I Want To Be An Entrepreneur

Off late there is a lot of buzz about entrepreneurship. Back in my MBA college I was a member of the entrepreneurship cell where a lot of teachers and industry leaders  praised entrepreneurship and in a way exhorted students to take up entrepreneurship. Media reports often put the stories of successful young entrepreneurs and people who give up "comfortable" jobs to pursue entrepreneurship in limelight. All these things had an impact on me and one day I thought I should be an entrepreneur myself. That was great!! But who is an entrepreneur or what is entrepreneurship?

My MBA-trained mind wanted a definition to put things into a perspective. India's National Knowledge Commission (NKC) study report came in handy. ‘Entrepreneurship is the professional application of knowledge, skills and competencies and/or of monetizing a new idea, by an individual or a set of people by launching an enterprise de novo or diversifying from an existing one (distinct from seeking self employment as in a profession or trade)' says the report, 'thus to pursue growth while generating wealth, employment and social good'. Pretty long definition isn't it? 

I thought probably I would speculate my own definition. Snippets read and heard from different sources helped me in this process. So who is an entrepreneur? Any person who runs an enterprise should be an entrepreneur. Isn't it? One story came to my mind. There is a mom and pop shop (kirana as we call it) close to my house. From the day I remember the shop had the same kind of items (stock keeping units) on its racks. Not much changed. Slowly lot of shops cropped up and this kirana's market share was eroded. One day the kirana owner's daughter took up the management of the shop. She invested a good amount of her personal fortune to change the shop. Suddenly things started changing and the shop started doing well again.

Now we have two persons before us. Both of them ran an enterprise. Are both of them entrepreneurs? Not really. An entrepreneur is not a person who just runs an enterprise. But a person who enterprises. Entrepreneurship is a state of mind. In my opinion entrepreneurship doesn't have anything to do with whether one is self-employed or on somebody else's payrolls. It is just enough for one to be enterprising in thoughts and actions to be an entrepreneur. So in my opinion the daughter of the kirana shop owner is an entrepreneur while her father was probably not. She didn't run the shop as her father did. She took some risk, thought different, was bold enough to turn down established traditions of business and finally successfully turned around the business.

Many of us would have seen people working for public or private companies really enterprising in their jobs. May be a corporation school teacher will go beyond her job requirements to improve the hygiene levels at the school. Such examples are replete in our society. People occupying  crucial positions in an organisation play an important role in taking the organisation forward. Vikram Sarabhai was not an owner of any business. He had a vision for Indian space program. He played a pivotal role not only in establishing ISRO but also transferring his vision to his successors. Some of the greatest scientists like C.V.Raman are entrepreneurs of highest quality. I cannot restrain myself from drawing a reference to civil servants. When chief election commissioners used to be a 'harmless' bunch of people, TN Seshan (former CEC) rejected status quo and took risks to achieve his vision of free and fair polls. And what about E.Sreedharan (the man behind Delhi Metro). His project management skills and leadership qualities need no introduction. These people never owned any business or company of their own but are entrepreneurs of first grade.

All these people are entrepreneurs because when they had the option of leading their lives just like any body else, they turned that down. They took risks, questioned status quo, had the courage to commit mistakes, had the patience to bounce back and last but not least had a vision for themselves and the organisations they represented. Going back to the definition of NKC, these people did apply their knowledge professionally to to pursue growth while generating wealth, employment and social good. They did not launch any enterprise but were enterprising in mind and action. This is the gist of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a state of mind.

Now I have an answer. Being employed in some company will no longer stop me from becoming an entrepreneur. Wherever I am probably I will not satisfy myself by taking the time-tested path. May be I should try to do something new, something that is over and above what is expected of me and have a vision for myself and my organisation. I should assume some risk and more importantly take responsibility for the consequences. Hopefully I do not the jeopardize the comforts of my family in the process !!