Entrepreneurship

LESSON 1: Relevance of the Course

The Philippines is a haven for the development of entrepreneurs. As a developing country, the resources for
development are varied and numerous. We need only to focus on areas where business opportunities are open to small
and medium enterprises. In the age of globalization, the small and medium enterprises should come in and explore the
wide area of business opportunities. Small and medium enterprises are the key to economic development as they
employ more people and use the resources of people's talent and ingenuity. Family enterprises often start with an idea
and strive to give forms to that idea. Generation of ideas comes at the time of crisis and people begin to find new ways
of making a living. Most economies of the world are in shambles. The economy of the United States and Europe is facing
a new danger and they face billions in public debt. Big banking institutions have high exposure in foreign debts from the
many powerful economies of the world. In Asia, we are affected by the global economy. Asian nations sustain modest
growth rate and our country survives the economic crises. In this global situation it is the entrepreneur who could
change the global economic landscape. One thing that we can do is strengthen the domestic economy by developing
new industries and generate local employment for our people. Let us open new avenue to explore the market that is
untapped and undeveloped. Our country although in the road to industrialization is still agricultural in nature. The vast
track of land in the countryside is under-developed and the farmers are just surviving. We need to improve the
economic sectors by providing the necessary inputs to the production of more rice and vegetables for the many hungry
Filipinos. The government and the banking institutions should help in the form of grant and loans with low interest rate.
The farmers are still the backbone of our economic development. High rate of population are in the rural areas.
Development of the rural economy is not a one shot deal. It needs a thorough analysis of the factor of the production
and distribution of goods. We need to support the production of more goods but we also need to develop alongside
with it, the development of new industries that will support the excess production by turning it into finish products that
could be exported to other countries or for domestic consumptions. Farmers in the northern Philippines can produce
more tomatoes but the Government must sustain the price index by establishing processing plant and turning them into
tomato paste or tomato sauce. Bananas in the southern Philippines have excess production and rejects are just fed to
animals, but this can be turned into the processing plant for banana catsup and or turn into powder form that could be
used for more food for the hungry stomach. This is a development strategy that entrepreneurs could come in as they
should develop new technology to put into proper use these wasted resources. Refocusing attention to the country side
as entrepreneur and developing new industries that will develop our economy should be the top priority. This course
will greatly help young students to think like an entrepreneur. It will enhance students desire to be an employer rather
than employee.

Some of the benefits will be stated below: Benefits to Senior High School Students

1. Classify individual entrepreneurial interests.

2. Apply basic marketing acumen.

3. Determine legitimate sources of resources.

4. Analyze ownership structures.

5. Convert threats into opportunities.

6. Adaptation of concepts and strategies for idea generation.

7. Evaluate feasibility of ideas.

8. Discovery of entrepreneurial innovators who also have the competence and edge to start their own businesses.

9. Consider ethical and legal business practices.

10. Write a micro business plan.

Usefulness of the Course to the Students

1. Develops skills in starting up a business.

2. Demonstrate skills in maintaining business in long term basis.

3. Enhances knowledge of business operations and expansion.

4. Finds next level of training or access other resources and services.

5. Demonstrates business management.

6. Uses components of a business plan.

7: Considers to become employer rather than employee.

8. Changes attitude toward entrepreneurship as a means of making a living.

9. Changes in personal and career attitudes including:

- Communication

- Self-actualization

- Ability to manage one's own life

- Self-concept and awareness

- Problem-solving.

- Self-management/personality responsibility

- Collaboration/networking.

- Motivation Creativity

- Teamwork

Importance of Entrepreneurship Education

1. Entrepreneurship is very important to our economy as key driver.

- It focuses in wealth and a high majority of jobs are created by small businesses started by entrepreneurially minded
individuals, many of whom go on to create innovative businesses. People exposed to entrepreneurship mostly express
that they have more opportunity to exercise more creative freedoms, higher self worth, and an overall greater sense of
control over their own individual lives.

