So what is entrepreneurship and why is it so important?

Today we have around 25 million unemployed, rising to around 75 million including dependents, many more ‘underemployed’ and a stagnant US economy. To create new jobs and grow our economy, we are told we must give big corporations new financial incentives; remove regulatory agencies that create obstacles to growth; and rearrange tax rates to serve vested interests. Maybe, but I don’t think so.

Get over the rhetoric from all sides and look at the numbers, it’s always a good approach. And what the numbers suggest is that focusing on entrepreneurship and start-up businesses offers exciting opportunities for job creation and economic growth. You be the judge – here is my point of view:

— Most of the new jobs in the corporate sector are created by large corporations. FAKE.

Most of the new jobs are created by entrepreneurial companies that have less than 500 employees, that is a historical fact. SBA statistics show that over the past 15 years, businesses with fewer than 500 employees accounted for 64 percent of net new hires in the US and pay 44 percent of US private payroll. The exact percentages may vary slightly from year to year, but these are the facts.

— Most technological innovation is driven by R&D within large corporations. FAKE.

Smaller, more entrepreneurial companies provide the rocket fuel that drives our technology innovation engine. SBA statistics show that small businesses produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms; And these patents are twice as likely as large company patents to be in the top 1 percent cited.

— Most of US trade is driven by large corporations. True and false

Large corporations account for the lion’s share of US exports, accounting for 71.1 percent of total exports in 2006. But of the total number of companies exporting goods and services, 97.3 percent of the total were business enterprises with less than 500 employees. And in 2006, business firms with fewer than 500 employees accounted for 28.9 percent of the total $910.5 billion in US exports.

The above points are counter intuitive and I find they are not mentioned often in the media. Starting and growing an entrepreneurial company is a tough business, and clearly entrepreneurs are really driving job creation and economic growth for our nation. Therefore, it makes sense to develop strong, proactive and creative policies and programs that support entrepreneurial companies.

Andy Grove, the founder of Intel, estimated that so far we have achieved less than 5 percent of the real business and personal impact of the Internet. To paraphrase Andy Grove’s quote, my view is that we have achieved only less than 5 percent of the benefits and personal impact that “entrepreneurial thinking,” entrepreneurial programs, and creative strategies and policies will bring, which is 95 percent percent of real business opportunities, changes, and policies. the benefits were ahead. And these benefits include the creation of new jobs and economic growth.

We are concerned about global competition from China and India and we should be. And China’s growth was not by accident, but thanks to careful planning driven by corporate policies. Many countries, like China, are far ahead of the US in implementing successful business programs that help smaller businesses “survive and thrive.” I’m not sure I realize that China’s smallest companies, not big corporations, drive its impressive economic growth, employing about 75 percent of all urban employees, owning about 60 percent of all invention patents and representing about 80 percent of new products. China is also following a comprehensive plan to create 10,000 mostly small and medium-sized enterprises each year, hoping to create 100,000 new jobs. Malaysia’s MSC initiative, run within the prime minister’s office, also has an impressive track record, attracting 2,006 companies representing some 63,000 knowledge workers. Creative business policies, such as R&D credits, tax incentives, strategic financing are some of the policies that boost growth. And I can cite many other examples that I think can help us develop a ‘business plan’ to boost job creation and economic growth.

New business directions and possibilities will emerge, such as the proposed Business Empowerment Programs (‘EEP’), to help inner-city entrepreneurs, both young and old, start and grow new business ventures, with government support local and companies. And we have an opportunity to improve our current business education process, leveraging best practices now being used by institutions in selected foreign markets. All these come.

I may be more passionate than most about the entrepreneurial spirit that drives business value creation and economic growth, and I have a vision here. What is clear is that exciting times lie ahead as new business programs and policies emerge in the coming months.