Reasons For the Slow Growth of Entrepreneurs in India

The definition says, Entrepreneurs assemble and allocate resources including innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods. The saying goes like “Take the plunge and lead the way”. An entrepreneur is definitely not afraid to take the plunge.

Why is the Indian entrepreneurship scene so grim?

There are many obstructions that ail a budding entrepreneur in India. That’s not to say that there aren’t any entrepreneurs in India. It is just that the number is of entrepreneurs springing up is not that encouraging a figure.

Let us look into some of the reasons.

1. Lack of family support: This is an issue that’s plaguing entrepreneurs worldwide more so in India because of the stronger family ties that we Indians have. Family support is always absent in cases. Parents always prefer their progenies to take up a standard 9-5 job rather than take up a risky business venture where there is absolutely no guarantee that the venture will work out and there is always a very high level of risk involved.

2. Government regulations: The few ventures that break free from the shackles of the usual problems get entangled in the antiquated policies of our government. The very fabric our administrative system hinders the organic development of entrepreneurial ventures.

3. Lack of Internet penetration in India: World over the majority of the innovations occur in the internet space. In India the internet usage percentage stands at a meager 5% and this is number makes it really difficult to bring in money and the few entrepreneurial ventures that actually get graced by venture capitalists run in to problem later on during the course of operation.

4. Indian education system: The main reason there is very low innovation in this field is because of our educational system. Right from its inception our educational system has hardly had any focus on innovation. It is like we have been trained in rote learning rather than apply our minds. Without a killer innovative idea there is no way an entrepreneurial venture can sustain itself beyond the initial stages.

There are basically two types of the entrepreneurs

1. Those who come out with a completely new idea

2. Those who bring in a new idea and tweak it for the targeted market.

India being a developing nation hasn’t made much progress in the innovative direction. Since the technology in India is basically playing catch up to the developed countries, there is not much we have achieved in terms of the new ideas.

The most basic way Indian entrepreneurs can succeed is by trying to adopt methods and models that are already successful abroad and adapt it for the Indian market. This will definitely mean a low initial cost. If done well this can definitely lead to really good returns.

Most of all what we really need is to mold young minds and encourage them to think differently. They should be encouraged to let go of their inhibitions and actually take the plunge and tread a path that’s not yet been explored. This has been made possible by the starting of Entrepreneurship courses that are being taken up by colleges at the graduate and post graduate level.

Fat and Slow Verses Slim and Agile Business Structure – Who Will Win? You Will Be Surprised

For years companies are trying to create the right balance between a fat and agile organization. During the 1970’s, companies multiplied their own infrastructure whenever they expanded into the international markets, yet left the strategy decision making to the headquarters’ management only. This organizational structure made the company a fat one and not that agile. Today a company’s structure is built on local management teams that are subordinate to a regional management, which in turns is managed by the headquarters. This structure simplifies the decision making process and lessen the bureaucracy, all the while providing the headquarters at the mother country with full control.

Today it is important for a company to be agile, because it gives it the ability to compete in the global market. In the near future the headquarters of companies or parent companies will no longer have total control over their own branches or subsidiaries, and will become much smaller and more independent. However, this structure has yet to develop into its final stage where the opposite situation will happen…

The global market is acting in two parallel directions:

A. A very competitive direction that forces companies to be on top of their game, i.e. to be innovative, price attractive and service oriented. All this is because that in order to cope, a company has to have a quick way of thinking and an excellent executing process.

B. The latter direction is the process of a widening gap between large companies and small ones. This is created because big companies are swallowing middle size ones to avoid competitive forces. As part of this process big companies will buy or merge with middle size companies that fit their own long term strategic needs. As a result, the big companies will become bigger and the number of middle size will shrink down. In addition, the number of small size companies will rise, because more people are looking to become independent. In this global market expansion it will be hard to maintain a middle size company for long.

Ten years ago top managers said that if you are not number one or two or even three in your own country then you must change direction of business strategy, because it is simply not working. Today, if you’re not one, two or three in the Global market, then you should strategically do something different. Big companies have already started initiating this new way of thinking process, by using and implementing a subsidiary structure that allows them to control more than one market segment at a time, from foods to plastics, or minerals and cosmetics.

