Seeing Entrepreneurs Up Close
I have been working on an enterprise development project for almost a year now. During this time, I have travelled across Surkhet, Jajarkot, Salyan, Sarlahi, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Gaur, places that differ sharply in geography, market access, and economic opportunity. The enterprises I encountered were equally diverse from shoes, to garments, to honey, to strawberries, pottery, and paint.
On paper, these businesses operate under very similar constraints. The same policy environment. Comparable access (or lack thereof) to finance. Similar market uncertainties. Supply chain bottlenecks that are familiar to anyone working in enterprise development in Nepal.
Yet some enterprises grow, stabilize, and attract investment while others struggle to stay afloat.
Over time, I figured a pattern that did not appear on the monitoring tools.
It appeared in people. Let me elaborate the pattern.
One morning in Birgunj, I went to a local tea stall. Sitting there was Kaushal Sharraf, a local entrepreneur who produces traditional matka pottery. His enterprise supplies local markets and has gradually expanded to Surkhet and Kathmandu. The project I work with had supported him earlier with improved production technology to increase efficiency.
When he saw me, he smiled, broadly, and walked over to talk. In the half hour that followed, he spoke about expansion, about improving finishing quality, about how demand fluctuates and how he plans around it. I was listening to what he was talking and more importantly, what he wasn’t talk about. He did not dwell on hardship. He did not list constraints. He did not frame himself as someone barely holding on.
Instead, he spoke like someone already convinced that the business would move forward, and that his job was to keep up with it.
There is a term in entrepreneurship research for this: entrepreneurial self-efficacy, the belief that one can handle the tasks and uncertainty that come with running a business. Studies consistently show that entrepreneurs with higher self-efficacy persist longer and adapt better under pressure. But at that tea stall, I did not think of studies. I simply felt his confidence transfer to me.
Later, in Surkhet, I met Roshan Bishwakarma, who was engaged in strawberry farming. Different sector, different geography, different scale. But the same energy. He was already thinking ahead, new buyers, better techniques, seasonal risks, using TikTok for promotion. There was a restlessness to improve.
In Hariwon, Sarlahi, Nirmala Mahato carried that same openness and readiness to engage. In Parsa, Pramesh Kumhal showed similar initiative. Different stories, different challenges, but a shared posture toward their work.
They were not reckless optimists. They were practical. But they were also unmistakably proactive.
Entrepreneurship literature often calls this a proactive orientation, the tendency to act before being forced to act, to shape circumstances rather than wait for them. Research links this trait strongly with enterprise performance, especially in uncertain and resource-constrained contexts like ours. But again, what mattered to me was not the terminology. It was the repetition.
Once is coincidence. Four or five times across districts becomes a pattern.
What surprised me most was realizing that this wasn’t just my personal impression.
During investment-seeking events, when these entrepreneurs presented their businesses, investors leaned in and their conversations extended. Follow-up meetings were requested. Even when financials were modest, interest remained.
Investment research shows that investors do not assess ventures on numbers alone; they also evaluate the entrepreneur, looking for commitment, clarity, resilience, and credibility. I saw that play out in real time. The same qualities that stood out to me in the field were shaping investor confidence.
Enthusiasm, when grounded in action, is persuasive.
In enterprise development, we focus heavily on systems, and rightly so. Policy, finance, technology, markets, and supply chains matter enormously. Without them, even the most committed entrepreneur will struggle.
But my experience suggests something equally important: support systems amplify what already exists.
Training can strengthen skills. Mentorship can build confidence. Exposure can expand ambition. But these interventions work best when there is already something to work with, an internal drive, a willingness to act, a resilience that does not collapse at the first obstacle. These qualities shape daily decisions: whether to follow up with a buyer, whether to try again after rejection, whether to see a problem as a dead end or a puzzle.
This brings me to a realization that feels uncomfortable to say out loud, that, entrepreneurship may not be for everyone.
I am not trying to judge here. But, it’s an acknowledgment of reality.
Entrepreneurship demands prolonged uncertainty, repeated failure, and self-motivation in environments where support is often uneven. Not everyone wants- or should be expected- to carry that burden. And that is okay.
What may reduce pressure on both entrepreneurs and projects is being more honest at the start.
Instead of asking only what sector someone wants to enter, or what asset they own, we might also ask if they show initiative without being pushed, if they remain engaged even when progress is slow, do they speak about problems as things to work through, rather than reasons to stop?
If we see enthusiasm, positivity, proactiveness, and perseverance (not the orchestrated one, of course) but the consistent behavior, it may be a strong signal that investing in their growth will be worthwhile. And over time, I realized that seeing these qualities clearly requires being close to where entrepreneurship actually happens. For this, working closely, these enterprise service providers observe behavior over time: who follows up, who adapts when plans change, who remains engaged and persistent. This proximity helps distinguish temporary enthusiasm from sustained commitment. And, once identified, these qualities can be strengthened. Localized support builds confidence through repeated engagement and tailors’ assistance to real market and contextual needs. Rather than trying to create motivation, it amplifies what entrepreneurs already bring to the table.
Additionally, I am not arguing for excluding people from entrepreneurship. I am arguing for clarity.
Enterprise development, along with being business creation, is also about stewarding energy, time, and resources responsibly. Recognizing who is ready to carry the weight of entrepreneurship, and who may thrive better elsewhere, is part of that responsibility.
Because while ecosystems create opportunity, it is people who decide whether that opportunity becomes something real.
And after nearly a year in the field, what I have learned is, when the mindset is there, support multiplies its impact. When it isn’t, even the best-designed project struggles to show results.
That is not a limitation of people. It is simply the nature of entrepreneurship.
