Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship PDF

Chapter One Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Chapter One Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship)*( Intended Learning Outcome: After reading thi...

Chapter One Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Chapter One Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship)*( Intended Learning Outcome: After reading this chapter, the student should be able to: 1. understand the concept of entrepreneurship; 2. have knowledge of entrepreneurship and its area of study; 3. see the difference between entrepreneurship and small enterprise; 4. identify the different forms of entrepreneurship projects to start; 5. realize that the essence of entrepreneurship is a unique idea for a product or service; 6. identify and be able to refute the false concepts about entrepreneurship projects; 7. realize that the study of entrepreneurship is indispensable for an entrepreneur; 8. Come up with a unique and creative idea for a product or a service. Key Concepts: 1. definition of entrepreneurship and area of study; 2. the process of entrepreneurship; 3. the importance of entrepreneurship; 4. the entrepreneur; 5. the difference between entrepreneurship and small projects; 6. examples of entrepreneurship projects; 7. false concepts about entrepreneurship projects and how to respond to them; 8. how to reach perfection as an entrepreneur. )*( This chapter is by Prof. Abdelhamid Abu Naaem, Professor of Business Administration, Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University. Entrepreneurship  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Success Story One CEO at Samsung Electronics wrote at the South Korean website The Investor that Samsung Research in the United States had acquired 100% of the Egyptian artificial intelligence search engine Kngine in October 2017. This acquisition was a remarkable success for a developing Egyptian company that had worked hard to increase investments after this first round and moved to the United States to attract more investments. Kngine was started in 2008 as a research project by the two Egyptian brothers Haitham and Ashraf Alfadeel, who decided to turn the project into a developing company in 2010. The company then won the “Global Entrepreneurship Program” competition held in Cairo in January 2011, and successfully secured investments worth $ 775,000 from Sawaris Ventures. Kngine strived for more investment, and eventually moved to Palo Alto in the United States to promote the launch of the application, opening an office at Dog Patch Labs to continue work on the project. Kngine is the most intelligent search engine: Kngine, which is the short name for Knowledge Engine, meaning a search engine for knowledge, is an intelligent search engine that understands and answers questions, and provides answers in different languages. It is built to use a web 3.0 technology and semantic search feature, and execute user commands in English, Arabic, German, and Spanish. Who are the two founders? Haytham El-Fadil, founder and CEO of Kngine, studied computer science and self-learning programming. When he graduated, he took a job as a software engineer at a major Egyptian company, and then moved to a multinational company. Entrepreneurship Ashraf Fadil has been programming and coding since he was in elementary school and has eight years of experience in software, database and network engineering. In the six years before Kngine, he worked for several software companies. The two brothers jointly lead the US-based Kngine team, which began in Egypt. How does Kngine work? Kngine is built on the belief that there are people who have questions, and that there is enough information on the web to answer those questions, especially for smart phone users who need an answer, not pages of links that may or may not lead to direct answers. Kngine works under the slogan “Links are not answers”. It is the world's first multilingual engine, with support from English, German, Spanish and Arabic. Kngine uses human logic and works in two phases: 1.Understanding: It constantly reads what appears on the Internet, and accommodates its contents, and then updates and expands its knowledge base. Answer: Kngine recognizes questions, processes them and subdivides them into sub-questions, and forms a solution plan. Kngine then searches thoroughly in the knowledge graph, combing knowledge from millions of documents to find thousands of possible answers. In the process of gathering evidence for each possible answer, and eventually arranging them, Kngine provides the best answer. www.egyptindependent.com, www.kngine.com  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Introduction This chapter begins with a set of questions. What is entrepreneurship? What are the steps of the process? What is the difference between entrepreneurship and small enterprises? Who is the entrepreneur? What are the main misconceptions about entrepreneurship? Does entrepreneurship and small enterprises have a role in developing the economies of countries and reducing unemployment? The chapter concludes with a key question, “Does the entrepreneur need to learn the fundamentals of the process of entrepreneurship inasmuch as an engineer needs to study engineering, or a doctor needs to study medicine ?” Bridge et al., (2012) support the importance of entrepreneurship and microenterprises and their role in the success of the national economy. They must be seen as an indispensable component of the advanced economies that have heavily relied on them for their progress. One important example is the countries of Central and East Asia, where these businesses have played an important role in their development. When there is a need to generate more jobs, small projects , more than large ones, better achieve this goal. It is, therefore, useful to recognize the importance of entrepreneurship and the impact of small enterprises in spreading the culture of self-employment, and the creation of career opportunities for university graduates to