This market trend will create 5 to 10 big empire companies that will control most of the global market. Therefore, strategic and operational flexibility will not be as important as today.

As You Write Your Children’s Book, Consider "The Slow Reveal"

Eighteen months ago, I took up karate. It’s a great workout, but the biggest reason I train is I want to be a formidable senior citizen. If someone tries to nab my purse or deny my senior discount at Denny’s, I’ll be able to answer with a quick roundhouse kick to the solar plexus. By laying the foundation now, I’ll be a badass when I’m 65.

But the coolest thing about taking up karate when you’re a woman in her mid-40’s is that people don’t automatically expect it. If you’re just a casual acquaintance, you won’t know I’m working toward my black belt. And by the time I’m collecting Social Security, the possibility won’t even cross your mind. Unless you try to steal my purse.

In life most people become more complex as we get to know them. This should also be true for characters in  children’s books. At a conference recently, Lyron Bennett, editor for Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, called it “the slow reveal”. It means giving your characters enough varied qualities that some can be withheld until called for in the plot.

The slow reveal is especially important when writing a series. If J.K. Rowling had allowed Harry Potter to reach his full power as a wizard in Book 1, would fans have waited nine years and six more books to learn if he finally defeated you-know-who? But equally important is planting the seeds early on for who you want your character to become. From the start, readers saw Harry’s potential, and Rowling allowed greatness to surface in Harry when it was least expected. Those qualities grew along with Harry as the series unfolded.

You don’t want to give away everything at once in stand-alone books either. Picture books and easy readers, with their lower word counts and straightforward plots, do best with characters who have one or two surprises up their sleeve. In Peggy Parish’s classic easy reader Amelia Bedelia, the child sees that Amelia is doing a bad job on her first day as a housekeeper because she doesn’t understand the list her employer left her. But even before Amelia starts on the list, she whips up a lemon merengue pie. What the reader doesn’t know is that Amelia makes the best pies anywhere, which eventually saves her job at the end of the book.

Parceling out your protagonist’s strengths and weaknesses keeps the tension taut in a novel. In Gary Paulsen’s beloved Hatchet (ages 11-14), Brian, a city kid, is stranded in the Canadian wilderness after the his bush plane crashes, killing the pilot. Neither Brian nor the reader know if he’s got what it takes to survive on his own. Can he figure out how to start a fire? Yes, quite by accident. Can he fish? Eventually. Kill and cook a bird? How about survive a moose attack or weather a tornado? Brian evolves from reacting to his predicament and stumbling upon solutions to carefully taking control of his situation. But nothing Brian does is out of character. Though he must teach himself to live in the wild, he draws upon bits of information he learned from watching television or at school, and reserves of strength that were in him all along.

Even if you’re writing a single title, make your children’s book characters complex enough to live for several books, just in case. Fans loved Brian so much that Paulsen was persuaded to use the character in several other wilderness adventures. Picture book series (such as Mo Willem’s Pigeon books) or easy reader series like Amelia Bedelia generally grow because the protagonist’s quirks are open-ended and funny enough that readers don’t mind exploring them over and over in different circumstances.

The slow reveal works particularly well in mysteries. In this genre, the readers gradually get to know the victim (perhaps an honor student who is discovered to be running an Internet business selling test answers), and the villain (who may seem like a good guy at the beginning of the book). Or, how about a first person narrator in any genre who appears normal and likable early on, but becomes more unreliable as the story unfolds? Read Robert Cormier’s timeless young adult I Am the Cheese for a masterful example of a shifting first person reality. If you prefer a broader perspective, try Avi’s Nothing But the Truth: A Documentary Novel for ages 11-14, which looks at one incident from several viewpoints, gradually separating fact from fiction. So when you first breath life into your characters, don’t stop too soon. Add layers that can be exposed later on. These surprises will keep readers enthralled, whether you’re writing about a boy wizard, a demanding pigeon, or a ninja grandma.

Exit mobile version