Entrepreneurship Training

Some people think entrepreneurship cannot be taught and that it comes down through the bloodline of business families. But the reality is that many highly successful entrepreneurs and industrialists in present-day India had no family business background. Dhirubhai Ambani is the best example. Founder of Reliance Industries, a giant petrochemicals, communications, power, and textiles conglomerate that was the biggest exporter in India and the first privately owned Indian company in the Fortune 500, Dhirubhai Ambani used to sell fried snacks in his village to make ends meet. Similarly, Karsanbhai Patel, whose Nirma advertisement jingle is even today popular across the nation, used to make detergent powder in the backyard of his house in Ahmedabad and then carry out door-to-door sales of his handmade product. Ramesh Babu, the Bangalore-based owner of a luxury car rental company with the largest fleet of 400-plus chauffeur-driven cars across south India, had started his career as a barber. Even when he had bought a second-hand Maruti car with his savings three decades ago, he had never imagined he would make it so big and own cars ranging from Mercedes to BMWs to Audis to Rolls Royce. In a state like India, where entrepreneurship began with the story of Maniram Dewan about 200 years ago, local youth taking to various kinds of business enterprises is still not very encouraging. While the education system does not appear to encourage entrepreneurship, the social environment is also not very motivating. Above all is the typical bureaucratic redtape and corruption in the government system, which, instead of actually encouraging and supporting young people to become entrepreneurs, only discourages them by creating all kinds of hurdles. The National Education Policy 2020 incidentally talks about teaching entrepreneurship from the high school level. Certain institutions, like the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship, have been playing an important role in creating entrepreneurs in the region. More such institutions are required. A lot can happen if such institutes reach out to high schools and conduct motivational programmes among young people. Catching them young will pay dividends.