Careers as a Entrepreneur

You have a plan and you want to start your own business. You want to challenge yourself instead of working for your boss. Then you are into entrepreneurship. It is gambling where you will win if you have the right card in your hand. Probably you know Bill Gates for Microsoft, Steve Jobs for Macs, iPhones and Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook. Now the question is can anyone be the Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg?

Entrepreneurship is setting up your business, based on an idea and taking the required steps to turn that idea into reality. The job of an entrepreneur starts from coming up with a business idea, step by step process to make it come alive, recruitment of other professionals, taking care of finance and accounts and administering the entire work. Whether your business is on a small scale or large scale, irrespective of what it is, you are an entrepreneur and thus, your own boss.

Entrepreneurs are independent-minded, innovative business people who have skill sets, which make them self-starters. An entrepreneur can be an artist, educator, professional, homemaker, restaurateur, businessman, service sector worker or an inventor. 

As said by Peter Drucker, It is practice, based on knowledge.

You may be brimming with ideas. However, one of the biggest challenges, an entrepreneur faces is finance. Here are some of the popular sources of raising funds:

Ø  Bootstrapping: Self-funding, also known as bootstrapping, is an effective way of startup financing, especially when you are just starting your business. You can invest from your own savings or can get your family and friends to contribute.

Ø  Crowdfunding: Crowdfunding is one of the newer ways of funding a startup that has been gaining lot of popularity lately. This is how crowdfunding works – An entrepreneur will put up a detailed description of his business on a crowdfunding platform. He will mention the goals of his business, plans for making a profit, how much funding he needs and for what reasons, etc. and then consumers can read about the business and give money if they like the idea. Anyone can contribute money toward helping a business that they really believe in. The best thing about crowd funding is that it can also generate interest and hence helps in marketing the product alongside financing. It is also a boon if you are not sure if there will be any demand for the product you are working on. This process can cut out professional investors and brokers by putting funding in the hands of common people. Also keep in mind that crowdfunding is a competitive place to earn funding, so unless your business is absolutely rock solid and can gain the attention of the average consumers through just a description and some images online, you may not find crowdfunding to work for you in the end.

Ø  Angel Investment: Angel investors are individuals with surplus cash and a keen interest to invest in upcoming startups. They also work in groups of networks to collectively screen the proposals before investing. They can also offer mentoring or advice alongside capital. Angel investors have helped to start up many prominent companies, including Google, Yahoo and Alibaba.

Ø Venture Capital: This is where you make the big bets. Venture capitals are professionally managed funds who invest in companies that have huge potential. They usually invest in a business against equity and exit when there is an IPO or an acquisition. VCs provide expertise, mentorship and acts as a litmus test of where the organisation is going, evaluating the business from the sustainability and scalability point of view. A venture capital investment may be appropriate for small businesses that are beyond the startup phase and already generating revenues. If you’re not interested in too much mentorship or compromise, this might not be your best option.

Ø  Funding from Business Incubators & Accelerators: Incubators are like a parent to a child, who nurture the business providing shelter tools and training and network to a business. Accelerators are more or less the same thing, but an incubator helps/assists/nurtures a business to walk, while accelerator helps to run/take a giant leap. These programs normally run for 4-8 months and require time commitment from the business owners. You will also be able to make good connections with mentors, investors and other fellow startups using this platform.

Ø  Funds by Winning Contests: In such competitions, you either have to build a product or prepare a business plan. Winning these competitions can also get you some media coverage. You need to make your project stand out in order to improve your success in these contests. You can either present your idea in person or pitch it through a business plan. It should be comprehensive enough to convince anyone that your idea is worth investing in.

Ø  Bank Loans: The bank provides two kinds of financing for businesses. One is working capital loan, and other is funding. Working Capital loan is the loan required to run one complete cycle of revenue generating operations. Funding from bank would involve the usual process of sharing the business plan and the valuation details, along with the project report, based on which the loan is sanctioned.

Ø  Business Loans from Microfinance Providers or NBFCs: Microfinance is basically access of financial services to those who would not have access to conventional banking services. It is increasingly becoming popular for those whose requirements are limited and credit ratings not favoured by bank. Similarly, NBFCs are Non Banking Financial Corporations are corporations that provide Banking services without meeting legal requirement/definition of a bank.

Ø  Govt Programs that Offer Startup Capital: The Government of India has launched ₹ 10,000 crore Startup Fund in Union budget 2014-15 to improve startup ecosystem in India. In order to boost innovative product companies, Government has launched ‘Bank of Ideas and Innovations’ program. Government backed ‘Pradhan Mantri Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Limited (MUDRA)‘ starts with an initial corpus of ₹ 20,000 crore to extend benefits to around 10 lakhs SMEs. You are supposed to submit your business  plan and once approved, the loan gets sanctioned. You get a MUDRA Card, which is like a credit card, which you can use to purchase raw materials, other expenses etc. Shishu, Kishor and Tarun are three categories of loans available under the promising scheme.

Ø  Quick Ways to Raise Money for your Business: There are few more ways to raise funds for your business.

