Entrepreneurship and skill development: Where do we stand

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Bikky Khosla | 09 Dec, 2014
Can entrepreneurship be learnt? Many people believe that good entrepreneurs are born -- entrepreneurship qualities are wired into one's DNA. According to some others, it is a trainable skill -- the skill-sets required to become a good entrepreneur can be learnt over time. This is one of the topics on which debate never seem to be ending. I find the solution somewhere in between these two extremes. Both the innate component and the acquired skills matter; it is not simply about one or the other.

It is true that some people are naturally intelligent -- they have high IQ scores, but the number of such people is very small. In contrast, some individuals possess very low intelligence, but again the number is small. In other words, majority of us possess average intelligence. In addition, although intelligence is genetically determined, environment has tremendous influence on it. Passion, persistence, excitement and motivation may vary in intensity from person to person, but there are many key learnable skills, such as ability to set priorities, focus on goals, make sound judgment, think critically and communication and active listening skills, etc. that can make a big difference in determining entrepreneurial success.

When we look at the curriculum of some leading universities and colleges in the world, it seems they don't believe in the myth that entrepreneurship cannot be learnt, or they at least believe that information required to accumulate business intelligence can be taught. Adelaide University, California University, Cambridge Judge Business School, Babson College and many other educational institutions across the world offer different graduate and postgraduate degrees in entrepreneurship. In sharp contrast to this, we hardly see any such effort from their Indian counterparts. These days, an increasing number of young Indians are looking to start their own businesses, but unfortunately our colleges and universities have failed to rise to this challenge.

According to an estimate, India will have 64% of its population in the working age group by 2020, but I think we will not be able to make much of this demographic potential if we fail to skill the workforce properly. The support for entrepreneurial education has never been more important than it is now. Unfortunately, the current education system is in dire need of reforms and a lot of efforts have to be made to change it for the better. We need to create an ecosystem in the country that can foster research and innovation and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of our young generation at an early stage. Entrepreneurship is the need of the hour.

I invite your opinions and suggestions.