positively resolve the unemployment crisis and its negative effects. The focus of this chapter will be to introduce the concept of entrepreneurship. First: A Definition of Entrepreneurship, and its Topics of Research: The first appearance of the concept of entrepreneurship dates back to the 18th century, and it simply meant that a person starts a private business. The term “entrepreneurship” began to spread in the 1950s to express the desire to start and run a business, whether it is a new one, or one bought and developed by a person who possessed a free entrepreneurial spirit. The idea was to start new businesses the entrepreneurs would finance, plan and supervise in order to gain profit and financial independence. Some economists further developed the definition of an entrepreneur as “anyone who can take the risk of venturing with a new idea if there is a great opportunity to make profits.” Entrepreneurship In other words, this is an administrative term which means having a creative idea that can be transformed into an innovative product or service that is valuable to people, and can be well managed by its creator to reach perfection and achieve career and material satisfaction for its owner. It also means creating an entrepreneurial idea that is risky, innovative, adds new value to the national economy, and facilitates people's lives. Google, for example, came in 1998 with an innovative and unprecedented idea to “organize the scattered world information and make it useful and accessible to all.” Entrepreneurship can therefore be defined as “the process of creating something creative or innovative that has a value and represents a risky opportunity by properly exploiting available resources in a manner that maintains its sustainability in order to achieve long-term material and moral gains for an existing or new organization” (Hala Enabah, 2017). Second: The Entrepreneurship Process Entrepreneurship is an integrated process and not a title. It means taking the lead in a field and managing it well, beginning with the idea that introduces something new that has value for people and that facilitates life for them. Entrepreneurship is not a new phenomenon, nor is it the product of the 21st century, but the word was first used by economist Richard Canelton and Jay Saifi in the early 19th century (Khaled El Bagoury, 2017). But the sudden success of some companies overnight, such as Facebook and Instagram, made many think that success is immediate and that entrepreneurship is easy. The opposite may be true. It is a long and difficult journey that requires a lot of learning and seriousness. We must reaffirm that entrepreneurship is an integrated process that means creativity and the introduction of something valuable and innovative. Time and effort are required together with financial, physical, and social risks. There is also the risk that the desired results are uncertain. Success, in return, will achieve the material and personal satisfaction of the entrepreneur (Hisrich et al., 2010, p.6.l). Previous definitions of entrepreneurship illustrate that this process has six main components: 1. The creative process: creating a completely new idea that has a unique value for the entrepreneur himself, and for everyone who will use it. The creative idea is the essence of the process of entrepreneurship.  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship 2. Dedication: devoting all time and effort necessary to transform the new and original idea into a product or service. An entrepreneur should devote his mind and time completely to his project and idea. 3. Getting in return what is satisfactory to the entrepreneur: the more creative the idea is, the more the entrepreneur gets in return, in terms of independence, personal satisfaction, and financial return, since money is a certain indicator of how successful an entrepreneur is. 4. Taking risks, financially, socially and physically: continuing to work, develop, and create in spite of the risks and the uncertainty of success. 5. Preparing an integrated strategic plan for the success of the product or service: this includes determining the form, mission and objectives of the project, the industry in which it will operate, and the marketing, production, human and financial plans required. 6. Managing the project by defining the management and leadership model required for the success of the project: identifying the basics of success and continuity, applying them, laying the foundations for monitoring and evaluation, and finally the strategy for the future growth of the project. A distinctive creative idea is therefore at the heart of the entrepreneurial process. According to Walter Lehmann, “When everyone thinks the same way, it means no one thinks.” Entrepreneurs are inspired by their immersion in their environment, their interaction with those around them, and their openness to life. They are provoked by the obstacles and problems facing their societies to see entrepreneurial opportunities that fulfill their ambitions. Entrepreneurial ideas are always there, from time immemorial, around us and in our daily lives, but they are only picked up by creators and entrepreneurs. The idea of a mobile phone has been an opportunity since the invention of the phones, but it was Motorola that transformed this opportunity into an indispensable product that has entered all our lives. Pioneering ideas usually address problems for customers. If an entrepreneur can turn these problems into creative products or services, he or she creates an entrepreneurial project that is beneficial to oneself and others. There is a difference between the entrepreneurial idea and the traditional idea: the entrepreneurial idea is creative and has a positive value in people's lives, while the traditional idea is within the norm and does not develop or add new value. Entrepreneurship Third: The importance of entrepreneurship There are many aspects that highlight the importance of entrepreneurship to both the individual and the society, as illustrated by Ahmed Fahmy Galal and his colleagues (2018). A. Entrepreneurship is of great importance in the development of individual skills, and by reviewing the progress of entrepreneurs, it becomes clear that they share the following: Independence: ownership of the project allows entrepreneurs independence and the opportunity to achieve what they want. Opportunities for excellence: entrepreneurs can achieve distinct goals different from others. An opportunity to achieve maximum ambitions: entrepreneurs find pleasure in their business and investment by realizing their potential and proving themselves Profit Opportunity: profits generated by entrepreneurial projects are among the most important drives for establishing these projects. An opportunity to contribute to the welfare of the community: entrepreneurs enjoy confidence and respect in their communities through the exercise of social responsibility for projects or organizations. Creating other job opportunities for others: in the same context, it can be said that pioneering projects are a factor of stability and social and economic development, through creating new jobs and directing savings towards profitable opportunities. B. The growth of the economy is based on the contribution of the entrepreneurial process with a number of benefits to the national economy, the most important of which are: Creating wealth through the provision of products (goods and services that meet the advanced needs of customers). Hence the expansion and growth of organizations, and the development of areas where they exist. Creating new business and economic activities, providing jobs, and opening new markets. Improving the national income and export volume through high economic growth rate. Activating production factors through investment in  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship entrepreneurial capabilities in the society. The level of development of a national economy depends on the level of entrepreneurship and its ability to maintain competition with local and foreign businesses. C. Entrepreneurship is a fundamental motivation to change the culture of a society by changing the culture of business. Perhaps the most important economic impact of entrepreneurship is economic growth at the macro level. The role that entrepreneurs play in promoting economic growth is important and varies from one country to another. In most developed and developing countries alike, micro and small enterprises make up the overwhelming majority of the total number of enterprises in most sectors, producing the bulk of value added in most developing countries, and providing their economies with the largest number of goods and services they produce. Most medium and large companies, especially in the IT, R and D sectors, have often started as small entrepreneurial projects and have become giants over time. All economies are particularly interested in micro, small and medium enterprises, and have developed policies and programs to create an environment contributing to their development. The creation of jobs, self-employment and the employment of others, has a very important economic impact, especially in light of the difficult economic conditions on the global level and the high unemployment rate in the world.The importance of entrepreneurship in providing jobs has increased at a time when the capacity of governments and large corporations to absorb new entrants into their labor markets has declined, due to the substitution of new technologies at the expense of human labor in large corporations and governments alike. The second dimension is reducing and limiting the spread of poverty. Poverty has become one of the most serious problems facing the world, especially in developing countries. Entrepreneurship and job creation reduce poverty, improve living conditions and the quality of life of individuals in various societies. Fourth: The Entrepreneur Dees (2017) brings together the definitions and opinions of leading writers and pioneers of entrepreneurship (SchumpeterDrucker, and Stevenson) during the twentieth century. Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, known as the “father of entrepreneurship,” describes Entrepreneurship entrepreneurs as the creators who manage the process of capital in order to reform or revolutionize the pattern of production in a number of ways, such as making use of an invention, employing untested technological possibilities to produce a new commodity, producing an old product in a new way, finding a new source of material supply, or opening a new market for products. According to Schumpeter, entrepreneurs are the creators of change responsible for changing the economy through new market service, or finding new ways to do things until the economy moves forward. Innovation is the essence of the entrepreneurial process. Peter Drucker, an Austrian economist, added to Schumpeter's definition the factor of “opportunity”. Entrepreneurs do not have to make a difference, but they must exploit the opportunities change creates, whether in technology, consumer preferences, social norms, etc…. An entrepreneur is always looking for change, responding to it and taking it as an opportunity. Entrepreneurship, aimed at exploring market opportunities and arranging resources for long-term gains, is achieved through the cumulative impact of this class of entrepreneurs. Who is the entrepreneur then? In Arabic, the term refers to the first person who starts a project, and paves the way for others with this breakthrough. An entrepreneur is the person who initiates a project based on a creative and new idea, and takes a high risk with no guarantee that the project will succeed. According to Robert Price (2004), an entrepreneur is “a person who starts with almost nothing, establishes a project, and manages it professionally, and takes the risks aiming at making profit and growth.” Although the word entrepreneur is relevant to many disciplines, it has been associated with the business sector. Not every businessman must be entrepreneurial; a businessman makes profit, but it is the entrepreneur who seeks