Khilendra Basnyat

The word ‘entrepreneur’ is a general term relating to industry and commerce. Anyone engaged in supplying goods and services to consumers is a business entrepreneur and a person who produces the goods himself or with the help of others is called an industrial entrepreneur.
An entrepreneur has to formulate the business plan and monitor its execution. However, the possession of capital alone does not make a person an entrepreneur, s/he is essentially a person who through her/his foresight and ability, directs and application of human energy in the shape of labour power and capital saving to the exploitation of the opportunities afforded by nature. As an independent organiser and director, an entrepreneur guarantees wages to his/her employees and interest to those who have lent him/her capital, and is consequently subjected to a relatively large and intense element of risk.
According to the business science, there are three stages of entrepreneurship, namely (1) handicraft and graft guild system, (2) domestic system and (3) factory system.

Graft guild system
Under handicraft and graft guild system, the machinery used will be neither very costly nor complicated and manual labour will be the most important factory of production. The family or a family reinforced by a very small number of helpers will be the unit of industrial and business organisation. The raw materials of manufactures will be obtained from those close at hand, the production will be for local needs, means of transport will not be developed and the markets will also be local. In this system, guilds can be organised from the working people and can be formed with the cooperation among members to protect exploitation from the merchants, so that they can get proper prices for their production.
Under the domestic system, there will be a larger volume of business than that of the guild system. A new class of entrepreneur is involved who will perform the duty of a middleman between the actual producers and the consumer. Under this system men can usually work on contract. The entrepreneurs can employee the workers on piece time wages and can supply both the raw materials and the necessary tools for the manufacture of those things which he or she wants. They may be, neither craftsmen nor members of any guild, but they can enjoy the profit accruing from the difference between the cost price and the sale price of the articles.
Under the factory system, a large volume of business is expected. Therefore, competition in earning maximum profit and in accumulating greater wealth has led to the search for better and improved methods of production. Every entrepreneur makes his/her best possible efforts to secure for himself the maximum production at a minimum cost. This system requires all the factors mentioned above. Therefore, it cannot be applied in the rural areas. Despite the fact that the handicraft system or domestic system will be suitable, it is necessary to identify the proper areas where both the handicraft and the domestic system can be applied.
Under the handicraft and guild system, the craftsman himself can be an entrepreneur and so there is no possibility of clashes between an employer and an employee. Since the craftsman himself can enjoy all the benefits of production, factory management will be easy for an entrepreneur. Under this system, the risk rests on the craftsmen, and the size of business will also be small. Therefore, production and market will be limited; however, in the domestic system, craftsmen and entrepreneur groups will be different and so most of the benefits of production will be enjoyed by an entrepreneur.
On the one hand, craftsmen should not take risks and on the other hand they should get proper wages from the entrepreneurs. Therefore, they can develop their skills and improve their economic standards. Again due to the shortage of capital, raw materials, machinery and market, the entrepreneur cannot replace the manpower by the machines. This is why the evil effects such as group confrontation, strikes and lock-ups may come into the industrial environment.
In accordance with the above description, it is obvious that under the factory system, human labour can be replaced by the machinery. For this purpose, huge capital investment is required, and the development of quicker, cheaper and safer means of transport is needed.
Standardisation in production results in the loss of craftsmanship. Society may be divided into the capitalists and the working classes. Also, the sophisticated skills of entrepreneurship are needed. Therefore, the handicraft and guild system is appropriate for the remote areas where capital, market, knowledge and transport are limited. The domestic system is appropriate for the semi-urban areas where education, capital and transport are more extensive than those of remote ones. However, the Factory System, which can be helpful for export promotion and import substitution, is appropriate for urban areas.

Training
Most Nepali women, particularly in rural areas, are illiterate, ignorant and socially as well as economically backward. In order to raise their standard of living, entrepreneurship training can play a significant role. In fact, entrepreneurship is not a natural product. It is the result of education, training and environment. In Nepal, both governmental and non-governmental organisations are providing skill development training to women for the development of women's entrepreneurship.
If the entrepreneurship development training can be integrated with the skill development training, the required employment can be available in the rural areas, mainly in the non-agricultural sector. But that skill must be classified according to the capability of women.

(Basnyat is a freelance writer)