Let a thousand flowers bloom

We are living in trying times – trying to get a job; trying to save our jobs; trying to save our monies; trying to keep our heads above waters. While certainly not a recession, the economy is certainly on slow-go mode. It’s more a recession of sentiments.

Truth be told, and I don’t wish to sound Johnny raincloud, this damn slowdown is sure to stay with us for another year or so, if not more.

Many talk about the difficulties of the middle class, the working class, the poor, the aspiring home owners and more. One segment that is facing the wrath of this slowdown, without getting the attention they deserve, is the MBA student who is about to graduate and is searching for a job in these troubled times. The unlucky one searching for a needle in the haystack; the sorry one searching for a buffalo in the middle of the night.

After investing two years and a few lakhs of their parent’s hard-earned money, after going through the grind of a grueling curriculum, after being on the verge of graduation and holding a million dreams of a prosperous job and a peaceful life thereafter, he/she is now left stranded with no jobs around, fewer takers and facing an uncertain future.

While my heart goes out for the about-to-graduate MBA, I also feel a bit disappointed in the attitude of many of them and feel let down by their dreams or rather the lack of it!

Whenever I get an opportunity I have been exhorting MBA students to be entrepreneurs and start a business venture of their own. I mean, why would anyone want to be an employee and take orders when they can be the boss and dictate terms?

I know many feel it easier said than done. Believe me; it’s as easy as it can be done. A fact borne out by the success achieved by many; so many, it doesn’t warrant a second mention here.

So, why would MBA’s gather cold feet about starting a business venture? Here are a few comments that I hear and here’s also what I tell them.

“I need to get some experience first. Let me work for some time and then think of starting a business of my own.”

I wonder if they would say the same to their would-be wife or husband. Will they pick their spouse based on prior experience and past track record? I mean, marriage and business involve the same level of risk. Why need experience in one when you don’t need or wish to have one for the other!

“Why the hurry to start something now? I am young; I have age on my side and can always start something later.”

One might have age on their side when they graduate. But will they have the fire when they reach, say 30? I doubt it. The young blood is risk-taking; the youth has fire in the belly; the inexperienced has the temerity to question established norms. As one reaches 30, one starts losing the exuberance of youth, get married, build a family and then it is all sunset for entrepreneurial dreams. How many of our successful first generation businessmen have started their businesses in their 30’s? A handful, if at all there are any. C.K. Ranganathan, promoter of Cavinkare, while talking to me about his entrepreneurial dreams said the secret of his success was the fact that he didn’t work for anyone and started his business right after college. He said he would have never been able to do what he had done if he hadn’t done it when he was 23. This is from someone who started from scratch and now runs a Rs.500 crore empire.

“I want to learn the business first. Let me learn it first working for others and then start something on my own.”

If you need to learn only by working for others, why would you do MBA in the first place? Isn’t MBA about teaching you the various facets of business and expose you to the art of running one? I wouldn’t agree MBA is just theoretical and one still needs practical knowledge. Then why have case studies in MBA curriculum? Why do projects? Why have summer internships? Why solve real-time corporate problems in the class? MBA is as practical as it is theoretical. Agreed, there is no substitute to experience. But I fail to understand why that experience can’t be gathered starting a venture of one’s own.

“I don’t have money now to start a business.”

Will they have money five years from now? Or ten years from now? And even if they do, they would be so comforted by that money, it would douse any entrepreneurial ambition that might be still left in their genes. Moreover, money has become the least of the obstacles for starting a business venture today. Banks are awash with money waiting for a good project. Angel investors are sitting with their office doors open for the next bright business idea. Venture capitalists are fishing around for that next gen entrepreneur. If you have the idea they have the money. And ready to help you run the business too.

My dear friend, we live in a great country that’s filled with the brightest minds the world has seen. We are at the threshold of golden opportunities. If only we could shed our inhibitions, gather our guts and fire our imagination, the world would become too small to accommodate our dreams and ambitions.

Venturing on your own has its risks, agreed. But it has its rewards too. The risks have, for a long time, been bloated and exaggerated by those who didn’t want to jump into entrepreneurship themselves. That shouldn’t stop you from realizing your dreams.

You can. And when you do, you would be big enough to employ tens if not hundreds or thousands of our fellow countrymen. Imagine what it can do to you; your family; this country. We can all reach the end of the proverbial rainbow – with money in our pockets, peace in our hearts, and prosperity in the nation. This country needs hundreds of C.K. Ranganathans. Take the plunge.

Let a thousand flowers bloom!