What is an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneur. It’s a big, fancy-sounding word, isn’t it? Perhaps even a bit intimidating, especially when you don’t really know what it means. But fear not – we’re here to help you cut through the business jargon!

An entrepreneur is someone who starts their own company or business, seeking to make a profit or a difference in the world, or both! Entrepreneurs often take risks, creating or pouncing on new opportunities as they arise and they rarely restrict themselves to just one industry. In fact, many entrepreneurs own multiple companies across a range of different trades.

For the language fiends out there, the word entrepreneur derives from the French verb ‘entreprendre’ which means ‘to undertake’. Today, the word sums up what it means to be proactive, innovative and passionate about business - ready to seize the opportunity.

Let’s hear it from the experts! Watch successful entrepreneurs as they define the entrepreneurial spirit for us.

What is an entrepreneur?

Oli:
I think an entrepreneur is someone that is… I don’t actually know. What is, what is an entrepreneur?

Caspar: So the word ‘entrepreneur’.. I don't… know It's hard to pronounce and spell. So I wish there was an easier one and ‘business person’ is just a bit too much. We shall should create a new one: the ‘crentrepreneur’ creator slash entrepreneur?. Probably not a good one either.

Saima: When you use the word ‘entrepreneur’ it’s sounds very corporate and I think, a lot of people nowadays don't really use that word. But technically, yes - an entrepreneurs.

Jordan: When I asked my friends at college or my friends in school what they thought an entrepreneur was, the first thing they would see is a forty- four- year- old man in a suit, like a proper serious business person wears. That's not the case at all. I was at a conference and some guy called me an entrepreneur; I had no idea what it meant. But as I set up more and more companies and as I’ve realised that the business side was actually what was calling to me, I realised that I was an entrepreneur.

Jackie: Well, truth to be told I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I've always had a dream of owning my own business; ever since I was little kid.

Ben: I’ve realised I've always been quite entrepreneurial. I used to have this paper round and they used to pay me about fifty pounds a week to do these, you know these annoying leaflets that nobody likes going through their doors and so on. I then realised I could pay my sister a bit less money per week and she would go and do it for me and any even from a very young age I have realised I had this entrepreneurial mind set and way of thinking.

Jordan: I remember when I was a kid, I used to sell my old toys outside my house and sell karate lessons to kids.… Even though I had no idea what karate was!

Jeremiah: At the age of eleven I walked into my school playground on my first day and I had a pack of four, double- chocolate chip muffins and something gave me that idea to actually sell one of those muffins for 50p. And I made a profit of a pound by selling two muffins and eating the rest myself.

Oli: I did loads of different things at a young age from; you know getting chickens so we could get eggs and then I’d sell them to people where we lived. I used to sell; stick insects, I used to take food into school and sell that. There I was always, always thinking about business and what I could do.

Sian: Yeah, I definitely; always knew I wanted to work for myself as soon as I was working for somebody else. And I always used to think, that money that I'm making for them, I want to be making it for me.

Kayode: I always say that when you work for yourself, you're responsible for the whole machine. But when you work for someone else you might be responsible for just a cog in a machine. So it’s like do you want to be prepared to be responsible for the whole thing or just a cog in the system?

So, we’ve heard that the definition of an entrepreneur can be...

Someone with the dream of owning their own business
Someone who hustled to make money even from a very young age
NOT necessarily a man in a suit in his forties!
Someone who knows they want to work for themselves.

But essentially, if you set your sights on running and owning your own business the definition of an entrepreneur is whatever you make of it.

Check out more guides for young budding entrepreneurs in Enterprise Skills.

What is an entrepreneur?

Sir Richard Branson’s secrets to success

Growth mindset: An entrepreneur's best friend

Jackie Fast: how to succeed in uncertain times