Illustration by Kevin Christopher M. Tee (2015); editing by Allister Roy S. Chua (2015)

| ˌɒntrəprəˈnəːʃɪp |

Although The Daily Aloy promotes finding and living your own higher purpose, rooted in consciousness and faith-driven service, if you were to ask me, I’d say my purpose is in social entrepreneurship and natural living – which is why some of my posts here emphasize this. This is because I believe in the power of (social) entrepreneurship and the virtues of living a natural lifestyle – nothing can be more socially- and environmentally-relevant than those, for me.

Last week, I had the privilege and the fortune to represent my employers, Habi Footwear, at the first BPI Sinag Business Challenge for social entrepreneurs. A collaboration between the BPI Foundation and the Ateneo Center for Social Entrepreneurship (ACSEnt), we were holed up (or not) in my alma mater for an entire week and given intense seminars on virtually each of the components of the Business Model Canvas (as well as social impact). I must say, nothing stirs up my soul quite like social entrepreneurship, especially when I’m mingling with so many equally passionate young minds who are bent on solving a social problem (or two) using business.

Actually, entrepreneurship itself is all about solving a problem or introducing an innovation using the principles of business – especially when your financial stability is on the line. Entrepreneurship, therefore, is the key to a whole world of opportunities, and the reason for development. Never has there been something more innovative and growth-inducing than authentic capitalism or business, as John Mackey and Raj Sisodia write in their 2013 book Conscious Capitalism, and this is indeed the call to young people today especially in the Philippines. Senator Bam Aquino, a social entrepreneur himself before going into government to intervene more deeply in the landscape thereof, is pushing for entrepreneurship among the youth by introducing legislation that will make it easier for startups to, well, start up, recognizing the relative difficulties in doing business in the Philippines. The senator believes that entrepreneurship is the most effective way to drive integral national development, and indeed it is: the backbone of our (and just about any) economy is enterprise, especially small- and medium-sized ones.

As I also wrote in the discussion of a previous phrase, “Lean Startup“, the principles thereof can – and should – be applied in just about every field we go to, all in the name of development. I think the same holds true for entrepreneurship: the very spirit of it, which is all about structuring and investing all of your resources for the sake of the solution to a problem or a very valuable contribution to the world, should serve as a guideline for our lives.

Definition

*derived from entrepreneur

noun

• the concept of setting up (a) business/es, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit
  • the field of promoters in the entertainment industry

Etymology [entrepreneur]

Early 19th century (“director of a musical institution”), from French entreprendre (“to undertake”).

In other languages

• Bahasa Indonesia: kewiraswastaan
• بهاس ملايو:
  • تنظيم الأعمال (keusahawanan)
• Deutsch: Unternehmergeist
• Español: la iniciativa empresarial
• Français: l’esprit d’enterprise
• 한국어: 기업가 정신 (gieobga jeongsin)
• Italiano: l’imprenditorialità
• ភាសាខ្មែរ: ភាពជាសហគ្រិន (pheap chea sahakrin)
• မြန်မာဘာသာ: စီးပွားရေးစွမ်းဆောင်မှု (hceepwarrrayy hcwmsaungmhu)
• 日本語: 企業家精神 (きぎょうかせいしん)
• ພາສາລາວ: ການປະກອບການ (kan pakobkan)
• ภาษาไทย: ผู้ประกอบการ (P̄hū̂ prakxb kār)
• தமிழ்: தொழில் முனைவோர் (Toḻil muṉaivōr)
• Tiếng Việt: tinh thần kinh doanh
• 中文: 創業 / 创业 (chuángyè)