Economist and Father of Entrepreneurship in India, Viharidas Gopaldas Patel, passed away on Thursday after a brief illness. He was also awarded Padma Shri by Government of India. He was 79 years and is survived by his wife and three children.
Fondly known as 'VG' in his circles, Patel founded a number of institutes in the field of entrepreneurs. He was founder - director of Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), Gujarat and Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII). He was Managing Director at Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organization Ltd (GITCO). He was also the Chief Economic Advisor to Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC).
His book 'The Seven Business Crisis: How To Beat Them' (reissued as When The Going Gets Tough) is a best seller. Equally acclaimed are 'Managing India's Small Industrial Economy' and 'Entrepreneurship Development Programme in India and its Relevance to Developing Countries'. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2017 for his contribution to development of entrepreneurship in India.
"He thought of entrepreneurship when the country was walking on the socialist path. At that time even Hindi films showed businessmen in bad light. He was much ahead of his time. We have lost a visionary. He gave everything in terms of building institutions and systems. GITCO was a logical follow-up after establishing EDII," said Ketan Patel, CMD of Troikaa, a pharmaceuticals company focused on innovation. EDII was established in 1983. Patel was director of EDII from 1983 to 2003.
"He was a father figure for us. He pioneered entrepreneurship movement in the country. Institutions, he established, flourished under his guidance and direction. His demise has created a vaccum. Now, we do not have someone to fall back upon. Continuing good work and enabling these institution reach new heights will be a fitting tribute to him," said Sunil Shukla, director of EDII.
Government of India also incorporated the Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) as a part of its self employment schemes. Central government's 'Rojgar Yojana' incorporated entrepreneurship training, based on work done by him.
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