An entrepreneur is someone who exercises initiative by organizing a venture or business to take advantage of an opportunity they have seen in the marketplace.

They need to have both the vision to see the opportunity and the aptitude to exploit the opportunity commercially.

An entrepreneur supplies risk capital as a risk taker, and monitors and controls the business activities. They can be a sole proprietor, a partner, or the person who owns the majority of shares in an incorporated venture.

They are the decision maker, and so decides what, how, and how much of a good or service will be produced. They will also decide how to sell it, and for how much.

The economist Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950), said that entrepreneurs are not necessarily motivated by profit but regard it as a standard for measuring achievement or success.

Schumpeter discovered that they greatly value self-reliance, strive for distinction through excellence, are highly optimistic or else nothing would be undertaken, and always favour challenges of medium risk rather than too easy, or too risky.