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| Future Leaders |
“I didn’t even know the exact spelling of Entrepreneurship when I was in my first semester”, said Devika jokingly, who is one of the chirpy young entrepreneurs of Chennai and had come to VIT to deliver a talk on Entrepreneurship.
It seemed as if she spoke what my mind intended to speak. Even most of us, didn’t know who an ‘Entrepreneur’ was or what ‘Entrepreneurship’ was all about until we accidently encountered this term. She was an Entrepreneur- an owner of an entertainment company. “What makes her different from the rest?” I thought to myself. Is it her distinct understanding about entrepreneurship that distinguishes her from others? Is it her comprehensive thinking pertaining to the concepts related with business that paved way to carve a niche for her-self? Or is it her zeal and desire to transform the world at large, the prime motivating element, which has enabled her to become a successful entrepreneur?
It seemed as if she spoke what my mind intended to speak. Even most of us, didn’t know who an ‘Entrepreneur’ was or what ‘Entrepreneurship’ was all about until we accidently encountered this term. She was an Entrepreneur- an owner of an entertainment company. “What makes her different from the rest?” I thought to myself. Is it her distinct understanding about entrepreneurship that distinguishes her from others? Is it her comprehensive thinking pertaining to the concepts related with business that paved way to carve a niche for her-self? Or is it her zeal and desire to transform the world at large, the prime motivating element, which has enabled her to become a successful entrepreneur?
The underlying fact what makes
entrepreneurs like Devika
to happen is that they conceptualize
their ideas practically. Unlike
others, she gave a real picture to her idea and realised it to suit her passion. Most of the youngsters like us, who desire to attain
something big; who possess a mindset to do something huge at an young age, always rummage around in
search to solidify the theoretical concepts related with their coveted aims. Our
ideas remain frozen until they get a pragmatic outlet. Idea framing is the first
and the most fundamental step of ‘Entrepreneurship’. It is this ‘Idea’
that will frame the foundation for our long term goals and give a realistic
definition to our motives. ‘Entrepreneurship’-
is a three tier process based on - ‘Experiencing’, ‘Experimenting’ and
‘Executing’. An idea remains unaccomplished only when we don’t try our
hands in materialising it. In fact, the concept of being an entrepreneur
has got very little to do with theoretical aspects than to do with practical
analysis and testing. Its explicit definition is not possible because it is not
a concept bounded by theory or a model curtailed only to a particular domain of
workspace but instead, it is a concept of practicality –a concept which is an application
of an innovative thinking. Since,
ideas are never delimited to any particular working ecosystem but in fact can
emerge from any domain of workspace; therefore the scope of
‘entrepreneurship’ is far and wide. Indeed, what can be given a definition in practical
sense is that of an -‘Idea’ that can
change the world.
'Entrepreneurship 101’
· - Introductory seminar on Entrepreneurship by
E-Cell faculty coordinator-
Professor Vijayaragavan SP
· - Seminar on –“How to startup? What are the fundamentals
of entrepreneurship?”- By entrepreneurs – Saravanan- a final year engineering student, who runs SoftLabs
Consulting and Devika- B.Com Sophomore, runs an entertainment company
Vijayaragavan Sir
started the seminar with a small activity wherein he asked the students to sit
in ascending order of their birth dates. The task wasn’t that straightforward
to implement because he imposed a constraint of completing it without any
verbal communication amongst the members and the only thing that was allowed to
use was- gesture recognition. At first, there was a total hue and cry amongst
the members, until Seshadri came up with an idea of assigning
each bench, the number corresponding to number of the month. For example, the
first bench in the class was assigned the number -1 which meant January,
similarly other benches were assigned and gestures were used to indicate the allotted
numbers. This facilitated the process of arranging ourselves in the ascending
order of birth dates. The prime motive of this activity was to
test our ability to strategise things in different working ecosystems. Seshadri
came up with an Idea and this idea got a practical shape which made the
arrangement possible, in-spite of the fact that there was no verbal communiqué.
By this small activity, Sir elucidated ‘Entrepreneurship’, which also starts
with an idea, despite external constraints can take a practical shape and can
thus facilitate working realistically.
