Identifying an Entrepreneurs - Assignment Example

WORKSHEET 1: ENTREPRENEURS – BORN OR MADE

Watch the short clips of entrepreneurs in-class. Although we only get a quick glimpse of each entrepreneur, we do get a partial sense of what they are like.

For each entrepreneur, note below ways in which you perceive they have born or made entrepreneurial characteristics.

Entrepreneur

Born entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, inherent personality traits suited to being an entrepreneur.

Made entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, life experiences that may have shaped them into an entrepreneur.

Miki

Agrawal

Miki is a confident and modern woman who does not shy away from criticism. She is widely outspoken and loves to share her entrepreneurial adventures with the world. She is passionate about her work, and this motivates her employees as well as drives her creativity and innovation in the company.

Miki is conscious of her customers and makes the conscious decision to improve customer relations. She is seen to make big company decisions after she has carefully considered the risk versus reward factors of the decision that she wants to make. She has grown to embrace modern technology in her business operations, and this has helped her gain a significant share of the market.

Chris Wilkerson

Chris Wilkerson is a strong, confident, mature, and well-tempered individual. However, despite having been featured in numerous news pieces as having molested children, he remains steadfast and thrives on the challenge and even works harder at his job.

He is a consistent learner because his coaching career demands that he adapts to the situation in the field if and when the need for such adaptation arises.

SteveLeveen

Steve Leveen is fearless in the face of challenges and readily embraces new opportunities whenever they arise. He is confident in his skills and often takes charge of the situation.

He has embraced modern technology, and as a result, he has been able to increase his audience. He is not afraid of failing, regardless of the amount of risk involved.

Hugh

Simms

Hugh Simms is a confident, natural leader who takes charge of the environment that surrounds him. He is highly creative and innovative and lives off the challenge of meeting the needs and expectations of his customers.

He takes carefully calculated risks and is highly professional both in and out of the workplace. He has excellent social skills and is also well known for being open-minded to the opinions and ideas of others.

WORKSHEET 2A: ENTREPRENEURS – BORN OR MADE

Watch the longer clips of entrepreneurs in-class. Although we only get a quick glimpse of each entrepreneur, we do get a partial sense of what they are like.

• As you watch the clips, make notes of Born or Made entrepreneurial characteristics on Worksheet 2.

Entrepreneur

Born entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, inherent personality traits suited to being an entrepreneur.

Made entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, life experiences that may have shaped them into an entrepreneur.

Jessica Jackley (nee Flannery)

Jessica Jackley is a resourceful entrepreneur who believes in herself and her abilities to get the job done. She is persistent and has a high level of self-discipline, which allows her to carry out her duties well. She is highly motivated and passionate about her job and always looks for new ways of doing things.

She is highly knowledgeable because she carefully assesses the market before she makes any decision. She has a high level of professionalism. She is open-minded towards other aspects of life that arise in the course of doing business, such as experiencing failure and interacting with people.

DerekCabrera

Derek Cabrera is confident in his skills as a systems scientist. He is outspoken about how things work in the world and how we can make the world a better place today. He loves a good challenge and rises to the occasion whenever the need arises.

Derek Cabrera is very social with those around him and aims to help those in need. He is very vocal about the things that matter and passionately advocates for systems thinking in our lives.

WORKSHEET 2B: ENTREPRENEURS – BORN OR MADE

Watch the longer clips of entrepreneurs in-class. Although we only get a quick glimpse of each entrepreneur, we do get a partial sense of what they are like.

• Discuss in your group: For each entrepreneur – are they mostly Born or Made (20 mins)
• Choose 1 entrepreneur. Prepare a short 2-3 minute PowerPoint justifying why you think they are Born or Made (15 mins)
• Groups debate in the class (30 mins)

Entrepreneur

Born entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, inherent personality traits suited to being an entrepreneur.

Made entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, life experiences that may have shaped them into an entrepreneur.

