Government’s push to start-ups is a multi-pronged strategy to provide means of livelihood to the young and aspiring
Entrepreneurship means different things to different people. A part of the problem is that everyone does not quite see that it can be perceived differently to what they see as elements of entrepreneurship. The word itself originated in France in the end of 18th century where a person, who made his fortunes by seeking wealth, often by the dint of his might, made it good.
Times were different then. The French polity itself was in a turmoil. Those who could not make it good went out of France to different parts of the French empire to generate wealth.
Clearly, this was a model which was not unique to the French. However, as the concept spread, it became increasingly common to use the word ‘entrepreneur’ for people who made fortunes by their outgoing and risk-taking nature.
Quite simply, risk-taking for profit maximisation became the core definition of an entrepreneur or indeed entrepreneurship.
It was clearly overlooked that ever since the homo-sapiens became conscious of stocking up or accumulating assets for a lean period, there has been a practice of entrepreneuring. It is important to recognise that risk was manifold. It meant competition with others who may be trying to do the same thing.
There would be the risk of life and limb from the animals, if one was trying to stock up food for the winter or the rainy season. There would be risk from the element and nature and the list goes on.
It should be clear from the above description that any lifestyle which did not have assured wages for defined services could broadly be termed as entrepreneurship.
In the early Indian literature, in different languages, including Tamil, Sanskrit and various dialects, which had a literary manifestation, there is both text and poetry eulogising risk-taking for profit maximisation.
In an euro-centric world, it may be worth emphasising that though the crusades of the 11, 12, 13, 14 centuries, the quickest way to get rich for many Europeans was to join the attacking Armies which saw victory over the West Euro-Asian empires as there life mission. This was both obvious and popular.
In the modern times, however, like in many areas, the problem has grown deeper and wider. Today, entrepreneurship is practiced with numerous permutations and combinations of business and ownership.
There are the multinational organisations. At times they are in a proprietary mode and on other occasions, they are in a partnership mode, sometimes private sometimes quasi-private. The list is again long.
Governments in many parts of the world have found it convenient to respond to the problem of employment through talk of self-employment and support in various manners.
Entrepreneurship can be of various categories. There are nations where the entrepreneur and his firm is classified as cottage, small, medium and large. This categorisation can also vary from region-to-region.
In some parts of the world, a number of people who are employed, become a category for classification. In other parts of the world, the amount of money invested becomes the cutoff point.
The basis of such categorisation is not to be taken lightly because it becomes the touch stone of the distinguishing characteristics of the scale of entrepreneurship.
Since governmental support and institutional favours are a factor of the type of entrepreneurship one visualises, as being worthy of support, the defining index may have a very significant relation with the nature of growth of small enterprises.
This support can tilt the favour significantly in favour of one class of entrepreneurship or another. Again there is a possible classification of entrepreneurial venture through the lifecycle approach. There may be starts up, they may be medium size enterprises nudging sickness or growing well. Indeed, they may be large entrepreneurial enterprises tending to burst into the powerful businessman’s circle.
That the present Government in India seems to be pushing for startups is clearly a multi-pronged strategy of development, the core of which seems to be to provide means of livelihood to the young and the aspiring class. like many things this need not be stated, but what is understood — without being stated — is perhaps the most powerful statement.