U
Entrepreneurship
and Intrapreneurship—
The Basis for
Economic Development, Personal Freedom and Knowledge”
By Dr. Bruce M. Firestone,
B. Eng. (Civil), M. Eng.-Sci., Ph.D., Entrepreneur-in-Residence, entrepreneur
en résidence,
|
There are a dozen lessons for Students who want to be
successful entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs highlighted in this speech today. They are: A)
Set goals
for yourself and your team; B) Be a self-starter; C)
Practice as
hard as you play; D) Focus on your goals; E) Work hard; F)
Be flexible
in how you achieve your goals/show some adaptability; G)
Bring some
innovation to what you do; H) Create a Personal Business for Life; I)
Protect
your reputation and understand and apply ethics in all that you do; J)
Be prepared
to deal with uncertainty and stress; K) Execute well; L)
Take care
of the business and it will take care of you and your family. |
INTRODUCTION
Good
morning and welcome. Bienvenue à tous.
I
would like to thank Dean Kelly and the
J’ai le grand honneur d’être le premier
entrepreneur en résidence à l’Université d’Ottawa. J’ai demandé au doyen Kelly :
« Qu’est-ce qu’un entrepreneur en résidence ? » Il m’a dit :
« Je ne sais pas. Vous êtes le premier et vous devez inventer le poste. »
C’est parfait pour moi – toute ma
vie, je n’ai jamais su ce qui m’attendait…
Je suis le fondateur des Sénateurs d’Ottawa et de
presque soixante-dix entrepôts. J’ai construit plus de mille cinq cents maisons
et plusieurs édifices commerciaux, notamment
I
also have held utility and industrial design patents in electronics and
aerodynamics. I teach, write and research not only in the field of
entrepreneurship but also in the field of design economics, real estate
development and architecture.
Now
I tell my entrepreneurship students that focus is an important part of their
future success and then they stare at me—much as you are doing now—and so I
must tell them not to follow my example.
Question—what
would you rather do? Race the downhill course before or after your chief rival?
Well obviously, you would choose afterwards. Humans are capable of incredible
feats when they focus and set goals. When you know the spilt times of the other
skier, you might be amazed to see that your times are fractions of a second
better on each part of the course.
When
we brought the Senators to
Now
why did I choose 22 instead of say 30 or some other number? Because the worst
ever team in NHL history (the 1972 Washington Capitals) got 21.
Does
anyone here remember what our point total was in our first year? 24.
I believe that if you set your goals, if you
visualize them, if you internalize them, if you can see yourself achieving
them, you have a great opportunity to be successful. I suggest to all my student
entrepreneurs that they write a simple equation everywhere—their homes, their
offices, wherever they can see it:
N = ?
Where N is number of clients, customers, visitors, revenues, patients …
Anything that measures the performance of their organizations. It seems simplistic but if
everyone in your organization buys in to a single goal and all efforts are
focused on achieving that, you will.
Notice
I said set your goals; I haven’t said
a word about planning how to get there. Plans are useful guides but they are
like war plans—they change as soon as you come into contact with reality. So
whether you are an entrepreneur or you are working for a large company or a
Not-For-Profit organization be prepared to be
flexible—life has a lot of surprises in store for you and you need to be able
to change with the changes in your environment—adapt or perish.
If
you remember Sigourney Weaver’s role as Ripley in the Alien series, she showed
remarkable ability to make the best of her situation. The US Marine Corps
unofficial motto is ‘Show Some
Adaptability’.
WHO
GETS THE PROMOTION
I
am interested in applying entrepreneurship skills to large organizations as
well. Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur with all the risk, stress and
responsibility that that entails. But many of my students learn how to apply
those skills within larger organizations. Those
people are called intrapreneurs.
Now suppose you and a colleague both go to your
manager with a proposal. She says: “I have a great idea for a new product. If we invest $10 million in
R & D, I can get the product out the door.”
You
say: “I have a great idea for a new product and I have three pre-launch clients
willing to invest $2.5 million each to help us with $10 million in R & D
expenses. Plus they are willing to take the first six months of production.”
Now
whose project gets the green light? AND WHO GETS THE PROMOTION?
When
we won the NHL franchise for
a) Have an all night blow out
party?
b) Come back from
Answer:
BOTH. We partied then we got back into town the next day and sold $22 million
in season tickets in cash in ten days.
