Change as the Driving Force of Entrepreneurship
Many people equate the concept of entrepreneurship with merely starting or managing one’s own business. But, entrepreneurship goes beyond that. It is the entire process of designing, developing and commercially introducing a new venture or repackaging an existing product or service to meet market demands and solve people’s problems.
What is most critical in entrepreneurship is the entrepreneur’s unmistakable drive for product and/or service innovation and improvement through creative thinking, dynamic enthusiasm and intense personal energy. All of these factors combine to compel or create desirable and sometimes necessary change, with the entrepreneur being the facilitator of the desirable change by acting as the change agent. .
The mindset of an entrepreneur in this regard is about searching for, responding to, or utilising change, as ideas are turned to realistic business opportunities. That is why the true entrepreneurs of our time are the people that the world must to look up to, as viable channels of positive economic change. This is because their creative abilities and inspiration offer possibilities to roll back the scourge of poverty, disease and ignorance.
Entrepreneurship is therefore revolutionary in concept, thought, passion and practice. And, all over the world, entrepreneurs have been instrumental to changing our way of life. Without a doubt, change is the lifeblood of entrepreneurship, with the changes that consummate entrepreneurs bring to our lives differing greatly.
And, because the driving force of entrepreneurship is innovation or improvement, the entrepreneurial spirit is driven by the desire to create and/or add value, possibly by making things to be “faster”, “cheaper”, “easier”, “sweeter”, “more fun” etc. Ultimately, the goal of entrepreneurship is to create or add value. The entrepreneurial spirit is therefore value-driven, with manifested and distinguishing personal traits. These traits of course include creativity, dedication, fierce focus, leadership, resilience, open-mindedness, self-confidence, self-discipline, passion and flexibility, among others.
Imperatives for Entrepreneurship Development in a Changing World
Studies, common knowledge and experience indicate that, just like any other discipline or vocation, the development of the general entrepreneurship personal traits and skills is influenced by the environment in which the entrepreneur develops or operates. As a result, early and sustained exposure to the entrepreneurship-aiding environment gives a budding entrepreneur a head start in entrepreneurship skills development.
An understanding of this reality is possibly the justification for the inclusion of business studies in the higher school curriculum of some countries of the world. In the United Kingdom for instance there is a strong science, engineering and technology base, but more resources are now being invested in developing business management skills. The understanding seems to be that good business education and learning environment provide better foundation for future business leaders and company executives.
This is not however always the case in many developing countries, especially most African countries where there isn’t the luxury and benefit of unlimited access 
to good business education and adaptive innovative technologies. Some of the resultant effects of this lack of access and opportunities include less than adequate socio-economic outcomes, exacerbated by the continually fierce competitive and rapidly changing global economy operating landscape.
This is of course part of the challenges that Africa must overcome in the post Covid-19 era, as well as the era of the fourth industrial revolution. This is in addition to the need for adaptability to the “VUCA” (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) world. The challenges of entrepreneurship in a rapidly changing world are indeed very real.
With the increasingly high speed of technological change and corresponding market responses, emerging economies, particularly in Africa have to innovate continuously and improve their innovation performance. The most realistic pathway is by entrenching real economic value through innovation and entrepreneurship development, as well as the unhindered access to new sources of technological knowledge.
This is what makes entrepreneurship development through sustainable business education and improved access to innovation technologies in major African countries not only essential, but also urgent. The urgency in particular relates to how Africa’s home-grown business improvement centred innovation can be successfully adapted and scalable. This must of course be applicable to all key business development areas, including business leadership development, resource management, as well as process design, strategic planning, operations, marketing, client service, financing etc.
This is what developing and sustaining the entrepreneurial spirit in a changing world is all about. It is about continuously developing and adapting new and creative ideas, which involve the creation of new concepts and strategies. The purpose remains the commercial exploitation, and subsequent diffusion through the rest of the economy and society. As a result, in a rapidly changing world, the entrepreneurial spirit becomes even more dynamic, largely because of the need for entrepreneurs to continually evolve, as they commit to necessary research, development, experimentation and taking of risks.