creativity, innovation, development, risk, as well as profit. Fifth: The Difference between Entrepreneurship and Small Projects Some often confuse the small businessman with the entrepreneur. In fact, there is a big difference between them in terms of the idea of the project, the degree of risk each takes, the value the project adds to the owner, the customers and the country, the income or wealth the project generates, and finally the society's opinion of the enterpriser. T  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship able (1-1) The difference between the entrepreneur and the small businessman Factor Small enterpriser Entrepreneur the idea of the project regular or duplicate completely new and “copy and rip” original added value Simple very high Risk low, may be new in very high, rich in idea execution and execution realised income Reasonable a wealth effect of the good or Minor Major service on humanity wealth project aims ongoing income that aims at a great and to generate satisfies the owner and lasting wealth beyond is better than a job simple dreams the speed of making made during the made by the wealth lifetime of its owner entrepreneur in a and takes a long time to relatively short time make (5-10) years creativity and ordinary projects not characterized by innovation characterized by creativity and creativity or innovation innovation compared to small projects competitive Simple very high advantage Example restaurant Facebook clothes factory Google number of relatively small exceeds thousands jobs created Impact on Minimal Huge national economy image of ordinary person Hero owner Source: Prepared by the author Entrepreneurship Sixth: Types of Pilot Projects An individual who wants to set up a small entrepreneurial project but has no creative idea ready for a product or service might ask, “What activity would I prefer to start my business with?” This is perhaps the first question to be answered. The main sectors where an individual can establish a small pilot project are: 1. The industrial sector There are many industrial activities a beginner can start, including a printing press, a bakery, a pastry project, a toy factory, pickles and jams, furniture, clothes of all kinds (children - men - women), and feeder industries of major industries such as cars. Toyota, for example, among many other major industries, does not make cars, but relies on thousands of small projects, each specializing in making certain parts of the car. Almost all of the previously mentioned projects do the same tasks-- converting a range of inputs (raw materials, machinery, workers) into a range of outputs, which are finished products of a quality acceptable to the market and offered for an adequate price. Any of these projects will certainly not continue unless it offers products of more value than those of its current major competitors in terms of excellence, quality and price. 2. The commercial sector: The second type of a small pilot project is the commercial sector, both wholesale and retail. The wholesaler buys the goods from the industrial sector (previously referred to) and then sells them to the retailer. The retailer, who buys from a wholesaler, is the supermarket, the car dealer, the pharmacy, or the furniture store etc., from which we as consumers buy our needs directly. 3. The service sector: It is the new and attractive sector for future small enterprisers. The chances of setting up small enterprises are increasing rapidly. Examples include dry cleaning shops, shoe repair shops, hairdressers, restaurants, tourism and petroleum projects, selling online, etc…. These projects do not require large investments when compared, for example, to the industrial sector projects. 4. Electronic projects sector: It is the future for entrepreneurs who have ideas but don't have money. Creative ideas bring money. The owner of the site Otlob designed his own site, and then sold the idea when it had turned into a successful  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship project for one million pounds. The site was lately sold for 300 million dollars. E-commerce, which does not need much capital, is an attractive field for entrepreneurs, especially if we know that the volume of e- commerce in the world reached $ 3.8 trillion in 2016, and that e-commerce markets in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Europe, and India account for 2.5% of global e-commerce expenditure and represent a huge potential for growth. It is predicted that the number of Internet users worldwide will rise from 3.2 billion users ( 43 percent of the world population) to 3.8 billion users by 2020, which means that the global stretch rate will rise to 49%. More than $106 billion have been invested in technology and e-commerce companies since 2012 (Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission, 2018) Seventh: Misconceptions about Small Projects among Egyptian Youth Due to the importance of small enterprises for the economy through their innovative products and services and the job opportunities they create, countries are beginning to be concerned about them, but they are challenged by a set of misconceptions outlined in a study by Aida Rizkallah in 1997, and can be summarized as follows: 1. technical expertise is the first requirement for the success of a small project; 2. the small size of a project is an obstacle to creativity; 3. inability to carry out marketing activities due to lack of financial resources; 4. no marketing plan is needed at the beginning of a small business; 5. a women is less capable than a man to manage a small business. Below are the practical responses to these beliefs: (1) Technical expertise is not the only requirement for the success of a small project The results of the study indicated that 91.7% of the study sample had a misconception that the technical ability of the enterpriser is the most important requirement for starting a small project. Technical knowledge in the field of a small business is only one dimension. There are three basic dimensions: (a) entrepreneurship, (b) the