On the chain of thoughts on Entreprenuership, Ujjwal Banerjee - one of my seniors from NITIE also posted his thought. Ujjwal as some of you may recognize is one of the finalists of the Lead India contest held by Times of India.  Ujjwal, true to his iconoclast image strikes a completely different perspective on Entreprenuership - that of the Individual's choice. Read on ...   "I belief in Libertarian school of thought where the individual is given complete autonomy to decide what he/she chooses to do in life. The government and society should faciliate that ideal and allow people to flourish and ensure that they abide by the rule of law. "The role of education is to help them become rounded individuals where they not only acquire certain skills, but also understand the responsibility they have towards their fellow beings, nation, environment and the world at large. Today the education is more focussed on skill building that too for the section of society above a certain

Continued from previous posts [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] While my point on the US culture and subsequent responses, has anyway addressed a lot, Prof Prasad's take on Indian society is worth mentioning.  I feel - what is there in USA we cannot (in economic terms) provide in India. And even if you provide all those things which are in USA to the Indian audience, we cannot achieve the results what US achieved with their method, because we are different on many other things. We are culturally and socially different compared to USA. There people work, People tell and do the same things, there is no inheritance of wealth, youth are made to work. In such a system the VC system works.  Let me now come to what India is when compared to USA on enterprising front. In India, the social system is [built on] spoon feeding. 45 year olds are controlled and mentored by their elders. Till 30 years [of age] there is complete dependence on the parents. Parents want to continue the dependence syndrome even furt

Continued from previous posts [ 1 ], [ 2 ] I feel that entrepreneurs are born with it and they can only be provided the right opportunities. Such opportunities are available to a lot of people in the US - opportunities like  Universities which will allow you to stay in the hostel, not attend classes, but work on your ideas People who are ready to give you a pocket money to run your life while you are busy burning midnight oil in a garage working on your startup Proper funding when you see a business rise beyond the curve Unfortunately, we don't have such things in India.  Note that even in the US, its is not specific courses - definitely not MBA courses - which have churned out entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have come out of regular courses on software engineering or energy research or aviation technology or plain accounting or commerce (Steve Jobbs & Bill Gates).  But what has differentiated such courses from similar ones in India is the prevailing culture of the institutions th

Continued from previous post Conversely, I realize that entrepreneurship requires skills which come in very cheap and are not exactly "business related". Business skills (imparted in MBA courses) are required in entrepreneurship way down the curve when your business idea/company has already survived a couple of winters. For example if you want to start something in software - you need to basically know coding and stuff like that; if you want to start something in energy - you need to know the technical details behind that. One doesn't need to know accounting methods or Investment management or Supply Chain principles when one is in startup mode. So here is the dilemma which needs to be dealt with when it comes to "education for entrepreneurship". The basic skills for entrepreneurship are not difficult to learn - and the soft skills for entrepreneurs are more intrinsic than those which can be taught. So, how can education make or break an entrepreneur?  In my opi

One of my NITIE professors, Prof. T Prasad has been working on promoting student enterprise in the country. Work done by Prof Prasad [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ video ] is really commendable - especially given the lack of support such initiatives receive in this country, from student and faculty alike.  I and another alumnus,  Rohit Tripathy , recently had an email discussion with him on the subject of Entrepreneurship education - here's what came out of it.  Apathy in B-schools towards Entrepreneurship It is absolutely true that there are few jobs at this in time. Still, MBAs are waiting for recruiters to reject them rather than try their luck in their own ventures. Prof Prasad recently met 2 students from a B-school who won B-plan at another B-school with intent of commercializing innovations. However, when asked, students said that purpose of this b-plan participation was to win it; they were not concerned with entrepreneurship at all. B-Plan Competitions and other "networking" eve

Continued from: Wasn't Entreprenueship About Innovation After Mohammad Yunus received his Nobel for microcredit - so many people have thought of starting up a micro-finance institution - its a simple idea, with minimal risk (if you know how to manage money) and what's more it in line with social justice. But as I have discussed with some of you - no point entering a field unless you can bring in some innovation to it - could be technology, process or scale. And boy! there could not be a better example than this to illustrate my point ... Kiva! Source: Kiva: Improving People's Lives Like a social networking site, Kiva posts profiles of potential borrowers. Lenders then peruse the profiles and make loans to people whom they find appealing. Once a lender makes a loan, Kiva sends the money to a microfinance institution, or MFI, in the borrower's home country. The MFI disburses the funds and works with the borrower to ensure timely repayment. In the language of the banking

Given the economically charged environment in India - lots of people are planning to start new ventures or planning to get involved with startups - and everyone from your uncle to your cousin's friend's elder brother has an idea! And with orkut/facebook/ linkedIn - it is so much more easy to link to other people who have similar ideas and hatch business plans. However, while the story might start there, it doesn't quite end, so many 'in-progress' ventures never make it to fruition and of those which do, few survive. Why? My personal answer is - we are all too fixated with making money and too less with making a difference. Daman [fictional] works for a bank as a financial consultant, he interacts with clients day in day out and sees how he is solving their problems using a bit of Google and a bit of Bloomberg. And the next thing he realises is that, he doesn't need his company - why not join hands with his Jijaji who runs a software company, get the software whi

I am going to speak on the topic of Blogging 2.0 at barCampMumbai2 today ... With this we also will open the registration for the beta of our web Application bloozler .... you too can check it out here . I have been working on this concept since more than 1.5 year now, since I made this blog post. Hope you all find it an interesting and useful webApp .... Here is the presentation I will make.

“Morons! I know there’s nothing out there. That’s why I want to build the railroad!” – Dean Kamen, on J.P. Morgan’s hypothetical response to two non-hypothetical M.B.A.’s hypothetical objections to J.P.’s railroad Code Name Ginger Link Via: Nivi

[Via: Emergic ] Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans ; aim high in hope and work , remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big! - Daniel Burnham (1846 – 1912)

Prologue: Starting a series post is a risky business – if you do not get time to post the sequel fast enough, the original post conveys an incomplete meaning and starts receiving unfavorable comments. That is what happened to my previous post. Anyway – better late than never – here is the second and concluding part of Innovation = ...... As I argued in the previous post, without innovation, it is not possible to reach the echelons of global trade and difficult to oust competition. Going further, not just international competition, even domestic trade and indigenous industry is unlikely to prosper without innovation. Any new innovation, fuels a chain of many other parallel mini-innovations to be done around the central theme. For example, the 1-lakh-small-car by Tata Motors requires new initiatives in each of its ancillaries – from upholstery makers to tire makers. On the other hand, how much internal business does an Oracle implementation in the U.S. generate back home in India? One co

Eavesdropping is crime, especially in corporate circles. I had no intention of committing this crime, but I could not ‘unlisten’ the very excited and loud description of a to-be-given presentation that this individual was narrating on the phone. “I will talk about the market scenario, then about emerging India, then how we are globalizing our business model and ……” Of late, I have got tired of the incessant chant in politico-industrial circles – knowledge superpower India, emerging India, global positioning etc. Some have already placed India on the highest pedestal in the IT industry while others are modest enough to just lay claims over the top position by 2010/2020. While it is true that, Indian companies with their Global Delivery Model, low-cost-highly-educated workforce and strong process orientation, are sure taking on the IBMs and Accentures of the world right from the front – but they are far from snatching the turf from these global majors. More so India poses no threat to Am