of the type of business:

• Business entrepreneur -- conceives an idea for a new product or service and creates an enterprise around it, whether in manufacturing or trade.
• Trading entrepreneur -- undertakes trading activities -- buying and selling finished goods -- rather than manufacturing them.
• Industrial entrepreneur -- identifies the needs of customers and creates a product or service to satisfy them, typically through manufacturing.
• Corporate entrepreneur -- organises and manages a corporate undertaking, that is, a business run in the form of a company.
• Agricultural entrepreneur -- undertakes agricultural activities such as raising and marketing crops, or agri-input and agri-processing ventures.

On the basis of the use of technology:

• Technical entrepreneur -- builds the enterprise mainly on technical skill and manufacturing know-how, often concentrating more on production than on marketing.
• Non-technical entrepreneur -- concentrates on developing alternative marketing and distribution strategies rather than on the technical side of production.

On the basis of motivation:

• Pure entrepreneur -- is motivated by personal satisfaction in business activity and by the psychological and economic rewards it offers.
• Induced entrepreneur -- is induced to take up an entrepreneurial venture by external factors, such as government incentives, subsidies, or facilities offered to new entrepreneurs.
• Motivated entrepreneur -- is driven by the desire for self-satisfaction that comes from applying their own knowledge and skill in a fresh venture.
• Spontaneous entrepreneur -- starts a business purely out of an inborn talent and self-confidence, without any strong external inducement.

On the basis of stages of development:

• First-generation entrepreneur -- an innovator who starts a business for the first time, with no family background in business.
• Modern entrepreneur -- plans and adapts the enterprise according to changing market demand, and is willing to take up ventures that suit the requirements of the time. …