Innovator or Entrepreneur?

The use of the word innovation often leads to some confusion, yet!  Adding on top the terms of entrepreneurship and creativity creates an ambiguous amalgam of interrelated concepts.

Entrepreneur, innovator, creative do NOT mean the same. They are words that do not necessarily go together. We tend to think that every entrepreneur must be innovative. Moreover, as we relate innovation with business and commercialization, we also think that being innovative means to be entrepreneur. The reality is that there is NOT a direct correlation between these two terms.

Let’s consider a simple example: Cristina and Ana are two restless sisters who love to travel around the world. They always dreamt about having their own business. A few years ago during one of their trips with friends, they came into a souvenir shop, bought a couple of presents, and moved on to the next city. During the rest of the trip, they often reminded that store. They did not know exactly why it called so much their attention, but they both knew there was something special about it. Unexpectedly, they found another store of the same chain while visiting another city towards the end of the trip. Perfect! they said, ‘now let’s have a look in detail to the store’.

They came in and observed carefully both what was offered (product types, origin…) and how (shop arrangement, image…). After the sisters got an overall impression of how everything fit, it was clear to them that they finally had a good model for the shop that they had for so long wanted to open in their hometown. Ana and Cristina were convinced they had now a model to succeed.

To summarize: The sisters copied the exact model from the shop they had discovered during their journey. They even contacted the foreign store chain for more information about the shopping experience. After much effort, they managed to implement the business, and after some time, they have built a profitable business with a number of stores throughout Spain.

Do you think the story of Ana and Cristina is an innovation or an entrepreneurship case?

Certainly, our friends are two entrepreneurs who successfully transferred an idea from one environment to another. However, the innovation in the store model was made by another person in a country who our friends visited by chance.

In a next post we will explain a real business case created by an entrepreneurial and innovative person. It is the case of 8 Rooms Madrid.

Fran Chuán