What Can You Learn From An Entrepreneurship Programme Digital India programme visions to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
By Aditya Malik
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Today Entrepreneurship in India is a phenomenon that is absolutely unstoppable, inspiring a gamut of individuals to go out and achieve what they have always wanted. All is not easy, though, for space is crowded and the competition is intense, with most of the new entrepreneurs coming from top-notch business schools.
Digital India programme visions to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It aims to break the numerous barriers that are preventing people from receiving the quality education in the physically bound classrooms.Direct to Device technology is empowering students to get the quality education, anytime and anywhere. With the flexibility of online courses, students can conserve more hours and more money, enabling them to learn with a purpose and instil a sense of self-belief in them.
The various Entrepreneurship programs are designed with a specific purpose to identify, nurture and support budding young entrepreneurs across the country realise their dreams. These programmes impart essential knowledge of how to start one's own business venture and the various facets that influence successful setup and operations.
The advantages of an entrepreneurship programme:
Entrepreneurship stems from an inherent need to give shape to a path-breaking or high-potential idea that promises rich dividends. The discipline needed, however, to develop an idea from its nascent stage to a phase of practical implementation and realisation is difficult to achieve. The simulated environment of an entrepreneurship programme with constant inputs, cross-examination and learning provided by mentors who have "been there and done that', results in the true optimisation of an idea.
Opportunity Identification and Positioning as an Entrepreneur
One of the most important requirements for a business to survive is to identify the need of the products or services it offers in the first place. The potential scope of the market drives the scale of the business, which is the most important determinant for various other factors. Furthermore, discussions in an entrepreneurship programme can help identify the current standing of the business opportunity i.e. whether it will be an originator of an idea or if there are existing competitors. The supposed market share, profits and growth opportunities depend on the existent competition.
Starting Your own Business
Once the backgrounding and viability of a proposed business model is attested, entrepreneurship programmes focus on the process of initiation. The baby steps of a business are the essential phase of its growth. No business is expected to turn into a goldmine within a short span of time. These programmes also come in handy for those entrepreneurs who seem to have lost confidence upon seeing disappointing results initially.
Building & Presenting a Business Plan
It is presumably easy to draw a blueprint; howsoever detailed it may be, in one's head. The actual preparation of a plan which involves presentations, statistics, a carefully demarcated short, middle and long-term growth strategy etc. needs able guidance from seasoned business personnel. Investors are particularly finicky about the propositions of start-ups as a fool-proof business plan is the only mechanism that can validate their investment as start-ups do not have a financial history to show for.
Funding & Entrepreneurial Finance
The task of procuring finance is one of the toughest challenges faced by an entrepreneur. The investment portfolio, sources determining working capital, debt-equity ratio etc. are some of the concerns which should be of particular interest to prospective business initiators at entrepreneurship programmes.
Marketing Strategies
With the rapid penetration of the internet and digital technology making a scalable impact on businesses, many marketing platforms are fast disappearing while others are quickly taking their place. In such a situation, it is essential to identify the platform that is best suited to one's business' interests. After identifying the medium, talent acquisition and managing the diverse human resource is a huge concern, tips and tricks for which are discussed in-depth in various entrepreneurship programmes.
The most vital aspect of entrepreneurship programmes is that they provide the scope for interaction with industry insiders who guide prospective entrepreneurs on gauging the feasibility of their idea and understanding market trends before taking the big leap.
Mentoring sessions and valuable lectures by prospective investors and eminent faculty in a relaxed environment with a chance of sustained communication help students balance theoretical concepts with practical insights about the industry. With the advent of technology, the how-to aspects of running one's own business along with an intrinsic study of the dynamics of utilising existing business opportunities have become accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
So whether it is a working professional who wishes to enrich his entrepreneurial wisdom or fledgeling business professionals, anyone can leverage the advantages such a programme brings with it. Several live and interactive firms are in fact making it possible for aspirational entrepreneurs to chart their future progress in the booming start-up economy that India presents today.
Collaborations with reputed management institutes give these entrepreneurship programmes the much-needed weightage and calibre to refine a student's academic background. Such firms' direct to device connectivity is further facilitating thousands to give impetus to their entrepreneurial dreams without disturbing their professional schedules through experiential learning that goes beyond the classroom.
