Are entrepreneur born or made?

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ENTREPRENEUR: BORN OR MADE
This essay shows that entrepreneurs are made rather than born to be successful in taking
business venture. Firstly, knowledge is the basis all entrepreneurs need to build, maintain and
thrive in their businesses. Secondly, past experiences incentivize entrepreneurs to improve
themselves and obtain new ideas for future projects. Finally, entrepreneurs make the megahit in
their careers through continual innovation, which is formed by cumulative knowledge and
experiences. The opposing view suggests that innate abilities and characteristics determine how
flourishing an entrepreneur's career is. However, personality traits are likely to contribute to the
success of entrepreneurs when they grow in environments that boost their inborn characteristics.
The entrepreneur is an individual or a team who recognizes potential opportunities to start
and organize their own business (Carton, Hofer, & Meeks, 1998). While entrepreneurship may
include financial risks and encounter fierce competition, entrepreneurs are likely to take business
ventures because they can reap considerable profits from their successful careers. According to
research from Audretsch et al. (2015), the overall economic development of the small, medium,
and large cities may be contributed to long-term entrepreneurship. As a result, it is implied that
economic growth and prosperity result from the entrepreneurs' success.
The first and foremost element that contributes to the success of entrepreneurs is
knowledge. This element enables entrepreneurs to make better decisions for their businesses since
it shapes the business activities, drives entrepreneurs to innovate, and overtakes entrepreneurs’
competitors. In the research from Jusoh et al. (2011), market analysis/segmentation, human
resources management, business law, selling skills, and leadership skills are the entrepreneurial
skills that people who would like to start businesses need to corporate and organize their


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enterprises. As for entrepreneurs entering specific markets such as cosmetics or technology
information (IT), specialized knowledge is as crucial as general business knowledge. Additionally,
education does not necessarily mean formal since many of today's people such as Steve Jobs, Bill

Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, who have succeeded in business, have not obtained formal education.
It is speculated that the knowledge from self-education may exceed the lessons at school. Recent
research showed that the proportion of entrepreneurs is higher among dropouts (2.41%) than
among graduates (1.52%) (Buenstorf et al., 2016). As a result, knowledge is vital to entrepreneurs'
careers, whether it is formal or not.
The second element that makes entrepreneurs thrive is the experience, which is acquired
from long-term education and diligent practice. Experience may be the achievement or the failure
in the start-up progress, and be viewed as the self-lesson that motivates entrepreneurs to generate
new ideas and get better performance the next time. Research from Boso et al. (2019) suggests that
the increasing degrees of learning and better levels of attention to new entrepreneurial chances are
two factors that affect how well new ventures function when learning from business failure
experiences. Moreover, entrepreneurs with more experience typically have the capacity to handle
more information at once and grasp the overall picture, which beginners typically overlook (Zhan
et al., 2020). As a result, extensive expertise will help entrepreneurs comprehend the broad view
of the economy, and then forecast the upcoming trend in business to reduce risks as well as seize
opportunities.
Innovation is the last key element determining good entrepreneurs. In an era where
technology and the economy change at an unprecedented rate, individuals who would like to
maintain in this dynamic business environment should be able to identify a problem and provide


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creative solutions in order to succeed. It is believed that problem-solving is an innate ability;
however, entrepreneurs have to apply cumulative knowledge and past experiences, in reality, to
innovate the optimal solutions for existing problems. A high correlation has been observed
between innovation and entrepreneurship because any improvements in products, services, and
production procedures will impact the productivity and efficiency of an organization (Johnson,
2001). Innovation also reflects the creativity of an individual and how that person makes
extraordinary thoughts come true. Without new ideas and methods of production, enterprises may

face business failure by virtue of the alternation in customer interest and demand. For instance,
with Research and Development department, Apple Inc. has met consumer expectations and
satisfaction by investigating the current market and releasing new products every year. (Heyward,
2022).
Notwithstanding the aforementioned pieces of evidence which prove that good
entrepreneurs are nurtured, there would be some innate characteristics contributing to the
entrepreneurs' decision-making process and leading to the success of the entrepreneurs. It can be
speculated that genes are likely to influence an individual’s traits, especially extraversion and
neuroticism. According to research from Zhang et al. (2009), Genetic factors affect women's
inclination to become entrepreneurs, with extraversion and neuroticism playing a mediating role.
Moreover, the Big Five model, which evaluates the level of extraversion, conscientiousness,
openness, agreeableness, and neuroticism, has a connection to entrepreneurial success (LópezNúđez et al., 2020). Therefore, it can be implied that inherited genes play a vital role in shaping
personality traits and influencing individual behaviors.


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However, a response to this may be that only when the right environment is present do the
intrinsic abilities increase and come into full expression. It can be explained that there are
numerous factors that impact an individual's growth toward entrepreneurship such as family
members, educators, and coaches in hobbies. Social values are fostered in the context of the family,
education, and studies provide the framework for the development of entrepreneurship, and
hobbies foster the self-esteem and enthusiasm needed for pursuit of a passion. (Römer-Paakkanen,
2009). Some people have divine traits such as a high intelligence quotient or leadership skills, but
they cannot be entrepreneurs because they have not been educated by their family or educational
environment from a very young age. Genetic predispositions may have some influence on
entrepreneurial and occupational decisions, but this is likely to be less than the impact of
environmental factors (Nicolaou & Shane, 2010). Thus, if shared-environmental factors do not
support the available traits, the abilities are only partially expressed but not exceeded and they
have not been the entrepreneurs.

This essay has clearly shown that entrepreneurs are nurtured to thrive in the business
environment. The main arguments given are that knowledge, experiences, and the ability to
innovate result in the flourishing careers of entrepreneurs. A counter-argument is that some inborn
characteristics related to entrepreneurial skills would lead to the tendency to become entrepreneurs.
However, innate abilities tend to be expressed and fostered in certain environments. Therefore,
entrepreneurs are believed to be made by the aforementioned elements rather than to be born with
innate abilities.


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References
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/>Buenstorf, G., Nielsen, K., & Timmermans, B. (2016). Steve Jobs or No Jobs? Entrepreneurial
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/>

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López-Núđez, M., Rubio-Valdehita, S., Aparicio-García, M., & Díaz-Ramiro, E. (2020). Are
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