What is an entrepreneur? One who draws upon his or her skills and initiative to launch a new business venture with the aim of making a profit. Often a risk-taker, inclined to see opportunity when others do not.

In our type of economy, entrepreneurs are very important. They are the ones who gather up and use the factors of production (labor, capital and natural resources) to produce goods and services. Let’s look at a possible example of entrepreneurship…

THE CROW AND THE PITCHER In a spell of dry weather, when the birds could find very little to drink, a thirsty crow found a pitcher with a little water in it. But the pitcher was high and had a narrow neck, and no matter how it tried, the crow could not reach the water. The poor thing felt as if it must die of thirst. Then an idea came to the crow. Picking up some small pebbles, it dropped them into the pitcher one by one. With each pebble the water rose a little higher until at last it was near enough so the crow could drink. In a pinch a good use of our wits may help us out. One of Aesop’s Fables

How was the crow an entrepreneur? The crow had an idea of how to get the water level to rise high enough so it could drink from the pitcher. The crow took a risk by choosing to stay at the pitcher instead of looking elsewhere for another water source. The crow demonstrated traits of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is someone who discovers new ways of doing things, invents new products using productive resources, or finds a way to reduce costs of getting something.