“There’s always a scope to learn, to grow, to improve, …
provided one be willing to explore it.”
The workshop conducted by the Centre for Entrepreneurship
Development for the first year students on August 29, 2012 was perhaps one of
the best testaments to the aforementioned point. With our very own Dr. Anita
Lal as the Chief Speaker, the students looked up to the event with high
expectations and it feels great to know that ma’am delivered above and
beyond. From the very beginning, the
style she adopted was so engaging that every student sat enraptured. She
started with a question, and ended with a thought, and without a doubt students
left with the feeling of “what if”.
In the very beginning she called for student participation
by asking for their input as to what CED as a team could do to help them be
better entrepreneurs, and when answers like ‘roll over placements’ and ‘incubation
cells’ came up, her enthusiastic response was perhaps the only boost the
students needed. From there on, it was more of a stimulated discussion than a
lecture on entrepreneurship and almost everyone got a chance to express their
thoughts and ideas. She started the
session with a very basic introduction of how entrepreneurship as a term really
came about, and enlightened one and all by talking about how it was Richard
Cantelin, a French Economist who coined the word in the eighteenth century (1756).
She was like a storehouse of fascinating information and from informing the
audience of how the definition for entrepreneurship travelled from Mercantilists,
to Physiocratic and moved on till it reached the Structural definition, to
describing the Schumpeter’s Entrepreneurship Model, her knowledge stumped all.
A very simple and yet immensely important point that she stressed upon was how
any idea has to be accepted by the society for it to turn into a successful
entrepreneurial venture. It was here that she gave example of how the steam
engine was modified to serve the society better.
She not only educated but also served as an excellent
motivator. The student were given a reality check when she gave examples upon
examples of how individuals like Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, Shahnaz Hussain,
Kiran Mazumdar Shah, etc. worked in a much more tough environment than the one
we live in today and still managed to be exceptional entrepreneurs. She made
the audience realize of how funding, age, literacy or even work experience
could not be a barrier if an individual truly wanted to succeed.
In addition to this one of the highlights of the session was
firstly how she made the audience go through an assessment exercise and from
there on the audience was divided into groups who came up with business
ventures for Sachin Tendulkar. The audience was so delighted by the activity
that an overwhelming response was seen, and a group came up with as many as 23
new ventures that Mr. Tendulkar could enter into. And yet there were more
options and more answers and from a saloon shop to a cricket commentator the
students left no alternative. She thus talked about how every individual entrepreneur
is different from another and while there are nearly 47 business traits, it is
in fact possible to cultivate one and all provided you give yourself a chance
to do so.
She thus ended the session on a high note, reminding the
audience to always have their actions reflect their choices be they professional
or personal. Thus, the audience left the auditorium with provoking thoughts,
and as they had resounded together in the hall, a desire that someday they
might just be the next entrepreneur like Suhas Gopinathe (the youngest
entrepreneur that the audience discussed about through a case study). It was an
invigorating session and each and every student felt lucky to have been able to
take in so much from so short a time. The CED put up a commendable show and
every student now look forwards to more such sessions.
