Hail the Small-Scale Entrepreneur

The word 'entrepreneur' derives from the French for'somebody who undertakes'; its more common business usage describes people who are initiators, risk-takers, financiers. They are the people who set up enterprises - they can range from the young boy with his shoe-shine kit to the businessperson who

opens a new supermarket. Without entrepreneurs, there is little or no business. Entrepreneurs may have academic and professional qualifications but it is not essential. Some of the world's greatest entrepreneurs were actually failures in school. What they all have is an instinct for what the public wants and how to satisfy this need.

The woman trying delicious fish at a strategic spot in the Ghanaian market or the boy selling ice lollies at a football match in Nigeria are as much entrepreneurs as a De Beers executive selling sparkling rocks at exorbitant prices in the capitals of the world. The JIM Kali craftsmen in Nairobi who can fabricate a Mercedes-Benz grill from odds and sods are no less inventive in their enterprise as the Ferrari engineers fabricating a new engine for their Formula One cars.