What is Preventing Indians From Shying Away from the Great Opportunities of Corporate Entrepreneurship?

India is a vibrant nation of youths aspiring for getting some job. Unemployment is a serious problem. Millions of youths who graduate from the higher education and professional institutions in the country are finding it difficult for getting some job of their liking in the organized sector. Many are underemployed or are compelled to work in the unorganized sector for a livelihood.

At the same time, India is a land of great opportunities. It geography, population and scope for development give immense opportunities for business. In essence the potentials for entrepreneurs desiring to take up the initiatives are immense.

The problem lies with the Indian educational system. The conventional education system of the country provide little information to the students about the essentials of doing business. Business knowledge and skills have always been a matter of confidential knowledge held by those who either inherited it or tried hard to acquire it under compulsions or by chance.

The hundreds of business schools in India hardly impart any meaningful knowledge to their students in the fundamental aspects of setting up a business entity. While the business schools impart theoretical knowledge in management principles, they never try to go beyond it to equip them in the real practical knowledge that is essential for any business entrepreneur to confidently proceed to make his business ideas work.

Often the educational curricula are made by academicians who have no real experience in business or industry. Industry-business-academic cooperation and interaction in India is a much talked about subject with no one ever trying to do any thing to achieve it practically. Indian academicians clandestinely do all they could to protect their interests always. As is usual with any other profession, they too are too protective about their jobs and would not allow others to enter in to their profession. As a result, there are only few industry experienced persons in the academic councils, senates and syndicates of the Indian universities. As such, the universities and autonomous colleges, including the engineering and management institutions of India fail miserably to absorb the industrial and business experience and knowledge to the their students.

The end result is a large workforce who lack essential knowledge and confidence to undertake challenging jobs and assignments. Excepting a few of the self driven types, the rest miserably lack the skills required for meaningful employment or entrepreneurial qualities for venturing in to the setting up of business ventures of their own.

India may be finding a few young and successful entrepreneurs here and there. But they have mostly got their entrepreneurial skills and abilities by self actuation and abilities and not by the specific grooming they received through their respective educational institutions!

The Indian parents mostly are pessimists with regard to their wards venturing in to any business. Excepting those few business oriented families, most of the common folks discourage their young ones from trying any business of their own. A good majority of middle class parents also consider many kinds of business as some kind of taboos or not befitting for their family status. Many housewives in India are too uncomfortable about the thoughts of any of their family members going ahead with some business ideas. Lack of support and opposition from the family women folk drives away the little enthusiasm that might be with those few with some entrepreneurial ideas!

The Indian middle class are too obsessed with the idea of sending their wards to foreign countries such as the USA, UK, Middle East, Canada, Australia, etc rather than they try their fortunes in their own nation. 

As a result, premier engineering institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs) have become mere training grounds for foreign job aspirants! There may be only a few IITians who could successfully streamline their acquired skills and inherent intelligence to establish themselves as first line indigenous entrepreneurs!

All these have happened due to the wholly defective policies of the Indian government that has been in vogue for the past many decades. The Indian governments of the past hardly encouraged first hand business entrepreneurs unless they are some cronies connected to those in power! The Indian bureaucracy too has ensured that the rules and regulations made by them and approved by their political masters so far are solely for ensuring their controls over the business community. 

In such a scenario, no business man could possibly survive in India without bowing their heads before the bureaucrats! The bureaucrats usually get the laws and the regulations drafted and approved by their political supremos giving much leverage for themselves. This necessitates scores of governmental approvals to start any business. Obviously, such approvals do not come forward so easily unless the potential business promoter is willing to spend and bend! At least that is what the common perception in India has come to mature!

Fortunately, the information technology has helped to break many of the bureaucratic and political interference in many kinds of business in India. IT has enabled higher transparency in the governmental procedures to some extent. It is also enabling dissemination of knowledge and breaking the monopoly of formal education system. A positive development indeed!

Successful Indian businessmen, barring a few, are those who have come up under severe constraints facing many problems. Hence they attribute their success to gods and luck rather than their knowledge and hard work. As a matter of fact, many of the existing successful business people do not possess any expert knowledge in the fields of business where they prospered. Their essential knowledge has been in the manipulation of money and people with the help of intelligent but slavish employees!

Many of the Indian businessmen are too scared to reveal their success stories or to encourage young India to venture in to business. Many of them are also too greedy that they would not like a share of their huge profits to be distributed among their employees and clients or even with the nation! They are too apprehensive to be honest due to the prevailing business atmosphere. They know that the country as a whole is not going to honor their contributions. Why should they do things honestly when they are deemed as thieves of the national wealth? There is an immediate need for changing this common belief. There is an urgent need to honor and respect practically honest businessmen and women who create more employment opportunities rather than big market capitalization!

Businessmen who generate thousands of jobs should be honored as national heroes. We can take a lesson from China where Jack Ma has got that preference from the Chinese government because he has been successful in generating millions of jobs! Compare that with the story of Subrata Roy of Sahara in India! 

I earnestly hope that many of our young people would shed their inhibitions and begin exploring the possibilities of becoming job creators rather than job hunters. The formal education system of India may not be in a position to help them for the time being. But the informal internet knowledge base could be easily explored for all necessary guidance for those willing to learn and act.

Business is not about becoming Jack Ma or Dhirubai Ambani overnight. Business is also not to be considered as an option viable only in the urban areas. It is also not a fact that all business start ups need huge investments. In India, there exist good opportunities for small and medium corporate model businesses for the rural areas with low investments. Why can't we think of having corporate offices in the rural areas and tap the talent pool of the rural areas? Why do we need to make a situation that results in the flow of people to the urban areas? Indian metros are already starving for resources and infrastructure. The present flow of population from villages to cities is due to the apparent notion of the people about the job potential of the cities erroneously conceived by wrong policies and feed backs!

In India, the term business brings the image of a petty retailer's face or a well known business tycoon's face in the minds of the ordinary folks. Both do not reflect the true reality. Business and entrepreneurship are something in between the two and have much more potentials than commonly understood!

What are the essential things for doing any business in India?

Young entrepreneurs need to know the basics of the laws that govern the business. They need to know the basic rules of the game. They should also know the great potentials of doing business under the corporate banner rather than doing it as proprietary or as a partnership. They should know the essentials of corporate management and capital raising. Such knowledge would help them to propel their business ideas to get matured and implemented.

Profit alone should not be the motive for business for the young Indian entrepreneurs. They should think of such businesses that would be a useful help to their customers and clients. They should learn to do business without cheating or without breaking the laws. They should device their companies which gives a win-win platform for all the stake holders-to themselves, their share holders, their clients, the government and the general public. They should not allow their companies to be operated under the motives of greed. When this becomes the fundamental guiding principle, there is absolutely no reason that their venture would not succeed! 

How to know the essentials of setting up a business in India?

The following are some links that give much information for those who are desirous of becoming corporate entrepreneurs rather than mere job seekers: 

1. The official business portal of India

2. The online business guidance portal startbizindia

3. Steps for New Company Registration: India

4. How stocks and stock markets work?

5. Indiafilings- Online assistance provider for starting business

Wake up and act. Let us do things in India and prove the might of our nation!

Best wishes to all potential businessmen and women of India! May your efforts bring prosperity!