Look at this..
Article from Hindu... 20th March 2006.
Entrepreneurs in the making
Entrepreneurship development cells in colleges play a major role in
preparing students to take up business ventures. A look at how students
benefit by their programmes in some regions of the state EDCs focus on
`confidence-building' exercise among aspiring entrepreneurs
THE FIRST STEP: An industrialist providing tips to students at a
residential programme for prospective entrepreneurs at the Institute for
Entrepreneurship and Career Development, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi.
Photo: M. Moorthy
Last week, we looked at the state of entrepreneurship development cells in
colleges of Coimbatore and Erode regions. It showed that the concept is
picking up fast in institutions there. The situation is changing for the
better among professional and arts/science colleges in a few other regions
too.
For example, 79 colleges out of 102 institutions affiliated to
Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi, have established Entrepreneurship
Development Cells (EDC) — a majority of them coming up only in the last
couple of years. The awareness programmes organised by colleges to expose
students to the nuances of viable projects, finance options and marketing
skills are gaining momentum. Still, it may take three to four years for the
self-employment concept to catch up fully and reflect tangibly in the form
of new start-ups, say EDC coordinators.
"Only the very small section of students inheriting the family tradition
has stepped into self-employment ventures so far. For the rest, risk-taking
is still anathema. But hope lies in students realising that the days of the
white-collar jobs (government employment) are over," says V.K. Boominathan,
Head, Department of Commerce, and a former EDC coordinator.
Self-employment
At St. Joseph's College, Tiruchi, the EDC invites successful self-employed
alumni to interact with students and motivate them, at periodic intervals.
Though students belonging to faculties of Commerce and Economics could
easily be drawn towards self-employment, in general, the economic potential
inherent in risk-taking and innovation is yet to dawn on the students,
notes I. Francis Gnanasekar, coordinator, Career Guidance and
Entrepreneurship Development Cell.
The Institute for Entrepreneurship and Career Development (IECD),
Bharathidasan University, and the Entrepreneurship Development Programme
(EDP) Cell of the Tiruchi District Tiny and Small Scale Industries
Association (TIDITSSIA) also helped the cause by organising programmes last
year.
The IECD has familiarised nearly 500 students of affiliated colleges with
various aspects of entrepreneurship. In all, 47 students from 28 colleges,
who submitted saleable projects, underwent a five-day residential programme
at IECD, said its Director, K. Parthasarathy.
Similarly, the EDP Cell of TIDITSSIA has conducted 14 awareness programmes
in 14 colleges in and around Tiruchi on the methodology of starting a small
scale industry. It has a bank of nearly 500 projects for prospective
entrepreneurs.
The Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Project, sanctioned
to TIDITSSIA recently by the Union Department of Science and Technology,
will help the cause, says C. Ramasamy Desai, coordinator, EDP Cell,
TIDITSSIA.
The emergence of Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDCs) in colleges in
Salem and Namakkal districts has successfully integrated the much-needed
professionalism into their academic pursuits. The EDCs here focus mainly on
the `confidence-building' exercise among the aspiring entrepreneurs and
providing required details.
``We constantly remind the student that funding agencies even give up to 90
per cent of the project cost as aid, if they find an innovative project,''
says Director of Salem's Sona School of Management D. Dhanapal. The school
identifies students with an entrepreneurial spirit and gives them special
training.
The EDCs invite successful entrepreneurs and corporate and financial
consultants to interact where "the students learn the nuances of any trade.
They get motivated. They also come to know about opportunities available in
different sectors,'' says the principal of PGP College of Arts and Science,
Namakkal, S.S. Narayanaswami.
Still, many students worry about mobilising finance for their projects.
Nodal Officer of the EDC, Vysya College, Salem, N. Anbuarasu, says, ``It is
because they do not know about the schemes. Hence, we often invite
officials from the financial institutions to brief about their schemes.We
motivate them to discuss their projects personally with the officials.''
The placement cells of the colleges including Mahendra Engineering College
at Mallasamudram in Namakkal district organise workshops frequently in
which professional consultants and entrepreneurs take part.
The Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) in Madurai, offers a
six-week training programme in entrepreneurship skills. According to R.
Jayaraman of the CED, the typical middle class mentality of getting a
secure job is now being replaced by the thought of going for business. "Our
experience shows that the attitude is changing," Dr. Jayaraman says.
Six components
Dr. Jayaraman says any entrepreneurship development programme has six
components — behaviour, business guidance, preparation of project report,
agencies supporting entrepreneurship movement, regulating loss in business
and overall management of business.
He says colleges and universities have also, of late, begun offering
certificate and advanced diploma courses in entrepreneurship. There are
many opportunities emerging in the service sector and students can make use
of the scope available. And, the first investment is the guts to take risks
and an ability to meet challenges.
The Madurai Kamaraj University has a Department of Entrepreneurship Studies
that offers a two-year Master of Studies Programme in IT and Management
(M.S. IT and M). The Head of Department in-charge, U. Surya Rao, says the
objective is to make the candidates prepare for self-employment.
Dr. Rao, who is also the head of Department of Management Studies, says if
students are trained in a combination of IT and entrepreneurship, results
would be enormous.
Contributed by
R. Krishnamurthy (Tiruchi),
S. Ramesh (Salem) and Shastry V. Mallady (Madurai)
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