01-01 Entrepreneurship

It was intriguing traveling to countries like Fiji and learning that the economy was essentially controlled by the Indian population which start most of the new businesses. Not the Fijians. And it was just as interesting to learn when visiting Malaysia to find the economy equally controlled by the Chinese and Indians, who again start the bulk of the new companies. Not the Malays.
So, to put it in simple terms, entrepreneurship is a critical ingredient in the growth of an economy, growth in terms of an increase in the value of goods and services produced.
It was helpful studying family history to see an example of economic growth in 1890 from great-grandfather Devon, who developed a chemical that would soften the calcium deposits in boilers. And from that chemical discovery he developed over fifty years a company with 1000 employees and six plants in Northern England and Northern Ireland.
And more family history that links entrepreneurship with economic growth with the story of the Bulloch Bros. Here we have great grandfather John Bulloch and two brothers wholesaling Irish linens to meet the demand in England, after the supply of cotton was cut off during and after the US civil war.
But during my travels around the world, I also saw many societies with lots of self-employment, that did not experience economic growth. So, my instincts tell me that not all entrepreneurship translates into economic development.
The family clothing business started out as an example of self-employment because my father was told when he worked for Eaton’s that if he married my Jewish mother he would never be promoted. The photo is of the old family shop on Bay Street.
But then when WW2 was declared, and my father decided to go after the officer’s uniform market, we have a case of entrepreneurship creating growth. He took in his brother-in-law, Uncle Jack, as a partner and together they opened their own factory.
Although I am not an economist, I did take a couple of courses during my MBA years and remember being told of the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, who promoted the concept that economic growth comes from creative destruction when new enterprises and new technologies replace existing companies and existing ways of doing things.
I was the founder of an e-learning company that uses Internet technology to replace stand-up training at community colleges. It is better learning and at a fraction of the cost of traditional class room instruction. Schumpeter at work.
If societies are serious about growing their economies they must ask themselves if their culture is entrepreneurial and if not why not. It is just that simple.
That’s the way I see it, anyways.