ROLE OF EDUCATION IN AN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

An IIT and IIM graduate (Deepak Puri & Ratul Puri, Optical Storage Manufacturers) who
saw the future in low cost retail. Two hoteliers (Francis Wasziarg & Aman Nath) who
have made restoration the core of their growing empire. A woman (Vandana Luthra,
founder and mentor of VLCC) who caught the beauty boom at the right time. Two
brothers ( Nikhil Alva & Niret Alva) who understood the transformative power of reality
television in small-town India. Three friends (Sabbas Joseph, Viraf Sarkari & Andre
Timmins) who believed that partying would become a profession in itself, and a former
corporate executive who turned a stray reflection into an Internet portal with 15 million
registered users. These are men and women who embody what iconic investor Warmen
Buffet once said: “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a
long time ago”. Make that a short time ago.

These are the persons whose name is enough to define what entrepreneurs are and this
capacity and willingness to undertake consumption, organization and management of a
productive venture with all attendant risk, while seeking profit as a reward is termed as
Entrepreneurship.
In economy, entrepreneurship is regarded as a sector of production together
with land, labor, natural resources and capital. Entrepreneurial spirit is categorized by
innovation, risk taking and its essential component of the nation’s ability to succeed in an
ever changing and more competitive global market place.

Entrepreneur is a person who has possession of new enterprise and ideas. He is an

individual who take financial risk and undertakes new financial venture.
Entrepreneurs play an important role in developing and contributing to the
economy of a nation. It is all the more in a developing world where are ample
opportunities for innovations to exploit the available resources and initiate entrepreneurial
ventures. But the emergence of entrepreneurship in all countries and in all parts of any
country is not usually even. Commonly we see more entrepreneurs in comparatively more
developed areas. Another paradox exists in terms of increasing number of unemployed
population, seeking wage earners career and unaware of the wide opportunities for
entrepreneurial career. This is, by and large, because of lack of education about
entrepreneurship.

Education is a strong influencing media that sets values, develops attitudes and
motivation and induce people to acquire skills and competencies to achieve goals. The
word ‘education’ can be linked to the word ‘enterprise’ in three ways :

 Education about enterprise in which the role of education is in raising

awareness of enterprise and entrepreneurship as a key change agent in economic
process.
 Education through enterprise in which the education process itself can be
enhanced by using pedagogic styles which work in and makes use of enterprising
situations including the student concerned and real world project driven
approaches

 Education for enterprise, which is aimed at entrepreneurship development and

includes training existing entrepreneurs as well as for new business start-up.

The present education system in India has not been able to promote independent thinking,
creativity, a spirit of innovation and motivation for setting a challenging and achievable
goal. The environment and policy however offer diverse opportunities for sustainable
self-employment to ensure contribution of workforce to industrial economy. There is thus
a need is to inculcate the spirit of enterprise into the psyche of the present generation.
Entrepreneurship, self-employment and enterprise creation provide a solution to the crisis
of both unemployment and economic growth.

OBJECTIVES:-

• To examine the need and importance of entrepreneurship education in the

changing scenario.
• To examine the possibility for integrating entrepreneurship education with the
existing education system as a terminal intervention.
The article over at the Social Enterprise has some great quotes about creating young
change-makers:
 Paraphrasing Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka: “Young people should be educated
about social entrepreneurship from the age of 12 if there is to be a next generation
of change makers… The key time to inspire the social entrepreneurs of tomorrow
is between the ages of 12 and 20.”
12? In my opinion we can, and should, start a lot sooner, but I
totally agree that we must purposefully educate our youth–ALL youth–about
how to create the changes they want to see in the world. That is why my
current work-in-progress is a how-to book for teenagers who want to save the
world, aimed directly at readers 12 and up.

 Austin [professor at the Havard Business School] said: ‘Empower the students,
then get out the way. They will do incredible things.’”

The expert group has agreed on the following key principles:

Key Principles
1. Entrepreneurship represents an important engine of economic growth, income and
welfare generation and therefore progress for all, social inclusion and stability in all
region aiming to become a free trade area.

2. Entrepreneurship should be considered as a mindset, which can grow throughout

society at large, and therefore should not be seen as limited to a business context.

3. Entrepreneurship is about blending risk-taking, creativity or innovation with sound

management, within a new or an existing organisation and can occur in any sector or type
of business.