technical dimension, (c) and the administrative dimension. The relative importance of these dimensions varies. Entrepreneurship A. The Entrepreneur: This is the most important dimension. An entrepreneur has unique qualities that make him different from others. Anything, no matter how small, is an opportunity for him. He is the dreamer who lives in the future, who has vision and imagination, and who can create in an obscure atmosphere of uncertainty. He can always find alternatives and has an extraordinary urge to control both people and events. He lives in his own world, which is full of opportunities, but is also full of risks. B. The Manager: He is a practical figure, without whom there is no planning, organization, or forecast. While the entrepreneur seeks to control, the manager seeks to organize. The entrepreneur looks for change, but the manager is after stability. The manager sees his small project as a house where he wants to live forever, while the entrepreneur sets up a project to start another once it is set up. The manager creates a world based on order and organization, but the entrepreneur creates what the manager organizes. Given the fundamental differences in the personality of the two, the conflict between them is inevitable. C. The Technician Matters are made more difficult through the technician, who is the third dimension in the project. He does the work himself, and believes that no one can perform with the same skill. He considers the business work and not a dream. He lives in the present, and must have feelings for the work to be able to do it. The technician does not trust those around him. The technician does not like to think. He believes thinking is useless if it has no connection with the work that needs to be done. He is afraid of obscure ideas, and thinking for him does not help work but stands in its way. Thinking should only help to do the work better. The technician believes that without him, there will be so many problems in this world. Nothing will be done because many others only think but do not work. These three dimensions exist for each small business owner, and if a balance can be reached, the result is the guaranteed success of the project. The entrepreneur will be free to search for what is new and interesting, the manager will find pleasure in realizing order and organization, the technician will carry out the work he loves and has the skill to do, and productivity will increase because everyone works the way one likes.  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Given the fundamental differences among these three personalities, conflict is unavoidable. Table (1-2) shows the differences among these three dimensions which must all exist for a small project at the same time. Now, dear student, let us examine the projects that failed because they could not integrate these three dimensions without which a small project will not achieve the desired success. Table 1-2 Differences among the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician Entrepreneur Manager technician creates work manages work does the work himself.the small project is a.the small project is a.The small project is work dream system.lives in the present.lives in the future has a.he lives in the past vision control and leadership order and organization work is source of happiness source of happiness source of happiness deals better with mystery approaches mystery hates obscurity and cautiously uncertainty creates alternatives and Organizes alternatives one way to do work possibilities created by entrepreneur always thinks always organizes always works Dreams grumbles examines project is a house to project is a home to live project is livelihood build to think of another in forever no creation without him no project without him work not done without him creating harmony out of organizing interrelated one job at a time chaos jobs events are opportunities trusts events and does not trust workmates to take considers them problems thinking to create and thinking should thinking is a waste of time imagine concentrate on solving if not related to problems performance control people and control the system control work events does not like the does not like the does not like the manager technician and the technician because he is because he is part of the manager because they against the system and system and hate change and stand does not like the does not like the against his imagination entrepreneur because he entrepreneur because his creates chaos that has to ideas are difficult to be organized implement (2) The size of a small project is an obstacle to innovation Entrepreneurship A large proportion of young people (72.5%) believe that the size of a small project hinders innovations, and many connect size and innovation on the basis that a large project has the potential and resources to mobilize the minds of many experts to help them innovate and avoid loss. Despite the theoretical advantages, history and figures prove the superiority of small enterprises where innovation is concerned. An economic study has shown that 34% of technical innovations came from mega projects, employing more than 10,000 workers, a small percentage to contribute to the industry. Studies show that many inventions have started as small enterprises, and that half of the major technical innovations introduced in this century have started with individual inventors and small projects. Air conditioning, the helicopter, insulin, instant camera, penicillin, the photocopier, Facebook, and Google are only a few examples among many others. More importantly, these innovations were the foundation upon which many key industries were built. Figures point to the superiority of small enterprises in innovation, which begins with an entrepreneur with an unprecedented, pioneering and innovative idea. (3) Inability to carry out marketing activities for lack of financial resources Lack of financial resources is doubtless one of the main obstacles facing the small entrepreneur, especially at the beginning. The idea of the project