·
Who can be an entrepreneur?
Firstly, he talked on the topic -‘Who can be
an Entrepreneur?’ Is it the time, age or education level that
defines an entrepreneur? Do these parameters play an obligatory role in
defining an ‘entrepreneur’? The buzz word ‘entrepreneurship’ has come into
being only in the recent times but it has always existed in spirit in the past.
A
series of quiz rounds made me understand distinct contrast among different
people of different times. Edison, Walt Disney, Swami Vivekananda etc. who
hailed from different domains, all were entrepreneurs in some or the other
way. It is only because they gave a practical opening to their thoughts
and realised it to produce an impact onto the world. Further, ‘Time’
can never be a measure for someone to be called as an entrepreneur. It is only
that in the contemporary times, its definition seems highlighted; otherwise the
aim has always remained the same and i.e. creating a change in the world.
Similarly, the emerging business leaders of different age groups provide a
testimony to the fact that entrepreneurship can never be curtailed by the age
of a being. Sir gave an example of a CEO of a company who was just sixteen and
also that of 60 year old entrepreneur to validate his point. “Age
can never confine your ideas”, he said. It is what we make out of those
ideas that create a difference. Likewise, education level has got little to do
with entrepreneurship. This may indeed be very surprising but in fact for the
commencement of most startups, it isn’t imperative to have high qualifications.
Dhirubhai Ambani was just a matriculate but established an empire worth
billions. Sir mentioned in a very articulate manner that the only mandatory
thing which stands as a prerequisite is the search
for an opportunity to implement our idea in the right direction at the
right time. It is a sheer misconception that entrepreneurship is curtailed by
parameters like ‘money, age and education level’.
·
What are the reasons for becoming an
entrepreneur?
Young Entrepreneurs at ‘Entrepreneurship 101 Seminar’
Saravanan- He is a final year engineering student and the
CEO of SoftLabs Consulting
By his passionate speech, Saravanan,
instilled in our minds the entrepreneurial fervour to realise our ideas and
imbibed within us the zeal, to work towards sculpting our notions into
practicality. He shared with us his entrepreneurial experiences and talked on
how to come up with startups. He said that if you have a business idea in your mind,
do not sit idle rather try to find avenues so that it gets a realistic shape.
He often thought about the final year students and the problems related with
campus recruitments. He framed an idea to become an intermediate between the
college and the recruiting companies. This led him to the creation of SoftLabs
Consulting. In the initial stage he faced innumerable problems related
with business modelling, marketing but after validating the feasibility of his
idea he embarked upon his entrepreneurial endeavour. Saravanan also delineated some key points pertaining to
entrepreneurship.
· 1.Enterprise becomes a success, only when you persevere,
inspite of infinite number of external hardships
· . 2. Have a proper Business Model and Business Plan
· 3. Check the feasibility of your enterprise
· 4.. Work according to your passion.
He also highlighted how he
had developed the confidence to face audience and the art of dealing with
clients by his entrepreneurial undertaking. Today he has recruited around 87
individuals in different companies and has a lot many clients in hand. He also
emphasized that the main aim of any entrepreneur is that he follows his passion
and works for a change.
Devika- B.com student, owner of an
entertainment company
How
many of us will love to make our hobby as our business? The answer is
quite obvious. I think most of us will love to do that. This is what Devika did
and made her hobby as her business giving it a firm orientation. She
said that she had a great inclination towards entertainment particularly films,
theatres. This is where she got an idea to start with an entertainment company organizing theatres and
shows. Some of the key points which she highlighted were:
· 1. Make an effective team
· 2. Have a thorough knowledge of business modelling
and B-Plan
· 3.Undergo expert advice before embarking upon an
enterprise
· 4. Sometimes a hobby may not be feasible enough to
realise
· 5. Make sure you undergo a trial before marketing
it on a large scale
Both
of them gave a crisp insight into the realm of entrepreneurship and made us
feel encouraged as we all just begin to pursue entrepreneurship. In the end, I
would like to sum up in the words of Professor Vijayaragavan that- “Entrepreneurship
is not about how much money you make, instead it is how much difference you
make”
Akshay Thakur
