You have definitely come across the word "entrepreneurship" in any economic, political, and cultural contexts. It has the buzz word of our time, and is often discussed in public, professional and even private settings. However, as soon as we hear the word, we immediately think of someone who starts a project that provides goods or services as a means of achieving and collecting individual gains and profits. We often highlight successful individuals in the field of entrepreneurship, paying tribute to the individual successes achieved by persons such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk.
We often look to the annual rankings of the richest people in the world. We may also discuss matters concering the most profitable companies in the world, such as Apple, Walmart, and ExxonMobil.
We may have dreamt of being among the top entrepreneurs who have achieved successes on a personal level and self-actualization. We imagine ourselves, for example, heading the board of directors of a company, and controlling assets worth millions and billions. However, this raises a set of questions: Is entrepreneurship only limited to individual material success? Or are there any other aspects to it worth highlighting? Is the success of an entrepreneur measured only by their bank account? What is the role of entrepreneurship in achieving the common global goals related to sustainable development? How does entrepreneurship impact us as individuals and societies?
You might clearly realize that material profit is a backbone against which entrepreneurship rests, both in concept and application; profit is a main indicator for evaluating business and entrepreneurship success. Profit may be seen as the main motive to delve into a field described as dangerous and uncertain on the one hand, while also being freeing and flexible on the other. However, limiting its concept to this definition might drive our attention away from many key elements of entrepreneurship. By studying the history of entrepreneurship, you will find that many definitions do not address economy and profit at all. For example, David McClelland (1961) described an entrepreneur as “a person who is motivated by the need to accomplish something and a strong desire to add something to life,”. Further in 1959, Cole defined four distinctive types of entrepreneurs: the innovator, the calculating inventor, the overly-optimistic promoter and the organisation builder. These types have nothing to do with personality, but rather the type of opportunity the pioneer faces."
One of the most prominent new concepts of entrepreneurship emerged following the launch of a key announcement of the new millennium: the launch of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations in 2015, which set broad outlines for common global goals in a unified manner for all countries, providing them with the option to draw up solutions and mechanisms to achieve such goals, in accordance with the vision of the country and its economic and social conditions. These goals, as outlined by the United Nations, guarantee social, economic and environmental sustainability. Studying these goals, you would clearly understand the importance of entrepreneurship, and its role as a fundamental pillar in achieving these goals; Either through its direct role in supporting the economy and providing jobs, allowing for better living conditions and suitable income while also achieving food security; or through its policies, granting equal opportunities for men and women and contributing to indivisuals' professional development; or through its practices taking a form of responsibility such as using clean energy, or reducing pollution.
The International Council of Small Businesses (ICSB) indicated its direct link with the 4th and 8th goals of sustainable development.
Reviewing these goals, one could find that they “have given a significant role to innovation and entrepreneurship, not only in dedicating an independent goal to the development of innovation, but also in establishing resilient infrastructure, stimulating inclusive and sustainable industrialization and expanding the horizons of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship by providing solutions to issues of health, poverty, housing, education, energy, water and sanitation, environmental preservation and the goals' financing mechanisms, in addition to promoting the role of innovation and creativity in transforming all these challenges into economic opportunities and providing broad opportunities for various groups and sectors for economic contribution. Thus, the concept of entrepreneurship expands to include social, economic, environmental and even political practices. The entrepreneur grows from an independent individual with personal goals and practices into an entity that actively drives societies and even the global scene to achieve goals of sustainable development, which transforms entrepreneurship into a part of people's dream of having a dignified and happy livelihood.
In addition to the previous role played by entrepreneurship; its concept is not limited to improving life and working to increase its quality as a secondary goal to the main goal: profit making. Rather, a new concept emerged, which is community entrepreneurship, which usually tries to promote extensive societal, cultural and environmental goals that are often associated with the voluntary sector In areas such as poverty alleviation, health care and community development.
Social entrepreneurs are divided into non-profit pioneers, and pioneers who combine profit goals and societal returns in two well-known patterns, the first of which is through managing independent projects that provide profitable products or services, but their profits return entirely to non-profit organizations, such as charities or volunteer organizations. An example of this is one of the endowment buildings recently established in Al-Ahsa, in which apartments are rented for-profit and their proceeds go to charities in the area, which represents a growing and sustainable source of income for the beneficiaries of these charities.
The other pattern goes sets profit making as a primary goal, but focuses on social responsibility as well. Apple, for example, activated this responsibility by using recyclable materials in its various devices, thus contributing to preserving the environment, in addition to investing part of its returns in treating AIDS patients and raising awareness around this issue.
Another example is Toms Shoes, which was founded on the principle that it would provide every poor child a pair of shoes for free for every pair sold. It is a unique business model that combines both profit and non-profit philosophies. Its founder, Mycoskie, follows the same principle in his book: Something That Matters. The book cover reads: “With every book you purchase, a new book will be provided to a child in need."
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has given a lot of attention to the field of entrepreneurship as one of the pillars of achieving its Vision 2030. It developed a set of practices that contribute to supporting this sector and certain goals that help in its activation, including: allowing small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the GDP by a percentage up to 35%, establishing more small and medium-sized enterprises in order to provide more job opportunities by increasing the financing ratio to 35% instead of 20%, and facilitating the process of issuing licenses for economic and development projects, thus contributing to the Kingdom’s economy.
Several initiatives have also been established to develop this sector. For example, "Riyadah", an independent, non-profit national organization established by the initiative of the Ministry of Energy and the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation under the name (National Entrepreneurship Institute). Riyadah is concerned with the field of entrepreneurship and the development of emerging and small enterprises. It was co-founded by a powerful six-party group represented by the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Saudi Aramco, Saudi Telecom Company, Alinma Bank, Social Development Bank and Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC).
Finally, we must realize that entrepreneurship has a significant impact, because it constitutes an important economic, cultural and societal system that contributes to fulfilling common needs and basic goals that go beyond the individual level to greater economic, societal and environmental goals. With these all-encompassing and vital goals, its activation becomes necessary for prosperity and development. It is also necessary to understand the effects of innovation and entrepreneurship on the development of societies, as well as providing confidence and harnessing all means to support small and micro enterprises which requires encouraging government institutions to embrace small enterprises, introduce the best technologies and innovations, and provide opportunities for the owners of these projects in government tenders.
