August 2024 – Paris Olympics – A natural home for Entrepreneurs!

 

The 2024 Paris Olympics has begun and there is palpable excitement amongst sports fans the world over for a bonanza of excellence as over 10500 athletes will compete across 329 events.

As exciting as this spectacle is, it should be noted that the Paris Olympics is also actually a shining example that showcases the best of entrepreneurship. Three aspects can drive home this point:

1.   Firstly, the choice of the mascot – the Olympic Phryge – is based on a traditional small hat that was symbolically used during the French Revolution. It represents freedom – an aspiration that drives people to plan for and achieve change in their lives. Good entrepreneurs are also driven by an aspiration to change customer experience for the better! 

2.  Next, the focus on creativity while innovating – let’s start with the opening ceremony; it wasn’t on a vast expanse of a stadium, but on the lovely river Seine, with eye-catching performance on electric boats. There could never have been a better example of creative disruption of a tradition! And then what to say of the Olympic medals being made using iron, amongst other traditional materials; the iron was removed from the Eiffel tower during its renovation. There are many other instances of creative innovation that supports circular economy –coffee tables made out of recycled shuttlecocks, and beanbags from recycled parachute fibre. As good entrepreneurs will vouch for, the challenges for embracing change can be overcome with great design thinking and innovation!

3.  Lastly, the 12 core qualities of Olympians can be seen on display – confidence, the ability to cope with and control anxiety, the ability to focus and block out distractions, competitiveness, intensiveness, work ethics, plan for success, mental toughness, hopefulness, optimism, perfectionism and open-mindedness to be coached – isn’t it so easy to see that these are the same qualities that good entrepreneurs continuously hone!

 And that’s the reason, why entrepreneurs will feel themselves at home as they see their favourite sportsperson perform in front of a global spectator base!