Has COVID-19 Pandemic Necessitated Renewed Need For Entrepreneurship?
Rapidly changing Geo-Political situation in the World, coupled with the Global recession have brought greater emphasis on developing Entrepreneurial Skills and talent in today’s youth, without further ado.
By Manoj Kumar May 16 , 2020
Image by Gred Altmann from Pixabay
Job is predominantly the by-product of the Industrial Age. Man made machines and people learnt to work on those machines and factories and that’s how the jobs flourished. People became more obsessed with ‘Know-How’ rather than ‘Know-Why’.
After close to 80 years, COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a paradigm shift in peoples’ thinking. The World is already talking of a ‘New Normal’ post Covid-19. People are now beginning to bear the heat of job-cuts, salary-cuts and lay-offs. The real damage hasn’t yet been assessed because the enemy is still withstanding its ground and the fight against it is head on. The Global disruptions caused by coronavirus has brought to light the impact of Black Swan events to forefront.
The whole World is reeling under the pressure of this deadly virus and its impact is catastrophic. In India, situation is little better than rest of the world but ramifications are far reaching. Already there’s poor record of data on the employment front, the current massive addition to the backlog due to Coronavirus is going to make the situation more precarious.
It’s time to develop the Entrepreneurial skills in the youth; enabling them to survive and thrive in the post-covid phase. The need of Entrepreneurship has never been felt so intense as it’s been envisaged today. There needs to be a tactical shift both in peoples’ minds and the Government towards creating an environment of Entrepreneurial development.
The concept of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship has been described as the “capacity and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks to make a profit.”
A person who undertakes the risk of starting a new business venture is called an Entrepreneur.
This world wouldn’t have seen big companies such as Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Infosys, 3M, and General Motors any many more, if some people hadn’t undertaken the path of Entrepreneurship at some point of time, against all odds. Today, these Conglomerates provide world class products and services to the society and also a source of employment generation.
Today, much to the dislike of the World, Covid-19 is rapidly changing the business perspective. Disruptions are taking place across all industries. New innovative products and services are on offer; thanks to the millions of Entrepreneurs who take up an idea and pursue it with utmost hard work and dedication to bring new products/services, thus, making a positive impact in peoples’ life.
Traits of an Entrepreneur
It is always true that a smaller number of people know their ‘why’, more people know ‘how’ and most people know ‘what’ to do.
The concept of Golden Circle has been used by world famous writer Simon Sinek in his book ‘Find your Why’.
The Science of Golden Circle
First time I learnt the concept of Golden Circle while studying Golden Ratios in Mathematics and since then I‘ve seen that it’s been used significantly in various other fields too.
Golden Circle helps in predicting human behaviour to understand why we do what we do. It provides the clinching fact of how much more we can achieve, if we make ourselves aware to start everything we do, by first asking ‘Why’.
An Entrepreneur begins by asking why he wants to do something, as the first step in the whole process.
While many of us know what we are doing and there are many skilful people who know how to do something, there are only a handful of people who can clearly articulate why are we doing that.
Motivation and inspiration fail to keep people up when the going gets tough. This is the stage when most people quit. Not everyone who start would finish what they set out to do. The handful of people who make it to the finishing line are those who are clear on why they started in the first place.
Entrepreneurs have their DNA built of utter resilience, optimism and fighting spirit. While the whole World is in the containment zone, it’s an Entrepreneur who, during these difficult times, sees new opportunities and develop new business models to bring the economy back on growth trajectory.
Coronavirus has brought key business activities like health and security kits, health equipment and environmental hygiene to the forefront. Albeit, there is concern about right to privacy but safety is supreme over it. Apps like Aarogya Setu and other facial recognition techniques and procedures are now need of the hour. In the ‘New Normal’ World post Covid-19, greater emphasis will be on personal hygiene and sanitization. One can see Entrepreneurs coming forward and participating in such activities and developing new products and services. This is what makes an Entrepreneur key person in innovation and development.
With the job market shrinking, new avenues must be generated to bring the economy back on track. On one hand Lockdown due to Coronavirus has kept the mortality-rate low, but on the other hand it has affected the slowdown in the economy. Going forward, people must understand the importance of Entrepreneurship and embrace it with a belief that it can steadfast their own economic stability and help in Nation building.
Author’s Take
The need is already there; created by the Covid-19 pandemic, to rethink and re-calibrate the whole Eco-system relating to the development of Entrepreneurial skills in the youth. We need to empower them by providing ample opportunities and space to grow. The Startups of today are going to be Stars of tomorrow.
Nurturing Entrepreneurship have far reaching positive impact on the society and the economy in the long-run. When the situation is uncertain, it is the Entrepreneur who takes key decisions of starting an enterprise and bears the risk associated with it.
There’s no dearth of great Entrepreneurial stories in India, which India can take pride in, but young and talented youth of today needs a hand holding to rise to the occasion.
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The author is a Serial Entrepreneur and a Business Coach. He’s the author of the Book titled ‘Tsunami of Networkers’. Currently, he’s working on a Research Project on Entrepreneurial Finance.