Faithful readers of this column (thank you very much!) know that every year I post a two-part
Top Trends in Small Business piece. It is always interesting to see what is coming down the pike,
and it is equally interesting to notice how much, and how little, the list changes every year.
Of course, the latest tech gadgets and tools (smart phones, apps, the cloud, etc.) always make it
on. Sometimes it's the economy that is the biggest trend (hello 2008), and sometimes things
make the list and never show up again, for instance, “Global warming may put you out of
business” (2007.) OK, we can’t get them all right.
I mention all of this because it occurs to me that the biggest trend of them all in the past
decade, the most significant thing to come along in a long time, has never actually made it into
my trends column. And what is that?
Entrepreneurship won.
Not only did communism fall, but the advent of the computer age, the Internet, e-commerce,
mobile phones, social media, and all the rest now means that anyone, anywhere can become an
entrepreneur. And they are. From China to Russia to the U.S. and beyond, people are, in ever
increasing numbers, taking up the entrepreneurial banner.
This is no small thing, indeed it is a big thing, the biggest thing. At a time when the world seems
to be cracking into ever more smaller groups demanding their rights, when global warming is a
real threat, when violence seems to be on a forward march, entrepreneurship offers an
antidote. Entrepreneurship is about creating something, not destroying anything. It is about
using creativity and teamwork and intelligence to solve problems. It forges bonds and moves us
forward.
Entrepreneurs large and small, green entrepreneurs, tech entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs,
micro entrepreneurs, political entrepreneurs, and many others are all changing the shape of the
planet, radically, and for the better.
At the World Entrepreneurship Forum, of which I sit on the advisory board, we say,
“Entrepreneurs are the creators of wealth and social justice.” This moniker may be surprising to
some, and in fact it was to me when I first heard it; that ‘social justice’ part seemingly not to fit.
But what I have learned is that my old definition of entrepreneurship was far too narrow. My
dad taught me that an entrepreneur is someone willing to “take a risk with money to make
money.”
Today, entrepreneurship is so much more than that. It is a mindset. It is a skillset. It is a way of
looking at the world, seeing problems, creating teams, finding solutions, and solving problems
for mutual benefit, whether that means building a better mousetrap, alleviating a social
problem, or overthrowing a dictator.
To document all of these changes and to fully examine the extent of this global entrepreneurial
phenomenon, I teamed up with several other members of the World Entrepreneurship Forum
this past year to examine and explain this revolution in detail. The result is a new book, just
published, called Planet Entrepreneur.
In it, 14 world-class experts and entrepreneurs share the full scope of the changing global nature
of entrepreneurship. For example:
Nicholas Shea details how, while a part of the startup community at Stanford, he received a call
from his home in Chile. The country had just experienced an 8.2 earthquake and was
devastated. Could he help?
Nico flew back to Chile with an audacious plan: To create a South American version of the Silicon
Valley – an entrepreneurial incubation system that would attract and reward entrepreneurs
who would be willing to go to Chile to start their businesses. Each one would get technical
assistance, and a $40,000 startup grant.
The result, Startup Chile, has been wildly successful.
Or how about Jack Sim? A very successful Singaporean entrepreneur, Jack was able to retire at
age 40. But he is not the retiring type. Jack realized that there is a huge need at the ‘Bottom of
the Pyramid’ – the billions of people who live without proper sanitation. So Jack, seeing this
problem, took it upon himself to work to solve it (as entrepreneurs are wont to do.) Now widely
known as Mr. Toilet, he uses entrepreneurial skills and models to bring sanitation to the thirdworld. World Toilet Day is celebrated by over 1 billion people annually now.
Baybars Altuntas is a shark on the Turkish version of the hit TV show Shark Tank. His chapter,
“Hello Entrepreneurs, Goodbye Borders” is the best advice I have ever read for someone who is
looking for angel investments for their business.
And yes, I wrote a few chapters too – on Intrapreneurship, and, of course, the Self-Employed
Entrepreneur.
So my oversight in my column has been corrected, big time. The global entrepreneurial
revolution is here to stay, and it is probably something of which you want to be a part. Why?
Because the biggest trend of them all is that we all now live on Planet Entrepreneur.