Global Entrepreneurship Week 2018 has just ended. “During one week each November, thousands of events and competitions in 170 countries inspire millions to engage in entrepreneurial activity while connecting them to potential collaborators, mentors and even investors.”
Entrepreneurship here, entrepreneurship there, entrepreneurship everywhere.
Entrepreneurship is a long word. A big word. I actually found it difficult to be defined. Look above: the idea behind the Entrepreneurship Week is to “inspire millions to engage in… `entrepreneurial activity`”…
I sympathize with the simple “initiate”. A modest word, for those who are caring and involved. For those who recognize a need, move things, improve something. When an initiative comes from a real necessity, it has a positive potential.
So how did initiative evolved into entrepreneurship? Became a profession ..? Can people become professional entrepreneurs? It seems that entrepreneurship is the capitalist reincarnation of initiative. We shall indeed initiate things, but in order to make money. It will be an initiative with a “business model”. What about social entrepreneurship? It is unfortunately quite rare.
Encouraging entrepreneurship for the sake of Entrepreneurship shifts the focus from the real thing: identifying problems and needs and providing proper solutions. Some entrepreneurs try to invent a new product and educate the world to use it. Such successful cases are rare. On the way, billions are lost on startup companies that develop esoteric solutions to esoteric problems, which are faced mainly by those who created these startup companies in the first place.
Enormous budgets are invested not only in unnecessary companies, but in education and encouragement of entrepreneurship, budgets which can be shifted to improve living conditions and educate people to become aware of the fundamental problems that affect their quality of life. Deep understanding of problems leads to a change in living habits, and a natural solution of the problems “from below,” by the “users” themselves, rather than through “artificial” solutions from the outside.
Avoiding reaching cores of problems is a real problem. It is part of the “fake news” era, where truth has lost it meaning.
I suggest replacing the “Global Entrepreneurship Week” with a “Global Problems Week”. A week in which people will delve deeper into real problems of everyday everywhere lives, because that is the goal. In this “Problems Week” we will be surprised to discover, that many problems were caused by unnecessary, technological, so called solutions.
Accidents investigation
Car accidents are good examples for providing wrong solutions. It is usually a human factor that causes deadly accidents, but governments prefer investing billions in road infrastructure, instead of educating drivers and wisely enforcing traffic laws. Real causes of road accidents are often not thoroughly investigated. The world’s aviation industry is a source of inspiration for troubleshooting. There is no place for an error in an aircraft – a malfunction can lead to fatal consequences. Therefore, over the years, the aviation industry developed a thorough investigation culture of faults and accidents. Such methodologies should be applied to everyday life. No wonder civil aviation advanced immensely and became safe and efficient. It is the culture of questioning and understanding of the precise sources of problems that allows providing accurate solutions, both in terms of technology and the human factor. The human factor is a crucial element in aviation world, therefore a great effort is put into training of pilots.
Searching for the truth in the high-tech world
In one of the entrepreneurship week’s meetings, a website for linking fitness trainers and people around the world was presented. The motivation was a graph showing that the majority of people have limited time to practice: either early in the morning before work, or late in the evening after work. Thus, fitness trainers are heavily busy during these hours, while bored the rest of the day. The solution enables trainers who live in various time zones around the world to offer their services to anyone anywhere, at an attractive price using a video session.
The main problem addressed here is the unavailability of fitness trainers during certain hours. But let’s go dipper understanding the problem. Maybe the problem is that we have no choice but to practice only at the edges of the day? Why do we need a fitness trainer in the first place? Why can’t we train ourselves? This is not a rocket science! Why aren’t we in good shape? Maybe something’s wrong in our lifestyle? Until a few decades ago, people would work physically most of the day, moving their body parts as part of everyday life. Today a large number of people sit in the office most of the day. Maybe employers should allow employees a half an hour workout session break during the day, or even provide it to employees? Employees will be healthier physically and mentally, and be much more productive. Perhaps people should finally abandon private cars, walk a mile to the bus or train station, earning a refreshing workout on the way to and from work?
