INTRODUCTION
People use the terms “entrepreneur” and “entrepreneurship” interchangeably. The entrepreneur is the person who starts his own business. The exact definition of “entrepreneurship” still remains a vague concept, that is why there are different postulates from different scholars.
WHO IS AN ENTREPRENEUR?
The definition of entrepreneur, derived from the French word entreprendre (to undertake) refers to the undertaking of an enterprise of purpose, particularly one that requires the ability to engage in risks and daring activities 1
The entrepreneur as a person brings in overall change through innovation for the maximum social good 2 2
In the healthcare sector, Medical Imaging is growing very fast and there is opportunity for Radiographers in the profession to establish an entrepreneurial venture . The complex nature of health care demands that Physicians and other health professional develop an understanding of the business of medicine.
However, it is a pity that there is no adequate exposure to some adaptive mechanism necessary to help prospective Radiographer Entrepreneurs to adapt and survive to some of the harsh challenges in entrepreneurship , which has in no small way led to a poor concept of some Radiographers towards the prospects and benefits of entrepreneurship. 3
Medical Imaging is a big business involving millions of hard-earned money and managing it is quite challenging. Establishing an outpatient Medical Imaging Centre with Computed Tomography(CT) and Conventional Radiological Units involves million of cash which may be borrowed. Despite huge investments in cash and efforts, business success in medical imaging is not automatic, as private Medical Imaging practice is fraught with a lot of problems such as poor infrastructure, unstable economic climate, lack of government incentives and poor managerial skills 4
However, there has been some militating factors (lack of finance, government unfavourable policies, societal and cultural problems to mention but a few) which has in no small way posed as a challenge to the Medical Imaging scientist and has invariably affected some of these Professionals in having the wrong mindset and concept towards what entrepreneurial ventures entails, its prospects and benefits in the field of Medical Imaging.
In conclusion, if Radiographers’ can look pass beyond these limiting factors highlighted above and be able to envisage and have a good foresight on the prospects and benefits of entrepreneurial ventures one can tap in the field of Medical Imaging ,then the Profession would be escalated to a higher degree of level in terms of job creation ,revenue generations ,innovations and lots of other prospects one can think of, which would invariably create breed of radiographers that would have the right concept towards entrepreneurial venture in the field of Medical Imaging.
1.2.STATEMENT OF PROPLEMS
1) There seem to be dearth of knowledge on the concept of entrepreneurship probably because of limited information available to the Radiographer .
2) Starting a radiologic or radiographic imaging centre is capital intensive which seem to limitRadiographers proactiveness .
3) There is paucity of knowledge on the part of Radiographers on business management skills .
4) Establishing a Radiodiagnostic clinic has been confronted by many factors(fear of unknown, competition e.t.c),could these be the case of Radiographers’ under consideration
1.3. PURPOSE OF STUDY
1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.5. SCOPE OF STUDY
The research work wascarried out at UNTH , NOHE ,AND, ESUTH. The three tertiary Hospitals within Enugu Metropolis.
1.6.LITERATURE REVIEW
Good Entrepreneur can create a strong economy. Entrepreneurship is an important facet of industrial growth and development of a nation. It is the backbone of a nation that sets its eyes on maximizing its performance in every field 5 5 6
Richard Cantillon (1680-1734)was the first of the major economic thinkers to define the Entrepreneur as an agent who buys means of production at certain prices to combine them into a new product 7
1994) in his work postulated that Entrepreneurs have the special ability to connect different markets and make up for market failures and deficiencies by recognizing market trends, develop new goods or processes in demands but not in supply and determining profitable activities. 8
In the field of Medical Imaging the radiographer must first of all recognise the prospects of his business venture, asks himself whether the environment is it
favourable to tap into? If all these factors are not critically analysed then there is a tendency that the business venture would fold up and the needed value the Radiographer needs to create through his entrepreneurial business would no longer be actualised ,that was why according to Kao(1991) in his work defined entrepreneurship as an attempt to create value through recognition of business opportunities.
Other scholars began to look at entrepreneurship in another perspective i.e in terms of an “innovative based business ventures, constant creative ideas enterprise” in other to meet up with the constant changes seen in the global market, that was why Peter Drucker et al (1909-2005) in his work holds innovation, resources, and an entrepreneurial behaviour as the keys to entrepreneurship. According to him entrepreneurship involves increase in value or satisfaction to the customer from the resource, creation of new values and combination of existing materials or resources in a new productive combination. 9
Kuratko(2009) in his work defined entrepreneurship as a dynamic process of vision, change and creation that requires an application of energy and passion towards the creation and implementation of new ideas and creative solution. While Bottom & Thompson(2004) defined an Entrepreneur as a person who habitually creates and innovates to build something of recognised value around
perceived opportunities. From the above theories, the key words to be taken into cognisance are increase in value and satisfaction from Peter Drucker et al (1909-2005) work, Kuratko (2009) in his work defined entrepreneurship as a dynamic process of vision, change and creation and an Entrepreneur as a person who habitually creates and innovates from Bottom & Thompson (2004). The main object here is to deduce that for an entrepreneur in the field of Medical Imaging “change” should be a constant process, and a driving force when he decides to venture into entrepreneurship whereby there is constant and habitual development of new ideas, innovations and creativeness in order to meet up with the constant revolving global Market and Patients needs. If this crucial factor is not taken into cognisance then the field of Medical Imaging would remain stagnant, outdated in terms of health delivery services invariably creating a negative concept of what entrepreneurial venture in the field of Medical Imaging entails.
.To survive and prosper during this transitions , innovations and evolvement of new ideas, radiology groups can learn from the entrepreneurial innovations that have made companies like McDonald’s successful. McDonald’s first “studied what value meant to the customer, defined it as quality and predictability of product, speed of service, absolute cleanliness, and friendliness, then set the standards for all of these” . They essentially designed an end product that
defined customer value and then created an efficient process to deliver this value, inexpensively to the customer and economically for the organization.
Therefore, in order to achieve the right concept towards the prospects of entrepreneurial venture in the field of Medical Imaging by prospective Entrepreneurs , a new breed of entrepreneur must evolve, the value innovator, who will further expand on the lessons learned in the outpatient Imaging Centre market ,which would further enable him to further have the right attitude and concept towards the prospective customers 10
However, there has been militating factors that has posed a great challenge for entrepreneurial ventures in the field of Medical Imaging which has in no small way beclouded the mindset of some prospective radiographer entrepreneurs making them overlook the prospects of entrepreneurship in radiography 11
Because of these political and bureaucratic corruption, Gallup poll in 2007, did a survey in which about 89% of respondents planning new businesses had no intention of registering their operations because of corrupt practises, indicating they would still prefer to be part of the informal economy 12
But amidst all these negative challenges, the prospective radiographer entrepreneur can still have the right concept and prospect towards his business venture if he does possess the following qualities 6
Hence, these are the qualities that makes some entrepreneurs tick while others fail, invariable giving them the right concept towards the prospect of their business ventures. Also, the role that education would play in inculcating these
qualities cannot be overemphasized, that is why entrepreneurial studies have been inculcated in the curriculum, that the student must have to undertake as one of the criteria for awarding a degree in Radiography, by so doing the intending entrepreneur can equip him/her self with the right concept towards the prospects of entrepreneurial ventures.
Entrepreneurs need to continuously and consistently develop what they have, what they want and where they are. It’s called planning the next move 13 14