a dream for everyone-india student entrepreneurship

7/30/2019 A Dream for Everyone-India Student Entrepreneurship

1/18

INCLUSION OF

THE NEXT WAVE OF

ENTREPRENEURIAL

TALENT HUBS

ADR

EAM

FOR

EVER

YONE

A grounds-up report on the state of

entrepreneurship among

technology students across India


2/18

A DREAM FOR EVERYONE


3/18

ForewordAs India gets younger and more populous

everyday, the universe of opportunities for the

coming generation must also expand accordingly.

The task of creating those opportunities must be

at the forefront of the agenda of policymakers,

industry and the academia. In a highly competitive

world, slowing global economy, creating more

opportunities to engage the young will be one of

the most daunting tasks of our times.

Entrepreneurship is among the most potent tools

to create greater opportunities in this context. Not

only do we need to build hubs of entrepreneurial

activities but we also need to expand the access

to entrepreneurial resources and training to the

widest possible number of people in our country.

Seeding the thought of entreprenuership in the

young mind is of utmost importance. Its the kind

of long term investment that this country needs to

make for the long term, failing to do this will lead

India to miss the global bus of entrepreneurship

lead technology advancement.

While the task of seeding the thought of

entrepreneurship lies with the society as whole but

the process will have to begin from our colleges and

institutions. The eorts to do that have been made

before but it is very little in comparison to the

gigantic task we are upto. To do this successfully

our understanding of entrepreneurship at the

grassroot level within our student community needs

to increase and this study we believe has the

potential to bring to light many insights upon which

our future course of action can be built upon. We

hope that the stakeholders of entrepreneurship

communities in the country will find the insights

useful.

Professor & Head, Comcubator

MICA School of Business, Ahmedabad

UT Rao


4/18

Founder, Openfuel

Yash Saxena

A new model forentrepreneurship in IndiaEntrepreneurship is a very powerful force that can

change the face of India. As India becomes one

of the youngest nation of the world,

entrepreneurship will become the tool that will

hold the key to shape our future. However as this

young country charts its way in entrepreneurship,

it will not be the same model as we see elsewhere

in the world. It will be a very unique Indian model

of entrepreneurship. The scale of India brings into

this game something that is fundamentally

different than elsewhere. The scale at which any

model of entrepreneurship in India will have to

operate, will itself necessitate a different model of

entrepreneurship.

This model will be decentralized, inclusive and

scalability driven but at a collective level rather

than at the individual level. Elements of this model

will emerge when we are able to rope in the large

number of Indian students from every corner of

the country beyond the metropolitans. The impact

and the output of any working model at this scale

will far exceed any which we have been use to see

now. This report is one attempt to chart out how

can we include larger number of student

communities in dierent parts of this country into

the entrepreneurial development agenda of the

country. The survey has brought how we are failing

to provide even the most basic inputs to our

student community across this country and that

needs to change.


5/18

Sample:

A pan-India survey that covered 24 states and

reached a number of cities beyond the

metropolitans of India, including Kashmir and

farthest reaches of North-east.

450 Responses

Central - 15

East - 70

North - 109

South - 75

West - 175

1. AP

2. TN

3. Guj

4. Har

5. Raj

6. UT

7. WB

8. Mah

9. UP

10. Jharkand

11. Kar

12. Arunachal Pradesh

13. MP

14. Kerala

15. Goa

16. Punjab

17. Manipur

18. Meghalaya

19. Bihar

20. Sikkim

21. Assam

22. J&K23. Gujarat

24. HP


6/18

List of institutes covered:

