Kuldip Maity

One quality that is almost always associated with entrepreneurs is “dynamism”. Entrepreneurs succeed because of their ability to bring about change. However, it would be an injustice to accept this common factor without delving into the intricacies of why risk-takers have this quality and understanding its true essence.

Society usually has a set mechanism of functioning. Almost always, there are conventional ways in which a society carries out certain operations. Most of the general public is conditioned into accepting these “ways of the world” without much resistance, and blends into the spirit of conformity. While it is rightfully believed that such conformity is essential to ensure that there are few disruptions, whenever this conformity arises out of blind acceptance, it can breed stagnancy.

It is at this stage of stagnancy that entrepreneurs see the possibility of change. With their refreshing take on existing mechanisms, they aim to bring about new and improved ways of achieving goals. They proudly wear the title of disruptors while breaking out of the cocoon of their comfort zone and embracing risks in the pursuit of their dreams.

In the world in which VFS Capital operates, where many complain about the challenges that they have while living at the bottom of the financial pyramid, the go-getters adopt a problem-solving attitude to soar over the hurdles. But still, businesses that start with the hope of poverty alleviation keep facing obstacles once they have come out of the purview of microfinance and jump into a whole different world of SME business.

On the other hand, there are a bunch of businesses that are ready to accept the challenges. And once they have taken the leap of faith, there is no stopping them. After decades of facilitating women champions to start their entrepreneurial journey, through offerings of financial services, and handholding them through the process of operating their micro-enterprises, we find that many of them have grown into businesses that can be classified into ‘small’ enterprises.

A few key transformations that we find in them involve their approach to providing employment. Being at a micro level, hiring is primarily restricted to family members or those in the vicinity. But the recruitment strategy eventually changes to hiring a pre-skilled workforce, irrespective of any relations with the employers.

Another aspect to consider is how the small business owner allocates time to herself. At a micro level, we find that the owner spends considerable time in direct production. But as they grow into becoming small, the owner needs to take time off to plan resources for growth.

Lastly, and the most important, the change would be the increased compliance needs. By the sheer increase of the number of transactions in a small business, we can assume that effort on book-keeping and other administrative needs will be far greater than for a micro.

Even without changing the business model, not all transitions from micro to small are organic. But the fear of change should not inhibit any entrepreneur from growing. Having said that, it would also help to have the same guide that they had during their initial journey to give them a jumpstart in their new venture.

Even as life rolls back to normalcy, there are quite a few business owners who are yet to recover from the setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some seem to have given up hope while many are worrying about re-starting from a step lower.

We need to understand that while the pandemic was something unforeseen altogether, temporary business setbacks are a part of the entrepreneurial life. Setbacks are normal, and while some people may have to face bigger setbacks than others, all of us have had an experience where things have not gone as planned. Unless we are ready to deal with such setbacks, we could end up in grave situations, even beyond business.

The first thing many business owners do when faced with a setback is to blame themselves, and then become despondent. It is extremely difficult for them to resume normal functioning, even when the situation improves. Now, it is all right to feel some negative emotions associated with setbacks, but we need to acknowledge how we feel and plan a recovery. Haste will only worsen the scenario as it will increase the chances of failure.

A good technique that works well in such scenarios is to spend some time helping others. The positivity that we derive in handholding others in reaching their goals also helps us find back the determination of reaching our own. It also gives us the confidence that we are not alone in this situation, and that there will be many who will chip in their efforts to help us out, just like we did with others. At VFS Capital, our team has always been instructed to never miss out on any opportunity to help a business owner in distress.

Even without getting into specific businesses and the relevant points on how they can have an accelerated revival, let us keep in mind that setbacks are, in reality, progress in disguise. Starting from learning how to walk or how to ride a bicycle, we all have learned a lot from our falls. Similarly, the confidence that we acquire in our entrepreneurial journeys is shaped by the challenges that we overcome. All of them seemed pretty dire at the time, but have faded away in due course, leading to successes in our paths.

