The internet is full of definitions of what an Entrepreneur is and what does Entrepreneurship mean. And there is a general narrative about Success which implies the wealth creation has to be in millions if not billions and usually the currency in which the net worth is measured is a western currency. We Indians are too quick to appreciate western role models of entrepreneurs. And more often than not we are in awe of such great personalities.
In a capitalist world as long as the Entrepreneur is giving returns to the shareholders he gets millions of fans who will sing praise for him/ her and make his/her image larger than life. Once in a positive loop sky is the limit for such entrepreneur .
A lot of people write books and make YouTube videos about such successful people and then most college going budding entrepreneurs either blindly follow their role models or just give up entrepreneurship because somewhere deep down they know that they can never scale such great heights. These larger than life figures at top of the pyramid are not inspirers, they are quenchers of fire in the belly, for millions of budding entrepreneurs.
There always is a limited space at the top of the pyramid. We know modern economy is merit based & the western world believes in hierarchy of “merit”. Capitalism at least as I understand it, is creating profit for shareholders by taking high risk and enjoying higher rewards. Innovative, startup, value proposition, hard work, risk, reward, rat race, ecosystem , corporate honchos are some of the buzz words. I am talking about fair business but with public funds and or debt. This very ecosystem seems so out of reach for most young people who start at the bottom of the pyramid.
One great thing about bottom of the pyramid is that there is enough space and there is no rat race if you are innovative and hard working. Your falls are smaller and you can quickly get up. The summit is far off and hence your mission never ends. You don’t get public capital and you don’t get public debt. You play entirely on your own resources and resourcefulness becomes your primary quality.
Contrary to popular belief I think India was and will be a great economy despite public funds. It is the private capital often coming from family and friends may be from the customer ,is the best way to hone one’s entrepreneurial skills.
Yes you have to start small, work hard, delay gratification and keep a 15-20 year horizon to accumulate sufficient wealth.
We have been a large economy for more than 2000 years, despite invasions, colonisation and loot.
Our capital, scale, profit, greed, insecurity, all were limited. So was the risk. We could therefore focus on value creation, customer satisfaction, inclusive economy, family business, perpetual businesses that were built to last for generations. Some goldsmith families have been going on for centuries.
The same with grocery stores, blacksmiths, carpenters and the cobblers and so many native businesses with family wisdom and know how about wealth creation and customer satisfaction. Sustainability for sure was in the DNA of such businesses.
I for one would look for my own role models at the bottom of the pyramid. In my own family, community, ecosystem, state and country. Mimicking the west has been disastrous. A lot of start-ups lack innovation. This emerging modern Indian economy does not need Unicorns. They will be at the top of the pyramid and hence, a few.
We need millions of small businesses, technologically advanced, innovative, native, family owned, sustainable with global outreach. We have the youngest workforce. We need a big resistance to the invasion of mega MNC corporations.
We need leaders who believe in our DNA. We must recall the success of the Sone ki Chidia that we were. Our global reach during the silk route centuries ago. Do you recall a big business house 1500 years ago? No! But you know collectively we all were the biggest economy of the world.
An entrepreneur must choose his model, structure, constitution that is more proprietary where he is driven by his fire in the belly and creativity and not by the compulsion to feed the greed of the shareholders. He must stick to his own value system and choose his supply chain and customer wisely and then ensure total customer satisfaction.
The ability to choose your customer and to say no to prospect who does not identify with your core values is the quality of a great entrepreneur. Compulsion to sell is a job, not entrepreneurship!
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