Young Entrepreneurs to learn from and emulate

STUDYING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS 

• What are the general characteristics of young entrepreneurs?
• Are Young Entrepreneurs a product of environment or do they 'have it in them'?
• Do YOU have it within yourself to become a successful entrepreneur?

You can have a better idea for answers to these questions by reading ahead...


Some of the characteristics that allow these young entrepreneurs to become successful is their often burning desire to change an aspect of the status-quo that they feel is in dire need of change, or dismissing it entirely.

Personal traits that help them to actually change the old rules is their ability to think big whilst balancing their visions with practical plans. This allows them to progressively act on their environments  for these changes to become a reality.
These entrepreneurs also need to know how to deal with and monitor risk intelligently through documents like a risk management plan.
Dealing with uncertainty and being resilient when an idea fails, and persevering to take it 'out there' if there is a chance of success, is essential considering that most first-time ventures are not instantly viable on the market.

Some of the successful young entrepreneurs come from third world nations - i.e. China, India  - so their will to see a change may be motivated by their current country's social, political or economic conditions. With their western viewpoints and young mindsets they are far less 'inhibited'  to act than the social conditioning that is holding back the older generations.


However, all is not roses with being an entrepreneur at heart. There are some arguably negative character traits such as being impulsive and working long hours doing tasks such as evaluating the viability of a venture, committing accurate market research and promoting their ideas through the online, seeking prospective customers from their networks and pitching to investors or organizations who may fund them.
Even if they appear extremely introverted when working on tasks, they are often very self-confident in presenting their ideas and are generally extroverted (and are willing to push themselves to be) when it comes to networking needs to grow their business

It is understandable if the above may have changed your mind about your 'flair' at being an entrepreneur, but you do not need to be an entrepreneur - a risk-taker who starts a venture - to work in an entrepreneurial business that provides new ideas; you can have the same drive as the creator by being part of the first fresh start-up recruits, putting forward your valuable contributions and seeing the business grow because you were there. 

Entrepreneurship is especially motivated in America and the UK, where 'Entrepreneurship days' across junior and middle schools also help to spread the fact that this is an option for anyone with the drive to be their own boss and who has a business mindset.
Furthermore, organisations such as the YEC, Junior Achievement and YSN, are now creating  social environments and societies where these young people can share ideas, get emotional support and even discover sources of funding through their networks.

Another point that I'd like to make is that, contrary to popular belief, these entrepreneurs are not uneducated but often hail from the top academic institutions such as Harvard, Oxford, MIT etc.