An
entrepreneur or intrapreneur is someone who can create $2 in revenue for every
$1 that any fool could generate.
Most
successful entrepreneurs start with (practically) nothing. If you had to choose
three things from the following list, what would they be:
- Launch clients and customers;
- Access to VC financing;
- A great,
never-tried-before idea;
- A good business model;
- Sound execution;
- Approved bank financing;
- A good partner;
- Access to government grants?
If
you chose 1, 4 and 5, go to the head of the class. I tell my students, don’t
waste your time pursing VC money and government grants. The best partnership is
often none at all. Banks only lend you money if you don’t need it. Maybe the
reason the never-tried-before idea has never been tried before is because it is
a bad idea.
Entrepreneurs
and intrapreneurs who start with nothing often build much stronger businesses,
focused on real clients, real cashflow and real profits. If you have real
clients and real cashflow, you will get financing today, not the other way
round.
I
like the ad where Canadian basketball superstar and League MVP Steve Nash says
that if you want to be great, you need to practice the day after the best game
of your life. I’ll bet Steve Jobs after launching the iPod spent very little
time resting on his laurels.
And
that is what you need to do: FOCUS, SET GOALS, PREPARE, WORD HARD, BE FLEXIBLE. The harder you work, the luckier you’ll get.
THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING WEALTHY AND BEING RICH
I
really like comedian Chris Rock. Has anyone heard Chris Rock do his thing on
wealth versus rich?
Well,
according to Mr. Rock, Shaquille O’Neill, the basketball player for the Miami
Heat, is RICH but the guy who signs his pay cheque (Micky Arison) is WEALTHY.
Chris
Rock got it exactly right. You can get rich
by winning the lottery, becoming a NBA Star, speculating, asset flipping,
gambling, picking the right parents or prospecting for gold, diamonds, nickel,
whatever, but you can’t become wealthy
doing any of these things.
Wealth
derives from control over a factor of production, a license, a franchise, a
territory, a concession, some IP (Intellectual Property like the secret formula
for Coca Cola or the 11 secret herbs and spices that the Colonel uses to make
fried chicken), a competitive advantage, a comparative advantage, property
ownership—anything that creates a sustainable, repeating and renewable income
stream; it is your ‘pixie dust’—the magic that really
makes your business work.
Now let’s just look at some numbers; let’s say
someone controlled the early Beatles catalogue (say, someone like Michael
Jackson). Mr. Jackson is reputed to have bought the catalogue in 1985 for $47m
(but he lost his friendship with Paul McCartney along the way). By 1993, MJ’s
company was reportedly earning $30m from it (albeit, MJ had added other songs
by other artists by that time but let’s ignore this for the moment) and it was
estimated to be worth $300m at that time. This yields a cap rate
(capitalization rate) of 10, which is pretty typical for this type of privately
held asset. No one knows what kind of income stream he gets from this now but
it has a rumored value of $1 billion today. MJ still owns 50% of it, the balance is owned by
Sony.
With a cap rate of 10 and given that MJ owns
half of the catalogue, we can guess that MJ gets $50m a year in income from his
ownership. Plus the Beatles are making a huge comeback—just ask my 14 year old
daughter, Jessica, who only wants Beatles CDs for her birthday and knows just
about every word to every tune the Beatles ever recorded. So it wouldn’t
surprise me if MJ’s income is going up every year from this source. This is
called wealth. However, let’s say that MJ is in need of some quick cash and
sells his interest to Sony for $500m. Now MJ would be rich (for a while) from selling his interest in the catalogue but
he would no longer be wealthy because
he has lost the ability to renew his wealth every year by producing an income
stream from control over this particular factor of production.
But
what’s that you say? He could invest the proceeds in T-Bills, Muni Bonds and
GICs (Guaranteed Investment Certificates). Sure he could, but they produce puny
1.7% to 4% rates of return. If MJ paid $100m in taxes, he would be left with
$400m, which would give him an income stream of $6.8m to $16m a year with no
inflation protection. I mean if MJ were to continue to control the catalogue,
he could always increase the price (aka royalty) paid for each tune if
inflation takes off and starts to bite into his revenue stream. But even
ignoring inflation, why would MJ trade an income stream of $50m a year that
makes him wealthy to become a remittance man getting $6.8m to $16m a year? MJ
has already turned down offers to sell; presumably he understands the Chris
Rock difference between becoming rich and being wealthy*.
