Entrepreneurs have no particular cast or creed. Entrepreneurs are found in all corners of the world. The degree varies according to their environment, education and infrastructure around them, social value systems and moral ethics.
There have been great Entrepreneurs and there will always be, as GOD himself is the greatest Entrepreneur and is Omnipotent and Omnipresent. Recently Duke University USA, conducted a study of 7500 US technology start ups founded by immigrants as Entrepreneurs 1995 to 2006. They found that Indians lead the pack with 26% founders, presidents and CEO’s. The study also included other immigrants, Japanese, Chinese, British, Taiwanese and Koreans. Indians lead the Entrepreneurial talent in the world. United States has the environment for risk taking. The environment is risk reward based. People are encouraged to start on their own. It is very difficult to take risks without a safety net. Why Indians are not able to do the same thing back home has many reasons attached to. The taboo of failure which has many social and psychological repercussions. It effects all our actions, our social outlook and self esteem. Our society has not been tuned to encourage wealth creators though the times have now changed.
It is a matter of honor to get bankrupted in the US. It is treated as a mark of respect for having dared to venture out and having tried. India in the early seventies saw a flux of new generation Entrepreneurs. The reasons were the nationalization of banks by the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi and announcement of export incentives and deceleration of backward areas for new generation Entrepreneurs. But there was no equivalent infrastructure of backing up the Entrepreneurs. They were left in the sea to learn to swim themselves amidst the traders and established industries.
There were no facilities like Seed Capital, Venture Capitalists, Private Equity and Private Placements etc.
One such example of one of the Northern Hilly States is that the Entrepreneurs were invited to set up industries there. The scheme was very attractive. Cheaper land on installments, term loans for the industry, subsidies, electricity at cheaper prices, transport subsidies, price preferences, loans for working capital, sales tax, income tax concessions, marketing support, export support, raw material support. Many youngsters out of colleges and new technocrats went ahead to earn the title an Entrepreneur. Yes everybody got the land on installments. But there were no roads, no electricity not even a dhaba around for eating. They did sanction the loans but had no money for timely disbursements. You can imagine the state of other incentives mentioned above especially with the administration full of red tapism and bureaucracy. The entire industry in the state became sick and failed and the Entrepreneurs were followed with law suits.
The state suffered and so did the Entrepreneurs. The only thing great about the Entrepreneurs was their courage and conviction. They reorganized their careers in other parts of the country and established themselves. When Japan was being restructured after the 2nd world war, they had to create the base. They created industrial estates with infrastructure, single window clearances, mother units to help ancillaries, marketing organization with global reach to help the SMES’ with financial assistances and other related inputs. China has recently done the same and shown the results. India has now come of age and is creating world class infrastructure. Indian entrepreneurs are bustling with ideas, backed with education, resources and the post liberalization, globalization technology support and great communications network. We salute all the entrepreneurs in the world as they are the co-creators with the GOD, the Universal Soul, GOD loves Co-Creators. All Materialism flows from the Spiritualism. You can create anything out of nothingness because GOD did it.
