During the last week I was asked two interesting questions about myself. The first one was, ‘In 10 words describe yourself’ and the second ‘What motivates you to do this job?’ On both the occasions my answers were very similar. For the first one I said, “Consultant by profession, entrepreneur by heart’ and for the second my answer was, “My present job role gives me the opportunity to be an entrepreneur and start something from scratch. So that’s motivation enough”.
The answers kept replaying in my head in the subsequent days and numerous questions came up – who is a true entrepreneur? What defines a true entrepreneur? And am I really a true entrepreneur? As I searched for answers to these intriguing questions…
“Am planning to come back Mr.G”
The statement caught me completely off guard. “Come on Eashwar. It’s been 25 years. Do you think you can adjust here now? Looks like the long flight, less sleep and Indian air has stirred a new sense of patriotism,” I said jokingly.
“No I am serious Mr.G. Have been thinking about this for some time now. I can see a lot of opportunities here now.”
“Oh now I get it. Now that India is the next big thing, you want to come back. Twenty five years ago you felt this place was a scrap yard and you left. And for you information, my dearest cousin, compared to the Silicon Valley we are still playing catch up. That said, there are a lot more opportunities today compared to 20 years ago.”
We rode in silence for the next few miles. “It’s about doing something you truly love Mr.G. I am planning to start something on my own and have a few ideas. You always wanted to be an entrepreneur,” said Eashwar breaking the silence.
“Is that a job offer?” I asked with smile. “Depends on the idea. However I must remind you, entrepreneurship is still a nascent concept in this country. It’s jazzy to say I want to be an entrepreneur. Rising angel or VC funding in India is still a challenge and banks don’t lend unless you are well connected. And unlike the West no crazy millionaire in India would part with his money to fund an unviable technology idea. Unless of course you want to put your pension fund at risk. So I suggest you think harder before you take the plunge,” I said.
“Agreed! The system has its own challenges. But entrepreneurship is all about perseverance and never ending hope,” said my cousin.
“Misplaced hope is the right word. The west has its legends from the 80’s and 90’s. And the success stories of these guys provide inspiration and hope for a lot of wannabes. They have paved way for thousands to follow. In India most of the so called entrepreneurs are either second or third generation and were born with a golden spoon. There is less than a handful who you can classified as true entrepreneurs. Secondly the social structure in this country does not consider entrepreneurship as a profession. You got to work in an IT company, or be a doctor or a lawyer to be respected,” I said
“You seemed to have lost the edge Mr.G. Looks like the corporate world has blunted your enthusiasm. The lure of fat salaries, plush offices and a better lifestyle have definitely reduced the risk appetite of people like you. No offense, but I think the present day opportunities in India maybe one of the top reasons for this. How many would refuse a plum campus job compared to going down a dark tunnel for many years without a light at the other end? ” said Eashwar.
I started to say something defensively but held back. Silence ensued for the next few miles.
“Well there is a new source of inspiration in India these days. The baba’s,” said Eashwar sarcastically with a smile and breaking the silence once again.
“Maybe you too can learn some yoga and churn your tummy every morning on television. Then lure some of your millionaire friends from the west, siphon off dollars from them, build a lavish ashram and pay no taxes. And once in a while you just need to create some ruckus and go on a fast to lose the flab gained. That sounds like a good business model? What say?”
Both of burst out laughing. I dropped Eashwar off and headed home.
A study by the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) defined an entrepreneurship pyramid in India in terms of sectors and number of people engaged. Level 4 (the base of the pyramid) consisting of agriculture and other activates was the largest category accounting for over 50%; Level 3- Trading services include wholesale and retail trade formed the second largest sector; Level 2- Old economy or traditional sectors such as manufacturing was the third largest and Level 1-emerging sectors such as IT/ITES, Healthcare, Insurance etc was the smallest at the top accounting for less than 10%. Of the over 50,000 new companies registered in 2007-2008 less than 5% were in the emerging sector. The report also indicated that 65% of the entrepreneurs self financed their start-ups and the average age of a first time entrepreneur was 35 years. Now let’s compare this to some of the statistics in the Silicon Valley from another research. Angel (seed) funding totaled over $20 billion in 2010 and over 61,000 entrepreneurial ventures got funded. Of these over 50% of the start-ups were in Healthcare, Software and IT and in total 370,000 new jobs were created. These numbers reflect a 20% drop in entrepreneurship activity levels due to recession. The average age of a first time entrepreneur was 25 years.
Now many more correlations from the data sets can be drawn and new analysis could be presented. But that’s not the point! The statistics are poles apart. Maybe it is true. Graduates coming out of colleges today prefer the fat paychecks compared to the ambiguity and risk of entrepreneurship. And people working in the industry never want to move out of their comfort zone. Fear of failure I believe is our biggest challenge and as a society we need to mature to be able to handle it. Surprisingly over 80% of the start-ups in Silicon Valley fail and entrepreneurs usually start the next venture in less than 6 months. The cultural set-up is such that failure is accepted, glorified and is looked upon as experience gained. Contrastingly in India, failure is treated as a disease and a slight fall brings out the wrath of family and friends. Failures are shunned and cast away into oblivion. The second challenge for us is thinking big. We are somehow are content with our salaries, cars, EMI apartments and fancy cell phones. The immediate aspiration for us is our manager’s job. Same holds true even for a fresh graduate right out of college. We never aspire for big things or strive to get there.
Now when these two challenges intertwine entrepreneurship take a nose dive and even a distant thought of doing something on our own is nipped. A true entrepreneur has two classic qualities – never fears failure and always thinks big. Unless we don’t imbibe these two qualities in us we can never impart it to the next generation. Today we all dream and discuss of India becoming the next economic powerhouse in the coming decade. To get there entrepreneurship is going to be the linchpin of our success.
To top it all, “It’s about doing something you truly love Mr.G”
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