(* Somehow
I doubt whether Lisa Marie Presley has read this piece. In December 2004, it
was announced that Lisa had sold her father’s image and name as well as 85% of
Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. to Robert Sillerman-controlled SFX Entertainment
for a reported $100 million, which included some stock in a new SFX controlled
business. So not only does Lisa no longer own, control and direct a valuable
franchise (her father’s estate, which brought in $45 million last year), she
didn’t even get all her compensation in the form of CASH. As any entrepreneur
knows, cash is KING. (Pardon the pun, Elvis). Now compare that with J.K. Rowling’s
absolute and tight control over her creation (the Harry Potter series)—not only the publishing rights but also the
film rights and other media rights as well. It has made her the richest
woman in the
Did
you know that many, maybe most, lottery winners blow their entire wad in less
than five years? By that point, their spouses have left them, they are
alienated from their old friends, they have got a whole new set of ‘friends’
who are only around while the money lasts and they don’t even have their old
job to go back to. Many of them have picked up nasty habits along the way like
taking drugs. It’s absolutely amazing how many of them end up in bankruptcy.
They are much worse off for their ‘good fortune’.
PERSONAL
BUSINESS FOR LIFE, PB4L
For the last few months, I
have become increasingly certain that people in the 21st Century are
going to need what I can only call a Personal Business. It seems to me that there are so many changes in the
local, national and global economy going on and so many things can and do go
wrong, that it might not be a bad idea after all to have a fallback position.
You know that I have been stressing to you how important it is to have
a Personal Web Site for life—a place where you can collect your personal IP
over your lifetime and career and one day, maybe, you can find a way to make
money from it too—while you are lying on a beach.
But something else has struck me recently—just how many people have
little sideline hobbies, gadgets, gizmos ... micro businesses really that make
a bit of money. It also struck me that this could
be a highly useful thing to have.
Let me give you an example. I
recently met with Richard Rutkowski is a former Kanata City Councilor.
Richard is an intriguing person—he is very sure of himself, a good
marketer, a good promoter and a sure handed politician—prepared to make the
time investment in being a City Councilor (which is like a 24/7 J.O.B.).
I asked Richard what he does between political jobs and, sure enough,
he hauls out this cute little magazine called The Best of Kanata. Now this is really low tech—businesses
advertise in it, so that is one revenue stream for Richard. It costs about $600
for a half page and there are lots of
pages. Then, people buy these things for 20 bucks and in the back of the
magazine, there is a 'member's card' about the size of a credit card, which
entitles them to 10% off at all stores and services featured in the book.
When I did a Google search,
the only mention I got was: http://www.ncf.ca/gcuc/food.html
So, Richard hasn't even bothered with a web site. (The Kanata Food
Cupboard sells the book for 20 bucks and keeps 15).
Well, this is a pretty simple business and folks advertise in it like crazy
because they like Richard and it works for them and it is pretty inexpensive.
Richard sells 5,000 copies of the thing, so you can figure out for
yourself the economics pretty easily.
There have got to be a zillion
of these kinds of ideas. Do you know what
I told Richard: "NEVER, NEVER sell this thing—it is like a sinecure, a
franchise, a license, a concession ... it is your 'pixie dust' forever."
It is low tech and low intensity to manage this particular micro
business and it is a kind of concession because it is so local, so focused and
Richard is so well known locally that everyone who is anyone in the 'urban
village' that is Kanata is going to be in it.
So while I have told you to
create businesses through entrepreneurship that will provide you with more
value than if you just had a J.O.B., maybe there is a more subtle message here
that I could provide you.
Maybe, we should each have one micro business that we hang onto for life—that never gets shared with
anyone, no partners, never is pledged to a Bank for a loan and, thus, something
that we can fall back on in troubled times.
It would be pretty cool if
every man, woman and child on the planet each had a Personal Business for Life
(PB4L) that stayed with us throughout our lives and, if things get messed up,
well, we have (as my late father, Professor O. J. Firestone, would say): “a
fallback position” or “an iron reserve”. My father lived through two World Wars
and he really understood the need for
both.
