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| Enterprising risk | | Since we are living in a conflict zone, any business venture here needs to show 'embrace the conflict' attitude | | Sajjad Bazaz
There is a Chinese
proverb; Pearls don't lie on the seashore. If you want one, you must dive for it. To explain it let me narrate you a short story in which two seeds in a fertile spring soil are conversing with each other.
The first seed said, "I want to grow! I want to send my roots deep into the soil beneath me, and thrust my sprouts through the earth's crust above me…I want to unfurl my tender buds like banners to announce the arrival of spring…I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the bless of the morning dew on my petals!"
And she grew.
The second seed said, "I am afraid. If I send my roots into the ground below, I don't know what I will encounter in the dark. If I push my way through the hard soil above me I may damage my delicate sprouts…what if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat them? And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from the ground. No, it is much better for me to wait until it is safe."
And so she waited.
A bird scratching around in the early spring ground for food found the waiting seed and promptly ate it.
By now if you have not comprehended the context of the Chinese proverb or the story, then let me tell you that all this is about risk - importance of taking risk. One cannot achieve his goal without taking a risk. One who refuses to risk doesn't grow. He gets swallowed up by the life.
We have a huge chain of self employed youth who have huge potential to emerge successful entrepreneurs but fear of risk fails them to grow. They remain contented with being good and don't think of becoming great. Instances galore that such youth even got wiped out of the entrepreneurship because they acted like the waiting seed. The fear factor of this kind of entrepreneurs percolates down to the level of prospective startups and develops a conservative attitude in them. This weakens risk-bearing capacity of these startups and they simply risk themselves to get eaten up before germination.
We have entrepreneurs who make cement, run dairy farms and even have established software development institutions having national reach. They have excelled only after taking a risk of being from a place known for unreliability - a factor that prevents them from expanding their businesses outside the state.
I am privy to the success of some Kashmiri entrepreneurs who started from a scratch and are today enjoying international recognition. Good business model, ability to swallow financial risk, creativity, time management, be ready for anything attitude, ability to be flexible, think out of box, resilience after failure, stress management and the ability to think strategically are some of the qualities which have helped them to thrive amid conflict situation.
Entrepreneurship is all about taking risks and therefore, leaving school to become an entrepreneur is indeed one of them. So, you don't need any specific educational qualification to be an entrepreneur. Some of the world famous business personalities are either 'dropouts by situation' or are 'dropouts of choice'.
Although education may not be a 'must have factor', but it equips a youth with the skills that can be value addition like providing the traits of decision-making and leadership. These traits are of inevitably vital to be an entrepreneur.
Since we are living in a conflict zone, any business venture here needs to show 'embrace the conflict' attitude. General rules apart, entrepreneurship here demands partnering - a way of working between people that makes a difference differently.
Precisely, the ability to take calculated risks is actually an essential human trait crucial to our development. Time has proved that risk-takers are the survivors.
(The views are of the author & not the
institution he work for) |
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