Jessica Jackley (nee Flannery)

DerekCabrera

WORKSHEET 3A: OPPORTUNITIES – CREATED OR DISCOVERED

Watch the clips of entrepreneurs in-class. Although we only get a quick glimpse of each entrepreneur’s story, we do get a sense of their journey.

• As you watch the clips, make notes of Discovered or Created entrepreneurial opportunities below.

Entrepreneur

Discovered entrepreneurial opportunity. That is, an existing untapped market opportunity that are discovered by the entrepreneur.

Created entrepreneurial opportunity. That is, a new market opportunity that is created through the actions of the entrepreneur.

IC3D made to fit clothes opportunity (Peter Del Rio)

Peter Del Rio noticed that as time progressed, people began having the need to dress in trendier and fitting clothes. The market for customized clothing was slowly growing and presented Peter Del Rio with the opportunity to create his company, where he serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Peter Del Rio sought out a team of professionals and designers who are talented in the fashion industry. The team went on to come up with incredible designs that were well customized to fit the needs and wants of the customer. He also seeks customer feedback, which provides him with insight on which areas need improvement.

Perfect SLICE pizza (Miki

Agrawal)

Miki Agrawal saw the opportunity to come up with the perfect pizza. There was a growing demand for healthier dietary options to different pizzerias across the country, and this pushed her to come up with an organic friendly pizza.

Miki went on to seek feedback from her customers and used the vital information to make improvements to the new and innovative pizza. She intensively marketed her new brand of pizza and even went on to rebrand the pizza in an effort to create more awareness in the market regarding the product.

WORKSHEET 3B: OPPORTUNITIES – CREATED OR DISCOVERED

Watch the longer clips of entrepreneurs in-class. Although we only get a quick glimpse of each entrepreneur, we do get a partial sense of what they are like.

• Discuss in your group: compare and contrast the Discovered or Created nature of the entrepreneurial opportunity of the two entrepreneurial opportunities (20 mins)
• Prepare a short 2-3 minute PowerPoint presentation of the similarities and differences of the two entrepreneurial opportunities (15 mins)
• Group presentations to the class (30 mins)

Opportunity

Discovered entrepreneurial opportunity. That is, an existing untapped market opportunity that are discovered by the entrepreneur.

Created entrepreneurial opportunity. That is, a new market opportunity that is created through the actions of the entrepreneur.

Similarities between IC3D made to fit clothes opportunity (Peter Del Rio)

and

Perfect SLICE pizza opportunity (Miki

Agrawal)

Differences between IC3D made to fit clothes opportunity (Peter Del Rio)

and

Perfect SLICE pizza opportunity (Miki

Agrawal)

WORKSHEET 4: ENTREPRENEURS AND OPPORTUNITY NEXUS

In your groups:

• Select one of the entrepreneurs whom we have looked at today.
• Discuss examples of the nexus (positive interactions) between the individual entrepreneur and the opportunity that they exploited
• Develop a PowerPoint of three examples of the nexus (positive interactions) between the individual entrepreneur and the opportunity

Entrepreneur

Selected:

↔

Describe the nexus (positive interactions) between the individual entrepreneur and the opportunity that they exploited

Describe the effect or impact of each nexus

Nexus example 1

Nexus example 2

Nexus example 3

WORKSHEET 5: INDIVIDUAL EXERCISE: IDENTIFY AN ENTREPRENEURS. BORN OR MADE? CREATED OR DISCOVERED OPPORTUNITY?