How did
It was the unleashing of their entrepreneur class along with freer financial markets, better education systems and access to international trade that largely powered this economic miracle.
Thousands of people in
INDIVIDUALS
COUNT
Imaginez
ce que serait chacune de nos communautés sans les entrepreneurs. Les entrepreneurs
prennent de grands risques pour créer de nouvelles entreprises, et juste un
petit nombre d’entrepreneurs peuvent avoir un impact important sur leur
communauté locale. À Ottawa, par exemple, une poignée d’entrepreneurs comme Terry
Matthews, Mike Cowpland et Mike Potter ont créé des milliers d’emplois
directement ou indirectement en démarrant des entreprises comme Mitel, Cognos et
Newbridge (qui appartient maintenant à Alcatel). Les communautés locales doivent
appuyer les efforts de leurs entrepreneurs pour que les avantages économiques
qu’ils apportent soient durables.
MORAL UNDERPINNINGS
While it is true that the
entrepreneur is largely following his or her own self interest, there is a
moral underpinning for this: one's first obligation to society is to take care
of yourself and your family so as not to become a burden on society. Once that
is achieved, humans who are uniquely interdependent, have a further obligation
to take of their fellow human.
MICRO ENTREPRENEURS
I read an interesting article in the Globe and Mail (by Luke Harding of the
Guardian News Service, February 10, 2003) about micro entrepreneurship in
There, slum dwellers
erected latrines—one for men and one for women and a third for children only. Charging just one cent per use, they built a
profitable business using only $900 USD in start-up capital advanced to them by
Who would have thought that you could make a successful business out of
a latrine but that is apparently what the women of this village did. I was
intrigued so I sat down and did a spreadsheet on it this morning and here is
what I conjectured:
Village of Kalmandhai, India with assistance
from WaterAid, UK
Cost of Construction of New Latrine
Men's $450 USD
Women's $450 USD
Children $0
Total $900 USD
Revenues Per Use $0.01 USD
Daily Use Men 300
Women 375
Children 400 free
Total Use 1,075
Total Paid Use 675
Total Daily Revenue $6.75 USD
Annual Revenue $2,463.75 USD
Maintenance 10% $90
Night Watchman 1 $450 $450
Cleaning Staff 3 $1,350
Net Revenues $573.75
Return on Investment 64% p.a.
So they achieved a
(possible) 64% p.a. rate of return on this investment, which is impressive.
Just as importantly, there are significant health benefits that accrue to these
people from proper disposal of human wastes. Plus they generated additional
activity including:
a. the construction of a shower block for traveling truck drivers that pass
through the Village and for the villagers themselves (and more fees);
b. the use of their 'product' (from the latrines) in their herb garden (for
self use and third party sales);
c. startup of a composting business;
d. money lending to women in other villages to start similar enterprises.
Think about the number of jobs they created-from a
latrine! Give a human a fishing rod, not a fish.
If these ladies could create a thriving business from a $900 investment just imagine what privileged people like us, like you students here today—with all the advantages you have: great education, access to capital, free, civil societies and much more—can do.
TRUE JOB SECURITY
People often tell me that they are scared to become entrepreneurs. “Isn’t it
safer just to get a pay cheque every two weeks?” Well, maybe.
But a friend of mine worked
for the GOC (Government of Canada) doing post project reviews for 25 years. In
the great downsizing in the 1990s, he was laid off! After sending out 500
résumés, he had a total of ZERO interviews. What kind of JOBS
are available for a guy with a PhD in History who has done nothing but
GOC work for 25 years? ZILCH.
So he came to me and asked
me what to do. I knew he was not the kind of person to star his own business—he
needed some kind of structure so I advised him to buy a franchise, He did. He
bought a Subway and a couple of years later he bought another.
He
took over a loser of a location but turned it around in less than 24 months
using smart (guerrilla marketing). Every day at 10:30 am he would go over to
the mega mall parking lot across the street and put $1 off sub coupons under
the windshield of 500 cars. He would run back to his shop and wait for the
traffic to come in the door. He also visited every local office within three
kilometres between 11:00 am and noon weekdays over an 24
month period. He would bring in huge platters of finely cut subs and a bunch of
$1 off coupons. He would talk his way past the receptionists and get into even
highly secure buildings and hand out free food and coupons by the bucket load. Although he only made $30k in his first year,
he made over 100 grand for himself and his family in year two.
