Fostering Self - Reliance in the Entrepreneurship
Self-reliance is the social and economic capacity of individuals, households or societies to meet basic needs sustainably. Self-reliance - a program strategy, refers to the developing & improving the concerning livelihood, reducing their vulnerability and long-term reliance on external assistance. On 12 May 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the nation to kick off the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan (India Self-Reliant Campaign). Many discussions and debates held claiming self-reliance will lead towards protectionism or isolationism. However, it is adopting a realistic strategic framework that would encourage the country to identify and focus on its core and innate competences.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 made the economies realise the importance of self-reliance. It plays a significant role in building a strong social structure and increase the levels of economic activity. PM Modi emphasised to become vocal for our local, therefore, developing social and economic links with the local communities.
I think the role of self-reliance in the future entrepreneurship is more likely to think independently, embrace the individuality and strive towards the goals. Like I mentioned above, it makes the social structure strong, even in the business community by helping the local businesses.
The process of globalisation not only benefitted the trade but also fostered inter-dependency in the world. Nevertheless, over time, this inter-dependency converted into over-dependency in the world. For instance, China accounted for over 5% of India’s total exports in FY2019-20 and more than 14% of imports. The sudden eruption of pandemic severely affected the Indian trade and economy figures because China was one of the leading suppliers of industrial components, raw materials and investment market to India’s startups and technology firms.
In my opinion, rather than heavily relying on foreign economies and not overly depending on them, we should strengthen our grassroots. We should encourage and assist our local entrepreneurs. We should build our social and economic link stronger with local entrepreneurship so that we could use the most use of our inherent competences. I understand that we can not become a fully self-dependent economy but at least we can be less reliant on the other countries for our substantial needs and make the best out of what we have today.