5 Ways Business Schools Can Fuel The Spirit Of Entrepreneurship With meticulous planning and deliberation, we can transform the way stakeholders look at a business education in future.
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Recently many successful ventures have emerged out of business school campuses across the globe. Several young graduates decide to opt-out of placements because they are prepared to forego jobs to implement their business ideas. The opportunity cost of opting out of job market is often very huge. It is therefore, interesting to understand how b-schools trigger the spirit of entrepreneurship among their students.
Here are 5 ways a b-school can kindle the entrepreneurial urge on its campus:
1. Build a Team
Form a team of energetic members to nurture a centre of excellence in entrepreneurship. The primary of objective of this Centre or Cell should be to build the momentum around startup activities happening in and around the region. Inviting speakers, conducting events and organizing b-plan competitions are some of the key areas on which the team's efforts must be focused.
2. Appoint a Thought Leader
Campus is a vibrant place full of innovative ideas. But too many ideas do not mean lot of success. A good school must appoint a thought leader who has sufficient experience and expertise in the startup world. The role of this leader is to connect students to the real-world activities through his/her network. Having someone with top class managerial skills helps the school in shaping student initiatives and encouraging action.
3. Provide Funds
Funding bright ideas of students is a pre-requisite for bringing about a cultural change among aspiring graduates. Verbal motivation them without sufficient financial support might do more harm than good. Show them the money and keep track of how the funds are put to use. Calling Venture Capitalists (VCs) to the campus and organizing a VC fair provides lots of help.
4. Accept Failures
In today's non-linear business environment there is no assured route to success. Learning by failing should be encouraged on campus. A culture of rewarding failed attempts and lauding unsuccessful efforts is essential to spread the passion of starting-up among risk-taking youngsters.
5. Facilitate Flexibility
New thinking demands newer perspectives. B-schools that are serious about making entrepreneurship work must be willing embrace the change. They need to start offering flexibility in credit system and learning methods. Facilitating field projects, startup internships and offering fresh electives are some of ways in which new ways of thinking can be embedded in the management education which supports creation of new enterprises.
We are at the cusp of an unprecedented change. With meticulous planning and deliberation, we can transform the way stakeholders look at a business education in future. With collective efforts of academicians, VCs and entrepreneurs, we can certainly ride this wave.
