THE BUSINESS OF RISK
Not everyone’s cup of tea, entrepreneurship is fast gaining popularity despite having a fair share of risks.
To be successful in this field you need to be sensitised to the pleasures and pain of setting up a new business venture”, says Prof MS Rao, chairperson, Centre for Entrepreneuship, S P Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai. For those with an entrepreneurial fire in their belly, an MBA in Entrepreneurship might just be the answer.
Courses in entrepreneurship aim at making students into hardy risk
“MY PARENTS DIDN’T WANT ME TO STUDY ONLY entrepreneurship so I took it up as an elective in my Mba course.”
takers and bold decision makers. Business modelling, idea validation, funding, managing start up’s and learning how to expand a business are other areas of focus in this course.
Entrepreneurship management is still a relatively new concept in India. “Traditionally new ventures have been limited to the business community. There has also been an attitude of looking down at entrepreneurship as an unprofessional option for an educated man. But that view has changed over time. India now has an eco system to support upcoming entrepreneurs. There is seed capital, angel and start- up funding available and it is much easier to acquire partners. All this makes the field an attractive option”, says Rao.
The arrival of MNCs in India has also helped. “Corporate HR is now keen to hire entrepreneurs who might not have bee able to make a succeess of their start- up ventures but still gained valuable work experience in management and risk evaluation. This provides entrepreneurs a safety net— a sort of second life so to speak— if the business fails,” explains Rao. But a quick glance at the average age of these students ( between 30- 35) bears testimony to the fact that youngsters are still wary of investing in a costly degree that doesn’t guarantee a generous or immediate salary.
“My dream is to build my own business but my parents didn’t want me to study entrepreneurship, so I took an elective course as part of my general MBA. This way I was able to pursue my interests while gaining a professional degree,” said Ankesh Kalmandi, 33, who obtained a PG diploma in management from Bhubaneswar’s Xavier Institute of Management.