E-school at Kharagpur
IIT-Kharagpur plans to open next year a school for entrepreneurship. It would target students with “financially secure backgrounds”, says the IIT director D Acharya, adding that the school isn’t for job seekers, but for “potential employment generators”. A school, I guess, for the kin and close cousins of the Birlas, Nandas, Ambanis; the tech-millionaires, and of those who have made fortunes on real estate, and mushrooming malls and multiplexes.
Wonder if the idea of a five-year course at Kharagpur appeal to this lot? Business moms and dads send their heirs to US b-schools. Would Kharagpur sound to them as good as Wharton or Stanford? And then, five years doing an entrepreneurial course may seem too long a time for those who are willing and eager to get into their family-held businesses.
The e-school idea was first floated by Prof. Acharya at an Entrepreneurship Summit on the Kharagpur campus in November last. Expressing disappointment at the lack of entrepreneurial spirit among students, he observed that for IITans the challenge was not getting a job for themselves, but doing something of their own and contribute to India’s growth.
The IIT professor’s point has been echoed in a Silicon India blog by Gunjan Sinha who would like to see the emergence of, what he calls, the entrepreneurial India. He speaks of the need for building network-infrastructure in a professional environment. Mr Sinha points out there are some 27,000 professional associations in the US. Wonder what his take is on the Kharagpur e-school idea.
As an idea, I reckon, it is entrepreneurial; in the sense that no one else has thought of it. But would an e-school make business sense? Wouldn’t it be better to have it as an add-on to the MBA program, with an additional year or two of e-schooling for the benefit of students with entrepreneurial aptitude? As someone who has neither been an academic nor entrepreneurial I lack credentials to answer these questions. I can only raise them. I wonder how many people with “financially secure backgrounds” have an aptitude for entrepreneurship.
Abraham Tharakan, a Chennai-based consultant, blogs about conspicuous lack of private initiative to promote industries in Karala, although the state accounted for over $16 billion remittances from 1.8 million Keralite NRIs in 2006. Bulk of this money went into building fabulous houses and investment in land. That kind of fund-flow could have made a thousand businesses bloom. Mr Tharakan attributes it ‘a general lack of entrepreneurship’ among the moneyed in Kerala.
Would an e-school help promote entrepreneurs here? One could teach someone a few chess moves, but it may not turn him into tournament material. I have heard of schools that teach cooking or driving. But could anyone be schooled in cooking a business idea and driving it to profitability? Isn’t entrepreneurship about taking business risks? We have it from Hotmail Bhatia that nine in ten products conceived in Silicon Valley flop, but the one that succeeds more than makes up for the failed nine. Which is what, I guess, entrepreneurship is all about. It is a matter of mindset.
How are you doing today? Hope you doing very fine over there including your family, I am happy to recieve your contact and i hope that this will be the begining of a long lasting business relationship.
I am Mr MALAI BANGURA, a Seirra Leonean by origin. I was a gold and diamond dealer in Free town untill the present (APC) ALL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS PARTY civilian Government of PRESIDENT ERNEST BAI KOROMA revoked my Licence because i refused to involve my money in the last political campaign so eventually when they won the election i became a scape goat for the rgime.
Fortunately, i have been able to transfer 2,840.000.00 euro ( two million eight hundred and fourty thousand euro) to a Bank in Senegal, the country where i reside presntly. I have been victimised by the present civilian Government in my country and my money in Sierra leone has been siezed by the Government demanding that i should give account of all my money which they are aware i made from my Gold and diamond Business.
Ever since 17 September 2007 i have been living in fear and uncertain of my safety hence i was forced to move out of my country to Senegal.
Actually my purpose of contacting you is for us to go into partnership such that i can transfer this money to your account in your country for an investment purpose.
Since you know your country more than i do, you will have to decide on the type of business that we can run successfully in your country with the amount in question.All other partnership conditionalities will be discussed and agreed upon by both of us as soon as you indicate your interest for this transaction.
Honestly and in sincerity I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you and me from any breach of the law. Please reply to (mcbang10@yahoo.com)
Thanks while i look forward to your reply soonest.
Yours Sincerelly.
Malai Bangura.
I believe that entrepreneurs are both born and grown just like in many other creative professions. Those who start with no training learn on the job and they have been telling time and again that acquiring knowledge and skills would have helped them succeed faster and better. Those who received mentorship and counseling will also tell you that failures were avoided.
For a successful enterprise, one needs technology or functional skills, capital, a strong management team, human resources, market, and communication skills. Yes! One needs guts or the ability to take calculated risks. If one lacks capital, one has to convince other investors on the viability of a business venture.
Every one of us is really an investor. Some of us invest our savings in currency notes issued by the government even though they lose their value due to inflation. Others buy gold and hope for the appreciation of the metal while risking it being stolen. There is thus a spectrum of investments. Some will buy stock in famous companies and hope that they optimized their risks and returns. Yet others put it in bricks and mortar (like the Kerala example) or in movies and monuments. Finally, some will invest their money in a business and develop new products or services thus helping themselves, the country, and the community.
In the US, most successful ventures have built good teams and launched highly successful companies. Since universities are where science, technology and knowledge are created, and business methods are honed, senior students have an excellent opportunity to begin successful businesses. Universities provide networking opportunities allowing people with complimentary skills, abilities, and knowledge to come together and construct businesses.
With access to huge financial resources, the children of the rich (listed by Mr. Krishnan) may not need the education as they can hire professionals to complement their own skill sets. It is the children of the next level of rich people in India that need the knowledge and networking that a college provides. While I was teaching at IIT, Kharagpur in the Nineteen Sixties, many students and technicians used to approach me with many concepts to build products and businesses. Unfortunately, Kharagpur had neither the business knowledge nor the financial resources then. Some of them went to the US and built highly successful businesses.
Professor Damodar Acharya came up with an excellent concept. IIT has been well known for brilliant and creative technical students and research faculty. Now add some business professionals and young people with money as well as the propensity to take ethical risks. IIT may be able to create the best environment that leads to many business ventures. People who do not seek jobs but intend to create ventures focus on a different kind of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Mr. Bill Gates is the best example of this genre of people as he did not look for a PHD; so many honorary degrees or bestowed on him now.
May I urge that let us leave skepticism at the door and support Professor Acharya in his highly deserving venture?
An entrepreneur must be professionally trained today. So, if one is of the opinion that entrepreneurs are born, then we must figure out where they are born and train them to be professional. If one is of the opinion that entrepreneurs can be created, then the equation is straight. Whatever be the argument, the training part of it is clear.
IIT Kharagpur, is right in starting the venture. I bet Mr.Sinha would see it as a welcome move. But, what matters finally is the quality of training the entrepreneurs are going to receive at IIT-K and the success/failure rate of the entrepreneurs out from training.
IIT-K would be deadly wrong if it targets millionaire's sons and daughters under the impression that entrepreneurship is hereditary. had it been we would not have seen either the ambanis or bill gates. It must identify the right kind of entrepreneurial spirit and encourage it. i would call such type of targeting "MYOPIC".
Once again sir, pleasure reading your articles.
if these can be taught in a class-room, then why not a e-school in Doon valley starting with Nursey and raising upto this IIT venture; If Bill-gates would have attended any of these, he would be starving it up in one of those IT companies producing the next generation "Virus" applications;
Entrepreneurship gets its shape when tried on the street under hot sun- perhaps a class-room version could mean some thing similar to a car-Driving-course thru correspondance - you will get shaky the moment you start driving.
entrepreneurship is still not a time-tested concept - so I dont think it fits in to any curriculam-vitae.
------------------
CXO Insights
