Student Entrepreneurs: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

An Entrepreneur forms an essential segment of the industrial and economic development of a nation. Entrepreneurs create something new, organize factors of production and undertake risk involved in the establishment and operation of a business enterprise. As an engine for growth, a catalytic agent of change, a solution for unemployment problem and as the main pillar of industrialization and economic growth, entrepreneurs are considered as the back bone of the economy. Empirical studies have revealed that entrepreneurs are not born, but created. It is necessary to develop entrepreneurs by giving them proper training to undertake creative activities. Entrepreneurial development is essentially an educational process and a development plan for human resources. Being a dynamic activity, Entrepreneurship development should be initiated at the younger age, and should be subjected to continuous renewal and restructuring to meet the ever changing requirements of the potential entrepreneurs and policy environment. The present education system helps one to gain mastery over various disciplines but fails to enable one to win over the self, to understand one’s own strengths and weaknesses, to provide motivation to take challenges and to undertake the risks if their educational merits fails to offer a white collar profession. It sounds ironical that our academic curriculum has generated a huge mass of educated unemployed but has failed to ameliorate the situation of this mass. Efforts need to be initiated to provide skilful training rather than mere theoretical awareness. This calls for a change of the mind set of academicians, parents and their progeny.Education is not complete with mere transmission of knowledge unless it produces outcomes like skills of logical thinking, problem solving, intellectual and decision making ability. The motivation and skills developed at an earlier stage will enable the future change agents to confront and overcome the turmoil they may face in building up their own career at a later stage. Also, entrepreneurial orientation through educational institutions has the advantage of spreading the entrepreneurial career among a cross section of castes and communities and popularizing it among the common man. The proposed research paper will expose the need and the prospects of student entrepreneurship development and the probable challenges that are related to it