Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs & Entrepreneurship
Why entrepreneurship? Is there a need for entrepreneurship? What is my motivation to go into entrepreneurship? In my previous medium post “Entrepreneurship: Why Bother?”, I realize I approached the question more from the perspective of our economy, which is facing an ever-accelerating pace of change due to the advancement of technologies.
In this post, I wish to answer these questions from the perspective of an individual and possibly why do we think the way we do? Before I dive into my hypotheses and deductions, I wish to share some observations about the interactions I had within my social circle.
Case 1:
On multiple occasions, I had debates with my father on Singapore’s leadership and economic development. From his perspective, he questions why Singapore has to constantly compete with the rest of the world? Why can’t Singapore and its citizens choose to live a simple life, have a closed-economy, and not have any foreigners within our lands? Why invite all the competition and make our own life so much tougher?
While on my end, I felt that it is only because we maintain an open-economy and have the desire to compete, we can live such a comfortable and luxurious life today. We are a small red dot with no natural resources, yet we are the most developed within South East Asia and have gained many reputable standings on the global stage. We are even role models of many countries around us. We should continue to compete and probably even be more aggressive in our fight for further progress.
Looking back on the debate, I think I have to ask — With what we have accomplished so far, is our future economic development and progress as a nation out of survival or something more than that? Can we begin to rest on our laurels and enjoy the fruits of our labors (or more accurately the labors of our forefathers)? Simply taking personal wealth as a yardstick, how much is enough? $100K, $1 million, $10 million, $100 million, $1 billion or more?
Case 2:
Ever since after graduation, I notice a number of my friends and peers are getting married and starting a family. Among them, I notice that a good number of them come from decent or well-to-do families, or they have a relatively stable job — doctors, dentists, civil servants, etc. Some expressed that their priority is to start a family of their own and spend as much time as possible with their family and friends.
Related to this case, I ask myself — What if I choose to stay out of the rat race and not be an entrepreneur? What if I just want to be a regular employee in a 9 to 5 job (or less if possible), start a family, spend more time with my friends and family, and play more poker? Why not?
Case 3:
During my internship in Beijing, I met a number of Chinese who are extremely intelligent, yet extremely hardworking and hungry for success, in terms of career achievements and wealth. This observation was something I find different from Singapore. In Singapore, I get the sense that many think that it is because they are intelligent, they don't have to work too hard — Work smart and not work hard. But for the Chinese, they are probably thinking why not work smart and work hard at the same time.
Case 4:
Just recently, I had a discussion with my mentor if there are still opportunities or unmet needs in the entrepreneurship ecosystem of Singapore, especially in terms of entrepreneurship education. Should we put our focus on Singapore or should we look elsewhere to provide our service? My mentor questioned — What is entrepreneurship about? Is it about building a business to serve a need or is it about metrics and rankings — fundings and valuations? What is the mission statement of our business?
We also discussed what does entrepreneurship means to Singaporeans and to citizens in developing countries, such as Indonesia? My mentor shared that entrepreneurship to Indonesians is more of a livelihood and for Singaporeans, it is more of a career choice and an option.
As I try to make sense of all these observations and insights, I think entrepreneurship activity and desire are probably highly correlated to where we are in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. And where we are on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is highly correlated to our socioeconomic standing.
Below is a visualization of how I see the relationship between an individual’s entrepreneurship activity and desire and the individual’s standing in Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs.
According to “ASEAN Youth: Technology, Skills and the Future of Work” released in August 2019 by the World Economic Forum, it mentioned that the desire to be an entrepreneur in the future among youths (defined as those aged between 15 and 35 years old), among the ASEAN countries, is the strongest in Indonesia at 35.6%. Interestingly, it is the lowest in Singapore at only 16.9%.
In a short span of 55 years, Singapore has alleviated itself from poverty to becoming the 3rd richest country in the world, ranked by GDP per capita according to the International Monetary Fund in 2018.
At this point, most of us are beyond the stage where we have to worry about food, water, shelter over our heads, and safety. Right now, many of us are at the “Belongingness and Love Needs” stage, where we have strong desires for intimate relationships and friends.
For Singapore, maybe we are at the “Valley of Death” for entrepreneurship stage. I call this stage the “Valley of Death” is because the shortcut to developing intimate relationships and friendships is to establish liking by being amicable and to agree with each other. However, entrepreneurship is about challenging the status quo and that is bound to create some form of tension, which may be at odds with developing intimate relationships and friendships.
For Indonesians, as a developing nation growing rapidly, their entrepreneurship is driven by the desire to alleviate themselves out of poverty. It is about meeting their basic needs — physiological needs and safety needs. Building intimate relationships and friendships may not be their immediate or primary concern.
As a closing thought, I like to post some questions to myself:
- Do we want to get out of the “Valley of Death”?
- If “No”, because of our desire to remain as status quo, will we end up sliding to the left side of the curve? How do we prevent ourselves from that situation?
- If “Yes”, what can we do to shift ourselves towards the right side of the curve?
