First-Gen Entrepreneurship

In the early 80s, when I set up the first cable network in Mumbai, it was not money or family backing that were my strongest assets. As a first generation entrepreneur, my biggest asset was the strong conviction that I did not want to be desk-bound, earning a salary working for someone else. I wanted to chart my own course. Though India is a country famed for its shrewd business communities, few realise that entrepreneurship as a career option is largely a family legacy. For those, with little family background or support to bank on, starting your own venture can be a daunting task. I remember telling myself very early in life that giving up is not an option. When your priorities are clear, battling the currents becomes easier.

After UTV was sold to Walt Disney, there was a two-year transition period. During this time, I had the opportunity to interact closely with the youth from various backgrounds on platforms like AISEC. Over the course of these interactions, I realised that first generation entrepreneurship was still in its nascent stage nearly thirty years after I began my journey. The graduation of the son or a scion of a business family into the family business or a new venture integrated into their group of companies is considered par for the course. However, children of professionals or from salaried families are rarely encouraged to venture into business. I always argue that it is a fallacy that India is a nurturing ground for businesses. If you do not belong to a business family, then our ecosystem and familial pressures often conspire against entrepreneurial ambitions to prioritise financial security over inherently risky creativity.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report of 2013 weighs out what I believe about India’s turgid business scenario. In their annual global survey, India barely manages to scratch at the regional average (Asia Pacific & South Asia) on various counts. The survey, which studied people between the ages of 18 and 64, looks at interesting criteria like rate of new business ownership, established business ownership rate, businesses created out of necessity and those that were improvement-driven opportunities. New business ownership rate was a mere 4.9 percent against the regional average of 7.6 percent. While necessity-driven businesses were the only category in which India scored well above that average of 27.5 with a score of 38.8, improvement-driven opportunity saw a poor 35.9 points only. The regional average in this crucial and popular genre of Asian entrepreneurship was 52.2!

The biggest reason for such poor survey ratings for India is that we do not have an ecosystem that fosters entrepreneurship. As a result, there is no aspirational value attached to becoming an entrepreneur. MBA institutes, which churn out over fifty lakh (5 million) MBA graduates every year, are not judged by how many successful entrepreneurs and businessmen they nurture. Instead, the focus is on preparing students for corporate jobs through campus placements – the heftier the pay packets they secure, the higher the institutes climb in the perception league. Students failing to make the cut at these campus placements are often the only ones thinking of starting their own ventures, making it a desperate measure and not an active choice. The fight to be an entrepreneur becomes one of fighting strong headwinds. Add the lack of infrastructure or a supportive environment and the vicious cycle is completed.

I have also met several people, who have expressed a desire to turn entrepreneurs but are reluctant to change courses after a few years of salaried work. Most often, the reasons given are the lack of a financial safety net, the risk involved in abandoning a cushy salaried job for the uncertainties of business and being set in your way of work. While it is true that when younger, you are less set in your ways and generally more malleable to adapt to situations, turning an entrepreneur after a few years of work ensures the advantage of knowledge, experience and a better understanding of market dynamics. I have always maintained that age is not a defining criteria to turning an entrepreneur. The crucial qualities are a level of confidence in one’s self and the ability to take a risk.

The need to hedge risks is so paramount in the minds of people because of the lack of sufficient infrastructure or support system. So the prospect of venturing on one’s own becomes a massive uphill task, dissuading people to pursue it. Those that brave all these hurdles, usually get stuck at another one – they give themselves a very limited timeframe to succeed or fail. When their efforts do not match their set expectations, they quit and fail! Going back a ‘safer’ job becomes the preferred exit strategy. Entrepreneurial success cannot be measured on a time-bound frame, it is about staying the course over an extended time frame.

However, the biggest factor that dissuades first generation entrepreneurship in India is the endemic fear of failure. As a nation, we laud success and are unsympathetic towards failure. Failure becomes a social stigma and blots a person’s professional and personal life. In the West, failure is an accepted way of life. A failure does not mean the end of opportunities, in fact, it is perceived as an experience that imparts wisdom. On the other hand, in India, the risk averse family and social environment ensure that an individual persists with his entrepreneurial dreams only if he shows the potential to make money from the very beginning.

We need to evangelise first generation entrepreneurship. We need to change the existing ecosystem and replace it with one that fosters entrepreneurship. I believe before asking for a supportive financial environment and conducive infrastructure to improve the existing systems, the first battles that need to be fought are the psychological ones. We need to begin with changing our thinking. Entrepreneurship needs to become aspirational. Once entrepreneurial aspirations become widespread amongst our youth, the fear of failure will slowly dissipate. In its place, the belief that needs to be fostered is that failure at any stage is not a final report card on someone’s capability or skill, but a stepping stone toward better ventures.

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