Entrepreneurship Development in the Globalize Environment
Nothing has driven the pace of globalization more than business innovation. This is also because innovation is at the heart of entrepreneurship. One of the most obvious examples is the economic progress and progression through the Internet and mobile technologies, which continue to revolutionise business operations and transform business fortunes globally. As a result, there are even more compelling
reasons for the urgency of innovation by companies and countries which are still lagging behind.
For example, increasing trade liberalization means that countries must increasingly compete against one other, with better trained and more educated labour forces coming at even lower costs. For instance, labour wages in China are generally less than 5% of most European countries, and labour costs in North Korea represents almost 50% of American and European levels. Interestingly, the proportion of graduates in the working age population is almost identical.
Another reason for the surge in requirement in business innovation is the speed at which developments in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) is unleashing new trends and creating opportunities for entrepreneurial businesses to gain competitive advantage. An example is the 24/7 media phenomenon, which ensures that consumers have wider choices, as their tastes change just as fast as new ideas, systems and products evolve across the world.
These developments suggest that an international business which would in the past have prospered in any low value markets would today have to face up to the challenge of unleashing new ideas for global marketplace advantage. This means that entrepreneurship motivations in a globalize economy must be geared toward achieving two principal business goals. This first goal is to achieve high levels of profitability by lowering costs or attaining competitive advantage. The second and equally important business goal would be to ensure business sustainability on the basis of providing unique products and services backed by continuous research and innovativeness.
Evidently, making profits alone is not enough in today’s’ world of business. It is more important that the profits that a business makes must be sustainable, repeatable and even incremental. This is what can guarantee that the business will survive the fast pace of business landscape changes. What is more, the challenge posed to increasing entrepreneurship development by globalization is that entrepreneurs must not only be locally relevant, but must also be global in their thinking and planning.
The Challenge of Global Entrepreneurship
The message therefore for the aspiring, budding and established entrepreneur in developing economies, especially in Africa is that the development and sustenance of the entrepreneurial spirit in the rapidly changing world is all about innovation. Without this, African countries will continue to be marginalised in the global marketplace.
What this also means is that, because entrepreneurship is so vital for stimulating 
economic growth and employment opportunities in all societies, its development through the various linkages of the stakeholders must be considered to be top priority. The fact that small, micro and medium enterprises continue be the primary engines of job creation and poverty reduction in most African countries is enough justification.
With global trade liberations and integration, open trading nations and consumers all over the world can enjoy the benefits of innovation wherever it occurs. African entrepreneurs and their companies must therefore continue to invest in developing higher standards for research and innovation through increased exposure of new entrepreneurs to “innovative entrepreneurship”. This is of course another way to describe the entrepreneurial spirit in a changing world.
As globalization gives rise to new economic structuring, which is characterised by increased entrepreneurship opportunities, emerging markets, which constitute about 80% of the global population, have the potentials and opportunities to assumed greater prominence in the global marketplace. To help fast track this possibility, there must be significant economic reforms and entrepreneurship stimulation initiatives.
Apart from economic reforms, the support for rapid entrepreneurship development, through continuous business innovation will continue to be central to the emergence of developing economies on the global market scene. This development of course suggests that the effects of globalization will gradually continue to blur the lines between developed and emerging markets.
This presents both challenges and opportunities for budding and established entrepreneurs, as the demand from now onwards will be that the level of innovation that is brought into the business must ensure that it breaks local, national, regional, and even socio-cultural barriers. There must simply be the active thoughts of being competitive globally. This is what is gravely lacking in African economies in particular.
There is therefore the need for mind shift, not only for African entrepreneurs, but also for the agencies of the governments responsible for business, trade, investments and industries. Renewed thinking on how to support local entrepreneurs for global impact will eventually benefit African countries with much needed investments, helping to stimulate economic growth and employment opportunities.
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Dr Emmanuel Imevbore is an executive coach, management consultant and business strategist. He is the CEO of International Coaching and Mentoring Institute, a specialist coaching and coach-training organisation. He can be reached by email:
emmanuel@ic-mi.com; and WhatsApp: +27 79 259 1768.
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