Responses from 58 Institutes

including 3 IITs + 22 NITs

Central - 3

East - 11

North - 17

South- 13

West- 14

1. AP IIIT-RK Valley

2. AVIT

3. Babaria Institute of Technology

4. DCRUST Murthal

5. Dronacharya College of Engineering

6. GITAM University

7. Global Instutute of Technology Jaipur

8. Graphic era university

9. Heritage Institute of Technology

10. IIT Bombay

11. IIT Kanpur

12. IIT Roorkee

13. Indian School of Mines Dhanbad

14. Jadavpur University

15. Jeppiaar Engineering College

16. JNTU hyderabad

17. JSSATE Noida

18. Mahraja Agrasen Institute Of Technology

19. MIT Manipal

20. NIT Jaipur

21. NIT Agartala

22. NIT Allahabad

23. NIT Bhopal

24. NIT Calicut

25. NIT Durgapur

26. NIT Goa

27. NIT Jalandhar

28. NIT Kurukshetra

29. NIT Manipur

30. NIT Meghalaya

31. NIT Nagpur

32. NIT Patna

33. NIT RAIPUR

34. NIT Sikkim

35. NIT Silchar

36. NIT Srinagar

37. NIT Surat

38. NIT Surathkal

39. NIT Trichy

40. NIT Uttarakhand

41. NIT Warangal

42. Pimpri Chinchwad College of engineering

43. Poornima group of institutions Jaipur

44. Shri mata vaishno devi university

45. Shri Ram Murti Smarak College of Engineering

and Technology

46. Siddhant college of engineering

47. Symbiosis center for management studies, Pun

48. SOET, HNBGU, A Central University, Srinagar

Garhwal, Uttarakhand

49. SRKR Engineering College

50. SRM University

51. SSIT Gandhinagar52. St. Francis Institute Of Technology

53. Thakur College Of Engineering And Technology

54. Thapar University

55. University Institute of Information Technology

Shimla

56. University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

57. visvesvaraya college of engineering and

technology

58. Walchand college of engineering sangli


7/18

Searching for theMissing Entrepreneurs

That is the number of technology

students that graduate out of India

each year. What does young India

thinks about entrepreneurship?

This is typically the number of

startups that get funded in India each

year! For a country of a billion

people, getting younger each day

and producing tons of technology

graduates - this number is not

befitting by any means. Why is India

not producing 1.5K fundable startups

instead of just 150!

50% of the top Chinese engineering

students want to startup. 65% of the

US engineering students want to

startup.

Out of those only 3% Chinese and 22% US students

end up joining or launching a startup. But for India

this figure is probably lower than even 1%!

Where is this country losing out its entrepreneurs? In

this report 'A Dream for Everyone' we search for themissing entrepreneurs of India, from all corners of

the country.

1,500,000

150

Our survey found that 57%

of the Indian engineeringstudents want to startup inthe short to medium term.1

1 Student who want to start startups just af ter their college of after 3 years of wo

50%65%

57%US & China gures based on Innovation and University

Backgrounder, Pollack E, Darwin R, Yu J, 2011


8/18

The journey of entrepreneurship is tough, for a student it gets even tougher when they fail to

get the right inputs to nurture the entrepreneur within themselves. Our survey found out that

the student community in India in even some of the top-tier colleges in India lacks access to

the most basic inputs for their entrepreneurial development.

Our study focused on three types of inputs:

The Pipeline is Broken

COMMUNITY INPUTS EXTRA-CURRICULAR INPUTS PEDAGOGICAL INPUTS


9/18

Can you teachentrepreneurship in

classroom?Yes! The problem is not that it cant be taught in classroom; theproblem is that it is often taught the wrong way.

Classroom is a good place to start the

entrepreneurial discussion, initiate, inspire. But the

Indian educational system is failing massively in

delivering this conversation to their students.

But the system fails massively at another level. Of

the very few who have attended a course in their

institutions, very few have heard about even the

most basic contemporary fundamentals of

starting up in their classrooms.

92%of the Indian engineering students havenot attended a single course inEntrepreneurship.

Starting up is tough, you need lots of courage but

also a little knowledge. Startup founders globally

are strongly mentored to bootstrap their startups,

keep them lean, use tools like Business Model

Canvas , pivot their business models when

required or get acqui-hired when suitable.

Understanding this information equips startupfounders better for the rough rocky rides of

starting up. Classroom is a great place to equip

students of this knowledge. However our survey

found that even where students are receiving

pedagogical training, they are not receiving such

vital inputs in their pedagogy.


10/18

However here is the hole in the

pipeline: Nearly 75% of the

students willing to startup

immediately after their colleges

are not being taught these in theircourses!