·         Product Pre-sale: Selling your products before they launch is an often overlooked and highly effective way to raise the money needed for financing your business. Remember how Apple & Samsung start pre-orders of their products well ahead of the official launch? It’s a great way to improve cash flow and prepare yourself for the consumer demand.

·         Selling Assets: This might sound like a tough step to take but it can help you meet your short term fund requirements. Once you overcome the crisis situation, you can again buy back the assets.

·         Credit Cards: Business credit cards are among the most readily available ways to finance a startup and can be a quick way to get instant money. 

Job Profiles                                      

Ø  Small Business Owners

Ø  Business Consultants

Ø  Fundraisers and Development Officers

Ø  New Venture Developers

Eligibility

For Undergraduate Courses: To start with the undergraduate course, you can get admission after 12th or Higher Secondary degree from any recognized institution.

For Postgraduate Courses: For admissions in master courses, you should have completed your bachelor’s degree (BBA) in the related field from any recognized university or college.

To be a master of your business you do not necessarily need any specific degree. However, the following courses can help to sharpen your skills.

Courses

Certificates

Ø  Certificate course in Women Entrepreneurs

Ø  Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management

Diploma

Ø  Diploma in Entrepreneurship

Ø  Post Graduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship

Ø  Post Graduate Diploma in Entrepreneurial Management

Bachelors

Ø  BBA in Entrepreneurship

Masters

Ø  MA in Social Entrepreneurship

Ø  MBA  in Entrepreneurship

Ø  MBA in Family Business & Entrepreneurship

Admission Criteria

Admission in UG courses, mostly given on the basis of marks secured by the students in 10+2 level. For admissions in PG courses (MBA), you shall be required to appear for entrance exams.

Some of the entrance tests for admission in MBA courses are mentioned here:

Ø  CAT

Ø  MAT

Ø  XAT

Ø  CMAT

Ø  GMAT

Subject/Syllabus

Ø  Functional Plans

Ø  Entrepreneurship

Ø  Sources of Finance

Ø  Starting the venture

Ø  Financial Management

Ø  Marketing Management

Ø  Operations Management

Ø  General Management & Business Environment

Some Institutes/Colleges/Universities

Ø  Amity Business School, Noida

Ø  D Y Patil, Mumbai University, Mumbai

Ø  Delhi Business School, Delhi

Ø  Deshpande Foundation, Hubli

Ø  EMPI’s centre for Global Business Entrepreneurship & Research, Delhi

Ø  Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Gujarat

Ø  Entrerprise Development Institute, Kolkata

Ø  European Management Institute, Delhi

Ø  IIM Bangalore

Ø  IIM Bangalore

Ø  IIM Indore

Ø  IIPM, Delhi

Ø  Indraprastha College of Management & Technology, Jodhpur

Ø  Infinity Business School, Gurgoan

Ø  Institute of Marketing and Management, Delhi

Ø  JGI Group, Bangalore

Ø  KIIT School of Management, Bhubaneshwar

Ø  Kohinoor Business School, Pune

Ø  L.N. Welingkar, Mumbai

Ø  NMIMS, Mumbai

Ø  Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Ø  Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship, Bangalore

Cost of the Course

Cost of studying in a primer institute could cost you anything between ₹ 60,000 to ₹ 5,00,000.

Careers Prospects

The scope of entrepreneurship is tremendous in a developing country like India. To the direction of generating employment opportunity for 10crore people, the Planning Commission has strongly recommended the self-employment to channelize the unemployed youth in its report. The Govt. of India, State Govt. and various country and state level organizations are also offering support to nurture entrepreneurship through different schemes and programs. Here, to mention Maharashtra Economic Development Council (MEDC), that has focussed on the development of entrepreneurship by research and training in this field.

The entrepreneurship has taken place in the curriculum of the management colleges. The apex institutions have started organizing workshops and seminars on entrepreneurship. Thus, the overall movement of entrepreneurship development has started in the country and is expected to gain huge momentum in the near future.

There is a lot of scope in the field of entrepreneurship. After completing your degree, you may open your own business. Nowadays, the youth of the nation is much more focused towards starting their own business, this has given rise to a lot of new startups in the country. In the study of Entrepreneurship, you can learn the techniques to run the business in an effective way.

Entrepreneurial careers can be found (or created) in just about every field, industry and organization.

Employment Sector after pursuing the above mentioned courses:

Ø  Accounting

Ø  Business Consultant

Ø  Business Reporter

Ø  Economics

Ø  Financial Analyst

Ø  Job in industries

Ø  Jobs in mid-level Management

Ø  Marketing Manager

Ø  Office Administration

Ø  Own business

Ø  Sales

Income

Mukesh Ambani takes ₹ 15 Cr as his annual salary, Snapdeal co-founders earn ₹ 46.5 Cr each, Flipkart founders take home ₹ 20 Cr every year, Mark Zuckerberg prefers to pay himself $1 per year and Narayan Murthy earned just ₹ 1 as his annual salary.

So, what’s the right salary of an entrepreneur?

If you are small business owner with few or even no employees then it becomes very simple to decide what to pay yourself as a salary. But in the fortunate circumstance of you having your business grow, or having a bigger business to begin with, or are in the process of acquiring a new business partner you will need to know, how much you can actually pay yourself.