Tweet
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Mining gold in Jamaica</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Thursday, August 31, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Entrepreneurialism is no longer what it was once thought to be. Traditionally and by definition, the practice is associated with the risks of starting and operating a business.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Henley Morgan </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>From a narrow capitalist perspective, the tendency has been to view entrepreneurs as a select minority of specially endowed individuals who create wealth.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The masses who work for them are ostensibly and stereotypically treated as if belonging to an inferior species. This discriminatory tenet, which is a by-product of Charles Darwin's theories "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection" or "The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life", has got to be one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated on humankind.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Thankfully, the spectre of the entrepreneur as a genetically favoured individual who can work business magic is being destroyed daily by a number of developments. Firstly, the rise of the professional manager with access to modern planning and forecasting tools has all but rendered useless the kamikaze or daredevil approach to business decision-making, once thought to be the preserve of the entrepreneur. Secondly, a string of legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) in the United States is forcing entrepreneurs and business leaders to give up their "wheeling and dealing" in which somebody wins but at the expense of the unsuspecting others.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Thirdly, big bonuses and profit-sharing plans are causing CEOs to lose their appetite for acting on blind faith in the hope of huge gains. "Playing it safe" by being more analytical and basing decisions on good information, is becoming the norm rather than the exception in business.<P class=StoryText align=justify>These indisputable trends do not necessarily lead to the conclusion that entrepreneurialism is dead or is dying. It simply means entrepreneur-ialism is no longer what it was once thought to be.<P class=StoryText align=justify>I am convinced of the following. Contrary to prevailing logic, the attributes associated with entrepreneurialism are widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population. In fact, I would go as far as to say that at birth there is that potential in all of us. It's like athleticism.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Humans are designed to get up and walk on our own feet. Whether we do or not and how fast we move is determined in no small measure by how we are socialised, our own will power and desire to develop on the potential, the opportunities and threats that present themselves throughout life and to which we must react in the interest of our survival and advancement.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This view of entrepreneurialism gives Jamaicans as much chance to excel in the field of business as we have in the field of sport.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Our advance in the direction of this new awareness was given a big push when in 2005 Jamaica became the first and only English-speaking country in the Caribbean to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) - a group of 35 countries that participate in research and share information on entrepreneurship.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica's entry into this prestigious grouping is the initiative of the still highly business relevant and hands-on University of Technology (UTech) under the leadership of Rae Davis, pres
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Thursday, August 31, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Entrepreneurialism is no longer what it was once thought to be. Traditionally and by definition, the practice is associated with the risks of starting and operating a business.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Henley Morgan </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>From a narrow capitalist perspective, the tendency has been to view entrepreneurs as a select minority of specially endowed individuals who create wealth.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The masses who work for them are ostensibly and stereotypically treated as if belonging to an inferior species. This discriminatory tenet, which is a by-product of Charles Darwin's theories "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection" or "The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life", has got to be one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated on humankind.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Thankfully, the spectre of the entrepreneur as a genetically favoured individual who can work business magic is being destroyed daily by a number of developments. Firstly, the rise of the professional manager with access to modern planning and forecasting tools has all but rendered useless the kamikaze or daredevil approach to business decision-making, once thought to be the preserve of the entrepreneur. Secondly, a string of legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) in the United States is forcing entrepreneurs and business leaders to give up their "wheeling and dealing" in which somebody wins but at the expense of the unsuspecting others.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Thirdly, big bonuses and profit-sharing plans are causing CEOs to lose their appetite for acting on blind faith in the hope of huge gains. "Playing it safe" by being more analytical and basing decisions on good information, is becoming the norm rather than the exception in business.<P class=StoryText align=justify>These indisputable trends do not necessarily lead to the conclusion that entrepreneurialism is dead or is dying. It simply means entrepreneur-ialism is no longer what it was once thought to be.<P class=StoryText align=justify>I am convinced of the following. Contrary to prevailing logic, the attributes associated with entrepreneurialism are widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population. In fact, I would go as far as to say that at birth there is that potential in all of us. It's like athleticism.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Humans are designed to get up and walk on our own feet. Whether we do or not and how fast we move is determined in no small measure by how we are socialised, our own will power and desire to develop on the potential, the opportunities and threats that present themselves throughout life and to which we must react in the interest of our survival and advancement.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This view of entrepreneurialism gives Jamaicans as much chance to excel in the field of business as we have in the field of sport.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Our advance in the direction of this new awareness was given a big push when in 2005 Jamaica became the first and only English-speaking country in the Caribbean to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) - a group of 35 countries that participate in research and share information on entrepreneurship.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Jamaica's entry into this prestigious grouping is the initiative of the still highly business relevant and hands-on University of Technology (UTech) under the leadership of Rae Davis, pres