may be innovative, and the good or service it provides in demand, and the market encouraging, but due to lack of financial resources, the marketing activities required to drive the small project during its first steps are not given due attention. Marketing and particularly advertising require much more money than the budget of a small enterprise allows. An exploratory study showed that 87.5% of enterprisers believe in the importance of traditional marketing activities for a small business, while 100% think it is difficult to achieve a distinguished position in the market in case of financial inadequacy. Although traditional marketing methods are important for a large project, they are not suitable for the small project. The latter needs unconventional methods and methods to achieve a distinctive position in the market, methods based on creativity, not on a large budget. Marketeers tend to use this kind of creative and unconventional methods to achieve their goals.. Many of these marketing methods available to the small  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship entrepreneur (Table 1.3), offer free opportunities to build his business, establish a position in the market, and achieve targets. The success of entrepreneurs in the use of these methods depends on proper choice. Table (1-3) Effective marketing techniques that can be used by a small business Technique Examples methods that can be name, quality, color, logo, distribution, used by beginners marketing plan, personality, pricing, and customer address list methods not writing papers, invoice form, marketing recognized as part of while waiting for the customer on the marketing phone, decorations, and staff clothes Attitude answering telephone calls, orderliness, smile, speed, follow-up, customer contact time, greeting and farewell, public relations, enthusiasm and competition methods interesting community participation, display windows, to the unsuccessful professional membership, sales training, project newsletters, customer welcome drink, contacts, bill boards methods that working hours and working days, allowing facilitate purchase credit, catalogues, samples, honesty, from small Projects customer satisfaction methods often abused brands, audible word, publications, public relations, and telephone sales. methods that achieve directions within store, participation in immediate results trade exhibitions, product offers, live display of the item, direct mail, and sales representatives conventional stronger advertising, reputation, newspaper, methods of longer magazine, radio and television duration advertisements. The previous study showed that only 45.8% of those who responded are of Entrepreneurship the opinion that a marketing plan is essential once a project begins. The false beliefs of many young people reflect what is happening in reality. Although a marketing plan does not cost cash, many small business owners do not have written marketing plans, and rely on contradictory advice from different parties to make their everyday unplanned decisions. Some may have the financial means to hire service in this area, but the plan is wasted for lack of operational experience. (4) Women are less able than men to manage their small business Although this belief is widespread, there is no scientific evidence for its validity. The study showed that 69% of the study sample believe that women are less able than men to manage a small business. A project starts with a dream, and women’s dreams may be different from men’s. Women have a long history of small business, and many of them have started their own successful small businesses, or stood by their husbands and families and away from the public eye to contribute to the success of the family business. In the United States, for example, approximately 6.5 million small enterprises (500 employees/workers or less) are owned and run by women, accounting for one third of all small projects. The number is expected to rise as the number of projects set up annually and conducted by women is twice that by men. To prove that women are no less able entrepreneurs than men, we will demonstrate the case of Azza Fahmy, a successful and distinguished Egyptian female entrepreneur. Azza Fahmy is the designer of jewelry that has achieved outstanding innovations recognized internationally.  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Success Story Jewellery designer, Azza Fahmy Beginnings The story of Azza Fahmy with jewelry started when she bought a German book on traditional medieval jewelery in Europe in 1969. She decided to take training in jewelry design, and worked as a trainee for Haj Sayed, one of the jewelers in the old Khan el-Khalili market in Cairo. She trained under the best craftsmen, and was the only woman who worked nights at Haj Sayed’s workshop. She moved from metal filing to jewelry design, but kept her job as an illustrator of books issued by the Egyptian government to afford training in jewelry design and later to manufacture them. Later, the British Council awarded her a scholarship to study jewelery at the Polytechnic University in London. Fahmy’s pioneering project Azza Fahmy opened her own workshop in one of Cairo's remote districts, where she developed her style using Arabic words and Arabic poetry to carve inscriptions on silver jewelery pieces inlaid with gold. In 2006, she collaborated with the prominent designer Julian MacDonald to make jewelery specifically for his fashion shows, where Fahmy Jewelry has distinctive, exceptional and iconic designs. Developing a global brand Fahmi never forgot her beginnings and the challenges she faced in a male-dominated sector. She remained enthusiastic, committed and persevering, with a thirst for learning. Fahmi's mindset at work is “my limit is the sky.” She is in a pursuit to improve and develop her work where her mission is to revive Arab and Islamic heritage. Her brand won international acclaim and prestige among prominent jewelry brands such as Cartier and Bulgari. The company has also dressed Paris Fashion Week models, as well as