Infopreneurship: A New Breed of Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Today we are living in the age of information. Information plays a very vital role in the progress of a nation. The developed nations are the real life examples of this fact. Therefore, there won't we be any second opinion on the value of information and its role in the development of the society. Since last two decades, the modem society has understood the vitality of information and hence, 7t is ready to pay for it, provided it is delivered in time with quality. This approach made information as a saleable commodity. Around 1980 the US witnessed the information revolution and it has gradually spread all over the world. At the same time, the Information Technology has also undergone rapid changes and new inventions took place, right from PC to today's Internet. The modem information and communication technologies are the backbone of info revolution and these are very easily available at the disposal of the users, in affordable cost. As the demand for the information from the society is growing, ever since last two decades, small and medium level entrepreneurs all over the world, have been seriously involved in the information business. As per a recent 'American Survey', about 10 million people are involved in the information industry in European Countries and US. The infopreneurship movement started in the US and other developed countries, in 90s. Today, the buying and selling of information in the world market is about 20 billion $ per year. Even though, there is no published statistics, in India also, thousands of commercial information service providers are in the market. In the years to come, there will, therefore, be a bright scope for the small entrepreneurs to become infopreneurs not only in developed countries, but also in developing countries. The infopreneurship will also become part of SMEs. In this paper an attempt has been made to introduce infopreneurship concept with an illustration.