Business 2000: What are the qualities it takes to start a business and make it work? John Downes investigates

From the guy who fixes mobile phones and computers from his house to someone who makes a living producing high-tech products for the medical industry, being an entrepreneur can take a number of different forms.

Being your own boss means that, with the support of those around you - and a good idea - you can enter a wide range of industries. Far from waiting around for someone to offer you a job, you can get out there and make things happen.

Indeed, the sheer range and diversity of jobs that entrepreneurs do was underlined at last week's Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Those short-listed ranged from property developers to internet-based businesses, from bed manufacturers to vending machine providers.

There are, however, a number of key characteristics which are essential to any budding entrepreneur.

According to Dr Peter Fitzgerald, managing director of Randox Laboratories, one such characteristic is a fundamental belief in yourself.

Dr Fitzgerald's company specialises in the development and supply of medical and veterinary diagnostic products, and is the world leader in protein biochip technology. This involves putting a number of tests onto a microchip, which allows hospitals and laboratories to carry out multiple tests at once.

Last week, he was named the overall winner of this year's Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

"With self-belief you will always prevail. If you work hard, you will get your way," he believes.

"People are another key element. Having the right people on board means getting the right people and keeping the right people."

Mr Fitzgerald, who runs a company that employs 452 people in its Co Antrim base, as well as another 120 staff in 24 countries around the world, says one of the biggest surprises when he started out in 1982 was the resistance he met from some people.

"People are resistant to change and if you are an entrepreneur you are a change-maker. So that can be a bit surprising," he says.

"You have to have confidence in your own ability, and to focus in on what you are doing. Sometimes, this can be to the exclusion of other things, particularly in the first few years," according to Mr Fitzgerald.

He also points out that being an entrepreneur, although providing more freedom than other jobs, also brings with it certain responsibilities to your staff and your investors.

But the rewards of such an approach are well worth the effort, he believes.

Mr Pat Maher, executive director with responsibility for entrepreneurship at Enterprise Ireland - the government agency responsible for the development of Irish industry - agrees with Dr Fitzgerald that being an entrepreneur is very much a team effort.

"Nearly everybody who stood up at the Ernst and Young awards talked about the team of people they worked with. This is not just tokenism," he says. "In building any business, the key element is good management. If I was asked would you prefer fantastic technology to good management, I'd take management every time." This is particularly important through the inevitable tough times that confront any new business, he says.

While there are many supports available to young entrepreneurs here - for example, the number of county enterprise centres is due to grow from 80 to around 120 in the coming years - tenacity and leadership remain crucial, he says.

"You have got to be able to inspire first of all your family, then your team, your customers, the banks and investors.

"You need to have an almost religious zeal for your business. Unless you have this and it comes through, it is very difficult to start a business because at certain stages you don't have a product, or a company. So people need to have a certain faith in you.

"Most businesses go through the so-called "valley of death" after the initial hype so you have to be able to inspire both your own staff and your customers. You are selling something they may not be able to see and feel yet."

Many entrepreneurs cite a passion to work for themselves as one of the main reasons they start their own business. And the desire to be your own boss is a strong motivation.

But Mr Maher says entrepreneurs like Dr Fitzgerald are also inspired by a desire to actually improve society. This can be achieved through providing employment in their local community, or in producing a product, for example in the medical or technology areas, that represents a real advance.

"Competitiveness is another key quality. Entrepreneurs do want to win," he says. "That's where they get this tenacity, that failure is not good enough."