On 25 April ActionMK attended an event called "Learning entrepreneurship"organised by the ESICThe aim of the event was to address issues such as the gestation of an entrepreneurial attitude, the contribution of value of ecosystems that promote the entrepreneurshipThe main obstacles and barriers to entrepreneurship, as well as other important aspects of entrepreneurship. In today's post we will summarise what was said at the event in case you were unable to attend..

Learning to learn with ESIC

Getting to know the entrepreneur

Let us begin with the typification of the entrepreneur, who can be either vocational (the one who has it in his blood), or forced (the one who has no other choice), or the inter-entrepreneur, who is the one who carries out the entrepreneurship in the organisation for which he works.

 The difficulty of entrepreneurship

The difficulty of entrepreneurship was discussed by consulting a group of students who participated in the interviews. The most relevant barriers to entrepreneurship are those related to financial involvement and fear of failure. Students reported that they "feared that there would come a time when they would lose everything and have to lay off their workers". Most also commented that entrepreneurship would involve such dedication that it would lead to a loss of personal life.

The group of entrepreneurs stated that their primary motivation when they set up a business was to do something that fulfilled them, congruent with their lifestyle, where money was not the only goal, but a consequence; as well as carrying out projects that would bring changes to society.

Requirements for an entrepreneur to become an entrepreneur

• Perseverance: Believing in your ability and in your project, moving forward and facing the problems that arise.
• Productivity: exploit the time as much as possible to get the most out of it.
• Synergy: In these times, it is vital to be open to any opportunity and create synergies of all kinds, by attending events, going out on the street, etc.
• Ubiquity of work: take your work wherever you need to go.
• Stop being afraid to talk about money: We will have to discuss what things are worth and deal with budgets in a straightforward manner.

Conclusions: debunking myths

From the conclusions that were drawn, we will now set out different reflections that challenge old beliefs of what an entrepreneur should or should not be, and that are in line with today's society and the way of thinking of the coming generations:

1. "Today's entrepreneur has to transmit values and provide value to society, There must be ethical leadership, and the model must ensure that all stakeholders (employees, suppliers and customers) are satisfied, so that we all win.
2. "It's difficult to manage fear, and on a personal level it keeps me awake at night, the vertigo of being an entrepreneur".
3. "The fundamental thing is to have the concern, to produce something and mainly it is the passion to do something that you really like and that gives you enthusiasm".
4. "I would never start a business for money, In fact, I don't think that's the central motive, and if it is, you'd be wrong: the perception that an entrepreneur will make a killing doesn't exist anymore.
5. "We have to eliminate the debate of a businessman or civil servant mentality. It is pejorative and undue: there are civil servants who have the audacity that no businessman has, as well as businessmen with a sense of the common good and of society that a civil servant does not have.