By Dr. Veni Nair Professor – Assistant Director – ITM Business School Navi Mumbai

 

Entrepreneurship is fast emerging as a transformational trend of the 21st Century, as it has the capacity to reshape economies and industries throughout the world. Lately, the landscape of entrepreneurship has faced a paradigm shift in terms of trends, with SMEs playing a major role in social and economic advancement. As per the Indian government data, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) contribute to nearly 8 percent of the country’s GDP and 45 to the manufacturing output, and 40 percent to the country’s total exports. Today, there are bigger opportunities for smaller business in India, creating 1.3 million jobs every year. This proves to be the largest share of employment after Agriculture.

 

Entrepreneurship is essential for job creation and economic growth

In the recent GEM 2015 Entrepreneurship Survey, it is found that around 55-60% of Indians now perceive that entrepreneurship is a good career choice. Entrepreneurship offers individuals, opportunity to build successful careers without doing the monotonous 9 to 5 job in an organization that have little ability to impact decisions.

Entrepreneurship education and training are the two driving forces behind the phenomenon of entrepreneurship that generates the relevant entrepreneurial attitude, competencies and skills.  Many institutions have now started offering entrepreneurship education and Incubation Centres that enables and equips the students to set up their own ventures successfully.

 

Creating wealth for the society

Entrepreneurship is a role that helps in creating wealth for the society and the entrepreneur which results into benefits on the economic growth. If you look at countries where entrepreneurship has thrived, such as the US, Canada, Singapore, these governments has encouraged entrepreneurship widely. The Indian Government too has taken efforts at promoting entrepreneurship and innovations like Start-up India, Make in India, Atal Innovation Mission, Jan Dhan, Digital India.

Entrepreneurs have an incredible power to change the socio-economic-cultural ecosystem of nations. Entrepreneurs break away from traditional offerings and indirectly support freedom and convenience by reducing dependence on obsolete systems and technologies, through their unique offerings of goods and services, thus resulting in an improved quality of life, improved morale and greater freedom. They also provide financial support to local charities by investing in community projects. This enables further development socially beyond their own ventures.

 

Bringing together government and industry

Lastly, due to the instrumental role entrepreneurs’ play in stimulating economic growth, policymakers are more actively promoting entrepreneurship opportunities that bring together both government and industry.  If we analyse the benefits and drawbacks, a balanced approach to nurturing entrepreneurship can result in a positive impact on economy and society.  Today India has improved its Global Competitiveness Index ranking to 40 and with the growing entrepreneurship culture, a supportive new proactive government, and growing availability of financing, India is poised for robust economic times, being the world’s biggest economy