Tag Archives: short

Why not entrepreneurship?  

Passion, People, Perseverance, Positivity – these are the 4 P’s one must have to be a social entrepreneur according to Ankit Kumar. One might have several doubts and questions in mind about starting one’s own venture. Ankit Kumar tried to address some of these worries through the story of his entrepreneurial venture, when he delivered a session on campus recently. Here is his story and some of the tips he shared with us.

Story

Ankit Kumar had a passion for bringing change in the lives of underprivileged by being a part of the system through a for profit model. Free time during his college days gave him the opportunity to get himself acquainted with several policies and schemes of the government in agriculture, public policy and rural development. The National Biofuel Policy of 2008 got his attention and he wanted to do something by utilise the policy to pursue his dream. When the government announced the introduction of MGNREGA scheme, Ankit got the idea of having plantations of Pongamia, a biofuel plant, through the labour force of MGNREGA and build a business model by bringing it under the biofuel policy. Through his journey of the establishing his venture by working with the government, Ankit shared his experiences of difficulties he faced – a missing coma in a policy, the red-tapism of bureaucracy and the policy gaps like politicians and bureaucracy being unaware of policies, no revision of price of biofuels, inhibition of direct engagement for dealership with The Railways.

Tips

  1. Start your venture as early as possible – you will have lesser problems when you are young
  2. Use your MBA knowledge to become an entrepreneur – analyse your idea for your course projects
  3. Build Network Quotient – nothing helps in forming your venture better than a good network
  4. Burn the Bridges – take risk and make that big leap forward and start it

Agribusiness Opportunities

  • Social Forestry
  • Integrated livelihood: Social fishery, poultry & plantation
  • Identify the needs of people: Government, CSR, Community
  • Community Resource Centres
  • 2nd generation biofuels: Cellulosic ethanol and Bio-Oil
The event was organized by the Agri-Business Club of IIMA. (http://stdwww.iimahd.ernet.in/abc/)