An "opportunity of entrepreneurs"?

We are all familiar with the collective noun for cattle, dancers and geese [herd, troupe and gaggle] but what about entrepreneurs?

At the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses National Alumni Event in Sheffield on 15th May, Jonny Zander of Kaizen Partnership suggested an "opportunity of entrepreneurs".

Just go to any networking event dominated by entrepreneurs, rather than people trying to sell to entrepreneurs, and you will witness them exchanging experiences, ideas and business cards all with a view to identifying the next opportunity and obtaining the resources to exploit it. To work, these communities that form to support this networking must all have one thing ... trust.

Trust underpins networking. Of course, this can come from many sources, including: shared experiences, joining professional networks, trusted introductions or shear opportunism. It takes time to build the level of trust to make collaboration the default behaviour but we hear the entrepreneurs participating in 10,000 Small Businesses comment on the 'enhanced business network' as one of the six strategic changes resulting from the programme (EMPOWERING ENTREPRENEURS, ACCELERATING GROWTH Impact Report 2014).

Since all this networking is about opportunity recognition and exploitation perhaps Jonny is right to suggest ... an "opportunity of entrepreneurs".

Professor Nigel Lockett
Professor of Enterprise at Leeds University Business School