#BTColumn – Entrepreneurs for four generations

The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Dr. Basil Springer

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:21

Let me paint a picture of the essential pillars of entrepreneurial success – plan, path, passion, persistence, and patience. All responsible parents should have an educational plan for their children’s future whether they become entrepreneurs or employees.

The processes available for the formal acquisition of knowledge are through primary, secondary, tertiary academic education and technical or vocational training. Apprenticeship is a powerful one-on-one training prospect. The opportunity to gain global experience is invaluable.

When entrepreneurs eventually find their passion then their enterprises become easy, lucrative, and fun (the ELF principle). This passion fuels the enterprise.

The shift from employee to entrepreneur is challenging but worth it. You must be persistent and never give up. Management of business systems is now the responsibility of entrepreneurs and not the employers.

If the entrepreneurs equip themselves with tools of positive thinking, a high adversity (AQ) quotient and a sequential evolutionary approach (SEA) to problem-solving, where the next step is informed by the lessons learned in previous steps, these will stand them in good stead.

Entrepreneurs must exercise patience, discipline, and manage their time and money well. In parallel, they must extend love and compassion to all stakeholders. Entrepreneurs reach their pinnacle when they have provided for their pension, are helping others and are happy.

My maternal grandfather, born in 1885, only received primary education. He took on an assignment as an apprentice at a leading hardware store. Then he opened his own hardware store and became an entrepreneur. His passion was selling hardware, building houses and renting them out.

He was a hard worker, disciplined, a Sunday School superintendent, and never spent a bad penny. He expressed great love and compassion to his family and friends. He was 78 years old when he first travelled to Europe. He lived until 99 and was financially independent at the time of his death.

My mother, born in 1914, received secondary, technical, vocational education and then joined her father’s hardware store. Her passion was nutrition and cooking and, in her middle age, she completed a course in nutrition in England and became an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Health.

She then became an entrepreneur selling and distributing specialty dishes from her home kitchen and published several cookbooks, the last when she was 93.

I pursed tertiary education in the Caribbean and UK before working and receiving tenure at the University of the West Indies. Much to the chagrin of my parents’ friends, I became a business consultant entrepreneur in 1977 with many a global outreach.

My passion is to decrease the failure rate of
startup enterprises through a profitable enterprise development service.

My younger sister Helen completed a course in General Surveying (Valuation) in England. After retirement from the UK civil service, she became an entrepreneur in real estate development and currently has her own personal counselling practice which is her passion. Her financial future is secured by a pension and a reverse mortgage on her house.

My younger son is a successful entrepreneur in the United States. He has built upon his United World College education in Canada followed by studies in public relations and a consulting apprenticeship at the United Nations, which deepened his global perspective.

He continued his entrepreneurial pursuits individually and then with both nonprofit and for-profit organisations. His passion is public relations and marketing, and he is an exemplar to his diverse team of service providers.

The above profiles over four generations are intended to inspire the fifth generation (my grandchildren) and others, if they contemplate entrepreneurial careers, while they continue to trust in Almighty God, the giver of all things.

Dr. Basil Springer GCM is a Change-Engine Consultant. His email address is basilgf@marketplaceexcellence.com. His columns may be found
at www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com.