Waterloo is a small University town located in the Canadian province of Ontario. With a population of less than a hundred thousand, it is an entrepreneurial powerhouse. With more than one thousand start ups credited to its innovative history, the region is one of the most progressive startup ecosystems in the world. Situated twelve thousand kilometers away is Mumbai, India’s financial center. Indian Institute of Technology, or IIT located in this financial hub is one of the primary educational institutes in the Asian region. Its E-cell has spawned more than two thousand companies, making it the largest in the Indian subcontinent.
This is not just a comparison between two of the finest institutes, it is a comparison between a highly developed G8 country and a one of the fastest developing countries in the world. Although, India has made great strides in developing an entrepreneurial environment, it still is a land of extremes. On the one side, we have universities that rank among the best in the global rankings, but on the other hand, we still have a significant population who can hardly put a signature with a pen.
Indian startup scene is becoming more and more inclusive over the time. With an active role played by the governmental sector, the outreach program is reaching and changing lives of millions of people across the country. A few days back, I came across an article on Gatesnotes that talked about DroneDidis, an innovative public sector scheme which empowers women in rural Bihar to use the technology of drones to increase their agricultural output by effective use of fertilizers. This exemplifies how Indian entrepreneurial landscape is getting transformed, even though at a gradual speed.
To create an enriching and a supportive platform for the ideas to nurture and mature into successful enterprises, it is not only the government sector that has to chip in, it is also the private players and other organizational stakeholders that need to contribute in the creation of a dynamic start up society. In my view, the Indian economical and business sector has gone through four waves of evolution. The first wave was the opening up of call centers after the liberalization of the Indian economy. The second wave was the onset of Information technology industry. The third was the investment of United States into the research and development sector in India, primarily in the cities of Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Pune. The fourth ongoing wave is that of the boom in startups or technology oriented small scale businesses.
I firmly believe that educational institutes can play an instrumental role in developing and nurturing the entrepreneurial energies of the Indian youth. They can act as a “beacon of inspiration” and provide the much needed mentorship, especially the in nascent years of the budding entrepreneurs. Although more and more universities and educational institutes are embracing innovation and entrepreneurship into their academic fabric, much still needs to be done. While I do agree that we have come a long way as an innovative and a productive society, there are challenges ahead of us.
Recently, I was going through the specializations offered by the Master of Business Administration , or MBA program of my alma mater and I was surprised to certain extent that entrepreneurship was not one of those. It is not only my university business school that still hasn’t introduced entrepreneurship as a stream, the story is same for majority of the educational institutes across the country. The startup scene on the campus is still concentrated in the premier universities of the country like the IIT’s, IIM’s and private educational colleges.
I think this is where we still have a gap and this is what needs a change. While I do agree that academic and vocational institutions do need to create a “white collar” workforce and prepare its pupils to excel in corporate jobs, but I strongly think that universities need to invest its resources in development of “Job creators” as well. Incubators should be set up on university campuses which not only nourishes students in its technology departments but also encourages young and aspiring minds from arts and commerce departments as well. Students should have an access to mentorship, to investment capital and access to the market where they can launch their idea. Cutting edge paradigms and business concepts like Design thinking should be absorbed in the entrepreneurial training and skill development. The start up growth has to be inclusive for India to compete with other countries.
It is rightly said that the development comes when the highest level of technology reaches the lowest level of the society. The “startup culture” needs to percolate deep into the Indian society. Our educational institutes have the potential to accelerate this development and catapult the nation to the global stage.
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