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Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Enterprise

The dictionary defines an Entrepreneur as one who undertakes innovations using business, technical and financial acumen to transform them into viable economic goods, or revitalizing and adding value to an organization. It has to be understood that each and every one has an entrepreneurial bent of mind embedded within us. Most of us do not realize that we unknowingly practice this in our day to day lives through finding an innovative solution at home thus saving time or money, or being 'Intrapreneurs' at work, constantly coming up with methods and processes which would be of benefit to the company and the client.

I had the opportunity to attend TiECon-2012 (flagship event of the 'The Indus Entrepreneurs' group) held in the last week of September. The primary focus of the event was to bring together like minded individuals from a multitude of business, financial and technological backgrounds to network, share thoughts and ideologies, learn the art of pro-activeness, understand challenges faced and attempt to find solutions for them.

Entrepreneurship-Thriving in Chaos was the theme of this year which focused on highlighting how entrepreneurs are out making a difference amid chaos, creating a niche, fulfilling a need or catering to a want. The two day event was in attendance by top entrepreneurs who have created successful enterprises through innovation and risk. Speeches by Lord Karan Billmoria (Cobra Beer), Sanjeev Kapoor (Khana Khazana Chef), Shekhar Kapur (Director, Actor), Shekhar Gupta (Editor-in-Chief Indian Express), Devdutt Pattnaik (CBO, Future Group) among other noted speakers from a spectrum of business and financial spheres presided over happenings.

A special mention went out to revolutionary startups like 17000ft Foundation (to alleviate challenges faced by kids in Ladakh) and Prajwala (to stop abuse faced by children and women). It was truly inspiring to hear these stories of courage and focus which have made a difference to human lives.

The common theme and take-away's from the conference was that entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs alike should have a no fear-proactive approach, they should identify bottlenecks in their day to day activities, strategize, take risks, innovate and in the process be enterprising thus set an example for others to follow. 
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Entrepreneurship is "risky" mainly because so few of the so-called entrepreneurs know what they are doing. They lack the methodology. They violate elementary and well-known rules. Theoretically, entrepreneurship should be the least risky rather than the most risky course. Entrepreneurs, by definition, shift resources from areas of low productivity and yield to areas of higher productivity and yield. Of course, there is a risk they may not succeed. But if they are even moderately successful, the return should be more than adequate to offset whatever risk there might be.
11 October 2012 at 22:43:00 BST
Mihir Satokar said…
Agree with you when you say entrepreneurship is risky business, but that is how it works in real life. Trial and error are part of measurement, there is no set formula to success. I don't agree with you when you say "entrepreneurship should be the least risky rather than the most risky course". I feel this depends on many intangible parameters which at best can be predicted with limited accuracy.

Thanks for the feedback!
12 October 2012 at 07:38:00 BST
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