Without a strong initiation to startup world, these

entrepreneurial minds may drop their idea. Worse

their nascent eorts to startup may suer a

bumpier ride if these inputs are not made

available to them. A classroom is a nice place to

ensure that they get these inputs for starting up.

Entrepreneurship should be given equal

importance as our course syllabus."Rahul Singh, NIT Surathkal

There is a positive relationship between awareness

about these startup fundamentals and the

intention to startup.

67% of the students who are aware of such basic

knowledge about starting up also wanted to

startup after their college or after 3 years of

work experience as against only 56% who were

not or incompletely aware of such basic

knowledge.

The need to improve the pedagogy is clear and

loud.

Only 16% of the students who weretaught entrepreneurship in classroomwere taught important basics of starting

up

75%


11/18

The classroomworld is not enough :

Learning throughextra-curricular activitiesOnly 10.8% of the students have afrequent access to entrepreneurshipfocussed workshops and events.

Entrepreneurship focussed workshops and events

help students understand startups and gain

access to startup resources, knowledge and

mentors. Besides being a source through which

students can learn more workshops can also be

important sources to provide connection with

mentors who can mentor students.

"Last time when I reached upto the Finals of

Ventura'13 (B-Plan Competition), Jury was fine

but not upto the mark. I wish I could have had

some support devising the Financial model for

my B-Plan. I wish I have had some specialized

While classroom learning is an important part of

the pipeline but there are more parts of the

pipeline where the system is leaking away

entrepreneurs. Activities beyond classroom can

give a greater hands-on experience allow

experimentation that goes beyond the academic

calendars, classroom boundaries and allows

greater customization of learning environment

such as mixing students from dierent

departments, years or even institutes.

Academic system in India is failing to enhance the

entrepreneurial learning through extra-curricular

events


12/18

Exposure withentrepreneurs for Indiantechnology studentsmissing

Inspite of this strong relation between starting

up and exposure with entrepreneurs, only 13% of

the students in India are able to frequently meet

or interact with successful entrepreneurs.

A large number of students in India, especially

those in non-metropolitan cities, thus struggle

access to even exposure to entrepreneurs and

mentors. The large number of these students

spread across Indian in the non-metropolitans

form a very large part of the student community.

Giving them the right inputs is vital in nurturing

the next generation of startup talent.

"Having just a structured course in

entrepreneurship sector is not of much utility as

learning becomes highly examination oriented.

Its is better to teach students to think critically

and get us to interact with successful

entrepreneurs,"

Keith Peres Da Costa, Student, NIT Goa

workshop on the same and on some related

topics as well! "

Lokesh Maru, NIT- Tiruchirapalli

Through such events and workshops students can

interact with successful entrepreneurs. Such

interactions have a very strong positive

relationship with the intention to startup.

Close to 80% of those who frequently meet

successful entrepreneurs also intend to startupsoon or in medium term.

80%[ ]

Ecells either missing ornot working as expected in

Indian technology colleges

"Focus on tangible initiatives rather than

arranging random disjointed events and

workshops which most of the ecells in India do.

Try observing the model of foreign Universities"

Mahak Maheshwari, Student , IIT Bombay

Yet as some students suggest that holding

entrepreneurship workshops is just the first step.

There should also be an structure and meaning towhat these workshops should do. E-Cells together

with their institutions can be a very vital agent in

bringing the structure. Infact Entrepreneurship cell

(E-Cells)should be the most fundamental

grassroot unit of entrepreneurship development in

academic institutions,

Only 47% of the institutes surveyed had E-Cells;

The figure for centrally aided institutions only

marginally improves the mark at 52%.

Not only E-Cells are absent from many Indian

institutions but worse they are failing to work as

desired even where they are present. Our survey

found that access to ecells did not dramatically

increase the chances of the student intention of

starting up significantly.

52% of those who did not have an access to ecell

wanted to startup immediately or in 3 years of

work experience. The figure increases to only 63%

when it comes to those with an access to ecells!

" The E-cell of our college is not an independent

body and gets no resources from the institute

directly. The E-cell was initiated by a few

students of a technical club and till date it hasn't

got any recognition from the college authorities

even after many eorts by the E-cell team "

Navin Gupta, an NIT student.


