B-school/IIT alumni join hands to encourage entrepreneurship

After working in the IT industry for 19 years, Naveen Sharma finally bid adieu to the sector to start his own venture which showcases historical places such as Bodh Gaya and Nalanda through technology and multimedia.

Sharma’s Prachin Bharat today employs about 15 people and revels in the fact that after working in the corporate set-up he is now creating jobs for others.

Like the IIT Kharagpur alumnus Sharma, MBA graduates Kaushalendra Kumar and Kumar Ankit are also walking the entrepreneurial path through their ventures which sell vegetables and grow bio-diesel yielding plants, respectively.

The three believe that like them there are several youngsters in their home state Bihar, where industry hesitates to tread and where job opportunities are hard to come by, wanting to start their own little ventures, but clueless on how to make the move.

“Bihar has limited job prospects and firms usually refrain from entering the  state.

While on the other hand, we know youngsters who want to get into entrepreneurship but have no idea from where to begin,” says Ankit.

So, the three, along with IIM Ahmedabad alumnus Atul Kumar, joined hands to create a platform to promote entrepreneurship among Bihari youth and help create jobs, which can go a long way in stemming migration of youngsters to other states and metros.

“If someone is looking at setting up a factory in Patna and doesn’t know how to make the move, we, as Bihar Entrepreneurs Network, can provide the know-how,” says Kaushalendra, who opted out of placements at IIM A in 2007 to start his venture which supplies and sells vegetables in Patna in ice-cooled pushcarts.

“If you employ one person, he indirectly helps create 4 other jobs. Our aim is to generate jobs in lakhs and not just thousands by guiding as many entrepreneurial ventures as possible,” says Sharma.

Moreover, BEN as a network will support entrepreneurs in terms of providing capital, funding, talent, linking them with investors, and providing other resources needed to push start-ups forward, says Atul, who like Sharma also has a rich corporate experience, having worked with GE Capital, Genpact, etc.

Madhukar Shukla, professor of organisational behaviour and strategic management at Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur, from where Ankit passed out this year, says instead of scouting for government and corporate jobs there is a pressing need to encourage qualified youngsters to start out on their own, so that they can generate jobs for others rather than just for themselves.