Queen Rania of Jordan, famous singer Rihanna and British supermodel Naomi Campbell, and her designs featured in a variety of international publications such as Vanity Fair and the New York Times. She collaborated with international brands such as Preen and Julien MacDonald and was invited to create special collections for The British Museum and the Entrepreneurship Louvre. Azza Fahmy set up a number of local stores, and distribution outlets in London, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai. She realized that with this rapid expansion, internal change was needed to accommodate the growth of the company. “You have to work to make the brand's products meet market demands,” she says, “Creating a balance is the intricate part of the process. You need to win world recognition without giving up the brand’s identity.” Institutional leadership A vital element that transformed a family-owned enterprise into a competitive global business is restructuring the company. The business has evolved from an entrepreneur-run company, to one with an established and strategically structured operations team comprised of marketing, sales, design, planning and quality control departments, supported by strong financial and human resource teams. Today, Azza Fahmy Jewellery —the first Egyptian designer jewelry label—employs over 200 people varying between skilled labor, designers, engineers and marketers. Now, Fatma Ghaly, Fahmy’s daughter, has taken the helm as Managing Director and is poised to expand the company’s presence in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. The Grand Prize Initiated under a corporate social responsibility (CSR) umbrella in 2011, Fahmy co-founded project Nubre, meaning “Design” in Nubian, with the European Union (EU), to enhance the local culture of contemporary jewelry design through workshops. Evolving Nubre to the next level, Fahmy established the Azza Fahmy Design Studio (AFDS) in 2013, a joint venture and partnership with Alchimia, Contemporary Design School based in Florence, Italy. Fahmy’s vision to drive economic growth, job creation, and enhancement of related industries in the region is also channeled through the Azza Fahmy Foundation, which focuses on providing vocational education through exchange programs and development projects, which feed creative industries and facilitate knowledge-transfer across the jewelry- making industry. But Fahmy—who in 2007 was named one of the 25 most influential businesswomen in the Middle East by the Financial Times—is no overnight success. She founded the company almost 45 years ago in 1969, having stumbled upon a book on medieval European jewelry and realized that she had found her true calling. Eighth: Entrepreneurship is an indispensable discipline for those with  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship entrepreneurial qualities There are some important questions to ask at the end of this chapter. Is a businessman born with the genes of an entrepreneur? Does the process need preparation and instruction? Is entrepreneurship an art or a science or both? The best answer comes from a prominent entrepreneur who says, “An entrepreneur, like a doctor or an engineer, is adequate for his profession, but at the same time needs education, training and scientific grounding. Practitioners of all professions such as medicine, law, engineering, accounting, and pharmacy engage in very rigorous education and training systems to be equipped for their professions and be able to make real success. This is also true for professional entrepreneurs.” This prominent entrepreneur further adds, “Think of this situation: can an engineer design a bridge at 1000 feet high as a first project without having studied this design in the Faculty of Engineering? Do you accept, if you need an appendectomy to be operated on by an intern who performs this operation for the first time in his life? Is it better to rely on skill or on experience?” The same applies to setting up a pilot project. The question now arises, “How can you become a professional entrepreneur? How can you, dear student, possess the knowledge and the experience to succeed and outperform all others? Advanced courses in business administration to learn traditional and modern concepts of business management are not enough, and will not qualify a person to be an entrepreneur. If you want to be a professional entrepreneur, you need to acquire specific skills and gain access to specialized, non-traditional knowledge of entrepreneurship. This is proved by the fact that business students themselves are studying this course. Another entrepreneur says, “I was born an entrepreneur. I started without guidance, but over time, I felt I needed to shape my skills through a combination of traditional learning and experience to create a truly pioneering and distinguished enterprise.” Being a professional entrepreneur implies a different commitment other than that of a small business owner. We are here considering entrepreneurs who create hundreds of job opportunities and earn hundreds of millions of pounds. Your commitment as an entrepreneur means that you are not an employee who works from 9-5, and enjoys a stable life. You will work 7 days a week even if you are on vacation. Working 12 hours or more Entrepreneurship a day is the normal rate for a professional entrepreneur; you are always working and planning. You are always passionately involved in your project; you dream of it. All entrepreneurs usually keep papers and pens in their bedrooms. If an idea emerges, they wake up and write it down before they lose it. An entrepreneur must know that entrepreneurship is not a title to get, but a difficult journey, and like many professions, it needs perseverance and learning to mature and succeed. An entrepreneur is constantly seeking knowledge and experience of anything new to develop his/her skills. How can you reach perfection in the development of your skills? A successful entrepreneur answers, “By constantly learning; by taking successful models as your example; by sharing experiences with