What is an entrepreneur?
One who draws upon his or her skills and initiative to
launch a new business venture with the aim of making a
profit. Often a risk-taker, inclined to see opportunity
when others do not.
In our type of economy, entrepreneurs are
very important. They are the ones who
gather up and use the factors of production
(labor, capital and natural resources) to
produce goods and services.
Let’s look at a
possible example of
entrepreneurship…
THE CROW AND THE PITCHER
In a spell of dry weather, when the birds could find
very little to drink, a thirsty crow found a pitcher
with a little water in it. But the pitcher was high and
had a narrow neck, and no matter how it tried, the
crow could not reach the water. The poor thing felt
as if it must die of thirst.
Then an idea came to the crow. Picking up some
small pebbles, it dropped them into the pitcher one
by one. With each pebble the water rose a little
higher until at last it was near enough so the crow
could drink.
In a pinch a good use of our wits may help us out.
One of Aesop’s Fables
How was the crow an entrepreneur?
• The crow had an idea of how to get
the water level to rise high enough
so it could drink from the pitcher.
• The crow took a risk by choosing to
stay at the pitcher instead of looking
elsewhere for another water source.
• The crow demonstrated traits of an
entrepreneur.
• An entrepreneur is someone who
discovers new ways of doing things,
invents new products using
productive resources, or finds a way
to reduce costs of getting
something.