• Think of a relative or a friend (someone who’s known to you) whom you think is an entrepreneur and answer the following questions. For this case, it's best you consider a founder or a co-founder of a successful venture. Please do not select celebrity entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma and Bill Gates (unless you have the potential to reach out to them, should the need be - for an entrepreneur interview).
• Explain the venture context (location, sector) and his journey (when was the venture started and how is it doing) and the degree of innovation that you see in the concerned venture. (Around 200 words)

In 2005, my uncle started his own coffee shop in Melbourne. At that time, very few people believed that the business would succeed. However, a decade and a half later, the small coffee shop has grown into an even larger coffee house. The business has since expanded into a deli and an ice-cream shop in the corner. He took a small loan to help him with the expansion when he realized that the breakfast market was starting to expand. He makes use of modern technology such as big data to anticipate the amount of food and beverages that he should produce in order to avoid any losses caused by changes in the consumer market. Big data has also helped him when he is taking orders from his suppliers, and as a result, he does not order a lot of products that end up going bad. He also markets his products online and has since then created an online market for his products because some of his customers are able to order as well as pay for services rendered through online platforms.

• In what ways do you think that the entrepreneur you select was a Born (Nature) entrepreneur or Made (Nurture) entrepreneur?

My uncle is a born entrepreneur because he is hyperactive and always has the energy to keep working at his business regardless of the hour of the day. He does not give up even when he suffers a setback or losses in the process of doing business. He is very creative and innovative in his business processes, as well as his style of leadership at the workplace. He takes charge of the situation and acts swiftly to capture any and all opportunities that arise in the market. On the other hand, he is also a made entrepreneur because he knows how to network and enhance the flexibility of his business in such a way that minor changes in the industry do not have a huge effect on his business operations.

• In what ways do you think that the opportunity exploited by the entrepreneur you select was discovered by them versus created by them?

He exploited the ready opportunity created by an ever-expanding population that demanded hotel breakfast. He started his business with a small coffee shop, which then proceeded to grow into a huge business fifteen years later. He created the entrepreneurial opportunity by taking a business loan to expand his business as well as seeking important feedback from his clients. He constantly uses this data to improve business operations and deliver better products to his clients.

For each entrepreneur, note below ways in which you perceive they have born or made entrepreneurial characteristics.

Entrepreneur

Born entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, inherent personality traits suited to being an entrepreneur.

Made entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, life experiences that may have shaped them into an entrepreneur.

Miki

Agrawal

Miki is a confident and modern woman who does not shy away from criticism. She is widely outspoken and loves to share her entrepreneurial adventures with the world. She is passionate about her work, and this motivates her employees as well as drives her creativity and innovation in the company.

Miki is conscious of her customers and makes the conscious decision to improve customer relations. She is seen to make big company decisions after she has carefully considered the risk versus reward factors of the decision that she wants to make. She has grown to embrace modern technology in her business operations, and this has helped her gain a significant share of the market.

Chris Wilkerson

Chris Wilkerson is a strong, confident, mature, and well-tempered individual. However, despite having been featured in numerous news pieces as having molested children, he remains steadfast and thrives on the challenge and even works harder at his job.

He is a consistent learner because his coaching career demands that he adapts to the situation in the field if and when the need for such adaptation arises.

SteveLeveen

Steve Leveen is fearless in the face of challenges and readily embraces new opportunities whenever they arise. He is confident in his skills and often takes charge of the situation.

He has embraced modern technology, and as a result, he has been able to increase his audience. He is not afraid of failing, regardless of the amount of risk involved.

Hugh

Simms

Hugh Simms is a confident, natural leader who takes charge of the environment that surrounds him. He is highly creative and innovative and lives off the challenge of meeting the needs and expectations of his customers.

He takes carefully calculated risks and is highly professional both in and out of the workplace. He has excellent social skills and is also well known for being open-minded to the opinions and ideas of others.

WORKSHEET 2A: ENTREPRENEURS – BORN OR MADE

Watch the longer clips of entrepreneurs in-class. Although we only get a quick glimpse of each entrepreneur, we do get a partial sense of what they are like.

• As you watch the clips, make notes of Born or Made entrepreneurial characteristics on Worksheet 2.

Entrepreneur

Born entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, inherent personality traits suited to being an entrepreneur.

Made entrepreneurial characteristics. That is, life experiences that may have shaped them into an entrepreneur.

Jessica Jackley (nee Flannery)

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