4. Building an entrepreneurial society involves everybody. An important role is played

by the education system and the media in promoting positive attitudes towards
entrepreneurship.
5. Since building an entrepreneurial society is both a current need of Euro-Mediterranean
societies and an investment in the future, education for entrepreneurship initiatives should
address both young people and adults, reaching them through the education system at all
levels in a life long learning perspective (primary and secondary school, higher education,
vocational training and adult education).

Current economic scenario vis-à-vis promotion of entrepreneurship

These are tough times for entrepreneurs. The meltdown in financial markets has plunged
economies around the world into a recession. Entrepreneurs are finding that investors
have all but disappeared and revenues are declining as customers cut back spending.
Given these woes in the capital markets and the economy, it seems that this is a very bad
time to start a new company or to grow a start-up business.
Yet, history suggests that difficult economic conditions may actually be the best
of times for entrepreneurship. Like a lotus that thrives in a dirty swamp, some of the most
innovative companies have emerged during deep recessions. And just as the lotus relies
on the swamp for its nutrition, start-up companies can actually benefit from difficult
economic conditions.

History:
The Great Depression of 1929 was the most severe and prolonged economic crisis the
world has ever seen. And yet, it was during these times that great companies like
Motorola, Texas Instruments were founded. The next biggest recession the United States
experienced was in 1982. However, it was during this time we saw the birth of IBM-PC,
the founding of Sun Microsystem and creation of Cisco system. Twenty years later, as the
US was again mired in recession in 2001, Apple launched its first retail store and
introduced its revolutionary iPod digital music player.

To develop strategic partnerships with all organizations and institutions that focus on
education or workforce or economic development in order to assist in creating an
environment that is conducive to the growth of entrepreneurship in Illinois, with an
emphasis on undeserved and disadvantaged populations.

Because of the following reasons difficult economic times a good time for start-ups and
innovation.
1. When funding is easy to come by, as it was during the dotcom boom, there is a lot of
noise and confusion in the marketplace. Many dubious business concepts get funded, and
it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Start-ups are locked into a mad race to
“get big fast”, even though they cannot absorb the pace of growth that is demanded by
impatient investors. More start-up companies die of ingestion than of starvation. When
you get too much money too fast, you end up spending it in foolish ways. And you don’t
have as much pressure to make the business profitable, because you can always raise
more money.

2. Another reason that recessions are good for start-ups is that customer become more
demanding about the value for money. So start-up companies are forced to ask
themselves hard questions about what value they offer to their customers and why
customer should do business with them. When the market is going rapidly, it doesn’t take
much too sell your products and services. After all, a rising tide lifts all fortunes; it is
when tide goes out that you find out who has been swimming naked.
Finally, a recession in an industry often signals that the current technologies
and the current business models are running out of steam, and that it is time for disruptive
new technologies and innovative business models to take hold. Customer’s need does not
disappear in a recession. There is always room to innovate, and even more room when the
existing paradigm is looking tired.
So, the spirit of entrepreneurship remains alive and well even when things
look gloomy. And entrepreneurship in India is no exception. Despite all the bad news we
read about in the newspapers and the breathtaking decline of the Indian stock market, the
Indian entrepreneurship scene is more vibrant than ever before. The range of industries
and markets these start-ups represent is amazingly diverse- from traditional domains like
IT, Internet, media and retail to newer domains like healthcare, biotech and agribusiness.
The Indian Internet audience grew to 28 million users by April 2008, a 27 percent
increase from the previous year. The mobile subscriber industry in India continues to be
on a tear, reaching 315million subscribers by September 2008, with 10million new
subscribers being added every month. Clearly there is no shortage of opportunities in the
market. And there is no shortage of talented and passionate entrepreneurs who are
pursuing these opportunities.
However, Entrepreneurs do need to recalibrate their strategies for difficult
economic times, as investment capital becomes scarce and the marketplace slows down.
They need to think differently about their markets, their offerings, their approach to
funding and their operations.

Grow Organically
Think about how you can grow your start-up company with minimal or no external
capital. This might sound difficult, but on deeper reflections, investment capital is usually
required for two reasons: to fund product development and to get a big fast in a
competitive race. The mantra is “servicise to learn, and then productize to earn”.
The race will be won not by those who run the fastest, but by those who last the longest.
So you can afford to slow down and pace yourself to run a marathon, instead of burning
out quickly in a frantic sprint fuelled by venture capital.