Teaching kids to be entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurial skillsets teach them to take complete ownership of the task they undertake, writes Swatee Jog

At a Robotics event organised by a Belagavi-based educational institution, a seventh-grade student was discussing taking his idea to Shark Tank to pitch. A deeper inquiry revealed that the lad had a full understanding of “pitching” and was confident that his product would be funded.

That many school students today have a better understanding of entrepreneurship than earlier generations is not surprising. They know that ideas matter and money is not a constraint when it comes to setting up a business. This reflection comes only when kids are exposed to finer aspects of entrepreneurship from an early age.

There were days when kids from only business families would be exposed to selling, manufacturing, procurement, finance, accounts, supply chain and the like. This is not the case today. With entrepreneurship being celebrated and aspired for by peers of all ages, most kids know what it takes to be an entrepreneur, though many times, they have unrealistic notions about the feasibility of their ideas.

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B-Schools have traditionally been the sandbox for developing entrepreneurship. But that has now penetrated deeper into schools, where students learn through many means, including events and mock pitch competitions. However, much needs to be done across all levels of school education in this regard.

Catching them young

Several schools in India have been doing this for years, though in a different avatar. The self-earning concept during summer vacations, where school kids were nudged to clean cars, run errands for family and neighbours, set up lemonade or snack shacks, pet/bay sitting, sell used books and shoes, help at the neighbourhood store or even help in cleaning and gardening in return for some bucks, helped inculcate a sense of dignity of labour and value of money.

We all have met that kid who would make a rudimentary placard advertising his ware or services during holidays and have admired him for his skills. Schools can take this concept further to instil several key traits of an entrepreneur that would serve the kids for life.

Entrepreneurial characteristics like creativity, thinking out of the box, raising money by convincing others about their idea, managing time, money and resources, seeking help, and promoting their products or services teaches valuable life lessons to kids. They teach them to take complete ownership of the task they take up.

Entrepreneurship is about identifying a need or problem and finding a solution to it. Finding innovative and sustainable solutions leads to building credibility. Kids can be oriented to spot problems and find feasible solutions.

Entrepreneurs can never work in silos, and must, at some point, seek help from others. Kids learn to work in teams when they realise everyone needs others. It helps them respect each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Kids develop a growth-oriented mindset when they are exposed to entrepreneurship. Buying and selling candies or watering plants for the elderly neighbour will not take you far, but diversifying the product or service portfolio, making available other goods/services that people need, using technology wherever possible and increasing your turnover and margins helps kids learn the ropes in the long run.

As employers seek out candidates with the requisite skillsets, they actually look out for entrepreneurs in their companies. The concept of intrapreneurship has been the bedrock of several products, apps, ideas and solutions that have changed the world. However, even today companies feel that most candidates do not possess a sense of ownership, accountability and problem-solving ability. They face difficulty working with teams.

Exposing school students to entrepreneurs from diverse sectors, training them on varied aspects of business and entrepreneurship from a young age, and encouraging them to spot problems and learn to find solutions- however stupid or far-fetched they may seem at first, helps a lot.

India has been a nation where the middle class looks at cushy jobs as the perfect security blanket for life. Thankfully, times are changing. It is now time to orient our career compasses towards entrepreneurship as one of the top choices for students by inculcating the right attitude and aptitude among them.

(The author is a Belagavi-based counsellor)