Entrepreneurship is essential to economic growth and development, particularly in developing and emerging economies. When an entrepreneur launches an exciting new venture and puts in the hard work and effort to create a new business, it’s not only personally gratifying, but promising for the local community and economy. We know some of the factors that drive economic growth overall, but how does entrepreneurship specifically help facilitate these moving parts in the economy?
Essentially, without entrepreneurship, the economic landscape would not be the same one we live in today. Simple pleasures we enjoy each morning, like having our pick between a few of our favorite local cafes and coffee shops, would not be possible without the efforts of entrepreneurs. The process by which entrepreneurs stimulate the economy is known as Entrepreneurship-led Economic Development (ELED). Entrepreneurship drives economic growth by creating jobs, enhancing productivity, strengthening community, and spurring innovation.
Job creation
Entrepreneurs are risk-takers who are already willing to invest their time and resources to start a new business. Naturally, employing assistance to help the business run seamlessly is a top priority from the start. Making sure their business can find employees who share the same values and desire to see the business succeed is essential. Finding employees with the mind for productivity, collaboration, and innovation is another vital factor for ensuring the business stimulates economic growth, both in the community and for the success of the business.
Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in economic growth because it creates new businesses and expands existing ones. New businesses create jobs, and more jobs translates into increased consumer spending, which drives demand for goods and services. This increased demand, coupled with the increased supply of goods and services, fuels economic growth and creates a virtuous cycle of economic development.
Not only do new business owners open their doors to hire in-house employees, but they provide job security indirectly for the employees in many other sectors and industries. Everyday business operations guarantee a need for existing services such as vendors, distributors, or other processes handled by third-party companies. Depending on the type of business, service needs within the industry can create job growth and industry expansion in areas like manufacturing, transportation, and logistics.
Productivity
The driven and creative minds of entrepreneurs and their employees are at the forefront of productivity. Who better to analyze the need for improvement than those who have direct hands-on experience? Higher productivity is most simply defined by the process of using fewer resources to produce more output. This means that entrepreneurs are constantly looking for ways to improve not only their own products and services, but those of the competition. They recognize where there is a gap in what is provided versus what is needed, and they’re determined to fill this gap. Entrepreneurs enhance productivity by reducing costs, improving quality, and increasing efficiency within their own businesses or organizations.
Productivity and competitiveness coexist to drive each other and stimulate the economy. Entrepreneurs determine methods of improving products and services of the competition and capitalize on those methods. Competition itself is an important factor for economic growth. It can be either direct or indirect and can be driven by various factors like price, quality, customer service, innovation, and marketing strategies. The goal of economic competition is to improve the overall quality of goods and services, reduce prices, and increase efficiency, which benefits consumers. When entrepreneurs enter the market by starting a new business, they promote competition by challenging existing firms in the same industry. By doing so, they force these competing businesses to either improve or lower costs to remain competitive. This leads to increased productivity in the economy as a whole.
Community
Think back to the coffee shops and cafes mentioned earlier. One of your favorites came to mind, right? Now imagine your community without that space. You can’t (or at least, you wouldn’t want to)! Entrepreneurs invite color and vibrancy to the community through the creation of more third places—that is, a local space outside of work and home for community members to relax and spend time together. It is critical to create an inclusive, diverse, charming, magnetic kind of community environment to attract and retain local talent and outside enterprise, and that is exactly what entrepreneurs provide their communities by opening a local business.
Local businesses invest in the community, whether it’s through sponsoring events or supporting local charities and nonprofits. Additionally, local businesses often provide personalized and specialized services that cater to the unique needs and preferences of the community, which can help to build customer loyalty and strengthen relationships between businesses and residents. By starting new local businesses that act as those third places, entrepreneurs strengthen the sense of community, which in turn strengthens the local economy. It also keeps local dollars local and re-circulating. This cycle of community building and economic growth is one of the many benefits of ELED.
Innovation
The process of promoting productivity within a business is one of the most useful skills an entrepreneur can have, but how do they go about enacting those strategies and ideas? This is where innovation comes in. Entrepreneurs are often the ones who recognize unmet needs in the market, usually as a result of their own problem and lack of resources, and develop innovative solutions to meet them. Whether it be through the use of new technology, processes, or business models, they find a way to improve products and services for the most seamless user experience–and of course, to create a more productive economic environment.
Innovation can take many forms, from small incremental improvements to radical breakthroughs. Incremental innovation involves making small adjustments to products or processes, such as adding new features or optimizing existing ones. Radical innovation gives entrepreneurs and their employees the freedom to create entirely new products, services, or processes that disrupt existing markets and forge new ones. This type of innovation requires significant investment in research and development and carries a high degree of risk, but can also yield significant rewards.
One of the key drivers of innovation is the pursuit of new ideas and solutions. This requires a willingness to take risks and experiment with new approaches. Innovation is most effective when taken on via collaboration and cross-functional teams, bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise to solve complex problems. By deciding which teams get to spearhead certain projects or which projects they directly want to be involved in, entrepreneurs facilitate a healthy environment for innovation.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurship is a critical driver of economic growth. Entrepreneurs create new businesses and jobs, which stimulates economic development by ensuring more consumers are participating in the economy. Entrepreneurship also fosters competition and increases productivity, which can lead to lower prices and higher quality products. Entrepreneurs are the engines of innovation and creativity, and they create new products, services, and technologies that improve society and boost economic activity. By embracing entrepreneurship and supporting the entrepreneurs who create value and opportunities for themselves and their communities, we can create a more prosperous and inclusive economy for all.
About EIC
At Economic Impact Catalyst, our mission is to activate a world where there is equitable and inclusive access to entrepreneurship. We believe that entrepreneurship is the key to equitable and inclusive economic development. Our team’s main focus every day is to make it easier for founders to launch businesses in order to create wealth for themselves, for their teams, and for their communities. To learn more about our technology and market research solutions, built exclusively to catalyze entrepreneurship-led economic development efforts, book a call with us today.