This chapter discusses entrepreneurs and enterprise. It defines enterprise as using initiative to come up with business ideas and defines an entrepreneur as someone who spots opportunities and is willing to take risks to pursue something new. It provides examples of Irish entrepreneurs and discusses characteristics and skills of successful entrepreneurs. It explores how enterprise works in different settings and the importance of enterprise for economic and societal benefits like jobs, tax revenue, and improved standards of living. Reasons for Ireland's growing enterprise culture include education, role models, EU membership, and government supports.

1. Chapter 4
Entrepreneurs & Enterprise
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2. Key Areas
• What is Enterprise?
• What is an Entrepreneur?
• Examples of Entrepreneurs
• Characteristics of Entrepreneurs
• Skills of Entrepreneurs
• Enterprise in Action
• Intrapreneurship
• Importance of Enterprise to Society
• Reasons for growth of Enterprise in Ireland
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5. What is…
Enterprise…involves people using their initiative
to come up with ideas and turn them into
businesses. Refers to any attempt to do
something new.
An Entrepreneur is someone who spots an
opportunity and is willing to do something new
and challenging with the risk of failure. They
take both a financial and a personal risk
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6. Examples of Entrepreneurs
Gillian Bowler noticed in the 1970s that package
holidays to Spain were getting very popular. She set
up “budget Travel” holidays to Greece thinking that
Irish people would enjoy it and it grew from there.
Anita Roddick was so frustrated that no
business sold small sizes of cosmetics in simple
packaging that she set up her own business
“The body Shop”
Geoff Reed identified the growing popularity with
bottled water which was being imported into Ireland.
He decided to set up his own business…Ballygowan
was born.
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7. In 1990, Ireland played Holland in the World
Cup. Irish fans in England couldn’t watch the
game because British TV was showing the
England game. This inspired Michael O Rourke
and Leonard Ryan to rent a club in
London, organise a satellite feed of the match
and charge £10 to come in. More than 800 fans
turned up. This inspired them to set up Setanta
Sports to broadcast GAA into the UK and US
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8. Characteristics of Entrepreneurs NB
• Confident/Pro-Active
• Determined/Ambitious
• Innovative/Creative
• Calculated Risk takers
• Decisive
• Flexible
• In Control/Independent
• Realism
• Energetic/Enthusiastic
• Future Focus
• Good Communicator
• Ruthless
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9. Enterprise Skills NB
• Leadership
• Planning
• Problem Solving
• Human Resources
• Time Management
• Delegation
• Innovation
• Reality Perception Skills
• Risk Taking
• Inner Control/Belief in merits of venture
• Use of Feedback D. Dempsey

10. A Non-stop Entrepreneur
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11. Enterprise in Action…NB
In the home
In School
In the local Community
In the Public Sector/In the Government
In Work
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12. Enterprise @ Work
Intrapreneurship
This is where an employee comes up with an idea
for a new product or a way to improve an existing
product or process or to reduce costs in the
business. Firms try to encourage Intrepreneurship
because it can bring great benefits to a business.
Eg…A microsoft worker saw the worldwide success
of the Sony PlayStation. He thought of the idea of
mircosoft developing a games console. He worked
on it and it led to Microsoft launching the Xbox
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13. Enterprise @ Work
Intrapreneurship
A worker in a match factory was accustomed to
placing the striking surface for the match on both
sides of the box. He realised that management
could save money by putting it only on 1 side and
told them. They realised the value of his suggestion
and offered him 10% of the money saved. In time
he became quiet a rich man.
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14. The Importance of Enterprise to Society and
the wellbeing of the Economy
• Driving force which conceives and develops new products and
businesses
• Increased employment and greater opportunities for service providers
• Greater flow of tax revenue to the exchequer
• Gov’ can improve infrastructure and offer grants to further encourage
enterprise
• Increased consumer spending which further boosts demand for further
services
• Improved standard of living and greater variety of goods and services to
choose from
• Attracts emigrants back to this country and this helps in the
development and renewal in once dying communities.
• New Dynamism to the community which is further stimulated as
businesses sponsor local cultural Dempseysporting activities
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15. Reasons for Growth of Enterprise in Ireland
• Irish people are becoming more educated and
less risk averse
• Enterprise Education is now an important part of
education @ 2nd and 3rd level.
• Many Irish people have learned entrepreneurial
skills from working for highly creative and
talented foreign firms both at home and abroad
• The large numbers of foreign firms based in
Ireland has created many opportunities for local
entrepreneurs to supply them with goods and
services
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16. • Membership of the EU has opened up many new
market opportunities abroad.
• The growth of ICT and improved transport links
has made international trade easier
• Lots of State grants, advice and services available
to assist people with ideas for commercial
enterprises. At local level, County Enterprise
Boards and Area partnerships actively encourage
small enterprises. At national level, enterprise
Ireland actively encourages the development of
large, export focused enterprises.
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