2. Entrepreneurship education is an individual lifelong learning process.

-It started as early as elementary school and progressed through all levels of education, including adult education.
Teachers will help in building appropriate objectives, review learning activities and assess the target audience absorption
through feedback. Students can now be progressively performing more challenging educational activities and develop
the insight needed to discover and develop opportunities and take advantage of these?

3. Entrepreneurship will energize school management.

- School in the area of entrepreneurship must be accessible, affordable and accountable in producing successful
students. The teachers need to have critical skills of entrepreneurship to tackle and resolve issues of enrolment,
retention and student success. It is a big challenge that school is facing of what entrepreneurs are doing to run the
course with great success.

4. Entrepreneurship will transform learners to be innovators.

-Learners must be equipped with the perseverance and determination of an entrepreneurial mindset at the outset of
their careers. They must be more engaged and take ownership of their own success. Students should be involved in
ways of entrepreneurial activities to discover that learning is more fun and more meaningful than the traditional ways of
learning.

It is to the benefit of every student and every community to establish an entrepreneurial culture in every school and
institution. Here are four reasons why it should begin now:

1. Entrepreneurship Education benefits every student by giving them an alternate career path at any time in their lives.
Students should know how businesses make money. They should have the opportunity to make a decision about
entrepreneurship as a career path now or later in their lives. The foundation for that decision should begin with the K-12
system.

2. Entrepreneurship Education also provides an idea for teaching academic subjects making those studies as requisites in
the real world. Every career and technical student with a skill to sell in the market place should consider the difference
between finding a job and making their own job.
3. The consideration in terms of value in entrepreneurial opportunities maintains the innovative and creative thinking
skills that exist in the very early grades. There are many age and grade appropriate activities that introduce
entrepreneurship to young children. Middle school is when most students begin to think about career choices of the
students. Entrepreneurship should be a part of that consideration. The pathways to entrepreneurial success are all
accomplished by innovative and creative thinking of an individual.

4. Most of the students who transfer or migrate to other communities frequently want to come back to some points in
their lives; but alas, they cannot find a good job opportunity back home. Those same communities have needs unmet by
businesses in their respective areas. Young people who are determined to be an entrepreneur can turn those unmet
needs into business opportunities and stay in or return to their communities, generating employment and enlarging the
local tax to help the local government.

Lesson 2: Key Concepts and Common Competencies

Entrepreneurship is also a capacity for innovation, investment and expansion in new market, products and techniques.

This definition implies that an enterprise is at work whenever an individual takes the risks and invest resources to make
something unique or something new, designs a new way of making something that already exists, or creates new
markets.

Competencies - this can be considered as the capability, capacity and ability of the learner in handling situation in
various areas in business operations such in marketing, management, production or technical and financial.

In starting a business, learner should seek entrepreneurial competencies such as:

1. LOCUS OF CONTROL: Entrepreneur must know how to determine the state to which a person agreed that their actions
can directly affect a situation, or that they can control a result. Learners have discovered that founders of successful
entrepreneurial organization have a high internal locus of control.

2. SPECIFIC GOAL SETTING. Entrepreneurs should be motivated to set goals, particularly business growth objectives,
have been found to increase firm growth resulted in the firm performance and innovation. Set goals of all types have
repeatedly been found to lead to greater performance and highlighting the importance of setting goals that are specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound.

3. SELF-EFFICACY: Entrepreneurs must believe in their own ability or self-confidence. Learners with high self-efficacy will
persevere even in the face of setbacks, will take negative feedback more positively and use feedback to improve their
performance. It must set difficult goals, and will exert more effort over a longer period of time. Learners consider that
when entrepreneurs have high self-efficacy, that there is a strong relationship between this motivation and firm high
increase of growth.

4. LAYERS OF COMPETENCY: Entrepreneurs should know the group of attributes, some of which are applicable to all
entrepreneurs, while others are occupation/industry specific. Universal competencies occupying the bottom portion of
the pyramid and specific competencies located near to the top. However, this is not to give priority to one competency
over the other - it is simply to depict the layers of competencies that are beneficial for entrepreneurs in different
industries and occupations.

5. NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT: Entrepreneurs must have a high need for achievement take responsibility for outcomes.
Engage in activities that have a moderate degree of consequences and require skill and effort. This competency has also
been found to predict firm founding and the successful performance of organization.

6. AMBITION: Entrepreneurs must be motivated, persistent, and persevere even in the face of situational challenges.
They are patient and persistent, passionate and goal driven. Learners embrace new challenges while achieving to exceed
set expectations and standards

7. WILLINGNESS TO LEARN: Entrepreneurs should have a strong willingness to learn often pursue opportunities to
acquire new skills and competencies. They initiate personal career development and often secure the feedback to help
them make good career decisions. Personal effectiveness competencies are adapted from the Consortium for
Entrepreneurial Education.

8. STRONG INITIATIVE: Entrepreneurs must have a high initiative are often driven to work hard. They frequently work
independently to achieve task master, regardless of the extra effort necessary to do so. They take initiative to set a
specific, time bound and challenging goals. Oftentimes, they are very confident in their capabilities to perform well and
enjoy seeking out challenging opportunities.
9. ADAPTABILITY & FLEXIBILITY: Entrepreneurs must learn how to be a highly flexible and adaptable often deal very well
with a unique ability to choose actions even without all necessary information. These types of learners are innovative
and creative, often developing novel solutions to complicated problems. They can manage change well, often generating
new goals and actions to deal with undesirable events.

10. WILLINGNESS TO TAKE RISKS: Not only are successful learners willing to take consequences, they can also identify
and calculate risk. They are skilled at developing new plans and scenarios. These types of learners take evaluated risks,
and learn from past failures.

11. INTERPERSONAL SKILLS: Learner with strong interpersonal skills has skills of working well with people from different
backgrounds. They are very insightful with regards to the behaviour of others - understanding motives and actions,
quickly aware of strong relationships, and both verbal and nonverbal behaviours.

INDUSTRY WIDE COMPETENCIES/WORK COMPETENCIES

(Adapted from The National Consortium for Entrepreneurial Education'"]

These are the entrepreneurial skills needed in order to achieve objectives and goals of the organization:

1. NETWORKING/COLLABORATION: is the ability to build professional relationships, assists learners with leveraging
contracts, initiating collaborations, and partnering with business contacts. Learners with strong networking skills are
perceived as trustworthy. They can negotiate with competitors, establish buy in with partners, and identify mutual goals.

2. CREATIVE/CRITICAL THINKING: Learners who engage in creative thinking are able to both generate innovative
solutions and use relevant information to understand the "greater picture". They can analyze problems and create
innovative solutions. They can easily identify what is missing from current product streams and have imagination,
creativity, and empathy.

3. ORGANIZING: Successful entrepreneurs plan and prioritize work to ensure time is managed effectively. They can work
methodically and effectively allocate time and resources. When goals are not met, they take necessary steps to get
projects back on- track.

4. CHECKING, EXAMINING, & RECORDING: The ability to maintain confidential records, easily locate and complete
appropriate forms and paperwork, detect errors, and make the necessary corrections is vital to successful
entrepreneurship.

5. PLANNING: Entrepreneurs must be specific about the direction of their venture and the strategy they will adopt to
achieve their short goals both long and short objectives. Successful entrepreneurs assess risks, estimate costs, and
determine the potential for profit and loss before beginning a new venture.

6. BUSINESS PRINCIPLES: entrepreneurs must understand the basic principles of business. Being well versed in market
knowledge, economic principles, and ethical practices are essential entrepreneurial knowledge.

7. COMPUTER COMPETENCY: Entrepreneurs must be competent in the use of basic computer hardware (e.g. printers,
copiers, PCs) and software (eg, spreadsheets, word processing). A successful entrepreneur can easily communicate and
prepare documents electronically.

