The concept of entrepreneurship has a wide range of meanings.

On the one extreme an entrepreneur is a person of very high aptitude who pioneers change, possessing characteristics found in only a very small fraction of the population. On the other extreme of definitions, anyone who wants to work for himself or herself is considered to be an entrepreneur.
The word entrepreneur originates from the French word, entreprendre, which means "to undertake." In a business context, it means to start a business. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary presents the definition of an entrepreneur as one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.

Scott Shane in 'General Theory of Entrepreneurship' believes "Entrepreneurship is an activity that involves the discovery, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities to introduce new goods and services, ways of organising, markets, processes, and raw materials through organising efforts that previously not existed." (Shane, S. 2003) In fact, the variations are almost endless: "Entrepreneurship is the act of forming a new organisation of value" (Bateman& Snell 1996), "... the creation of new enterprise" (Bartol & Martin 1998) or "...the process of creating something new with value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and independence." (Hisrich & Peters 1998) Consequently, we can say with certainty that entrepreneurship is at best ambiguous and at worst a wildly theoretical concept but we believe the best definition comes from Peter Kilby as noted by Wickham (1998). He says the entrepreneur has a lot in common with the 'Heffalump', a fictional animal in A. A. Milnes Winnie the Pooh. an entrepreneurship is a process of innovation and new venture creation through four major dimensions- individual, organisational, environmental, processes- that is aided bycolaborative networks in government, education and institutions. (Kuratko &Hodgetts,

Someone who exercises initiative by organizing a venture to take benefit of an opportunity and, as the decision maker, decides what, how, and how much of a good or service will be produced.

An entrepreneur supplies risk capital as a risk taker, and monitors and controls the business activities. The entrepreneur is usually a sole proprietor, a partner, or the one who owns the majority of shares in an incorporated venture. According to economist Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950), entrepreneurs are not necessarily motivated by profit but regard it as a standard for measuring achievement or success. Schumpeter discovered that they (1) greatly value selfreliance, (2) strive for distinction through excellence, (3) are highly optimistic (otherwise nothing would be undertaken), and (4) always favor challenges of medium risk (neither too easy, nor ruinous). "An entrepreneur sees an opportunity which others do not fully recognise, to meet an unsatisfied demand or to radically improve the performance of an existing business. They have unquenchable self-belief that this opportunity can be made real through hard work, commitment and the adaptability to learn the lessons of the market along the way.

The term entrepreneur ( i/ntrprnr/) is a loanword from French, and is commonly used to describe an individual who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on financial risk to do so. The term was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon as the person who pays a certain price for a product to resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making decisions about obtaining and using the resources while consequently admitting the risk of enterprise. The term first appeared in the French Dictionary "Dictionnaire Universel de Commerce" of Jacques des Bruslons published in 1723. Over time, scholars have defined the term in different ways. Here are some prominent definitions. 1803: Jean-Baptiste Say: An entrepreneur is an economic agent who unites all means of production- land of one, the labour of another and the capital of yet another and thus produces a product. By selling the product in the market he pays rent of land, wages to labour, interest on capital and what remains is his profit. He shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield. 1934: Schumpeter: Entrepreneurs are innovators who use a process of shattering the status quo of the existing products and services, to set up new products, new services. 1961: David McClleland: An entrepreneur is a person with a high need for achievement [N-Ach]. He is energetic and a moderate risk taker.

1964: Peter Drucker: An entrepreneur searches for change, responds to it and exploits opportunities. Innovation is a specific tool of an entrepreneur hence an effective entrepreneur converts a source into a resource. 1971: Kilby: Emphasizes the role of an imitator entrepreneur who does not innovate but imitates technologies innovated by others. Are very important in developing economies. 1975: Albert Shapero: Entrepreneurs take initiative, accept risk of failure and have an internal locus of control. 1975: Howard Stevenson: Entrepreneurship is "the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled."[1] 1983: G. Pinchot: Intrapreneur is an entrepreneur within an already established organization.[note 1] 1985: W.B. Gartner: Entrepreneur is a person who started a new business where there was none before.
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provides a compilation of the major historical definitions of entrepreneurship reviewed in this article that provide a reasonably representative sampling of the major aspects of entrepreneurship. As can be seen, many are very different and contradictory from each other.

Entrepreneurship can be defined by describing what entrepreneurs do. For example: "Entrepreneurs use personal initiative, and engage in calculated risktaking, to create new business ventures by raising resources to apply innovative new ideas that solve problems, meet challenges, or satisfy the needs of a clearly defined market." But as the following definitions state, entrepreneurship is not restricted to business and profit: "Entrepreneurship involves bringing about change to achieve some benefit. This benefit may be financial but it also involves the satisfaction of knowing you have changed something for the better. (Entrepreneurship: Creating a Venture by Lily Kretchman et al. Toronto: Wiley, 1991.) "Entrepreneurship is essentially the act of creation requiring the ability to recognize an opportunity, shape a goal, and take advantage of a situation. Entrepreneurs plan, persuade, raise resources, and give birth to new ventures."

(Entrepreneurship: The Spirit of Adventure by Richard Bodell et al. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991.) According to Cantillon's original formulation, the entrepreneur is a specialist in taking on risk. He "insures" workers by buying their products (or their labor services) for resale before consumers have indicated how much they are willing to pay for them. The workers receives an assured income (in the short run, at least), while the entrepreneur bears the risk caused by price fluctuations in consumer markets. An entrepreneur is a person who creates small businesses. Entrepreneurs are calculated risk-takers---they strive to maximize potential of their venture while simultaneously minimizing risk. They are able to recognize opportunities as they arise and create goods or services in order to take advantage of the opportunity before competitors catch on to it. Entrepreneurs may create new products or services, improve on current products or services, or simply find a new way to market existing products or services (Michael Paul, University of Wisconsin) Entrepreneurship is the process of creating or seizing an opportunity, and pursuing it regardless of the resources currently controlled. The American Heritage Dictionary defines an entrepreneur to be "a person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for business ventures."

According to Davidson, there is a lack of common understanding of what entrepreneurship precisely is (Davidson 2004; Hill and Levenhagen 1995). Casson contends that most studies about entrepreneurship rely on stereotypes (Casson 1982).

The field of entrepreneurship is defined as examination of how, by whom, and with opportunities to create future goods and discovered, evaluated and exploited. Venkataraman 2000, p. 218)

the scholarly what effects services are (Shane and

Entrepreneuring is the efforts to bring about new economic, social, institutional, and cultural environments through the actions of an individual or group of individuals. (Rindova et al. 2009, p. 477)

Lumpkin and Dess (1996), Low and MacMillan (1988), Gartner (1988) New entry; the creation of new enterprises/ organizations Cole (1949) A purposeful activity to initiate, maintain and aggrandize a profit-oriented business Wiklund (1998) Taking advantage of opportunity by novel combinations of resources in ways which have impact on the market. Stevenson and Jarillo (1990) The process by which individuals pursue opportunities without regard to the resources they currently control Casson (1982) Synthesizes the attributes/concepts above + skills to judge and coordinate scarce resources, environment (supply of sources) and capital thus important for success. Kirzner (1983) Alert to opportunities for profitable exchange (can be anybody), a middleman who facilitates exchanges, an intermediary function.
An individual who, rather than working as an employee, runs a small business and assumes all the risk and reward of a given business venture, idea, or good or service offered for sale. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as a business leader and innovator of new ideas and business processes.