13/18

Where else is the pipelineleaking?

Each 7 out of 10 technology students are taking

part in BPlan competitions in India. But the Bplan

competition format needs to be improved and its

access to it within institutions increased.

65% of those who intend to startup in medium

term, do not have access to regular BPlan

competitions in their institutes.

Q. Is Bplan competitions held in your institute?

Just once a year - 212

N one - 90

Regularl y - 78

Was held sometime - 64

back, but not anymore

90

78

64

50

100

150

100

212

200


14/18

Finally what is the stateof community inputs to

the technology studentsfor taking upentrepreneurship?Community inputs and the local culture of starting

up has a great impact on staring up intention of

students. Our survey found overwhelming

evidence of the same in Indian technology

students.

We found that there is a strong relation between

living in a community where many people startup

and the intention to startup in Indian students.

Of those who had many friends who were

themselves starting up

wanted to startup soon76% or in medium term

wanted to startup soon or in46%

didnt want to startup

24%

medium term

anytime soon

But with those who had no friends starting up, Only


15/18

The rest

Yet it seems most technology communities are

lacking this community support and motivation to

startup

Q. When we asked do you have friends who want

to startup? We found that only 12% had a

community around themselves where many

people were starting up.

What this means for the academic communities of

India is that it will take a lot more eort to get

those first few entrepreneurs out and create a local

community of students where many students are

starting up to really motivate the next generation of

starters up.

Awareness about alumni entrepreneurs also has a

very positive relationship with the student

intention to startup.

Nearly 80% of the students who frequently come

across their alumni entrepreneurs want to startup

soon or in medium term. The figure falls below

50% for those who do not come across their

alumni entrepreneurs.

When asked Q. Do you know of any alumni from

your institution who are running their own

companies ?

didnt want to startup

54% anytime soon

No friends

150

Few friends

240

Many friends

54

This also means that it is important to keep the

entrepreneurial minds in distant Indian cities in

touch with similar minds across India as well as the

institution's alumni community who is starting up.

Frequently - 71

N o - 135

Rarely - 102

Sometimes - 136

135

102

136

50

100

150

100

71

200


16/18

Only 16% of the students come across their alumni

entrepreneurs frequently. It suggests that there is

a huge disconnect between the alumni who have

started up and their alma mater. Infact alumnientrepreneurs connected to the student

community at their alma mater would give more

boost to the intention of starting up for the

current student community. However this is a vital

missing link in the academic institutions.

" Entrepreneurship is perceived to be a diversion

from the traditional focus on placements, and

therefore is largely discouraged. It is the success

of a start-up of an alumni that has forced our

university to allow such establishment "Sayan Ganguly, an engineering student studying

in an Andhra Pradesh based University


17/18

Concluding RemarksTo further the entrepreneurship development in

the student community in India , we need to

pursue a three pronged strategy that focuses on

pedagogical interventions, extra-curricular

learning activities and a connected communitythat gives student entrepreneur the realization

that he can startup too.

The survey found that the state of inputs currently

being provided to the students is lacking

comprehensively at all three counts: The

pedagogy inputs on entrepreneurship are

reaching less than 10% of the students and that

too are not delivering vital information to

students.

The extracurricular learning envelope provided to

most technology students is very primitive.

Moreover E-Cells the very basic unit of grassroot

entrepreneurship development is failing to deliver

any dramatic improvements in the motivation to

students to startup.

Lastly entrepreneurship decision are very

influenced by the community the students live in.

For most students their immediate friend circle is

an important. The survey has found a strong

relationship between the starting up and havingfriends who are also starting up as. The same was

also found about the connectedness of alumni

entrepreneurs with the student community.

Together it suggests that the third part of the

entrepreneurial inputs triad to the student

community should focus on building a connected

community of student entrepreneurs. The more

immediate this connectedness is the better.


18/18

Partners:

Design and Communications partner:

Supported by SVNIT Industry Sponsor:

Thanks to NIT Conclave team at SVNIT: Raj Kolawala, Paritosh Vyas, Sneha Agarwal, Priyanka Churiwala

NIT Conclave

a dream for everyone-india student entrepreneurship

Documents