IN the words of Thomas Jefferson, “every generation needs a new revolution.” And our generation needs one—an entrepreneurial revolution. The pandemic, which is about to end, hopefully, has created crises that in the context of entrepreneurs are opportunities. History tells us that the rise of the entrepreneurs was observed during great depressions.
Tracing back its roots, the term entrepreneurship was coined from the two Latin words “entre,” to swim out, and “prendes,” to grasp, understand or capture. It was the French-Irish Economist Jean-Baptiste Say who popularized the word entrepreneur in 1800. In its original context, entrepreneurs were “resource hackers” who were able to use scant resources to create innovative products. In his 1800 Treatise on Political Economy, Say wrote: “The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of the area of lower into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.” There was, however, a revelation, through an investigation, that as early as 1755, Richard Cantillon, in his Essay on the Nature of Trade in General, already cited that entrepreneurs are non-fixed income earners who take risk and pay unknown costs of production to earn uncertain incomes. And during the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939, Joseph Schumpeter formulated the Theory of Economic Development (1934) and cited entrepreneurs as drivers of change and progress. History tells us that entrepreneurs were born out of crisis.
In the unique experience of the Filipinos, entrepreneurship takes a twist as entrepinoyship.
In a country where the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) comprise 99.6 percent of all the businesses, we could expect the economy to benefit from the entrepreneurial spirit of its people. Generating more that 86 percent of all the jobs, the MSMEs are the economic frontliners. The impact of the pandemic on MSMEs explains the decline in the employment rate.
With 89 percent of all the businesses categorized as micro enterprises, and 10 percent as small, it can be concluded that there is a missing medium. The big chunk of enterprises is either trapped in being micro enterprises or by choice prefers to be micro enterprises.
One criterion to be a micro enterprise is to have less than 10 employees, small if 10 to 99, and medium with 100 to 199. Another criterion to be a micro enterprise is to have up to P3 million asset size, small if P3 million to P15 million, and medium if it has P15 million to P100 million.
The age of survival entrepreneurship
Survival entrepreneurship has become the lifesaver of three kinds of people in the pandemic experience. First are those who lost their jobs and livelihood and need to survive through means within their capacity to reach. Second are those who, in the pursuit of their passion, are able to produce something that gets the attention and patronage of a market, usually within their sphere of influence. And thirdly, those businesspeople that are forced into pivoting their business to be able to survive and remain relevant in the changing times. The pandemic has nested entrepreneurs locked down at homes but accessing the power of social media and digital space to soar into business above the pandemic.
Survival entrepreneurship is highly evident among the millennials, the digital natives, who were labelled notorious for their restless and reckless nature, and misinterpreted as being a selfish generation. Their character, in fact, is demonstrating some excellent entrepreneurial inclinations. They belong to a purpose-driven generation who search for meanings in what they need, what they want and whom they patronize. They work and spend for a lifestyle as they are guided by the YOLO principle—you only live once. The creative millennials, being the biggest chunk of the population, are significant in numbers and are very comfortable with the digital world to navigate this new normal of entrepreneurship.
Beyond survival
Beyond survival, the entrepreneurs born of the pandemic should explore the possibility of entrepreneurship as a way of life. And the entrepreneurial journey extends beyond survival towards a more meaningful blessing derived from the pandemic experience. Even if survival entrepreneurs are engaged in business by neither intention nor design, they are learning the lessons that are imperative to move forward. The survival entrepreneurs should never lose that chance to take the road less travelled in entrepreneurship, and in the future should be able to look back to say that this pandemic is a blessing in disguise.
Entrepinoy Revolution
Entrepinoy Revolution is launched by this author with the SMNI. It is a one-hour talk show that is developmental, inspirational and empowering, hosted by multi-awarded host and entrepreneur Dr. Carl E. Balita who was host of a multi-awarded program in ABS-CBN for 20 years. The program aims to: Celebrate the successes and learn the lessons of successful entrepreneurs; align dreams and aspirations of viewers with growth mindset; realize meaningful life through proactive solutions and actions; and leverage on available resources for development and progress. It airs every Friday at 4:30 p.m. on SMNI channels, both on free TV and cable channels, as well as on all its social- media platforms.
For feedback, please send e-mail to drcarlbalita@yahoo.com.