Role of Youth in Revolutionising Entrepreneurship in the Tribal State of Mizoram

Abstract

Entrepreneurship, broadly defined, refers to the seeking, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities. Entrepreneurs are fired by an inner desire to achieve a goal and are willing to experiment with messy methods as well. Relegating entrepreneurship to the status of a mere factor of production takes away the creativity and novelty of this entity. Though much has been written to categorise and define entrepreneurship, there are in fact no hard and fast rules that the entrepreneurs should follow. We observe such creativity and hidden rationalities in the functioning of young Mizo entrepreneurs in the north eastern state of Mizoram. During my doctoral research and field survey that I conducted on Mizo entrepreneurs, I felt that there is a silent youth revolution that is taking place there. Young Mizo boys and girls, most of them educated outside the state are bringing back their knowledge to their home state and are beautifully blending these modern practices in their traditional way of life and are coming up with more sustainable and successful business models. My paper would highlight the novelty of these models and prove the point that entrepreneurship development strategies and policies need to be contextual.