When economies worldwide are faltering, India is standing apart as an exception – registering close to a 7% annual economic growth. However, India is learning that a booming economy does not translate to jobs for all. Several studies carried out over the past few years, confirm what leading economists are saying – India is deep amid a job crisis.
The ask for jobs is mammoth. Estimates even suggest that by 2030 India will need to add at least 144 million non-farm jobs to sustain its growth and advance its economic progress. But where will these jobs come from? A key, often ignored, area to invest in as an immediate and lasting solution to the job crisis is to equip generations of students with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Playing The Long (Mind) Game
A job crisis is not made in a day nor will it be solved overnight. India will need long-term, multi-pronged and multi-generational solutions to solve its job crisis to establish a secure future. By introducing the nuances of an entrepreneurial mindset to its students at a very young age, India can gain a competitive edge over hundreds of nations.
Training young students in schools and vocational institutes to unlock key elements of the entrepreneurial mindset, including, the ability to learn new things, grit, self-awareness, and independence, ensures that they develop the skills to be stellar employees, innovative employers and pathbreaking entrepreneurs of the future. Those with an entrepreneurial mindset will ensure that they blaze a trail even when economies are flailing.
New Pathways To Success
Since the 90s, in the wake of economic liberalisation, India’s economy has been focused on delivering services and goods to the rest of the world. However, we have yet to see our version of Steve Jobs take centre stage or even our version of Greta Thunberg bringing our attention to issues that will shape the future of our planet.
It is not that India does not hold potential. Our IT minds are leading some of the best organisations around the world. India’s indigenous space programme is grabbing eyeballs for being successful on shoe-string budgets. Our age-old industries in traditional textiles and crafts are still the envy of the world. However, we need to unlock mindsets that push youth to lead rather than follow.
Here, an entrepreneurial mindset will help youth see possibilities even in challenges, explore unique ideas for age-old problems, and emphatically answer the demands of the market. Fostering an entrepreneurial mindset will lead to fearless entrepreneurship that will undoubtedly result in a surge of jobs that will benefit many.
Reinventing The Old
But not all of us can be leaders. There isn’t a Microsoft, Infosys, or BioCon in all of our futures. Yet, young adults can reshape the destinies of existing industries and increase avenues of employment. Increasingly, with the advent of AI and other technological investments, employees will have to reimagine their roles and expand the scope of what they can achieve. A computer engineer may not just be developing software programmes but may also have to churn out code for super computers that have not even been invented yet.
In the informal sector, istriwalas may have to adapt to brand-new ironing technology while street vendors have to come up with innovative ways to store their goods as temperatures soar due to climate change. For many, these scenarios may be scary. But for those with an entrepreneurial mindset, these will prove to be exciting challenges! People with an entrepreneurial mindset are adaptable, gritty and not averse to changing realities and these values make them stand out in organisations, teams, and workplaces. This, in turn, will open up better opportunities for an entire ecosystem.
Udhyam Foundation has already seen success in this area. With its Istriwala project, the Foundation saw an opportunity to optimise the traditional ironing business and foster entrepreneurship among istriwalas (informal workers involved in the ironing of clothes). When entrepreneurial istriwalas adopted newer, greener technology in the form of LPG-powered iron boxes, it resulted in better income and working conditions for them. But the positives didn’t just stop with the workers. The technology created an entire new chain – creating companies that produced the iron-boxes, introducing a new product into the market, raising the demand for sales and service personnel and leading to the establishment of a whole new value chain.
My Success = India’s Success
This is what makes the entrepreneurship mindset such a valuable investment for a sustainable future – it benefits individuals while also being inclusive of others. Those with an entrepreneurial mindset use their skills and their value systems to answer the call of crisis and stand at the core of solution-seeking. They are critical and creative thinkers who know very well that a brighter future lies in communication and collaboration.
At this critical juncture, governments and societies will have to come together to support youth in their journey towards achieving entrepreneurial mindsets. Directing critical resources towards nurturing programmes is a sure-fire way to ensure that India’s astonishing growth story never ends. And that its youth create and lead its promising future!
