Who Can Be an Entrepreneur? Lessons from Ekalavya and Raju Sahu

Ekalavya, the young hunter from the Mahabharata, wanted to become the finest archer of his age. He had no royal teacher, no privileged birth, and no formal access to training. What he did have was a clear goal and an unshakeable will to reach it. That single quality, strong motivation, is where every entrepreneurial journey actually begins. Long before capital, contacts, or a business plan, an entrepreneur needs the inner drive to pursue a goal that others say is out of reach. This is exactly what makes the question “who can be an entrepreneur?” so interesting, and the honest answer is far more open than most people assume.

The Ekalavya story: motivation that ignores your starting point 🔗

Denied lessons by the master archer Dronacharya, Ekalavya built a clay image of his teacher and practised before it with such discipline that his skill eventually rivalled the best-trained princes. The point of the story is not the well-known tragic ending. It is the principle behind his rise: birth, caste, and geography did not decide what he could become. His goal and his motivation did.

This is not just an old legend. The behavioural scientist David McClelland tested almost the same idea in real life. Through his famous Kakinada Experiment in Andhra Pradesh, he showed that the need for achievement could be developed through training, and that traditional beliefs and social background did not by themselves determine whether someone behaved like an entrepreneur. Modern research agrees that this drive sits at the centre of the entrepreneurial personality. A study of enterprising tendency found that strong motivation and a high need for achievement are defining characteristics of people who start ventures. In short, the door is open to anyone willing to walk through it with enough purpose.

Who is an entrepreneur, really? 🔗

An entrepreneur is a person who owns, organises, manages, and runs an enterprise while assuming the risk of the business. That last part matters. Many people manage a business, but the entrepreneur is the one who carries the uncertainty of whether it will succeed or fail. Entrepreneurship, then, is simply the bundle of qualities and skills a person needs to play that role well.

This definition tells us something reassuring. Being an entrepreneur is described as a set of behaviours and competencies, not a fixed identity you are born with. Business schools make the same point: entrepreneurship goes beyond merely starting something and instead involves innovation, risk-taking, and a long-term vision that can be learned and strengthened over time. With that foundation, let us look at the qualities that turn motivation into a working enterprise.

The 14 qualities that make an entrepreneur 🔗

No single trait guarantees success, but a recognisable set of competencies appears again and again in people who build lasting ventures. The following 14 qualities cover how an entrepreneur acts, thinks, and leads.

Creativity and innovation 🔗

Creativity anchors the entire entrepreneurial career. The ability to generate fresh ideas allows a founder to offer something different in a crowded market. Researchers describe creativity and innovation as the traits that let entrepreneurs devise unique solutions and build new products, services, or business models. Without it, a business simply copies what already exists.

Calculated risk taking 🔗

Entrepreneurs take risks, but not blindly. They prefer moderate, calculated risk, weighing alternatives and acting to reduce the danger before they commit. The Wharton School notes that low risk aversion is a strong predictor of who becomes an entrepreneur rather than staying an employee. The skill lies in judging which risks are worth taking.

Initiative 🔗

Initiative is the quality that translates ideas into action. An entrepreneur does things before being asked or forced to by events, acting proactively instead of waiting for the perfect moment. Competency frameworks built on McClelland’s work describe initiative as taking the first step and being the first to introduce new ideas. Plenty of people have good ideas; the entrepreneur is the one who starts.

Persistence 🔗

Setbacks are guaranteed. Persistence means not giving up after failure, but trying a different approach and continuing. Failed attempts are rarely wasted, since they often deliver the most valuable lessons that shape the next decision. This refusal to quit is what separates a temporary effort from a real business.

Opportunity seeking 🔗

Opportunities rarely announce themselves. Entrepreneurs actively scan their surroundings for unmet needs, gaps, and possibilities, often spotting them even during a crisis when others see only problems. This opportunity-seeking mindset, the ability to recognise and seize chances that others overlook, is one of the clearest markers of entrepreneurial competence.

