Activate the entrepreneur inside you
The thought goes back to the days when we used to pore over the terminologies ‘Engineering’ and ‘Technology’. As understood, engineering is a design process that brings innovative thinking and custom solutions to any field, be it construction, power distribution, or AI design. And on the contrary, Technology is a process or tool to execute these designs. More than twenty-five years ago, as a young aspiring engineer, some of us have debated this dichotomy of nomenclature, a civil-mechanical-electrical engineering versus a chemical production technology. However, a ‘professional course’, as we call it, shapes and directs the student to make a profession out of their stream of study. In addition to opportunities in the main functional areas such as project management, design, research and development or pedagogy, the common characteristic par excellence in all study streams also helps the “engineer” to adapt to the ups and downs of the market and make smart changes in your career. The year 2000, for example, witnessed a phenomenal career shift for engineers from all streams of study toward IT, a sector that later exhibited a tectonic boom.
Until a decade ago, our country was still below the number of engineers produced annually compared to admission in both the private and public sectors according to a survey. Statistics show that engineering colleges surged in number from around 1,500 colleges in 2007 to a mind-boggling 3,300 in 2015 in India, with a tiny state of Kerala alone having over 150 engineering colleges. Whether this lowered the bar or reduced the demand for the profession is for the experts to comment on. However, real facts such as India currently producing more engineers than the US and China combined may add food to these thoughts. Haven’t we multi-stratified our engineering output in India? The first group of IITs followed by a group of company-backed institutes, NITs, the selection of state universities, and then the rest. In one we see a brilliant IIT Mumbai topper walk away with a plum crore plus annual CTC at campus locations and in the other an engineer from the lower strata, still struggling for upkeep in the early years. A leading UK-based global recruitment firm suggested that engineering roles were the hardest to fill, as agreed by 45% of global recruiters. According to the Nasscom report in 2011, only 17.5% of engineering graduates were considered employable. India’s information technology industry spends nearly $1 billion a year preparing them for work, according to the report. Once again, telling about the prevailing quality crisis. Eventually, we heard reports like, more than 50% of merit quota positions are vacant in Kerala, AICTE reduced the number of engineering positions by six thousand rupees, etc.
The scenario here triggers the need for entrepreneurial training of our young engineers. If we track the career path of engineers from top institutes in India in the recent past, we can see that a good portion of them venture out on their own or get short-term exposure to industry and then become entrepreneurs. . The story of premium B schools in India is no different. In addition, its own curriculum introduces entrepreneurship. IITs and IIMs have shown a growing fervor for entrepreneurship with up to 4-5% of students preferring startups to lavish placement offers. At IIM Kozhikode, 15 of the batch that passed out the previous year are entrepreneurs. A recent report reveals that 41 students from the new batch of various IITs are in various stages of their startup plans. Interesting stats there! The question is, why are such initiatives restricted to premium institutes and not others? Why can’t we raise the bar and close the gap? Being a successful entrepreneur is perhaps the most difficult task of all, but certainly the most rewarding at the end of the day.
Let’s look at some successful examples. Sachin and Binny Bansal, two ex-IITians from Delhi after initial exposure at Amazon, venture into an e-commerce start-up in 2007 starting with small book and electronics transactions. Now, in less than eight years, the company has grown into a billion-dollar business house, Flipkart, in an M&A spree gobbling up all the little ones. The case study of Make my trip, OLX and UBERs of the world, displays similar success stories. A 19-year-old Harvard sophomore invented a networking tool with the simple intention of connecting with his college friends in 2004, which became an instant hit. The site is now one of the largest in the world with over 40 million connections, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. The success stories of startups in India are endless. This is not just limited to the IT and eCommerce sector. The service sector, logistics, etc. it has also seen successful flavors through startups. Redbus, Taxi4sure are the names of countless startups conceived by brilliant young engineers and in a span of just 7 or 8 years established a strong brand equity. Gray orange robotics, established in 2009, is the first company of its kind to offer a logistics automation solution. The robots move shelves stacked with various products scanning barcodes, once again the brainchild of two young pilani from BIT.
