The changing faces of entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is an ever-evolving and highly competitive art. Although new methods and technologies fuel the way we do business, something else is shaking up the entrepreneurial world altogether. Rapidly modernising cultural values shift the face of entrepreneurship away from a monolithic image to a more diverse visage. 

This has become more apparent in the past few months when new businesses and new markets have practically exploded all over the globe. Post-pandemic norms drove different people to get into the entrepreneurial game, introduced innovation and accelerated adaptation to the changing social landscape. 

How the face of business can change in 2022

• Large investors will support a more diverse population of founders.
  
  Even in 2021, statistics do not look particularly impressive for diversity in venture capital funding. As per data from Crunchbase, VC funding for companies founded by women dropped to 2.2%. Meanwhile, ZDNet reports that black business folk have only received a whopping 1.2% of the $137 billion invested for American startups in the first two quarters of the past year. The trends appear to change for the better as investors add diversity clauses to their portfolios and large players like Softbank start supporting a more diverse set of entrepreneurs.

• New technologies will democratise business.

Technology is no longer exclusive to the realm of technologists like programmers and artificial intelligence developers. The likes of open-source platforms and no-code development mean that anyone can be a developer and can introduce new practical innovations. Clearco co-founder Michele Romanow predicts democratisation resulting from technology where, in essence, anyone can be a founder regardless of race, gender and ethnicity. This will essentially steer business into a more diverse landscape, for better or for worse. 

• AI will eliminate biases in VC funding.

Personal biases tend to affect decision-making in the world of venture capitalism. This typically slows down the funding process and takes away opportunities from those who actually deserve them. Gender biases are particularly apparent among investors. Various organisations are now developing algorithms to eliminate bias in VC funding. There is still a level of aversion towards AI solutions in the way. Still, the world is en route to decision-making that takes actual metrics like profit potential and competitiveness into account. 

How can business leaders adapt to these changes?

There are two key factors for business leaders to adapt to the changes in the business landscape: open-mindedness and resiliency. It is integral for entrepreneurs to keep an open mind to change – this is the first of the many steps to adapt to an ever-changing entrepreneurship environment. 

On the other hand, resiliency is important to creating solutions that will help them find their way through the constantly evolving intricacies of modern business, including no less the more diverse landscape that will soon define it. 

The face of business is moving away from subconsciously imposed uniformity and towards greater diversity. Technology and the increasingly progressive stance of investors ensure that this will be the case, and it is in business leaders’ best interest to adapt.