ABSTRACT
The conventional idea of ‘entrepreneurship’ has been used mainly to describe a particular type of behaviour by a distinctive type of economic actor, usually but not exclusively an individual. The quintessential entrepreneur possesses an amalgam of creativity, acquisitiveness and opportunism through which he or she can combine factors of productionlabour, land, capital and technology-to develop new products and processes, improve existing levels of productivity and create wealth both for the individual and for the economic system as a whole. Entrepreneurship is thus a basic factor of production in itself and is characteristically in short supply. In earlier days, the lack of economic dynamism in certain poor societies was attributed to the lack of this quality; conversely, the emergence of entrepreneurs and the establishment of a socio-political environment in which entrepreneurship could flourish was a powerful determinant of dynamic economic growth.