Several companies developed applications for dog boarding and walking. The problem: Dogs are left alone when their owners are engaged in other activities. Is that so? Maybe the problem is that the dog is left alone for hours at home? Maybe the problem is that people are working too much? Why do people keep dogs locked at home, just to see them for a while in the morning and in the evening? Is it a problem of lack of self-confidence? Are they lonely? Britain recently recognized the problem of loneliness and even appointed a “Minister for Loneliness”.
The car is the problem, not the solution
One of the most striking examples is the issue of technological developments for vehicles. All experts agree that private cars have no future in crowded cities of the world, and the only possible solutions for urban mobility is mass transit systems, and infrastructure for walking and cycling. Naturally, achieving this vision involves overcoming serious challenges, especially in existing, dense cities, and resources of entrepreneurship and creativity must be allocated for that. However, the global fuel industry and the automotive industry are so powerful, they manage to divert the global mindset from the real problems into solving problems that technology itself has created.
The automotive industry will never admit that the world of cars has long since been out of proportion, that there is no place for cars in crowded cities, and that a moving tin can being a status symbol is one of the most ridiculous distortions in human history. And then create a new layer of technological solutions out of nowhere, just to solve the wrong problems and perpetuate the original problem towards a traffic catastrophe.
To conclude the series of examples, it is worth mentioning the importance of precise diagnosis in medicine. It is inconceivable that we shall take paracetamol and expect to recover immediately from a bacterial infection.
The human factor
The above examples lead to two main reasons for having “Entrepreneurship Week” rather than “Problems Week”. One is that most problems originate in human behavior. The other – extreme capitalism. Not coincidentally, these two factors are intertwined.
The main challenge is not Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. The great current challenge of humanity is humanity. How to deal with people: with motivated ignorant people, with dangerous powerful politicians, with unmotivated workers in public sector, with yes men. These are the ones wasting trillions of dollars all over the world, not to mention life lost, nature destroyed and planet endangered.
Avoiding understanding the roots of problems is easy, since many problems are caused by people, require multidisciplinary understanding and cooperation, which people lack or avoid of. Such problems cannot be solved by technology. Technology is trying to solve problems created by technology that gave extra power to people. Technology cannot be completely idiot proof. This is an impossible task.
Is this a socialist thinking? Maybe it is the extreme capitalist approach that makes us think so in the first place? Capitalism not only fills the world with garbage, but creates a distorted perception of reality – a detachment from essence, from earth, from what really matters in life, and from real challenges and substantial problems. Capitalism has led many to live in “The Matrix”, captivated by an endless cycle of products – problems – other products to allegedly solve them, while those same products actually make the basic problems of our lives even worse.
Henry David Thoreau already said many years ago: “Men have become the tools of their tools”, adding that “Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind” (Walden, 1854!).
This is not just lack of awareness of global, national or urban problems. We lack awareness to ourselves. We do not pause to look upon ourselves, analyze our behavior and draw conclusions. Ignorance is a difficult problem, and it is crucial when it comes to our mind and soul.
Education, criticism, awareness, responsibility, human relationships. It all starts and ends there.
If you wish to invest, knowing that your investment is likely to go down the drain, why not invest in human capital in order to see proper benefits for your investment? Put money on increasing wages of talented young people who work in the public sector, thus directly supporting the creation of a better living environment and solving problems that you are trying to solve without success “from the outside”.
Encouraging entrepreneurship, without a fundamental understanding of the problems surrounding us, is another aspect of a cynical world that tries to improve the seemingly improved. Real world problems are not resolved through business models or attempts to solve something that was not a fundamental problem in the first place. There’s a reason why ninety percent of startup companies fail.
Entrepreneurship – OUT, Problems – IN.
It’s time for the Global Problems Week.
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