An entrepreneur, as noted in the previous article, is “often defined as one who starts his own, new and small business.” For instance, the book “Introduction to ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Success Stories of Filipino Entrepreneurs”, notes in its preface that the “SME sector has become the backbone of the Philippine economy, comprising a staggering 99.6 percent of all registered firms nationwide, employing 69.9 percent of the labor force, and contributing 32 percent to the economy.”

The same preface also speaks of “entrepreneur-franchisors” and asserts that “franchisees are themselves entrepreneurs”. On another framework, however, the franchisee who simply implements the processes of the franchisor is not an entrepreneur.

Based on Prof. Marites Khanser’s (John L. Gokongwei, Jr.: The Path of Entrepreneurship) working definition of an entrepreneur – someone who “creates something of value where there was nothing before” – she ruled out “take-overs of existing business or securing a franchise, since these are not truly “start-up” operations.”

Incidentally, a comment left by “Brainleak” in a previous post reads: “I believe someone who is NOT a Pinoy entrepreneur is the one who just inherited/claimed the reins of an existing family enterprise.”

Entrepreneurship is not simply about starting a business. Mr. Candari made a comment in the precursor of this article: “Every entrepreneur is a businessman, but not all businessmen are entrepreneur”.

A small and new business may be entrepreneurial, but this does not rule out existing and big businesses. A franchisor who sets out to formalize processes and standardize products may be entrepreneurial, but a franchisee, by the sole fact of being a franchisee, is not automatically an entrepreneur.

So, let’s start a new poll: Do you consider all business people as entrepreneurs? The poll is found at the left side of this site (the poll ran from 26 Jan, but temporarily stopped on 6 Feb, with the following results: 17 says “yes” and 15 says “no”). Comments are still welcome below.

• Poll: Are Pinoy Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
• Characterizing Entrepreneurship: Who are Pinoy Entrepreneurs?
• Entrepreneur vs. Employee: Why can’t everyone become Entrepreneurs?
• Poll: Business as Usual in 2009?
• How do you determine Who are Pinoy Entrepreneurs?
• Food for Thought for New Pinoy Entrepreneurs
• Are Filipinos Ready to Become Entrepreneurs?