I recently stumbled across this paragraph, in an article about Russian entrepreneurship:

Andrei Sharov, Director of the Department of State Economic Regulation in the Economic Development and Trade Ministry (MERT), suggests that for Russian private business to develop, promotion at various levels is needed. “I recall the results of a sociological study: Whom do Russian women prefer to marry? And entrepreneurs were at the bottom of the list. This is very important. If we don’t change women’s preferences, then I think few people will want to be entrepreneurs,” Sharov joked. Support for entrepreneurship, in his opinion, must be displayed not only in state policy, but also in the family, at all levels of the educational system, and in public opinion.

The article goes on to discuss how cultural differences affect innovation. In particular, Sergey Borisov, President of OPORA Rossii, an all-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, added, “Russian and American entrepreneurs are alike in some

I think a difference in culture can have a difference in how we practice entrepreneurship but it need not have a difference in our success as entrepreneurs. A lot of entrepreneurship is about finding the breakthrough and it is driven by a drive to catch up and surpass. Furthermore, sometimes those entrepreneurs who are most successful are those who are fighting the confines of a society that doesn’t understand them and their vision. We need to not let the American conception of entrepreneurship weigh down our ability to be successful entrepreneurs.

What do you think? Am I fair in my assessment of multiple types of entrepreneurship?

Tags: Andrei Sharov, entrepreneurship, Russia, Sergey Borisov

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Challenges. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.