SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT 3

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTREPRENEURS

I. INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Each of the following entrepreneurs has provided information
relating to their success in business. Read each interviews and BOX
the words or phrases which indicate the personal characteristics you
believe is important in owning and operating a business.

2. Upload the final file in schoology. Inside SA3 folder.

3. Let us be productive. Keep safe everyone. God bless.

 John Benette C. Castillo
NAME: ______________________________
7-Hope
GRADE AND SECTION: __________________

Interviews with Entrepreneurs:

ENTREPRENEUR 1: John Gitau.

(John has owned a small restaurant for three years.)

I started by working at a restaurant in another town. I waited on

tables, cooked, did the purchasing and book-keeping and picked up a
basic understanding of the business. Later, I spent some time at two
other restaurants in town learning about managing a restaurant. Most
people think if they are good cooks they can open a restaurant. It’s
not that simple! You’ve got to know every area of the food business,
such as purchasing, advertising, cooking, managing employees and
customer relations.

Young people come to me and say, “I want to learn about operating a

restaurant from you so I can open my own.” I tell them, “That’s okay
with me, I’ll have you cook, bartend, wait on tables and clean up
tables.” They say, “You don’t understand. I want to learn how to
manage.” Well, I believe you’ve got to “feel the business” from the
ground up before you can run it.

I enjoy the freedom of being in business. I like being my own boss. I

have twelve employees, and it gives me a good feeling when they ask
me for advice. It would be difficult for me to work for somebody else.
But I might become an employee in the future. I’m only twenty-eight
years old, and my career could take many turns. I hope that if I did
have to work for someone else, I could pretty much do what I wanted.
I like making decisions and being a leader.
ENTREPRENEUR 2: Pat O'Brian.

(Pat O’Brian is one of four owners of a firm that owns a local radio
station. Pat and her partners started the business ten years ago.)

The important thing is to get into a business you like and in an industry that
you know. I’d worked at a radio station for a number of years before we
formed our business. When deciding on a business to enter, you need to
know what the conditions are in the field. What is its future? Ten years ago
we saw the potential for growth in radio. The time was right for me and my
three partners to buy the radio station.

Building a business takes much more imagination and creativity than most
people think. Owning a business takes maturity and the ability to work
effectively with others, including employees. We have a large number of
people working for us now, and we’ve got to know how to deal with them.
You need to have good help, including a dependable lawyer, accountant,
insurance agent and banker. You need money. It’s difficult to raise capital,
especially on your terms. It took us three years to raise the money we
needed to purchase the radio station.

If you go into business with other people, either as a partnership or in a

corporation, you’ve got to be certain you have common interest and goals.
You need to know what each person does well and what skills they can
contribute to the business. It helps to be friends. I don’t accept the reasoning
that you can’t be friends with your partners. You can do it, if you can
communicate well each other.
ENTREPRENEUR 3: Manuel Lopez.

(Manuel owns an art gallery which specializes in signed prints and art
posters.)

When I first thought of opening a gallery, I went around and talked to

people in the art community. I asked them what I needed to know to
open a gallery. The more people I talked to, the more ideas I got. You
never should be shy about asking other business owners for help. Not
everyone’s going to be nice about sharing ideas, but most business
owners are friendly and believe that competition is healthy. Besides,
successful entrepreneurs love to talk about their successes.

Running a business takes a great deal of time. You have to be willing

to work seven days a week. You have to think about the business 24
hours a day. Sometimes it gets lonely. There’s no one to turn to, and
all the problems are yours. Having some experience in sales helped
me in the business. But many specific things had to be learned on-
the-job. Business schools don’t teach you how to wrap packages, but
that’s an important part of the retail business.

My advice to anyone thinking about going into business, especially a

retail business, is to be flexible. Move with the market trends. Don’t
stock what you think customers ought to have. Stick to your
standards and tastes but don’t blame the customer if your
merchandise doesn’t sell. My gallery is a great source of pride to me.
Still, I’m always having to keep working to make my business grow. I
don’t feel I’ll ever be able to sit back, put my feet up and say “I’ve
done it.” I shall always have problems, and my task is to solve them.