Bangalore, March 17 If one has a good business idea, sharing it with people whom one trusts and backing it up with a good business plan are the important initial steps one must take to become an entrepreneur, said Mr N. Srinivasan, former Director General of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), here on Tuesday.

Delivering a lecture on entrepreneurship organised by BL Club for the students of IBMR International Business School, he said that entrepreneurship is all about taking risks, creating jobs and creating and distributing wealth. Giving a perspective about the current slowdown, he said that India will ride the situation successfully, despite economic recession felt in other countries.

“These are difficult times. But, Indian companies have adopted policies of pause, ponder and prepare. Many companies are upgrading the skills of the workforce. It is in the bad times you need to prepare for good times. In my view, investments will begin to flow by 2010,” he said.

He said that ‘India @ 75’, a concept of CII to put India on an important position in the global trajectory, will be a source of innovation and at least 30 Indian companies will be in Fortune 100 list. He said his confidence emanates from the fact that 54 per cent of population is young and it is below the age of 25.

An entrepreneur has to turn ideas into saleable products or services, Mr Srinivasan said. He must have a fair idea of both obvious and latent markets. An entrepreneur must also have resources such as technology, finance and people. “Money is necessarily not a constraint, if you have good ideas,” Mr Srinivasan told the students.

He said India needs many entrepreneurs. By being an entrepreneur, it also gives an individual a sense of satisfaction and achievement.

Speaking on Indian entrepreneurship, Mr Srinivasan said that India is an entrepreneurial nation. Small and medium enterprises are its backbone and many youngsters have taken up social entrepreneurship. He cited a few examples and said that these companies have brought a huge change in society. He also explained the success of Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), which is supported by CII, and said that in a short span of time, the trust had changed the lives of about 1,500 young men and women.

He told the students to unlock entrepreneurial opportunities in various sectors such as agriculture, rural, education and services. “The ABCs of entrepreneurship are ambition and attitude, followed by building blocks such as ideas and resources. You also need to possess creativity and commitment. There is also a ‘D’ and it is discipline. All this will help you become a successful entrepreneur,” Mr Srinivasan said.

Mr C. Manohar, Executive Director of IBMR, and Mr Nandeesh Hiremath, Deputy Director, were present.