Becoming an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs create, develop, pilot and manage their businesses, either alone or with the help of investors and collaborators. Autonomous and able to constantly push his or her limits, an entrepreneur may decide to launch a project in an area that he or she is passionate about and where he or she believes he or she can add value.

An entrepreneur is responsible for his or her business. They are therefore extremely versatile, even if they sometimes need to surround themselves with professionals whose knowledge and expertise will be useful to them.

Once he's identified the opportunities in the sector he's interested in, he has to carry out a market study, then draw up a business plan and a development strategy.

He must then determine his operating methods in terms of management, marketing and the budgets he will apply to his business. He makes all strategic decisions on a day-to-day basis, fine-tuning his organization and vision as the business evolves.

The main skills of an entrepreneur are:

• Knowledge of structuring, business management, marketing and the law as it applies to his or her field of activity;
• Mastery of their field and competitive practices;
• Ability to take measured risks and make well-considered decisions;
• Project presentation and communication skills.

You don't have to be educated to become an entrepreneur. Some self-taught entrepreneurs succeed in realizing their plans and building successful businesses. However, most people who decide to start a business without an education have to close it down within a year.

So it's a good idea to have the right skills before you start your own business. Administrative, legal and accounting skills are essential for a smooth start.

The MSc in Global Innovation & Entrepreneurship offered by emlyon business school is open to students with a validated Master's degree or a Bachelor's degree equivalent to Bac +4, or a validated Bachelor's degree.

In 18 months, with courses taught in English in several countries, you will gain international experience and become an entrepreneur capable of implementing innovative and sustainable solutions.

The school also has its own incubator to support project leaders. From idea to launch, the emlyon incubator fosters innovation and enables students to sustain the growth of their start-up with the support of experts.

The incubator guides and supports students doing the Master in Management – Grande Ecole Program in the early phases of their company start-up projects through a specific pre-incubation system.

It's impossible to give an exact estimate of an entrepreneur's income. It all depends on personal success. Some people fail to generate income for several months, while others grow their business quickly.

An entrepreneur can continue to run his business throughout his career. He or she can hire more and more employees, retain his or her position as founder and some shares, while stepping down from his or her management duties. Depending on the value of the business, he or she may also choose to sell it to other buyers.

In short, an entrepreneur sets up or takes over a business and manages it, with or without the support of investors. It's best to open a company only after effective training, so as to be able to convince financing bodies, and to be able to retrain easily in the event of failure.

Regularly ranked and consistently praised by the most demanding recruiters, emlyon business school is one of the top ten European business schools according to the Financial Times. With a network of 2,200 corporate partners and an alumni network of nearly 41,700 graduates in 130 countries, you'll have all the support you need to get your business off the ground. The emlyon business school incubator puts its expertise, its network and a set of proven tools and methodologies at the service of a pragmatic and concrete support approach to ensure the success and long-term viability of incubated startups.