Entrepreneur needs lot of guts- encouraging our young generation for opening jobs rather than filling jobs:
I wrote this article as soon as I ended
my trip using two-wheeler self-service bike ‘Bounce’ at Bangalore. It was unbelievable,
for 7 km I was charged 25 Rs. (Not even half of the USA $), imagine the affordable cost in a city like Bangalore.
The bike was brand new, it had ridden around just 1100 km. Who are these people who
started this convenient service, are they ‘entrepreneurs’, yes they are. You can
think of Ola, OYO, Paytm and many more startup examples.
Image source: https://casanuratti.com/2018/11
I always think why so many
graduates get into job lines instead of opening assembly lines (I.e. Factory). The
students focus their imagination and creativity only for getting a job. The entrepreneurship is a
position where you really create some valuable service or product to the people
and the jobs and economy to the country.
Few examples of entrepreneurs, mix
of old to young folks:
a. OLA Cabs- Bhavish Aggarwal
b. Bounce bikes- Vivekananda, Varun
Agni and Anil G
c. OYO Rooms- Ritesh Agarwal - Age
24
d. Rockstah Media- Farrhad
Acidwalla - Age 23
e. Neuro-Insight- Pranav Yadav -
Age 28
f. Prestige construction company-
Irfan Razack
If you look at maximum entrepreneurs
most of them come from humble backgrounds, but with great ideas, passion and
conviction.
Below are the few phrases by which
you can understand the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship:
- “A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on
financial risks in the hope of profit”.
- "Many
entrepreneurs see potential in this market".
- “Entrepreneurship
is the process of designing, launching and running a new business, which is
often initially a small business. The people who create these businesses are
called entrepreneurs”.
- “Someone
who starts their own business, especially when this involves seeing a new
opportunity”.
To summarize,
1. 1. Entrepreneurs take the risk.
2. They target profits.
3. They
start small and think bigger future.
4. They
design and implement the product/service.
5. They
forecast potential in the market.
6. Strike
while the iron is hot.
The challenges of entrepreneurship
in India which I see:
1.
It's deep-rooted in some cultures that ‘padhoge toh Naukri karoge,
nahi padoge toh business karoge’ (If you study you will do a job, otherwise you
will start a business). In an actual sense it’s vice versa when you compare a job,
to start a big business you need more knowledge, courage, energy, and patience.
2. The
schools and universities focus more on preparing for jobs rather than business
development.
3. Commerce
stream of a college education does have subjects on entrepreneurship, but it
lacks practical pedagogy (coaching).
4. People
feel jobs to be secure than Business.
5. The entrepreneur needs a leadership skill (at least basic WHO advised life skills),
which is not part of our regular education.
6.
People are not aware of the support services available for entrepreneurs.
Refer for start-up support details:
1.
Indian government support:
2. Social
incubation
It was joyful to see the offering
of Bounce, you can check the unique features/strategy behind Bounce success.
Original stories for
budding entrepreneurs:
Leveraging current family business to expand further.
Story 1: How Anil Agarwal took his family business from scrap dealing to the global mining business.
(Vedanta Resources Limited- In 2017 revenue of $ 11,550.1 million)
Anil Agarwal was born and brought up in Patna, India. His father Dwarka
Prasad Agarwal had a small aluminum conductor business. He studied at Miller
High School, Patna. He decided to join his father's business, making aluminum conductors,
instead of going to university. At 19, he left Patna for Mumbai to
explore career opportunities.
In the mid-1970s, he began trading
in scrap metal, collecting it from cable companies in other states and selling
it in Mumbai. In 1976, Anil Agarwal acquired Shamsher Sterling
Corporation, a manufacturer of enameled copper,
among other products. After a while, he decided to control his input costs by
manufacturing the metals instead of buying them. Then the story is here, scrap
dealer to the miner.
Story
2: Revamp story of hot selling Bullet- Royal Enfield:
Siddhartha Lal, a third generation member of the Delhi-based Lal family,
promoters of the Eicher group of companies. How he turned 'about to close' brand into a success story.
Share with the young and budding folks.
About the Author:
Maaz Mohammed
A.Q, based out of Kolar, Karnataka, India.
Founder and
Learning strategist @ Credence Learning Foundation,
Research team
member @ Hauna Preschool systems.