PERSEVERANCE and the courage to be different are the two hallmarks of a successful entrepreneur when the going gets tough, said a banker on Monday.

'In this situation, it's perseverance, the ability to spot opportunities, sometimes asking the questions that no one is asking, daring to take a different path from what the majority of people are,' said Mr Didier von Daeniken, chief executive of Barclays Wealth Asia Pacific.

He went on to elaborate on how they would give themselves a three to five year horizon to spot opportunities which will help them emerge stronger.

'Typically, a successful entrepreneur would ask himself how the situation would evolve from next week, or four or five years. They will really stick to their core competencies and are very focused,' he added

Mr von Daeniken was speaking at the release of The Entrepreneur in Adversity, a new report published by Barclays Wealth and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The report gathers results from a survey of 2,300 affluent investors with investable assets ranging from 500,000 UK pounds to in excess of 30 million UK pounds (S$68.9 million), which was conducted in March and April..

Respondents came from various countries such as the United States, India, United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and Switzerland.

One of the areas surveyed was characteristics which respondents thought would be most important in order to be a successful entrepreneur.

Most countries felt that perseverance was the most important, as indicated by 44.5 per cent of respondents from India, 58.6 per cent in Australia, 47.4 per cent in Japan, and 42.9 per cent in Singapore.

Following closely was the trait of willingness to take risks, which garnered 37 per cent of votes, and in third place, creativity, which secured 33.4 per cent.

The survey also studied the most important advantages of being a successful entrepreneur.

Of those polled, 41.8 per cent said it was the ability to be their own boss, 40.1 per cent cited financial independence and 37.4 per cent said the ability to create influential new products and services were important advantages.

Interestingly, in Singapore, the possibility to make large sums of money and financial independence was cited by 38.6 per cent of Singapore respondents as the most important advantage of being a successful entrepreneur.

The ability to create influential new products and services came in second with 33.6 per cent of the Singapore votes.

Summing up the survey, Mr von Daeniken said: 'There is opportunity in every environment. The more difficult the environment, often, the more successful the entrepreneurs turn out to be.

'And while success is far from guaranteed in these conditions, previous downturns have been fertile breeding grounds for the strongest ideas and enterprises.'