Over the years, ‘Entrepreneurship’ has become important to the nation and economy. Entrepreneurs have been responsible for the conversion of resources for given opportunities and give socioeconomic value to the society. However the process of entrepreneurship is fraught with risks and very few really attempt it. Under developed geographies particularly need entrepreneurial spirit of its people to transform themselves. In this context, Odisha presents an ideal bed for research on entrepreneurship. In a developing economy like India, it is one of the poorer states. It had a hoary past, people of Odisha were famous for business and trade. Odisha of the past was famous for temple building, weaving exquisite garments, shipbuilding, salt making, rice export etc. It had trading relationships with farflung countriesand the tradingclassmastered theseanavigation. The culture and tradition of Odisha gave a social legitimacy to entrepreneurship. There were many attempts to invigorate economic development in Odisha. The Bismarck of Odisha; Madhusudan Das was in the forefront to establish factories. Two chief ministers were instrumental in reorienting policies and establishing industrial units. Odisha has bountiful natural resources, adequate human capital, facilitating policies yet it share is very low in entrepreneurship formation. Poverty under these circumstances looks perplexing. It is therefore logical to understand factors influencing entrepreneurship. The study, unique in its approach, tries to focus on the entrepreneur as an individual, who takes the decision to be self-employed herself/himself, employs other people, builds the new organization and contributes to the socio-economic well-being. The study takes the sequential approach of processes like intention, idea generation and ability to measure successful outcome of entrepreneurship effort to be the causative factors for satisfaction and sustenance of entrepreneurship. Study finds significant relationships in many processes involved in entrepreneurship at the same time rejects few common conceptions related to entrepreneurship. The findings are sample-specific but the understanding can be extended to other similar studies for understanding the phenomena. It can bolster the policy making processes related to entrepreneurship.
