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ShareMumbai: Are everyday worries clipping the wings of your entrepreneurial ambitions? Did your dream project get snagged mid-flight? Don't throw in the towel yet. Your management institute might be ready with a back-up for you.
To keep alive the spirit of enterprise among students, management institutes across the country are coming up with innovative ideas. The Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), for example, has decided to allow its students -- who opt out of regular placement to start their own ventures -- to participate in placement programmes for the next two years. The idea, says the JBIMS, is to extend maximum support to students willing to take up the challenges of entrepreneurship.
"Each year, we have students who are keen on starting their own businesses. But they eventually opt for the more secure campus placement. This is because they don't want to take a big risk at the beginning of their careers with nothing to fall back upon," said Sagar R Nikam, member of the JBIMS's entrepreneurship cell. The cell has proposed that if a student fails, he or she can always come back for the regular placement process within two years.
"It (the proposal) was approved recently. Students will no longer be afraid to take the plunge," said Nikam, adding it would be applicable from the current batch which will pass out next year.
Mahavir Jain, JBIMS placement committee member, concurs. "Some students have shown an inclination to pick up this 'placement holiday' to start on their own. They know they have something to rely on," he says.
The system is already in place at XLRI-Jamshedpur, IIM-Calcutta and Vinod Gupta School of Management besides other institutes.
Closer home, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune, has started allowing students, starting from the 2009 season, to opt out of placements and come back after a year if their businesses fail to make the cut.
"We wanted to encourage students to become entrepreneurs and create jobs for others. For that, initial support is required from the institute," said SIBM director Arun Mudbidri. Since its inception, 39 students who wanted to opt for entrepreneurship have also been allowed to participate in placements.
SIBM, he said, will also introduce "from idea to innovation" beginning next academic year. "Here students will ideate in the first semester and, in the second semester we'll gauge the feasibility of their ideas. In the third semester, the entrepreneurship cell will give them shape," said Mudbidri.
SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) in Mumbai also has a similar policy in place. "We had introduced deferred placement to enable students to come back within two years. This option exists for students who may want to start a venture and also for those who want to work in developing countries and social sectors," said Abbasali Gabula, chairperson, external relations, SPJIMR.