Information seeking 🔗

An entrepreneur treats relevant information as an investment, not an expense. Before launching a product or entering a market, they research customers, suppliers, and competitors to reduce uncertainty. Gathering reliable information turns a guess into an informed decision, which is why systematic information seeking is so closely linked with the ability to coordinate resources and explore business opportunities.

Using feedback 🔗

Feedback is fuel for improvement. Successful entrepreneurs deliberately seek concrete feedback on their performance and use it to adjust, rather than treating criticism as an attack. People with high achievement motivation tend to want this feedback because it tells them whether they are getting closer to their standard of excellence.

Concern for standards and quality 🔗

An entrepreneur cares about doing things well. This concern for excellence and quality means meeting or beating a high standard rather than settling for “good enough”. A business that consistently delivers quality earns trust, and trust is what brings customers back and builds a reputation that competitors find hard to copy.

Self-confidence 🔗

Building something new requires believing you can do it. Self-confidence helps an entrepreneur trust their own abilities, make decisions under pressure, and stay steady when others doubt them. This is the inner “I can” attitude that allows a founder to act despite incomplete information and an uncertain outcome.

Problem-solving orientation 🔗

Entrepreneurs assume that problems are bound to arise. Instead of being discouraged by this, they take real pleasure in finding solutions. A problem-solving orientation reframes obstacles as puzzles to be cracked, and this attitude keeps a founder energised through the constant stream of small crises that running a business involves.

Goal setting 🔗

Clear goals give direction. An entrepreneur works with definiteness of purpose, setting goals that are challenging yet realistic and breaking them into measurable targets. Research on achievement motivation shows that high achievers set moderately difficult goals and find personal accomplishment intrinsically satisfying, more than they value money alone. Goals turn a vague ambition into a plan of action.

Faith in planning 🔗

Good intentions waste resources without a plan. Faith in planning means thinking through the steps, the budget, and the timeline before spending time and money. Systematic planning prevents needless wastage and helps an entrepreneur anticipate problems instead of merely reacting to them. Plans will change, but planning itself sharpens decision-making.

Persuasion 🔗

An entrepreneur rarely has every resource in hand. Persuasion is the quality that influences the surrounding environment, convincing investors, partners, employees, and customers to support the venture. By persuading others to lend money, supply goods, or join the team, the entrepreneur mobilises resources that they could never assemble alone.

Long-term commitment 🔗

Finally, what distinguishes genuine entrepreneurs from quick-money promoters is long-term commitment. They see themselves as creators and builders, willing to stay with a venture through difficult years to grow something durable. This long-term view is repeatedly listed among the core characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, because lasting value is built slowly, not overnight.

So, who can be an entrepreneur? 🔗

Put the Ekalavya lesson and the 14 qualities together and the answer becomes clear. Entrepreneurship is not reserved for a special category of people defined by their family, wealth, or region. It is a set of behaviours that begins with strong motivation and grows through creativity, calculated risk, initiative, persistence, and the other qualities described above. McClelland’s experiments suggested these traits can be developed with the right effort and exposure, which means the real barrier is rarely where you start. It is whether you commit to the goal and keep building the competencies that get you there. Ekalavya could not change his birth, but he could decide how hard he practised, and that decision is available to everyone.

What do you think? If motivation and these competencies can genuinely be developed rather than inherited, which two qualities on this list feel weakest in you right now, and what is one concrete step you could take this month to strengthen them? And looking at people you admire who built something from nothing, which of these 14 qualities do you think mattered most in their success?

References

1. https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/entrepreneurship/motivation-entrepreneurship/achievement-motivation-kakinada-experiment/40677
2. http://www.get2test.net/
3. https://www.esade.edu/beyond/en/characteristics-qualities-entrepreneur/
4. https://www.entrepreneur.com/building-a-business/entrepreneurship/what-are-the-characteristics-of-a-successful-entrepreneur
5. https://executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu/thought-leadership/wharton-online-insights/is-risk-taking-behavior-key-to-entrepreneurial-spirit/
6. https://themba.institute/entrepreneurship/key-entrepreneurial-competencies-success/
7. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11365-024-01064-3