On Entrepreneurship

I keep reading articles and books on the great potential India has because of the young population and the great entrepreneurial spirit of our population. More and more educated middle-class are venturing into business. This is indeed a good sign. And more and more i read of this great potential of young India, because of the large number of business leader's that this nation is churning out; (Sometimes i do wonder why the same amount of leadership and energy does not spill over into our politics), i wonder in the back of my mind; are we trumpeting too early?.

Enterpreneurship is not about a great business idea or about making money, but in most cases it is either an accident or is for making a point; is a statement on the entrepreneurial teams ability to take financial risk's to prove a point that they have the will to achieve what they set their eyes on, and are willing to go all the way to achieve that, and will learn as they go; It is in some sense the entrepreneurs courage to take the path less trodden, question conventional wisdoms, able to ignore and withstand pressures from many who will give million reason why it is not the right thing to do; In india, we still have a large deficit of this, for we are culturally a close and protected society, with all new things seen with suspicion, and following familiar paths and footsteps make everyone comfortable.
Until this cultural barrier gets broken, we are not going to see an explosion of leadership and entrepreneurial talent. Without such a large expansion in our entrepreneurial talent, growth and innovation are going to be slow in India, and without entrepreneurial innovation we still will be an economy always in catchup mode. Rarely have we heard of any technology startups that had a unique product or patent or business model, that changed the rules of the game in the world. Rarely have we heard of a new entrant in mature market, changing the rules of the game like a Wal-Mart; We still are not using the entrepreneurial energy of young India and we need enable that to make a serious difference.
The road ahead for India and entrepreneurship is about unleashing the energy of the millions of youths and impoverished in our countryside and enabling them to earn a living with respect and allowing them to unleash their creativity to make a difference to their life and the life of people around them; If we enable them to have the courage to dream and give the required support, only then can we rest assured that India's future and growth story is secure. Our focus on the ivy league entrepreneurship or pedigree entrepreneurship is a sure shot way to disaster or follow me entrepreneurship is a sure shot recipe for disaster. If college dropt out's like steve jobs or an arkansas retail shop owner can take on the entrenched players, we have many such geniuses in our country side and they are the true messiah's who will make a difference to this country.