The French word, entrepreneur, means an enterpriser.
An entrepreneur is a person who undertakes an enterprise or a business, with the chance of profit or loss. An entrepreneur is an individual who uses venture capital to start and finance a new enterprise, and who assumes the financial risks associated with owning, operating, and managing an enterprise.
While many consider entrepreneurs to be visionaries, dreamers, and charismatic leaders, not all entrepreneurs share these characteristics, and Indian youth today has a lot of potential to emerge as dynamic and successful entrepreneurs.
Most entrepreneurs are individuals who march to their own drums, and who have the drive, determination, and perseverance, to bring ideas and opportunities to life. Indian entrepreneurs usually have a clear, communicable vision, a passion for their areas of interest, the motivation to take their vision to market, and the perseverance to continue in spite of obstacles and setbacks. We have many recent examples and success stories to support that.
Indian Youth today is driven towards entrepreneurial ventures or startups due to the following reasons:
- Sense of Accomplishment: Entrepreneurs have the need to achieve and experience a sense of accomplishment.
- Innovation/Invention: Entrepreneurs have a drive to invent new products, services, processes, markets or opportunities, and to create new rules of competition. And with the innovations in technology and web arena, the resources and opening up.
- Career Transition: Entrepreneurs often make career transitions upon job laid off, downsizing, outsourcing, retirement, or the desire for independence.
- Recognition: Entrepreneurs hunger for: status, power, or recognition for the value of an idea or an enterprise.
- Wealth Building: Although entrepreneurs may become wealthy individuals, entrepreneurs typically do not consider wealth creation as their primary goal – wealth creation presents itself as the byproduct of the entrepreneurial adventure.
- Principles: Many entrepreneurs are driven to build businesses that are governed by deeply-held principles and values that contribute to their community and to society as well.
Job Rejections: Yes, this is major reason behind more and more youth turning towards own businesses.
What motivates an entrepreneur is the drive to control his own professional life, his schedule, manage his own workload, and steward his own destiny. Entrepreneurs want to envision a future where they are doing what they love to do!
The entrepreneurs are, without a doubt, horses of a different breed. Entrepreneurs are mavericks with vision and determination to create a company that takes the vision to market and advance the nation as a whole.
So, what actually are the requirements or expectations of today’s youth from the nation and the government, if they wish to drive their professional lives as entrepreneurs?
We asked this question to a group of self-driven and energised young people and here are a few answers that draw a clear picture in front of us.
Youth 1 –
A businesses and entrepreneur friendly government that recognizes the need and value of promoting entrepreneurship in India for the next growth wave. Also, a clear indication of the increasing intelligence of Indian citizens/consumers of what is good for them and they refused to be taken for a ride.
Youth – 2
Get economy back on track, control inflation and corruption, bring out policies that boost entrepreneurship and also, generate large scale employment.
Youth – 3
I expect the government to focus on true development and encourage people of India to become truly productive, efficient and self-sufficient. I ask that the Modi government delivers on the promise of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”.
Youth – 4
Expectations are to have a stable, decisive, business friendly and transparent government!
Youth – 5 (Had a very clear and impressive, laid down perspective)
Business Friendly Rules and Regulations, especially for startups
- Make it easy to start a new business.
- Reduce amount of compliance required for smaller companies
- eGovernance for all government and business interactions
Make the Contracts Enforceable
- People should fear and be incentivized to follow rule of law.
- Simplify rules so that many civil cases need not be required.
- Increase trust in business transactions
Constructive Asset Creation
- Focus on infrastructure
- Internet Backbones
- Uninterrupted Electricity
- Creation of more cities and thus giving a chance to demographic dividend
- Skill Development
- Making Higher Education Competitive
- Making Youth Ready For Corporate Life
- Developing Tertiary Skills
- Incentivize HNI’s to invest in risky startups as compared to black money dominated Real Estate.
Youth – 6
Clear and decisive mandate!
Youth – 8
Good governance, minimum bureaucracy, Catalyst of overall development, Encourage and nourish entrepreneurship!
Youth – 9
People overcome caste/religious prejudices and the business opportunities are given equally among the business society.
Youth – 10
Encouragement to entrepreneurship, less bureaucracy, Impartial policies.
Youth – 11
I want a stable government. Clear policies and plan of action for the development and make Indian an attractive investment destination. I would like to see the businesses and consumers more confident about the future prospects. I simply want the new government to deliver the promises.
Youth- 12
One of the basic expectations every common man is looking forward to is, some disruption in the tax structure (direct & indirect) for startups. Looking at the growth of startups in India and the attention they are getting, there should be a separate ministry for SMEs which helps to expedite reforms.
Youth – 13
My expectations are same as the rest of the country – development across all sectors. Being an entrepreneur, I would like the new government to provide a better environment to do business, better tax systems, open up the markets to FDI, high-speed connectivity to more regions of India, instill confidence in foreign investors, you know the list goes on.. I feel that if the agenda is strictly development, then many things will automatically fall in place.
Youth – 14
Expectation from new government:
- Ease the process of starting up by making it easy to start and close a company
- Ensure that entrepreneurs have access to smart capital at an
- Early stage (The number of early stage deals in India is way below than that in te US and EU)
- Give support to entrepreneurs who are solving India specific problems by removing the bureaucratic hurdles
So, you can see that youth today is quite informed and clear visioned and what are they expecting from the government!
If they are provided with these resources and given the opportunities within the required framework, with less logistics and regulatory hurdles, every youth can be an entrepreneur and take the nation to a new level of growth and development.
Can we give them?