“Zao Foods”, a vision of Mitali Khalra to instill the habit of eating nutritious food. He came up with ‘crostini cafe’ in south delhi. indiblogger. in started as a free blogging platform, but the founders had some bigger game plans, to connect the corporate world, businesses, and brands with their customers as a revenue model.
‘Under the Mango Tree’, a social enterprise promoting beekeeping, by Vijaya Pastala, an MIT alumnus, took 14 years to establish. Swapnil kamat and his wife Ruchira had to go through hardships before establishing his dream company, Work Better-Training and Development, an executive training company that focuses on teaching behavioral and cognitive skills to corporate employees. helping doc com, an online company of a team of medical professionals conceptualized the idea of providing medical support online. An overview reveals that innovative ideas have explored all facets of life, low-cost energy, artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, health, fashion, food, technology, service and much more. . Investors are now looking for genuine business ideas to finance. Not just angel investors or venture capitalists, but even corporations allocate funds to invest in startups.
Ratan Tata, the head of the ‘Tata group’, turning away from the day-to-day responsibilities of the corporate conglomerate, became interested in investing in 10 shortlisted start-ups. Investments typically range between Rs 1-5 crore and are spread across dot-com, health care, clean energy, etc. The choice of all of them is ‘Swasth India’, a Mumbai-based affordable healthcare facility providing medical services to the low-income population, again an IIT Mumbai alumni company. Franchise India recently hosted a forum in Mumbai inviting business ideas. We also have Pro Bono consultants providing services to non-profit startups with relevance and social commitment. IIT Mumbai has an Entrepreneurship Cell, an independent non-profit student body that instills entrepreneurship among students and working professionals. The IIT Kharagpur Entrepreneurs Cell recently conducted an Entrepreneurship Awareness Campaign, a massive initiative to encourage students across the country to embrace the concept of entrepreneurship. These electronic cells incubate startup ideas by connecting investors and entrepreneurs of like interests. The World Summit of Entrepreneurs, Eureka – International Business Plan Competition, etc. are some of the events that drive budding young engineers. IIT Chennai also runs a C-Tides incubation cell and Research Park for Startups. Kerala is not far behind in startup initiatives and promotions. We have Kerala Startups Society, a non-profit organization with the aim of building a vibrant startup ecosystem. Regular meetings are organized to interact with investors, successful entrepreneurs and players. Based in IT Tech Park, Trivandrum, is Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), formerly known as ‘Tech Park Tech Business Incubator’. Under the leadership of Kris Gopalakrishnan of Infosys, we have the Startup Village, another tech business incubator in Kochi.
An innovative business model is about identifying a social problem in order to work on an effective solution. Therefore, the startup push is not just a commercial push, but one of social relevance. A friend of mine who recently traveled from the Orlando airport to the hotel on a business trip took a taxi from the airport to the destination for around $90, but on the way back he smartly took an Uber cab for just $25 for the same distance. A cost-effective solution is offered here. A decade ago, if one planned a trip to various cities in India, it involved a lot of planning and follow-up with travel agents, hotels, taxis, etc. Whereas now everything is done in a jiffy by playing with a chosen smart mobile app. Instance of easy and smart life with start-ups. Understandably, the mortality rate for new businesses is high, and not all businesses thrive uniformly. But for young people it is a learning curve to introspect, reshape and evolve towards success.
The Indian Prime Minister’s recent business visits to the US, EU and the Middle East, especially Silicon Valley, have generated an overwhelming response in terms of investment proposals to India. The Prime Minister’s push for digital India is intended to spark innovative ideas in digital technologies including cloud computing and mobile applications. As we all know, the new generation of engineers are sharp, innovative and creative with a higher IQ level than their predecessors. Now we have the brains, the money, the government, and all it takes is innovative thinking to produce the “ideas.” May the academy with the leading faculty instill this passion in our young people.
Let the buzz line for budding engineers be ‘unleash the entrepreneur in you’. Thank you!
(The writer is a corporate marketer based in Mumbai)