There is no doubt that one of the most bandied words, not just in business schools but anywhere, is entrepreneurship, with examples from the mass media of a rags-to-riches story just about every day. Entrepreneurship is perhaps one facet of life that seems to cut across societal norms, economic disparities and gender issues. The word is seen as the common denominator of what has become accepted as a way of life. Yet in all the talk of the ‘E’ word, one would have to bear in mind that it goes beyond a simplistic ritual of owning a business or looking at entrepreneurship in a teaching framework. There is of course the realisation that entrepreneurship cannot just be taught in the traditional classroom setting; it requires a hands-on approach.
The fascinating aspect of education is that even if there is a strong perception that such subjects cannot be taught in the traditional sense, there is still the pressure globally to provide educational and infrastructural facilities to students. This pressure comes at a time when the world is also seeing the fact that school and college dropouts are also among the most successful entrepreneurs. In the process it is stereotyped thinking that to come out on top, an entrepreneur has to be educated, preferably highly educated. In our own Indian context, some of the older generation entrepreneurs did not have a list of degrees behind their names—they just had the guts to do something outside the box! In this sense, entrepreneurship would be more than just studying a few courses. Ideally, it would be seen as an ability and willingness to take risks and repeatedly at that.
In fact in educational institutions, the hype about entrepreneurship is such that many students are not “looking” for jobs but focussing on “creation” of jobs. This clichéd notion or new-found mantra of “creation” has led to the perception in a group of academics, administrators, placement coordinators and consultants that the job of academic institutes must be less in providing for jobs to the graduating class and more in creating the right conditions and infrastructure to facilitate young minds to fulfil their dreams of their own innovations leading to incubation, start-ups, and ultimately unicorns.
If there is one message that emerges in this debate on whether or not entrepreneurship can be “taught” in a traditional educational setting, it is that entrepreneurship is something very special. It is seen more as an art, a mindset that dares to go beyond the routine and pedestrian thinking, a person who is willing to look beyond normal conventions and customary ways of doing things. Yes, there are skills to be learnt from traditional courses like economics and finance, but there are some things that can be acquired only from the rough and tumble aspects of the business world. Here, no classroom will be of any help. In this context, entrepreneurship is more like multitasking and working with a team supported by people, with varied experience in leadership who are not hesitant to embed the skills of multi-processing. The critical element would be to stick together as a team and focus on primary objectives. Likewise, people in jobs can also contribute big time in entrepreneurship provided they emulate similar traits and wear different hats at different times and fine-tune their approaches under different work-related challenges.
In more ways than one, entrepreneurship goes beyond a one-time, one-shot idea and entails an attribute of risk taking. It is one of repeated attempts; failing and still re-defining the idea till the time it fructifies into a successful project. Age would seem like just a number, but the advantage is certainly with those at an early age as a young mind has the capacity and capability to rebuild after initial lapses and momentary setbacks. The youngster also has the luxury of having a budding or active mindset that essentially is one of a come-what-may attitude—that he/she is going to give a shot or keep persisting no matter what the short-term results may be. This is what entrepreneurship is all about in the modern era—the ability and determination to get up on your feet even after being tripped repeatedly.
Though one would easily advocate the policy of “catch them young” for new generational entrepreneurs, we must remember that the biggest industrial empires of India were built by legendary entrepreneurs like Jamsetji Tata, G D Birla and Dhirubhai Ambani, who have left a mark not only in history but also in the economic building of the country. It is not just a question of a rags-to-riches story but one of braving all kinds of odds (including on the personal front) and at the same time being determined not to throw in the towel. Similarly, modern India has seen the successful entrepreneurial stories of Ritish Agarwal of Oyo; Sridhar Vembu of Zoho; Vijay Shekar Sharma, Founder and CEO of Paytm, and Sachin and Binny Bansal of Flipkart. If there is one message from the entrepreneurial legends of traditional and modern India, it is one of preparing your mind and pursuing dreams persistently with passion.
Sandeep Sancheti
Vice Chancellor, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai
(The author is also former President, Association of Indian University (AIU), New Delhi. Email address: vc@srmist.edu.in)