On entrepreneurship

I have met many people in academic and corporate circles who seem to believe that India doesn't have enough of an entrepreneurial culture and that it needs to be consciously built up.

I disagree. We have a huge number of entrepreneurs in the form of petty traders and grocery shops, DSAs, small manufacturing and trading concerns, to name just a few. And most of these entrepreneurs operate without the safety net of venture capital, or even bank loans. All that they have going for them is their natural innovativeness and willingness to slog it out.

The inclination towards entrepreneurship is indeed low among professionally qualified individuals such as MBAs and engineers. Many of them would probably become entrepreneurs if capital was more readily available in the form of loans /funding. But is it really desirable to create an environment where we have more entrepreneurs who start their business not because they are confident they can make money through their business model, but because they are offered safety nets?

These professionals and students in such courses often want to understand the difference between working for an organisation in senior management and running their own businesses. Having seen both sides of the coin for long periods, I can say with confidence that there is absolutely no difference. Good senior managers spend their employer's money as carefully as if it were their own, and good entrepreneurs have a consultative management style which takes into account the opinions of their colleagues and associates.

Another reaction that I often see from those in employment goes, “oh, but you run your own business and so you are your own boss /you don't have a boss to worry about”. This is as far from the truth as possible. A person in a managerial capacity — be it in an organisation or in one's own business — always has several bosses. Every customer is a boss — in the sense that the customer's needs have to be treated as being of paramount importance. And every employee /team member is a boss as well — after all, any responsible manager /businessman should keep in mind that the livelihood of the team members depends on the leader. I often come across students who have a desire to become entrepreneurs, but no specific thoughts beyond that. I believe people should first have an urge to make so-and-so product or provide a service, and then they should think about whether they can do that by working for someone or for themselves.

(Contributed by Ashok R. Sankethi, CEO, Kaybase, a business consulting firm. Mail: ashok@kaybase.com )

COMMENT NOW