When examining the history of human civilizations, there are always individuals who stand out in the flow of time as being exceptional for their contributions to the future advancement of the human race. They are sometimes artists, sometimes monarchs, sometimes philosophers, and sometimes entrepreneurs. What makes entrepreneurs unique is that capitalism as a market system has become unquestionably dominant throughout the entire world, and thus business forces are more powerful today than they have ever been. There is currently a nexus of energy in the business world that has only been growing and getting stronger since the industrial revolution and will only continue to gain power as we continue to pioneer further technological revolutions. This article will examine some of the historical twists and turns entrepreneurs have gone through, as well as what is to come.
To start at the beginning, the word entrepreneur originally comes from the French but was probably first found in one of the works of French economist Jean-Baptiste Say in about 1800. Before this time, there were certainly entrepreneurs, as there have probably been in some form or another since the beginning of recorded human history, but they were not given such a formal title. Entrepreneurs existing as creative and progressive members of the merchant class have been around in full force since the end of the feudal era in Europe, when free enterprise was given more room to flourish, at which time they were often seen as a dangerous influence in a society that was still quite traditional. In ancient China, members of the merchant class were considered of a very low social caliber, and while in Europe they didn’t quite have this negative stigma, they were still not seen as ordinary individuals.
As it became easier to start your own business and capital began to flow for those entrepreneurs that needed the outside investment, their numbers began to grow and history began to see the first venture capitalists and the first large-scale entrepreneurs that had large success in the mainstream world. The Gutenberg printing press can be seen as one of the largest technological advancements pioneered by an entrepreneur, as are the first textile factory machines invented in Britain on the eve of the industrial revolution, or the first automobile assembly line in the 1930s in the United States. All of these advancements were created by people with good ideas and the business sense to implement them.
In the late 20th century, the new wave of entrepreneurs have been mostly digital; the number of e-commerce sites hit its stride in the 1990s and is only continuing to grow as more people shop online. There is still incredible room for expansion as the digital technologies get more advanced and more portable, and there are sure to be future entrepreneurs inventing and investing in this new wave of gadgets. In short, entrepreneurs have always existed as the next line of innovation, helping our entire civilization push itself even further to improve quality of life and bring people closer together. It is certainly a noble tradition and one that never rests in its activity when reaching towards the future.