He bought a second location and now
takes home over $140,000 every year. He told me recently he is making more than
he ever did at the GOC and he loves what he does. He does his own hiring,
firing, banking, accounting and marketing. He has an outlet for his creativity.
As long as he keeps a good relationship with the Master Franchisor, no one is
ever going to downsize him again.
True
job security comes from what you have between your ears—what you learn over a
lifetime, your ability to put into practice what you know. It doesn’t come from a job description…
WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT? GOOD EXECUTION OR THE NEXT BIG IDEA?
If you ask me, the big idea is LESS important than good execution. Most of my students think that the big, NEVER BEFORE TRIED, idea is more important but there are lots of companies that do very well with good execution of fairly mundane things.
I am pretty sure that the only thing that is in infinite supply is ideas; numbers, for example, represent an idea and they are infinite. There are probably more than 25 million smart Americans in their basements at any one time trying to come up with the next bid idea (like, say, Google). They are generating a huge volume of new ideas; that tends to suggest, in economic terms, a surplus of ideas while the skills to implement them are in much shorter supply and, hence, the latter will generally attract a higher price.
The market for new ideas, such as it is, tends to put a low price on them (just try to sell your BIG IDEA at a business model stage and you will see: a) how hard it is to do that and b) just how little you will get for it). Obviously, a startup that combines some type of innovation with good execution is better off than one with just sound execution. Fred Smith, when he started Fed/Ex, brought the hub and spoke system to the overnight package delivery business, essentially creating that industry.
Before that, it was thought to be an impossible challenge—if you had 60 cities as both origins and destinations in the network that meant 3,600 overnight flights, an obvious impossibility. If you had instead five hub airports within easy trucking distance, you could get by with 25 overnight flights…
However, most successful
startups do not create new industries or are not necessarily first movers.
Google wasn’t the first search engine; however, they did bring significant
innovation to the table including: neutral search rankings, search rankings
that reflected traffic loads on and links to a site, paid search links and
auctioning off of paid search links. GradeAStudent.com, now GradeATechs.com,
was not the first at home computer repair service but their execution was good
and they used a back end system (GASnet) to automate their appointments and
their billing systems.
I have felt for a long time that VCs are heading in the wrong direction; they should NOT fund startups. Rather, they should wait until startups have proven themselves in the marketplace. It’s kind of like watching for tall shoots in a field of grass. Those are the ones they should fund. It’s better for VCs, better for the national economy and, interestingly, better for startups too.
It’s better for VCs because they will fund more winners and fewer losers and generate better returns for their investors. This, in turn, will attract more capital to the industry which is good for innovation overall. It’s better for the national economy since careful rationing of scarce capital will provide higher overall growth rates. And finally, it’s better for startups, in my opinion, to focus on: a) building a sound business model, b) self (bootstrap) capitalization, c) using smart (guerrilla) marketing to capture customers inexpensively and d) generating real cashflow from real clients and customers. The founders of these businesses will find it much faster and much less frustrating to find customers first rather than spending nine months or more hoping to attract VC funding or going after government grants. They will also get help from clients in other ways such as designing the final product or service. It’s like a war plan—as soon as your contemplated business model comes into contact with customers, it will change; they will force changes that YOU CAN NOT PLAN FOR.
Finally, the founders of these businesses will get to keep more of the equity in their businesses if they do a deal with a VC firm later when their business is more mature and, frankly, they are more mature. Nothing gives you more leverage in negotiations with VCs than the fact that you have enough cashflow to fund the business without them.
BUT STILL, INNOVATION IS IMPORTANT
Digg.com’s founder, Kevin Rose made
$60 million in 18 months. Kevin is just 29 years of age so there is still time
for you!
Kevin Rose, Founder, Digg.com (BusinessWeek August
14, 2006)
While I think great execution is really important, having some type of innovation in your business model can help you create a sustainable advantage; i.e., you need to have some type of ‘pixie dust’ or differentiated value in your organization’s business model. This creates a franchise or concession for you that is hard for others to copy.
Let’s return to the Digg.com model. What makes it different? What is its differentiated value?
1.
