Thinking back to the days when we used to pore over discriminating terminologies ‘Engineering’ and ‘Technology’. As understood, engineering is a design process that brings innovative thinking and customized solutions to any field, be it construction, power distribution, or artificial intelligence design. And on the contrary, Technology is a process or tool to execute these designs. More than twenty-five years ago, as a young aspiring engineer, some of us have debated this dichotomy of nomenclature, a civil-mechanical-electrical engineering versus a chemical production technology. However, ‘a professional course’, as we call it, shapes and directs the student to make a profession out of his stream of study. In addition to opportunities in major functional areas such as project management, design, research and development, or pedagogy, the quintessential commonality across all streams of study also helps the “engineer” adapt to the ups and downs of the world. market and make smart career changes. The year 2000, for example, saw a phenomenal shift in the career of engineers from all fields of study towards IT, a sector that later exhibited a tectonic boom.

Until a decade ago, our country was still below the number of engineers produced annually compared to the admission in both the private and public sectors according to a survey. Statistics show that engineering colleges surged in number from about 1,500 colleges in 2007 to a mind-boggling 3,300 in 2015 in India, with a small state of Kerala alone having more than 150 engineering colleges. Whether this lowered the bar or reduced demand for the profession is for the experts to comment on. However, real facts like India currently producing more engineers than the US and China combined can add food to these thoughts. Have we not multi-layered our production of engineers in India? The first group of IITs followed by a group of corporate backed institutes, NITs, selection of state universities and then the rest. In one we see a brilliant IIT Mumbai topper walk away with a plum crore plus annual CTC on campus locations and in the other an engineer from the lower strata, still struggling for upkeep in the early years. A major UK-based global recruiting firm suggested that engineering roles were the most difficult to fill, as agreed by 45% of global recruiters. According to the Nasscom report in 2011, only 17.5% of engineering graduates were considered employable. India’s information technology industry spends nearly $1 billion a year preparing them for the job, according to the report. Once again, telling about the prevailing quality crisis. Eventually, we heard reports like, more than 50% of merit fee posts are vacant in Kerala, AICTE reduced the number of engineering posts by six lakhs etc.

The scenario here triggers the need for business training of our young engineers. If we trace the career path of engineers from top institutes in India in the recent past, we can see that a good portion of them venture out on their own or get short-term industry exposure and then become entrepreneurs. . The story of premium B schools in India is no different. Plus, its own curriculum introduces entrepreneurship. IITs and IIMs have shown a growing fervor for entrepreneurship with up to 4-5% of students preferring start-ups to fancy placement offers. In IIM Kozhikode, 15 of the batch that fainted the previous year are businessmen. A recent report reveals that 41 students from the new batch of various IITs are at various stages of their startup plans. Interesting statistics there! The question is, why are such initiatives restricted to premium institutes and not others? Why can’t we raise the bar and close the gap? Being a successful entrepreneur is perhaps the most difficult task of all, but certainly the most rewarding at the end of the day.

Let’s look at some successful examples. Sachin and Binny Bansal, two ex-IITians from Delhi after an initial exposure at Amazon, venture into an e-commerce startup in 2007 starting with small book and electronics transactions. Now, in less than eight years, the company has grown into a billion-dollar business house, Flipkart, on an M&A spree that gobbles up all the little ones. The case study of Make my trip, OLX and UBERs of the world, displays similar success stories. A 19-year-old Harvard sophomore invented a network tool with the simple intention of connecting with his college friends in 2004 that became an instant success. The site is now one of the largest in the world with over 40 million connections, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. The success stories of startups in India are endless. This is not just limited to the IT and e-commerce sector. The service sector, logistics, etc. it has also witnessed flavors of success through startups. Redbus, Taxi4sure are the names of countless start-ups conceived by bright young engineers and in a span of just 7-8 years they established a strong brand equity. Gray orange robotics, established in 2009, is the first company of its kind to offer a logistics automation solution. Robots move shelves stacked with various products that scan barcodes, once again the brainchild of two young pilani from BIT.

