According to a recent HT-Cfore survey amongst youth, Entrepreneurship is the top career aspiration at 22% of respondents. Others such as Science, Engineering etc follow later.
I guess this survey did not cover people already in jobs, and that number might only be higher.
I remember fifteen years back, it used to be Engineering, Medicine, IAS, MBA.
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I totally agree with Gaurav that it is more of a fashion statement and doesn’t represent actual aspirations. You go to b-schools or tech-schools people will say I want to have my own company. But very few actually get on to it.
But being a business man was never looked down upon in our society especially in Northern and Western parts of India. Small entrepreneurs running successfull business is what has made these places so prosperous.
The 22% figure probably doeesnt represent actual aspirations. But it does demonstrate that aspiring to be an entrepreneur is a fashion statement now. That is heartening because 10 years back being a “businessman” was quite looked down upon!
Entrepreneurship I think is more of a trait than a ” virtue “…..By calling it a virtue, we unwittingly cast those who are not as “Vicious”…that’s not the case….The instinct to go on one’s own is born primarily out of ;
a) Need to excel : The surrounding mediocrity is so compelling that a driven one feels there sure’s a better way of doing something given the same level of resources or even less. The kind of functional freedom ( with defined levels of risk ) is severely restricted if you are working for someone else.
b) Restlessness : Those who sense an opportunity well before others tend to get restless. They can’t wait. Can’t let go of the opportunity.
c) Ecosystem : This one breeds entrepreneurs. Presence of a motivating ecosystem ( with easy access to capital, talent, technology and permissive public policy ) will spur even ordinary risk-averse individuals to try something new.
I think entrepreneurship has less to do with being a youth or being in employment.
To my mind, entrepreneurship is more a reflection of a person’s risk taking ability and self-confidence, virtues which do not normally change over time. Some are born with these virtues, some other cultivate these virtues while a vast majority only think about them!
Great to see this change. However, from talking to my colleagues who are already in jobs, I would suspect that the number is lower there – the luxury of a well-paying job is very addictive, especially with the market doing better and better.
The hope is that a few of these youth indulge in their enterpreneurial aspirations right after college when they have the minimum baggage and enough successes emerge from the first few “batches” to inspire more in later years.