It
is a new model for a newspaper uniquely adapted to the Internet.
2. It is not simply the online version of the New York Times or some classified advertising page transferred to the Internet.
3.
It
is a digital community made up of a fairly homogenous demographic—80% are male,
mainly young techie readers.
4.
Readers
are also contributors.
5. Readers dig up interesting stories from all over the web and post brief synopses to the site and links to them whereupon other readers vote on them—the most popular ascend the page.
6. The site harnesses the competitive instincts of the readers/contributors to compete to see whose story will lead.
7. The site works because of its homogeneous demographic—contributors only post stories that will be of interest to the group.
8. The site is dynamic—leading stories change by the minute or hour.
9. Digg.com’s cost for headline writers = ZERO.
10. Digg.com’s cost for journalists = ZERO.
11. Digg.com’s cost for editors = ZERO.
12. Digg.com’s cost for distribution = ZERO (at least, the marginal cost is practically zero).
This is a lot of pixie dust. I think Digg.com is important for another reason—I believe that it is important for communities that are working together to be reading the same things, to share a common culture. If you think about it for a moment, many of the communications you have in a given day are made much easier by possessing a common culture; you don’t have to explain where you are coming from and the context of what you are saying in every conversation you have.
Now
the innovative nature of Digg.com would be pretty useless without good
execution so creativity is a necessary
condition for the kind of success Mr. Rose has had but not a sufficient
condition.
TRUST AND REPUTATION
Quand je me suis lancé en affaires, un avocat
très réputé que je connais* m’a dit : « Au bout du compte, tout ce
que tu auras, c’est ta réputation. Si tu as une bonne réputation, les clients feront
affaire avec toi, les fournisseurs te feront du crédit, les banques te prêteront
de l’argent et les employés voudront venir travailler avec toi ».
(* Kent Plumley was an early investor in Mitel Corp. and made more than $50 million from his investments in tech.)
To
Mr. Plumley’s advice, I can add another piece today: what is more important:
a)
Love;
b)
Trust?
I would argue that trust is the more important.
Think about it.
If you can’t trust your girlfriend or boyfriend, your spouse, your partner,
your employees, what kind of life is it? Surround
yourself with positive people you can trust and you will have a better life in
every way.
PERSONAL SACRIFICE
BusinessWeek (August 14,
2006) reports that Mr. Rose sank every penny and all his energy and time into
Digg.com to make it a success losing his girlfriend along the way. She objected
to the fact that he put his money into the business instead of putting a down
payment on a house.
Entrepreneurs make a lot of sacrifices along the way and not all the
stories have happy endings.
Peter Patafie, a friend of
mine, gave a lecture on entrepreneurship. He is an up by the bootstraps kind of
guy. At age 45, he got laid off from his sales job selling moving and packing
supplies because he was making too much money (more than the President). He had
a wife and three kids to support and had never finished High School. What to
do?
He started his own business
selling moving and packing supplies. He started with less than $5,000 but he
had a great reputation, he knew how to sell and he could get product on credit
from his suppliers. Also, in a pretty mundane business, he brought some
creativity to it.
He had one great insight. He
realized that the salespeople for his clients spent a lot of their time
redelivering packing and moving supplies to their clients. In other words, he
worried about his clients’ clients.
He went to the moving
companies with an irresistible proposition. “What if instead of delivering
moving boxes to your warehouse and then having your salespeople redelivering
them to people who are moving, I save them the time and trouble and I deliver
the boxes and moving supplies directly to them. That way, your salespeople can
spend more time selling (moves) and less time delivering boxes.”
Peter ended up with a 97%
market share (better even than Microsoft’s OS). Within six years he had built a
business that did $13 million per annum with 30% margins. He told me he never
expected to make that kind of money and every year he gets together with his
employees and shares the profits with them.
He told the class that he had
three priorities:
Priority # 1: TAKE CARE OF
THE BUSINESS.
Priority # 2: TAKE CARE OF MY
FAMILY.
Priority # 3: TAKE CARE OF
YOURSELF.
Students asked Peter:
“Surely, you mean TAKE CARE OF THE FAMILY is your number one priority.”
