The article deals with the theoretical approaches and mechanisms of determination of entrepreneurial activity, the formation of individual value orientations of the individual and factors influencing the formation of value and sense of life orientations of entrepreneurs. The analysis of the activity of foreign entrepreneurs shows that among the various personal qualities can be distinguished five of the most important: independence, ambition, perseverance, hard work, stability. The author notes that the increased interest of scientists in the problem of values and valuable orientations is the need for a deeper understanding of the nature of human cognition, which in the process of transformation acquires new characteristics and helps the individual to adapt to qualitatively new socio-cultural living conditions. The work reveals the essence of value orientations of the personality, as those that perform the functions of regulating behaviour and defining its purpose, linking into a single whole personality and social environment. Therefore, at each stage of personality development, the choice of the dominant mechanism of value system formation is determined by a complex set of internal and external factors. Internal psychological factors and factors of the external social environment determine the peculiarities of the development of the system of value orientations, interacting with each other in the implementation of one or another activity. Thus, the article shows that the subject of entrepreneurial activity is characterized by its specific (material, social, spiritual) value orientations, which underlie its activity and determine its structure. Consequently, values that have been identified as specific to entrepreneurial activity are strictly related to the fundamental values of each individual, but have a specific identity to them and determine the direction of the vector-specific business.