The Entrepreneurial DNA

What does it take it be an entrepreneur? The traits and profiles of an entrepreneur.

I am asked this frequently (particularly by aspiring entrepreneurs), and I equally ponder it myself. In bringing the Founder Institute — the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator — to Ghana, I have found the question even more topical right now.

As an entrepreneur, I’ve experienced the extraordinary adrenaline-rushing highs of success and the gut-wrenching lows of failure (which, more often than not, tend to provide the best lessons and triggers for later success, but that’s for another time).

I’ve also been on the other side, working with several hundred entrepreneurs and startups from both within incubators and accelerators and outside them, and from a consultancy perspective leading projects and programs engaging with SMEs at various stages.

The crux is, it doesn’t matter what continent I’m in, the sector, location, or the business model, my view of what it takes to be an entrepreneur boils down to three key things:

First is Purpose. Bishop TD Jakes once said, “purpose is an underlying chemistry that makes you live your life.” Passion isn’t enough. Passion fades, and it can’t always pull you up to the peak from the trough when you don’t think you have another step or breath in you. After all, that’s what entrepreneurship is: a series of peaks and troughs. Purpose is what aggregates them into a cadent level and makes the vision more achievable. Our purpose is the innate, sometimes indescribable thing, that certain je-ne-sais-quoi, that drives us forward. For me it is the point where our skills and talents intersect with the void or the need in our lives that we simply cannot erase. It is a sense of resolve that propels us no matter what.

Second is Persistence. When you get knocked down — as you invariably will — will you get up again? Will you get up again, and again and again? The reality is, you’re going to face obstacles, there are going to be knock backs, but in the face of overwhelming odds and prolonged opposition, do you have the tenacity to keep going and to continually tip the scales in your favour? One of my favourite phrases, “It’s not your setback that matters, but your comeback that counts,” fits perfectly here.

Lastly, Resilience. Not to be confused with persistence, but as a compliment to it, resilience is the elasticity in your character that enables you to recover quickly. Are you…