TIM COHEN: Masters of the start-up reflect on their secret
Is it entrepre-nurture or the legacy of nature that brings success for those who start their own businesses?
Can you teach entrepreneurship? The answer is amazingly difficult and surprisingly divisive. It hovered around the 2017 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards — which took place in Monaco, France, in early June as usual — slipping in and out of focus against more pressing issues such as disruption, automation and the bewildering geopolitics of the moment. Many of the winners of the regional and national competitions that form the foundation of the competition — which auditing firm EY likes to describe as the "Olympics of entrepreneurship" — just don’t think it is nurture over nature. For them, entrepreneurship is a kind of personality trait associated with a very specific certain type of person. The stories entrepreneurs tell about themselves have narrative echoes. They are all, it seems, confident, natural risk takers who are experimentally minded almost from birth and are typically positive almost to an excessive degree. On the other hand, the education business demonstrably disagrees...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.