others through workshops and training programs.” He adds, “When I find an opportunity to learn, I take it; I attended 10 seminars in the best universities in the world during the past 30 years, apart from workshops and training programs; I attended these scientific forums to prove myself and develop my skills in accordance with the latest developments in entrepreneurship. All these institutions and the certificates I got have provided me with a tremendous amount of knowledge, as well as creative methods for solving my problems. I have committed myself to learning that will never end.” This position strongly supports the decision of Cairo University to teach this course to all its students in all faculties. Research proved - as already stated in the introduction to this book - that individuals who study a course in "entrepreneurship" increase the chance to start their projects and contribute to its of success by 3-4 times higher than their peers who start their projects without this study. They earn more than their counterparts who do not take this course by 20-30%. (Hisrich et al., 2010) In conclusion, entrepreneurship is the art of possessing entrepreneurial qualities, but it must be supported by learning and professionalism, like any other discipline, such as engineering, medicine, pharmacy, law, sports, religion or politics, etc. This is the subject of the following chapter.  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Exercises and Questions Search-Discuss-Imitate-Innovate Question 1: 1. The story of the founders of Kngine: What do you like about the brothers Ashraf and Haitham Al-Fadeel? What are the main lessons learned from their story? Did they have any effect on the national economy? How? 2. The story of Azza Fahmy What do you like about Azza Fahmy's success story? What are the main lessons learned from her story? did she have an impact on the state economy? How? 3. Access the internet for the following Egyptian companies' websites (Orascom Group, Egypt Gold Company, Al Arabi Group) to know their success stories. Did they rely initially on entrepreneurs, and what do you learn from their stories? 4. Othman Ahmed Othman succeeded in establishing a huge entity, the Arab Contractors, which has spread throughout the Middle East. How did the story of this giant corporation begin? What are the characteristics of Othman as an entrepreneur and a leader? This huge corporation started with one construction operation and the number rose to three. Othman moved on a bicycle to check work on the three sites and pay wages. This bike was the nucleus of the thousands of cars of every colour and size owned by the company now. 5. Choose the story of an Egyptian entrepreneur in the field of technology and its applications. What did he achieve and what was his creative idea? 6. Set up a team of yourself and your colleagues. Think of an idea for an innovative product or service that you think is good for a pioneering project. The idea can also be individual. Question 2: Entrepreneurship Determine whether the following statements are true or false: 1. A student may have ideas and funds, but the problem is that he/she does not know how to use them to create a pilot project. 2. There is a strategic question that the student should answer, “Do I want to be an employee or an entrepreneur?” 3. Entrepreneurship means providing a pioneering product, service or creative idea that others have never provided before. 4. Many practitioners and experts believe that starting an entrepreneurial project is one of the most difficult things, but maintaining its survival and easier and does not pose any challenge to the entrepreneur. 5. Creative ideas are always there. What matters is who catches them. 6. Ideas always come from people's problems. As an entrepreneur, always be around them. 7. An entrepreneur or a small enterpriser’s knowledge of the secrets of the profession alone ensures the success of the project. 8. A professional is the one who carries out a profession regularly and constantly for the purpose of acquiring money, with full concentration and devotion to the work. 9. The term entrepreneur in Arabic means the first to launch a project, and pave the way for others with this breakthrough. 10. When everyone thinks the same way, it means that no one thinks. Question 3:  Chapter One: Main Concepts of Entrepreneurship Choose the correct answer in front of each of the following: 1. An entrepreneur's mental and intellectual ability means……. A. knowledge of the profession. B. the ability to comprehend. C. the skill of dealing with others. D. a passion for achievement. 2. The idea of a pilot project should be ……… A. ordinary or repetitive. B. copy and paste. C. completely new and innovative. D. both A and B. 3. The best entrepreneurs in the world are those who…….. A. enjoy entrepreneurial talent. B. have studied. C. have not received any education. D. both A and B. 4. Entrepreneurship is………. A. a characteristic of the entrepreneur. B. an easy journey. C. a difficult journey D. a journey with no risks 5. An entrepreneur is ……… in the eyes of his country and people. A. an ordinary person B. a hero C. a person of average intelligence D. none of the above 6. Income acquired through successful entrepreneurship is usually...... A. a wealth. B. a reasonable income. C. an average income D. A and B. 7. Entrepreneurship risk is usually…….. Entrepreneurship A. low. B. medium. C. very high. D. none of the above. 8. The impact of a pilot project on the national economy is usually…... A. very huge. B. weak. C. very weak. D. medium. 9.Job opportunities created by a long-term entrepreneurial project are usually …….. A. innumerable. B. very few. C. few. D. medium. 10. To be a successful entrepreneur, it is best to………. A. look for your customers for your products customers. B. look for a new product for your customers. C. imitate successful products in the more developed world. D. all of the above. 11. Individuals taking a course entrepreneurship earn more than their counterparts by………. A. 20-30%. B. 40%. C. 50%. D. no definite rate.