“Zao Foods”, a vision of Mitali Khalra to instill the habit of eating nutritious food. He came up with ‘cafe Crostini’ in south delhi. indiblogger. in started out as a free blogging platform, but the founders had some bigger game plans, to connect the corporate world, businesses and brands with their clients as a revenue model.

‘Under the Mango Tree’, a social enterprise promoting beekeeping, by Vijaya Pastala, an MIT alumnus took 14 years to establish. Swapnil kamat and his wife Ruchira had a hard time establishing his dream company, Work Better-Training and Development, an executive training company that focuses on teaching behavioral and cognitive skills to corporate employees. helping doc com, an online company of a team of medical professionals conceptualized the idea of ​​providing online medical support. An overview reveals that innovative ideas have explored all facets of life, low-cost energy, artificial intelligence, robotics, biotech, health, fashion, food, technology, service and much more. . Investors are now looking for genuine business ideas to finance. Not just angel investors or venture capitalists, but even corporations allocate funds to invest in startups.

Ratan Tata, the head honcho of the ‘Tata group’, moving away from the day-to-day responsibilities of the corporate conglomerate, became interested in investing in 10 shortlisted start-ups. Investments typically range from Rs 1-5 crore and are spread across dot-com, healthcare, clean energy, etc. The pick of all of them is ‘Swasth India’, a Mumbai-based affordable healthcare center that provides medical services to the low-income population, again an IIT Mumbai alumni company. Franchise India recently hosted a forum in Mumbai inviting business ideas. We also have Pro Bono consultants providing services to non-profit startups with relevance and social commitment. IIT Mumbai has an Entrepreneurship Cell, an independent non-profit student body that instills entrepreneurship among students and working professionals. IIT Kharagpur Entrepreneur Cell recently held an entrepreneurship awareness campaign, a massive initiative to encourage students across the country to embrace the concept of entrepreneurship. These electronic cells incubate startup ideas by connecting investors and entrepreneurs with similar interests. The World Summit of Entrepreneurs, Eureka – International Business Plan Competition, etc. are some of the events that drive budding young engineers. IIT Chennai also runs a C-Tides incubator cell and Research Park for Startups. Kerala is not far behind in startup initiatives and promotions. We have Kerala Startups Society, a non-profit organization with the goal of building a vibrant startup ecosystem. Regular meetings are organized to interact with investors, successful businessmen and players. Based in the IT technology park, Trivandrum, is Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), formerly known as ‘Tech Park Technology Business Incubator’. Led by Kris Gopalakrishnan of Infosys, we have the Startup Village, another tech incubator in Kochi.

An innovative business model is about identifying a social problem to work on an effective solution. Thus, the start-up drive is not just a business drive, but one of social relevance. A friend of mine who recently traveled from the Orlando airport to the hotel on a business tour took a cab from the airport to the destination paying around $90, but on the way back he smartly took an Uber cab for just $25 for the same distance. A cost-effective solution is offered here. A decade ago, if one planned a trip to various cities in India, it involved a lot of planning and following up with travel agents, hotels, taxis, etc. Whereas now everything is done in a jiffy by playing around with a chosen smart mobile app. Instance of easy and smart life with start-ups. Understandably, the death rate for startups is high, and not all businesses thrive evenly. But for the young it is a learning curve to introspect, reshape and evolve towards success.

The Indian Prime Minister’s recent business visits to the US, EU and the Middle East, especially to Silicon Valley, have generated an overwhelming response in terms of investment proposals to India. The Prime Minister’s push for digital India is intended to spark innovative ideas in digital technologies including cloud computing and mobile applications. As we all know, the new generation of engineers are sharp, innovative and creative with higher IQ level than their predecessors. We now have the brains, the money, the government, and all it takes is innovative thinking to produce the “ideas.” May the academy with the leading faculty instill this passion in our young people.

May the fashion line for budding engineers be ‘unleash your inner entrepreneur’. Thanks!

(The writer is a Mumbai-based corporate marketer)