As we get ready to observe World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) on July 15, it may probably be fitting that the occasion be marked by making out a stronger case for skills-led youth entrepreneurship in India.
For never has the need for a larger number of young people picking up innovative entrepreneurship skills to be able to create their own futures and usher in good times been felt more in India than it does now. COVID-19 is threatening to sink the world’s second-most populous nation to economic depths from which recovery could be painfully slow. This process could become harder if the pool of pioneering entrepreneurs does not witness a significant addition.
Game-changing entrepreneurs with the ability to dream big and execute at scale so that their work impacts the maximum number of people are our best bet in these trying times when the pre-COVID-19 playbook no longer holds relevance. They are also our biggest hope in realising the aspiration of an Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India).
Unfortunately, despite the many successful start-ups — predominantly in the e-commerce space — which have cropped up recently (some of which have also attained ‘unicorn’ status) indicating a growing fascination for entrepreneurship, the number of youth entrepreneurs are far too less for a country of India’s size. Careers for most young men and women are persistently defined by two words: permanent jobs.
A large cross-section of our best young minds , including those studying at elite institutions such as the IITs or IIMs, still prioritise finding a well-paying job over a likely career as an entrepreneur or self-employed professional. Several others continue to look upon entrepreneurship/self-employment as either a consolation prize or something to fill the time with till they get a ‘secure’ job in a large, pedigreed companies offering a ‘good (salary) package’.
Leveraging the WYSD 2020 platform to hard-sell entrepreneurship could, thus, serve the important purpose of inculcating among Indian youth — irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds and place of stay — a more intense desire to take charge of their own lives by voluntarily opting for entrepreneurship as a career choice.
The success we achieve in directing young people's energies towards entrepreneurship may, in the long term, result in India emerging as a standout example of how businesses can enable a nation to attain the highest levels on all aspects of social and economic development. In the short- to medium-term horizon, it could pull us up from the tough spot we currently find ourselves in.
The numerous entrepreneurship development institutes, mostly State-run, must play a pivotal role in creating this robust ecosystem where young people are empowered to fulfil their entrepreneurship ambitions. This can be done by designing training courses which are in sync with the times, and, also, being more actively involved in the process of creating business opportunities for those enrolling for their courses.
For instance, the National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, may consider creating vendor/supplier opportunities on a trial basis for its entrepreneurship course participants by stepping up engagement with the corporate sector for this purpose.
Simultaneously, the NIESBUD may also establish a stronger connect with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to facilitate seamless provision of loans on easy lending terms to its trainees who are keen to pursue entrepreneurship. Moreover, it can earmark a dedicated section of its website which participants of the NIESBUD’s entrepreneurship courses could use to advertise their offerings to seek out customers/clients.
Privately run entrepreneurship training centres could also explore the possibility of undertaking similar initiatives to make their hand-holding support prove more beneficial to budding entrepreneurs.
Somewhere in all the hype and hoopla around the World Youth Skills Day, many of us may have lost sight of the fact that entrepreneurship is a skill which must be acquired and needs to be worked on continuously to attain perfection.
Entrepreneurship skills being brought under the spotlight during the WYSD 2020 could correct this and lead to the emergence of a new group of resilient youth entrepreneurs in India for whom the upheaval caused by COVID-19 may have created the perfect scenario to come into their own.
(Sumali Moitra is a current affairs commentator. Twitter: @sumalimoitra. Views are personal.)
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