The Rewards of Entrepreneurship
An entrepreneurial mindset will take you places in today’s competitive world, says R Sreenivasan

Profile
R Sreenivasan is one of the founders of Career Launcher, Career Launcher Education Foundation, and the Nalanda Foundation. A multi-talented mind, with a Masters in Computer Applications, a Masters in Computer Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and an MBA from IIM-Bangalore, he is a facilitator and a motivator at heart. His responsibilities in the institutions include contributing to strategy, outreach, quality, connecting and interfacing with like-minded facilitators, and last but not the least, helping people realise their potential.

Sreeni is actively involved in spreading the Indus World educational philosophy of learner-centric environment to the interiors of the nation through school projects including rural schools and community enabling centres, and promotes entrepreneurial leadership through endeavours at the IWSB.

IWSB
The Indus World School of Business, Greater Noida, is oriented towards developing and honing the entrepreneurial skills of its students. Equipped with a well-structured curriculum, capable and highly motivated faculty, the most modern of infrastructure, and an incubation lab, IWSB is confident of nurturing the next generation of accomplished entrepreneurs.

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India has progressed by leaps and bounds since the commencement of economic liberalisation in 1991. Today, we are eleventh-largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, and fourth by Purchasing Power Parity. If you look at these two decades of economic growth, it has been solely due to the rise of various entrepreneurial endeavours in this country, primarily in the services sector, especially in the IT and ITeS sectors (including BPOs); and to some extent, also in the manufacturing sectors of pharma, biotechnology, and automobiles.

In the IT sector, though enterprises such as TCS, an Infosys or Wipro had been in existence even prior to liberalisation, they took off - with no looking back - in the 1990s, especially as the ITeS/BPO dimensions started adding up. But the real contributor for the scorching growth in this sector was the large number of start-ups that came in the last two decades - also adding to the numbers of Indian multinationals!

With over half of our population still employed in the agricultural sector, and about 80% of the economy still in the unorganised sector, the untapped potential of India is huge. The entrepreneurial zeal that powered the services space of IT and ITeS in the last two decades has already started showing its impact on other spaces like financial, real estate, education, etc. There is a also a renewed interest in the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

This scorching pace of India’s economic growth will take our nation to the second position in the world, vis-à-vis GDP, by 2050. To make it happen, progress has to be uniform; this will impact the per-capita front too, pulling it up from the current 127th position.

If I were to quote Mukesh Ambani, “About 20 million jobs will get created every year for a decade or two.” Where will it be? Certainly not with the large corporates, but instead, at the thousands of MSMEs: The next two decades will be marked by entrepreneurial leadership.

OPPORTUNITIES
Most B-school graduates neither have an idea when entering B-school, nor when they pass out, of what their goal is, and where their future lies. They get into an MBA course because they hear that the ‘life-after’ is secure thanks to a handsome salary! They can only think of joining a Hindustan Unilever, P&G, Citibank, or Reliance. Many do join big companies but get disillusioned soon with their days starting at six in the morning and ending at 11 at night - and recognition can be hard to come by too.

The economic meltdown of 2009 did change this perspective a bit after many failed to get any jobs at all, leave aside positions with ‘big bucks’ or ‘Big Brands’! With no choice, quite a few opted for the young and fast growing companies, and are sticking to these after realising how their prospects are far brighter in these companies. With the same amount of effort they might have had to put in at larger organisations, the recognition came flying faster, and the jumps quicker.

Being a B-School graduate myself - an alumnus of IIM Bangalore - when I look at the last two decades of progress many a friend of mine has made, there is no question that the future of the - nation-and also the future of management graduates - lies in the young and fast growing companies. Quite a few of these companies, that are making waves in the services, financial, or even manufacturing spaces in the last decade, have been started by youngsters and experienced alike, all sharing a dedicated vision. They managed to attract quite a few of their friends to partner in their dreams and partake in the growth. Many quit large corporates, even abroad, and moved to these booming enterprises.

For every listed fast-growing company that has been founded in the last fifteen years like - IndiaBulls, InfoEdge (Naukri.com), Educomp, MakeMyTrip etc, there are many unlisted ones like NetAmbit, Career Launcher, Valuefirst, The Smart Cube, Candid Marketing, and many more, even younger enterprises that are being toasted by their customers and the market alike. They are showing high double, if not three-digit growth, unlike the large corporates who are moving at a low double or even single-digit growth. These organisations have a great appetite for growth and are still in the early stages of their upward curve, as their services, with their compelling value, cater to huge mass markets. These fast-growing companies seek entrepreneurial leadership material to hire - not limited to B-school graduates. When I talk about entrepreneurial leadership, I am not limiting this to entrepreneurship. I will talk about being an entrepreneur in a while, but even to excel in other enterprises - like the larger ones or the aforementioned fast growing ones - you need to be entrepreneurial in thinking and also in acting, especially in the current competitive scenario. You will be noticed, and you will be in demand!

If one is entrepreneurial, especially in the young companies that are nimble-footed, one gets integrated sooner, and wins greater responsibility, freedom, and accountability. An entrepreneurial mindset will get you the entire canvas to yourself to paint, and the painting gets recognised pretty soon. The ladders are drawn for one to climb faster and take on higher roles. As an entrepreneur myself, especially one who has been closely involved with education, and in particular, has been helping B-school aspirants, I have been following the stories of those who have been excelling in the entrepreneurial arena. I have also been mentoring many youngsters who are entrepreneurial leadership material. I do get invited to speak at various forums, including leading B-Schools, to push young graduates to think big. My annual lecture series - Dream It! Do It! and Think Big! Start Small! have been much sought after too.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT
There is no question that the future lies here, and is amplified by movements like The Indus Entrepeneurs (TIE) and National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN). Promoted by the who's who of Indian business, these are engaging B-Schools, university campuses and even K-12 school students. During the last three months, the Indus World School of Business (IWSB), a B-School that has made a name in fostering entrepreneurial leadership, has been proactively supporting an endeavour of TIE in running the TIE Young Entrepreneur (TYE) programme for school students of grades 9-12. So, the nation is catching them young!

REWARDS
Do the remunerations stay behind when taking greater responsibilities? No, never! IWSB, which focuses on placing students in young and fast growing companies, in its maiden placement season, notched a respectable average salary for its class of 2010 - at Rs 5.64 lakhs per annum - and got placed among the top-10 B-Schools in the country on return on investment - average salary upon fees paid. That shows where the future lies.

In this last decade alone, the emergence of young entrepreneurs and their contribution to the national economy has become quite visible in India. This trend is here to stay. If you are a B-School student, or for that matter, anyone with a desire to excel, take greater responsibilities and grow in life in every sense - learning, materialistic, financially, spiritually - the best place to start your journey now is in the young and fast growing companies. By taking up the challenges that go with such growth-centric organisations, you may learn so much, you might even go on to start something of your own. That is always a welcome move for you - and for the nation too!

Jump into this ocean. I am sure even before you realise, you will be swimming quickly and may go on to create your own destiny, one our nation will be very proud of!