Gaining training at a nascent stage helps in transforming students from learners to future entrepreneurs. By Pavan Allena

Be your own boss’ is the new fad and this drives the growth of entrepreneurial courses. People now prefer entrepreneurship as a career prospect and hence are willing to dedicate their time, finances, and efforts to pursuing such courses to become certified entrepreneurs with an aim to transform their dream idea into a successful venture. However, for any aspiring entrepreneur acquiring the relevant academic qualification before stepping into the real world would be beneficial. Pursuing entrepreneurship specific courses will help the students give a sneak peek into the intricacies and the working of the start-up industry.

However, earlier such courses were not considered important. But with the changing times and preferences, there are entrepreneurship dedicated courses across prominent educational institutions. The organisations now offer full-time, part-time, online learning courses, providing flexibility in the learning process for the students. 

Extend entrepreneurial training to students from a nascent stage

The various entrepreneurship-based courses are extensive and comprehensive providing the right balance of theoretical knowledge along with practical industry experience. They are accessible, provide flexibility, and also come at a convenient pricing.

While gaining entrepreneurial knowledge is a lifelong process, starting it at a nascent stage would be beneficial as it will help in transforming the students from the learner level to the future entrepreneur stage. Portraying the role of elementary knowledge, the sooner such courses are introduced in the life of the budding entrepreneur, the better it will be for them to gain insights about the ever-evolving industry and prepare them as future entrepreneurs.

Major reasons for imbibing this concept are:

Lays the foundation for the start-up journey and prepares the students for the unforeseen future

In the constantly evolving times, we really can’t predict what will happen in the next few hours, let alone in the next few months or years. This is especially in the case of the education industry. We won’t really know about the job and hiring situation when the students will graduate. Hence, to imbibe the required skills in the students to deal with such unforeseen futuristic conditions, entrepreneurship courses at the nascent stages will prove to be extremely beneficial as they will drive the personality development of the students. They will help instill the requisite team-building, analytical, logical thinking, problem-solving, leadership, and managerial traits amongst the students thereby preparing them for their entrepreneurial journey.

Instills soft skills

Coping up with the study and job stress can be tedious for the students. Extending entrepreneurship training helps the students to be prepared mentally and psychologically to be able to face the struggles later. Additionally, they also boost the students’ creative streak and drive them to think innovatively. They rekindle the learner’s imagination thereby inducing creativity and out of the box thinking along with fostering collaborative working. Additionally, the students also develop optimism and will be able to deal with the hurdles effectively by using their problem-solving abilities.

Provides 360-degree approach

Introducing entrepreneurial courses from the start helps provide a 360-degree approach to the learners. When theoretical concepts will be combined with the relevant industry experience, the students will help an in-depth understanding of the start-up ecosystem and the particular industry they desire to step in.

Such courses will also help them understand the multiple stages of the entrepreneurial cycle — from conceptualisation, to financial planning, managing the operations, recruiting the right talent, managing the team, to marketing and promotional activities, sales, etc.

Besides, they will also gain insights and feedback about their business idea. Once they are connected with the domain experts, they will realise the viability and feasibility of their idea and how can it be improved. Hence, they get a chance to be able to further re-design and improvise their business plan and ensure its optimal success rate.

Enhances the current skills and ensures networking

The best bit about stepping into the entrepreneurship journey is that one can pursue their passion and infuse it with innovative thinking and technological advancement to produce a business idea out of it. Hence, the students can put their current skills and passion on the plate to develop them into a concept.

The entrepreneurship courses being flexible and accommodating also aids in this passion to career transformation process. For instance, students can be taught how they can monetise from their cooking skills, dance qualifications, scientific knowledge, etc.

Furthermore, the entrepreneurial industry training provides a networking platform for the students. When connected with the industry experts, the learners will get an opportunity to gain insights into the functioning of the start-up ecosystem, the challenges faced, the pros and cons of setting up your venture along with the intricacies of the industry. This might also open up avenues for the students for trainings and internships in successful and reputed start-up brands.

Can traditional study and entrepreneurial training go hand in hand?

There are various concerns whether the combination of traditional study and entrepreneurial training is a right idea. While the answer about right or wrong is subjective, incorporating hands-on learning extends various benefits and both can indeed go hand in hand. The sole reason for this is that not all the students have the same capacity or capability to inculcate the best from a fixed curriculum. Hence, this combination of theoretical with practical experience helps provide a progressive learning environment to the students. They extend an enhanced understanding of concepts thereby helping the students to learn in an improvised manner. This will further drive them to learn the best and deliver magnificently.

While entrepreneurial training does offer an enhanced learning experience to the students, however, it won’t replace the traditional study. But when inculcated in a complimentary manner rather than one concept overpowering the other, such a cohesive environment will help extend maximum benefits. 

(The writer is founder and CEO of an entrepreneurial school, Metamorphosis Edu.)