Though the overarching grimness of the COVID-19 pandemic has weighed us down more than normal setbacks, it is not the setback that should be driving our success or failures. Once back on track, we need to make plans to tackle such setbacks in the future. True learning needs to be devoid of judgement or blame. There are many factors that we cannot control or prevent. But the learnings from setbacks should increase our ability to push through them.

Entrepreneurship courses have been gaining popularity over the last decade. Students are taking up entrepreneurship as a career course, learning from experts how to become entrepreneurs. I have always wondered whether entrepreneurship can be taught in the isolation of classrooms. Can the challenges that entrepreneurs face be woven into a classroom curriculum?

These courses, however, play an important role: changing a student’s mindset from that of a traditional job applicant to that of a job creator. The well-designed courses also expose the aspirant to the varied functional areas of businesses that a budding entrepreneur must be aware of. An entrepreneur also needs to be groomed in the softer aspects of running a business.

Entrepreneurs have no definite defined role, except for the drive toward business success. This translates into the fact that entrepreneurs have to deal with several self- and socially-induced psychological barriers, which makes it challenging for them to convert their entrepreneurial intentions into a reality. If an entrepreneur lacks the skills to deal with stress, she will avoid risky entrepreneurs, even those which can be managed.

Another aspect that we need to bear in mind is that the popularity of these courses has also increased owing to the fewer employment options available in recent times. This may hint at an organic lack of interest in entrepreneurship activities despite the popularity of such courses. They might be reluctant to dedicate their time and energy to the entrepreneurship programme. They could also lack the background and knowledge of entrepreneurship, which could slow the learning process even if they have high expectations from the course.

Lastly, and the most important part, is to set the expectations that these courses are expected to meet at the very start of the learning process for an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs could face new and unexpected hurdles every day, and they will have to cross these hurdles. The entrepreneur could have to make decisions in areas in which they have no prior knowledge. Any lack of motivation to acquire these new skills, potentially due to a low need for achievement, can be a major hindrance in the journey of an entrepreneur.

Grooming one's self is a lifelong exercise that any entrepreneur should be ready to commit to. However, we also need to bear in mind that not all learning is for execution in work life. Most entrepreneurs will have to elevate their level of awareness so that they can understand and appreciate those who execute and also make informed decisions when required.

When we talk about startups and entrepreneurship, innovation has been one of the buzzwords that we can not avoid. Many aspiring entrepreneurs keep asking me if innovation is a mandatory ingredient for business success. There are also a few business owners who often wonder why they are struggling to get a foothold, despite having a highly innovative product or service to offer.

To understand this, we need to go back to the basics. What is innovation? Most often, we confuse innovation with creativity. While creativity is all about introducing the new, innovation does not necessarily mean the same. Innovation is not only about new devices, ideas, or methods, but also about new ways to do the same old. While creativity has no bounds, innovation is limited by the boundaries of feasibility.

Whenever we start a new business, offering a pre-existing product or service, it is critical to establish USPs (Unique Selling Points). These USPs establish the value that our business brings to the table and guides our customers with the rationale of why they should choose us over those who are already in the same line of business. This is where innovation has a major role to play. Innovation helps anticipate market needs more quickly and uses them as opportunities. Resolving them, even with an existing product, service, or technology helps us stay ahead of the curve, while our competitors are still figuring out ways to react to the shifts. It is the best way to differentiate ourselves in the competition.

However, one needs to be cautious about applying over-creative solutions. We should have a keen eye on the maturity of the market before we put new solutions into effect. If the target audience is not ready to accept the creative solution, we may be too ahead of the curve and lose out. These are quite frequent in the recent trend of technology-driven businesses. In many situations I find talented entrepreneurs with urban backgrounds trying to solve a problem of the rural market, but not spending enough time in villages to understand their outlook. The businesses fall flat, not because the solutions are faulty, but because of a sociologically infeasible approach.

I feel innovation is extremely critical for any company, especially in the highly competitive and dynamic environment today. It provides an edge over the competitors while giving us the much-required boost of growth. Even minor improvements go a long way in defining success. But at the same time, we need to be cautious about where we should draw the line.