8. WORKPLACE COMPETENCIES: Workplace competencies have been defined as "the application of knowledge, skills,
attitudes, values, and behaviours in the workplace. Workplace competencies develop from the synthesis of an
individual's skills, knowledge, and abilities with on the job tasks and work related experiences. It is understandable that
many successful entrepreneurs place great value on their industry experiences prior to launching their own venture, as
workplace competencies develop within the context of occupational tasks and job related experiences. While an
entrepreneur may enjoy a wide range of valuable skills, without the opportunity to learn from the application of these
skills to practical work experiences the development of workplace competencies is limited.

9. HIGH-GROWTH, HIGH-VALUE ENTREPENEURSHIP: Entrepreneurs typically offer incentive compensation, manage

business operations, build a strong entrepreneurial culture around determination and high work ethic, and form
effective boards of directors and advisors. Skilled Marketing Entrepreneurs capable of successfully building their "brand"
and matching marketing strategies to their unique innovation are more likely to succeed in launching a high-growth
high-value entrepreneurship.

10. INNOVATION & CREATION: Successful entrepreneurs apply their creativity to the formulation of inventive systems
and products. They have an "opportunity orientation" - assessing changes in trends, identifying small niche or group of
markets, and seeking out opportunities to improve services and products.
11. MARKETING: Successful entrepreneurs are competent in both executing strategies that promote their products and
establish client/customer relationships. They conduct market analyses, set pricing objects and customer objections into
sales acceptance.

12. BUSINESS OPERATIONS: Entrepreneurs performs business operations that are able to both carry out daily
operations, such as scheduling manpower and maintaining inventories of goods and management human capabilities.

13. RISK ASSESSMENT & MANAGEMENT: Entrepreneurs can handle risk management and can take into account legal
actions. They can handle uncertainty by mitigating rates, protecting intellectual property, and determining liabilities.
They stay informed of business laws and regulations, and bound to determine ways to prevent themselves against
failure.

14. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: As a skilled manager of funds and assets is an entrepreneurial necessity. Entrepreneurs
are knowledgeable in assessing financing needs, determining risks, and identifying sources of funds. They are competent
at accounting and funds management, managing cash flows and preparing estimated and projected balance sheets.

15. PROBLEM SOLVING & DECISION MAKING: Entrepreneurs who are skilled at problem solving and decision-making are
critical thinkers. They can generate, evaluate, and implement solutions to difficult problems. They locate and utilize
relevant information, and when necessary, generate alternative solutions

10 COMPETENCIES FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS

1. Integrity - An entrepreneur has a positive sense of values and personal beliefs, creating in making business decisions,
influencing in making the desired actions they will take, particularly when in difficult or challenging situations.

2. Conceptual Thinking - the entrepreneur is prepared to use new approaches. and comes up with new ideas that may
enhance work. It will lead to radical change and significant improvements. It also takes time to listen to new ideas
without pre-judgement.

3. Risk Taking - the entrepreneur understands that risk taking means trying to anticipate future problems thus solve new
problems that may arise in the business organization.

4. Networking Collaboration - the entrepreneur understands that networking can provide access to information,
collaboration and profits; and that careful planning and preparation help achieve desired results.

5. Strategic Thinking - the entrepreneur understands that thinking using strategies can help achieve goals in the
organization. Strategy means ways to accomplish something in relevance to the aims and objectives.

6. Commercial Aptitude - the entrepreneur keeps himself updated with developments in the locality; seeks out best
practice; and identifies and determines opportunities that are not common to others.

7. Decisiveness - the entrepreneur resolves issues as they arise in an unavoidable situation and responds flexibly to deal
with changing priorities set by the upper authorities.

8. Optimism-the entrepreneur persists in pursuing goals despite hindrances and problems; performs in the hope of
success rather than fear of failures; and manages difficult situation.

9. Customer Relation Service + the entrepreneur develops and builds trust and long term relationships with customers;
collates an expectation of high level of customer service, and maintains regularly exceeds customer expectation.

10. People Centered - the entrepreneurs create commonality among stakeholders, see and value the best in others.
They build the total capability of the people involved. They always consider the principles of inclusiveness in planning
and dealing with others.