Internal entrepreneur
Open-knowledge reference entry
An internal entrepreneur is a type of entrepreneur who operates inside the confines of an organisation such as a business unit or a government body.
What is an internal entrepreneur
An internal entrepreneur is known as an intrapreneur (makes part of intrapreneurship) and is defined as "a person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation". They are usually very motivated, with a high drive towards completing the job at a fast pace with efficience (action-oriented) who are comfortable with taking the initiative, regardless of the boundaries that the organisation or the entrepreneurial world imposes over them, they are in a constant pursuit of an innovative product or service. Their behaviour can be characterised through the ability of thinking outside the box which includes smart and clear minded risk-taking with an emphasis on leadership, these traits combined are also what make a successful entrepreneur.
"Intrapreneurship" in practice
The main difference between an internal entrepreneur (intrapreneur) and an entrepreneur is the environment, which represents the sphere in which they work. An entrepreneur's aim in general terms is to create a successful organisation, while an internal entrepreneur on the other hand has to find solutions to existing problems within the company and provide improvements for the benefit of the existing organisation.
Forbes Insights studies state that internal entrepreneurs comprise approximately one in every six executives in Europe. They tend to be innovators with specific ideas and a mind set towards the creation of original plans for the prosperity of the company. The task of an internal entrepreneur is to push the idea to a corporate bureaucracy which may be inhospitable to new ideas.
A significant portion of current entrepreneurs were once internal entrepreneurs who weren't satisfied with their work or the limits put on innovation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Internal entrepreneur” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.