This year, Feb. 22 marks the 290th anniversary of President George Washington’s birth. The founding father of the nation is often remembered as a great military leader and statesman, but little is known about his business ventures and innovations. Washington was not only the first president of the United States, but he was also the country’s “first entrepreneur,” according to historians who have extensively studied his business dealings. Private enterprises he founded had an impact on the future of American agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing, says John Berlau, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the author of the book “George Washington, Entrepreneur: How our Founding Father’s Private Business Pursuits Changed America and the World.” Berlau’s portrait of Washington, drawn in large part from his journals and letters, shines a light on the founding father’s endeavors as an innovator and entrepreneur. The book presents “another side of Washington’s greatness and …