But Peter stood firm. He
explained it this way: “What is the number one cause of divorce: a) Alienation
of Affection, b) Financial Difficulties? The answer is b). Having creditors
call at home for payment of debt puts tremendous stress on a marriage. Sure
people may say that they fell out of love but often the root cause is financial
pressures.” So he concluded if you take care of your business, you can take
care of your family, no the other way round.
Life isn’t easy and being an
entrepreneur or intrapreneur is hard. But for people who want to use their
creativity, who want the responsibility, who believe that true security comes
from what they know and what they can create themselves, it is a road worth
taking. Entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs use resources efficiently; they know
that creating a sustainable enterprise that will last for generations and
outlive* its founder means not eating all the seed grain. They are stewards of
the organization and the community and the environment. C’est un beau défi,
un défi qui vaut la peine d’être relevé.
(*A true entrepreneur creates more value in his or her business than just providing a JOB for themselves. There are many attempts to define what an entrepreneur is; certainly one of the tests should be that the enterprise can last beyond the involvement of the Founder and that significant value is created.)
CHALLENGES
FOR STUDENTS 2006-2007:
Anyone
here need $7,000.00 in cash? If you do, then come study ENTREPRENEURIALIST
CULTURE (ADM3396 Seminar in
Administration: Entrepreneurialist Culture- How to Bootstrap Yourself to
Business Success in the 21st Century: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/EntrepreneurialistCultureFrontPage.htm) with me and participate in
some new initiatives including:
I.
Two competitions this year-
a) The Business Model
Competition: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/BusinessModelCompetition/DescriptionUOBizModelCompetition.htm;
b) The Wesley Nicol Business
Plan Competition: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/WesleyNicolBusinessPlanCompetition/UOttawaWesleyNicolBusinessPlanCompetition.htm.
II. Let us join together today to forward to
the United Nations a proposal to set aside one day each year to celebrate all
entrepreneurs who contribute so much to society. Not only do they contribute
from an economic point of view but also from the point of view of providing us
with more interesting choices and more diversity everywhere.
(SIGN
THE PETITION TO THE SECRETARY GENERAL—VISIT: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/UNDayOfTheEntrepreneur/UNDayOfTheEntrepreneur.htm)
III.
Entrepreneurship Quarterly Journal publishing.
IV.
Launch of parking meter signage program at UOttawa.
V.
Applying LawnSignKing.com to a real world business.
VI.
Launching Ottawa’s own Mural Arts Program (MuralArts.ca).
Thank
you. Merci.
Copies
of speech are available after presentation.
Development Economics and
Entrepreneurship
Ottawa Vision 2002- Focus on Self
Reliance
The Bootstrap Entrepreneur
What is the Purpose of a National
Economy
UOttawa SOM Wesley Nicol Business
Plan Competition
UOttawa SOM Business Model
Competition
APPENDIX:
FCEM Day for Women Entrepreneurs celebrated for the third consecutive year, Friday, May 16, 2003
The occasion of the third celebration of FCEM Day was distinguished by the ampler and importance of its commemoration around the world.
The Day was
officially launched by the FCEM World President Leyla Khaiat during the FCEM
World Committee held on May 16,
FCEM Day Message:
The special message
from the FCEM World President Leyla Khaiat was forwarded to all FCEM member
associations and friends and was read by Marta Turk at the official launching
of the day during the FCEM World Committee meeting in
Dear FCEM members
Dear friends,
Friday, May 16, 2003, we celebrate for the third year consecutive our Femmes Chefs d'Entreprises Mondiales, FCEM Day.
The third Friday of the month of May each year is dedicated to women entrepreneurs past, present and future who create and develop synergies that stimulate the spirit of initiative.
The Day, which unites the voice of women entrepreneurs worldwide.
The Day that celebrates the values that we share: friendship, solidarity and sharing.
The Day dedicated to the creative and innovative spirit of women entrepreneurs worldwide promoting a better quality of life.
The Day dedicated to women entrepreneurs in war
torn nations, to women entrepreneurs in underdeveloped countries, who fight to
assure a decent life for their families.
This Friday, May 16, 2003, we render homage to all women who create the avenues for friendship, solidarity and tolerance between cultures and different generations.
Happy fete to all FCEM members and all women entrepreneurs of the World!
Leyla Khaïat
FCEM World Presiden
http://www.fcem.org/www/en/doc.asp?mcat=4&mrub=35&msrub=57&dev=true