THE COLLISON BROTHERS ARE TWO ENTREPRENEURS FROM LIMERICK.
Skill/
Characteristic Risk taker
Explanation
The entrepreneur takes both a personal and financial risk in setting up a new business.
There is no guarantee of success.
Proactive
When an entrepreneur has an idea, they make it happen and take action.
Innovative
Spotting a gap in the market and coming up with a good or service that satisfies that gap.
Self-motivated The entrepreneur pushes themselves to achieve their goals. They do not need others to inspire them.
EXAM PREPARATION!
State the skills/characteristics of an entrepreneur. Explain each skill using an example. Apply it to another unit.
2 Generating Ideas
Idea generation means coming up with new ideas. It is defined as the process that requires finding new solutions for practical problems. It’s about creative thinking.
Innovation is not just about having the ideas; it is also about developing these ideas into commercial enterprises. It can be challenging to come up with a completely new product/service. However, it may be possible to alter an existing idea by adding an innovative element. You could change the packaging, e.g. adding some green for St Patrick’s Day. You could innovate a product/ service that supports the prevention of the spread of Covid-19, e.g. face masks. You may decide to create an app to reinforce an existing product/service. It is essential to do lots of research and test customer reactions.
Example
Patrick and John Collison, two brothers from Limerick, took a risk and set up an online payments system to enable quick and easy transactions for businesses on the internet. They now rival PayPal.
The Collison brothers identified a problem and decided to create a better system that enabled developers to accept payments in just a few minutes.
The Collison brothers found it difficult to take payments online for their other start ups. They felt there could be an easier way of doing the transaction and so created Stripe.
Patrick Collison, the elder of the two brothers, won the BT Young Scientist award when in TY. They are now worth €3.2 billion.
P. 112
Go to page 112 of the activity book to complete questions on this topic.