Five qualities you need to be an entrepreneur

Five qualities you need to be an entrepreneur

You hear some fascinating stories circulating at a conference like EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year: how one person’s first round of funding came from a loan shark, complete with the threat to break his knees. How another used male actors to pose as team members on funding pitches, because she found they made the men she was pitching to more comfortable. (She always came clean before signing the dotted line.)

One of the questions I am frequently asked at conferences like this are: “What do you think it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?”

 Entrepreneurs see opportunity where others see disruption and chaos.

After meeting some amazing entrepreneurs and learning about others, here on my reflections on the qualities they share.

Five qualities of an entrepreneur

  • Passion and focus: The people I met had drive and a strong belief that they could shape their own destinies. Though the businesses ranged from marine engineering and toys to pharmaceuticals, one quality rang true: they were motivated by strong ideas about how to make things better – either for themselves, for consumers or for society. 
  • Tenacity: You know those people who just don’t give up? (If it’s your children, take comfort in the fact that they may grow up to be successful entrepreneurs). Our winner from the Philippines, Nico Jose Nolledo, is a great example of this. After gaining a business degree, the only job he could get (post the Asian currency crisis) was assistant manager at KFC. But he didn’t give up. He founded his first tech company in 1999, and founded Xurpas (which focuses on mobile content) in 2001 with just US$1,300. Xurpas went straight to initial public offering (IPO) in 2014, and is now South East Asia’s largest consumer technology company by market capitalization, worth PHP28.8b (US$620m).   
  • Both a non conformist and a team player: Though these may seem contradictory, successful entrepreneurs are both. It takes an outsider’s eye to spot niches and gaps in the market. But you also have to be able to inspire people and build strong teams. The initial months of a startup are incredibly demanding – if your people aren’t 100% with you, giving their absolute all, you won’t succeed.  
It takes an outsider’s eye to spot niches and gaps in the market. But you also have to be able to inspire people and build strong teams.
  • Opportunistic mindset: Entrepreneurial leaders see opportunity where others see disruption and chaos. This is exemplified by our winner, Manny Stul, Chairman and co-CEO of Moose Enterprises, who increased sales by 7200% in just 15 years. But it wasn’t a smooth ride upward. Success came after being confronted with one of the largest toy recalls in history. Ignoring advice to declare bankruptcy, he reached approvals with local and international governments, signed ongoing trade agreements with each and every distributor around the globe, and ensured there were no staff layoffs. All this helped the business not only to survive but thrive. Stul was always determined that Australia would be a starting point to global success – and Moose Toys is now the fourth largest toy company in Australia and the sixth largest in the US.
  • Not afraid of risk and failure: As José Neves, CEO of luxury fashion retailer Farfetch says, “The biggest risk is not to take risks at all. In a world that is constantly changing, the biggest risk is to stand still.” One of our winners from the US, Jayschree Ullal, would certainly echo this. Back in 2008, when she became president and CEO of Arista Networks, the vision was to build a company led by engineers to take on established tech giants. The reality was that Arista had no revenues and under 50 employees when she took the post. Under Ullal’s tenure, alongside Chairman Andreas Bechtolsheim, Arista has grown into a billion-dollar business in revenue.
“The biggest risk is not to take risks at all.” - José Neves, CEO, Farfetch

What else you need: timing, money and networks

While you are unlikely to succeed without these characteristics, it takes more than the right personality. We all know people chock-full of ideas that never turn them into businesses. Why not? They’re usually lacking one of these factors: timing, money and the right networks.

Though funding remains a top barrier for startups, it was interesting to see how this has changed. I got the sense that the days of putting up your entire savings (and frequently your house) to fund a business were gone. There are so many more options for finance now, such as crowdfunding, angel investors and venture capital (though not in every market, as evidenced by the loan shark).

Born or made?

One of the questions EY asked at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year forum was: “Are entrepreneurs born or made?”

I really like the response from EY’s Kath Carter, who said entrepreneurs are “born once, and made every single day” by the decisions they take.  

I believe some people are natural entrepreneurs. Others are made along the way by their experiences. Time and time again, I have met entrepreneurs who started out by working for a large corporate: inspired or frustrated by their experiences there, they launched a second career with a startup.

I also think more entrepreneurs could be nurtured if we valued entrepreneurial skills in schools. Unfortunately, this doesn’t sit neatly with standardized testing. It’s more difficult to assess these skills, so until now academic skills in mathematics and language have been prioritized.

This is an issue EY is exploring with The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), which is developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset Index (EMI). The EMI will enable schools to identify and measure the presence of these skills in students.

Personally, I believe these skills that will be increasingly important in a future where robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and technology will play a greater role. But that’s a subject for another blog…

nellie cabane ORSC, C-IQ, C-ROI, HC System Business Coach

Global Executive Leadership Coach and Business Mentor for Entrepreneurs/Uni grads/Startups/Small Business /Award winner as Accredited Facilitator/Founder and CEO Nellie Training Institute

8 年

Thanks for this blog...this means a lot to me! I am coaching a group of women that want to be successful entrepreneurs and they started from nothing but they see results now! They have seen now so many opportunities and being independent with NO boss is satisfying for them...

回复
Matt Rennie

M&A | Strategy | Energy Transition Advisory | Board Facilitation |

8 年

Enjoyed reading this. Great blog.

Nicole Lipkin, Psy.D., M.B.A.

Organizational Psychologist | Executive Coach | Keynote Speaker | CEO, Equilibria Leadership Consulting | Founder & CEO, HeyKiddo

8 年

Enjoyed the past, Alison! I would add that entrepreneurs do sometimes fear risk and failure but you're right in that tenacity gives them the impetus to keep going.

要查看或添加评论,请登录

Alison Kay的更多文章

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了