We the students...solemnly pledge...

And here is my take on the second part. “As a responsible member of the student community, what steps would you take to promote entrepreneurship among B-school students? Suggest implementable solutions.”

Given above is the broad structure for defining the scope of student initiatives for promoting entrepreneurship (took me ages to figure out how to post this flowchart - technologically challenged :)). Allow me to elaborate (click on the image to see complete flowchart):

I believe that for every entrepreneurial venture, there are four absolute essentials (when seen from a B-School perspective). These are Motivation to think off-beat, availability of constant and rich sources of Information, the right Platforms to launch and promote the entrepreneurial venture, and finally, Sustained support – esp. in the early start-up phase.

For all of these, I have enumerated certain initiatives that We - the Student Community can take in order to promote this entrepreneurial zeal amongst ourselves. Some of the listed measures are already being pursued, while some others are self-explanatory. Those which do not fall into any of the above classifications have been elaborated below:

1.1. Change in Placement Structure: We should come to a consensus amongst ourselves and resolve to move towards a more market led placement structure wherein the aim is not to place ‘ every student’ but to leave the selection to market forces and let the best man win. It’s a tough call, but what it will achieve is removal of our ‘safety net’. All students at premier B-Schools today are ensured a job – a major detterent to thinking of any new, novel ideas of self-employment. It is only if we are moved out of our comfort zones and into a perfectly competitive market that the best in us will be brought out.

1.2. Start – up orientation in all MBA courses – An initiative by the student and faculty community to devote a predetermined amount of time within every course towards the applications of the learning from that course to start-ups. What this will achieve is 1) give students a perspective on how every aspect of business is different in a start-up vis-à-vis an established firm and 2) send out a clear message that the institute supports and promotes entrepreneurial pursuits and has incorporated changes in its curriculum as a move in that direction.

2.1. Consulting for a local start-up – There is nothing that works better at motivatin entrepreneurship than watching an entrepreneur at work. So let’s go one step further, and get ourselves attached to a local start-up and use all that we are learning to provide help to it. Not only could it be a boon for the start-up (I’m hoping here that we not charge/charge a nominal fee), it would be a great lesson, an enriching experience and a above all, a close quarter look at what it means to be an entrepreneur.

Also, once you’ve consulted for a start-up, don’t leave it at that. Build a lifelong relationship, where the growth of the firm is tracked and brought back to the students who contributed to it. This would help create a feedback loop that would not only give the students confidence in the practicality of their learning, but also allow them to witness the growth of a firm and its journey through all phases (on the PLC anyone ;))

3.2. Inter B-School portal – Inter B-School rivalry maybe great, but let entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs be the thread that transcends these boundaries. The guy most suited to be my CFO may not be at my school, same for every other position. On the other hand, the new idea for which I’m the best fit, may not get generated at my school. Why not have a portal where the students of all B-Schools interact, discuss and bounce their ideas of each other. Not only would this be a breeding ground for ideas, it would be the best ‘human resource locator’.

And once that is done, let’s take it a step further. Let the portal that got the idea going, the portal that brought the best team for the idea together, also be the platform where the idea is promoted. And why just promoted – debated, discussed, refined, improved, and all the other good things that we can do to it!

4.1. Incubators – I know they already exist, but I also know they are few. Why not have a central incubator! The student communities at various institutes can get together, pool in their resources (which individually may not suffice), and create a platform for ideas to flourish and succeed. Ideas do not discriminate between colleges, then why should the support that is provided to them. And the benefits – well I think all of us know why MFs are such a huge hit!

And by the way, we may use the portal described above to get together and get this one going!

4.5. Placement holiday – Well, this is a much hyped, much talked about policy that IIM A started and a few others followed. But frankly, I’m not convinced. Here is my take:

The biggest detterent to entrepreneurial leanings is the presence of ‘safety nets’. It sounds very counter intutitive (after all, if I have a fall back option, then I’ll go all out for my venture. Even if I fail, I have my PGDM to fall back on…no!!), that a safety net should keep you from doing the rope-walk, but it does. A placement holiday, is nothing but another layer to that net.

But here comes in the question of “how long is the holiday?”. It’s an important question. The current average holiday length of 2 years, I believe, is too short to do justice to a start-up venture. By keeping this window, we might be encouraging an entrepreneur to take the easier path a bit earlier than necessary. Then again, I understand that the optimal window length would be different for different types of ventures.

As you would notice, I’m confused. Hence the ‘question mark’ against this one.