25-04-2024
EMPOWERING ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP
by SR Nair
Among the progressive strides that India had taken after gaining independence some sixty five plus years ago, two major developments that took place in the last two decades stand out significantly, namely, sustained economic growth and emergence of entrepreneurship. On both, India is now being counted among the top of nations, on a global basis.
Barring certain communities that always had its key focus on business, in the early years, Indians in general and the middle class in particular had its career choice very clear, either to be working in government, public sector, MNCs or the corporate sector. Security in career was a top priority than creating and distributing wealth. Business as a vocation, therefore, was the last resort. The then prevailing closed economy and the license raj, discouraged those with entrepreneurial ambitions.
Things had changed, rapidly at some places, though slow in states such as Kerala, West Bengal and North Eastern States. Whether it is slow or not, the positive outcome is that the people have started looking at the entrepreneurial route. Youngsters and students, taking global and national examples before them, have started embracing entrepreneurship. These youngsters consider the lone soldiers of yester years; Dhirubhai Ambani and Narayana Murthy as their role models. These individuals dared, at a time when India had nothing going for her globally. They desired, dreamt, took it to heart, acted with clear focus and achieved greatness; which is now giving the courage and confidence to many, to look at entrepreneurship as a career.
A growing economy, a huge internal market, a flattening world, an internet based global knowledge industry, availability of money and mentors in the form of angel investors and venture capitalists; are all acting as catalysts for the Indian entrepreneur to evolve and grow. To put it bluntly, entrepreneurs never had it so good before.
A little on Kerala, a state beset with self-inflicted financial crisis year after year, a state where socialistic thinking got deep rooted from the 1940s, a state whose denizens still look at Government for employment and living, a state whose legislature, executive and citizens find entrepreneurship as anti-people and the act of profiting as criminal; got stuck for decades and rotted. Whereas people and countries, even the underdeveloped ones such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, started realizing entrepreneurship as the solid foundation of a growing economy, encouraged entrepreneurs to set up and get going; Kerala which found the change management very difficult, had been growing backwards in the matters of enterprise building and wealth generation.
It is time we realized the folly and come out of the unrealistic hopes of the State providing everything for its citizen. For the state to come out of the economic maladies that are affecting its forward movement, Malayali has to be competitive and entrepreneurial. With so many factors encouraging business and economy (Technopark, Infoparks, Kinfra Parks, Smart City, Special Economic Zones, Start-up Village, Statewide business incubation centers etc.), the need of the hour is to develop an entrepreneurial attitude on the people of Kerala.
