Entrepreneurship training in India

EY Entrepreneurship Barometer 2013 places in India at rank 11, scores in access to funds, entrepreneurship culture are at same rank. Lower rank of  19 for tax & regulation and higher rank of 5 for coordinated support are also on expected lines. But lower rank of 20 at the bottom for education and training is a surprise. What is this parameter and why are doing this activity so badly?
Entrepreneurship education uses indicators like  Pre-university education, University education, Entrepreneurship specific training and Informal education/lifelong learning. The survey findings on this:

• 84% agree or partly agree that they need specific education to become successful entrepreneurs. 
• 52% say that university and business school courses for entrepreneurship have improved in their country.
• Sharing success stories is ranked as the most impactful way to inspire people to become entrepreneurs.

What is missing: an integrated approach. 

• Engineering technology students with innovative ideas are separated from MBA students.
• Business plans and domain knowledge have no relationship. 
• Students not exposed to real-world business challenges. 
• Large corporations, philanthropists and existing entrepreneurs need  support educational courses, as well as business games that give young people an early experience of what it is like to be an entrepreneur.

Jugaad Innovation: A reference point or Indigenous solution.

For many decades a pipeline bursting with research projects represented innovation potential of an commercial organisation. All research did not result in commercial gains, technology push model was replaced by Stage Gate model  , evaluating technology potency & market attractiveness at every stage and killing lurking disasters  at early stage gained acceptance. Now, with Open Innovation, enterprises look beyond universities and competitors for  supply of ideas/ talent.

In catching up economy like India , innovations initially flowed from Joint ventures , technology acquisition contracts and creative imitation. India is at cross roads ( for long since liberalization & globalization of 90's) ; there are experts who suggest we should learn best practices from Indian MNC R&D centers operating in India. An opposite view also prevails, there are experts who feel that we have something unique to offer to other nations, in the area of Innovation & entrepreneurship. 

Prof Rishikesha

Prof Rishikesha addressed several policy issues in this earlier book `From Jugaad to Systematic Innovation' and now addresses innovation at firm level in his book 8 Steps to Innovation.Co-Author. consultant Vinay codifies his decades of learning from consultancy and training. The book is all about managing idea funnel effectively. Managing idea funnel involves pursuing three goals: one, building and sustaining the idea pipeline, two Improving idea velocity, and three improving the batting average.

Step 1: lay the foundation.A well designed idea management process pays attention to the source of ideas, their scope, the number of stages an idea will go through, the back end technology to be used, the idea selection process and how ideas will be supported and sponsored.

Step2: create a challenge book, where the organization identifies and lists problems, desires, needs .banks on collective wisdom of its people to address them.

Step3: build participation. Motivating individuals to participate in an innovation Programme is an important challenge.

Step 4: experiment with low cost at high speed. And experiment is a planned activity to validate one or more assumptions of an idea. The outcome of experiment is learning.

Step5: go fast from prototyping to incubation. Organizations can help ideas move faster by holding effective innovation reviews an by supporting the incubation of new ideas.

Step 6: iterate on the business model. Use scenarios.

Step7:build an innovation sand box. Identify the boundaries and constraints within which the experimentation takes place.

Step 8: create a margin of safety so that failures do not cripple permanently.
The result is a practical work book and innumerable Indian examples create a can-do feel.
Navi Radjou
The authors of popular book `Jugaad Innovation', Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu & Simone Ahuja project Jugaad as an unique Indian Innovation solution. Some excerpts:
Principles of Jugaad innovation- frugality, flexibility and following yr instincts.
Jugaad mindset- one that is frugal,flexible and sharply focused on outcomes.
Jugaad reflects a rich Indian tradition of ingenuity in the face of challenge.
Jugaad represents a bottom up innovation model that India excels in.
The six principles of Jugaad:
1.Seek opportunity in adversity
2.Do more with less
3.Thank an act flexibly
4.Keep it simple
5.Include the margin
6.Follow your heart.


The supportive illustrations include grass root innovators, Airtel of Mittal, Nano car of Tata , open source software company Ushahidi , Newsoft from China and Steve jobs.

In my opinion,the distinguished authors presented a compilation of best innovations from across the globe and label them wrongly under Jugaad.  

what is your view?

India Fast Growth 25

AllWorld Network has created  “The India Fast Growth 25” uncovering the next wave of vetted, test-driven growth entrepreneurs from India.As a group, the India 25 grew an astonishing 481% between 2007 and 2009, much higher than other AllWorld Rankings in the Middle East and Africa.  These 25 emerging companies created 6,903 jobs since inception; most expect to grow 50% or more in the next six months, and the majority plan to start another company in the next two years.  Speaking to the global orientation of the companies, almost 50% of their revenues are generated from outside India.

• The winners for India 25 represent 10 Industries, and the top 5 itself indicate the diverse emerging high growth industries of India which are Information Technology, Travel and Tourism, Media and Entertainment, Agriculture and HealthCare.
  
• The number 1 company is Redbus.in, one stop shop for bus ticketing service across India, growing at 4823% between 2007 and 2009.  Co-Founded by Phanindra Sama and Charan Padmaraju, their vision is to maintain their market leadership position in next 5 years.
  
• India 25 represents 8 cities with Mumbai and Bangalore represented by 6 companies each.
  
• The Ranked Companies average of 650 million Rupees in revenue in 2009, and 279 employees, with the smallest applicant having 23 million Rupees in revenue and the largest close to 3.8 billion Rupees. The Companies to Watch are much smaller.
  
• The average cost of start Company was 9.1 million Rupees, 63% of the companies were self financed at the inception.
  
• The founders were an average of 28 years old when they started their company. The youngest founder was 17 when he started his business.
  
• India 25 also showcases the emerging focus on R&D in India, 40% of companies invest over 10% of the revenue in R&D activities.

Measuring Entrepreneuship in India

SBA ,USA released a new study  that analyzes entrepreneurship at the global level using a new index called the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI). This index captures the contextual (qualitative and quantitative) features of entrepreneurship in 71 countries.

Porter identifies a factor-driven stage, an efficiency-driven stage, and an innovation-driven stage, and he adds two transitions.The factor-driven stage is marked by high rates of agricultural self-employment. Countries in this stage compete through low-cost efficiencies in the production of commodities or low value-added products. Sole proprietorship—i.e., the self-employed—probably account for most small manufacturing firms and service firms.To compete in the efficiency-driven stage, countries must have efficient productive practices in large markets, which allow companies to exploit economies of scale. Industries in this stage are manufacturers that provide basic services. The efficiency-driven stage is marked by decreasing rates of self-employment. When capital and labor are substitutes, an increase in the capital stock increases returns from working and lowers returns from managing.The innovation-driven stage is marked by an increase in knowledge-intensive activities . In the innovation-driven stage knowledge provides the key input. In this stage the focus shifts from firms to agents in possession of new knowledge. The agent decides to start a new firm based on expected net returns from a new product. The innovation-driven stage is biased towards high value added industries in which entrepreneurial activity is important.

India scores poorly at 0.23 ,gets 53rd rank with China marginally better at rank of 40. China and India are efficiency-driven countries and are not yet fully in the innovation race.United States has a huge lead in NEW TECHNOLOGY, India is catching up fast;  the difference between the United States and China on the TECH SECTOR variable is not very large. What is interesting is that entrepreneurs in neither India nor China seems to be afraid of failure. 

However, strange are scores for start-up skills (0.08) and networking (0.03)-  are we so bad? 
Read : http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs370tot.pdf