Recently, Government of India announced ‘Start Up India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives, aimed at creating more entrepreneurs and enterprises in India. This augurs well for the country where job-seekers abound, and only few take up entrepreneurship.
One institution that has been focusing on this cause is Ahmedabad based Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII). EDII was set up in 1983 as an autonomous body by IDBI, IFCI, ICICI and SBI, with support from Govt of Gujarat. It offers a unique PGDM in Business Entrepreneurship, a unique program that offers all that a good PGDM program offers, and a lot more. MBAUniverse.com spoke to Director of EDII Dr Sunil Shukla to learn more about the institution and the program.
Director Dr Shukla has been associated with the institution for a long time and is also the national team leader of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) India, a consortium of three Institutions comprising EDII Ahmedabad, IMT Ghaziabad and ISB Hyderabad.
Edited excerpts of the interview follow:
EDII was set up in 1983. What are key milestones in its journey so far?
Yes, we were set up more than three decades back. EDII achieves its vision of becoming a national resource centre in entrepreneurship by focussing on entrepreneurship education, training, research and institution building. To arrive at interventions, EDII has always scanned the environment, conducted a comprehensive research for entrepreneurship and subsequently devised strategy. Some of its notable achievements are:
-- Evolved the Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) Model; widely being implemented as EDI-EDP Model at national & international levels.
-- Facilitated 12 state governments in setting up state-level Entrepreneurship Development Institutes
-- Research on 'Review of Entrepreneurship Curricula in Higher Learning Institutions' helped University Grants Commission, Govt. of India in developing entrepreneurship curriculum for college level education.
-- Research on 'Entry Barriers to Entrepreneurship: As Perceived by Youth', facilitated the Ministry of SSI & ARI, Govt. of India in framing policy to establish Entrepreneurship and Business Development Centres in Universities.
-- Launched the first-of-its-kind structured educational programme, at post-graduate level, to train students in New Enterprise Creation and Family Business Management. Subsequently won recognitions for the course including; AICTE, AIU, NBA and USASBE-USAIntroduced the industrial cluster development model (including cluster development executives' concept) leading to formulation of cluster development scheme.
-- Formulated policy level interventions for institutionalizing entrepreneurship development in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
These are some of our key achievements and milestones. There are many others too.
Dr Shukla, after your long association with the institution, you were appointed as the Director of EDII in July 2015. What is your vision? How do recent government initiatives like Start Up India and Make in India help in creating entrepreneurs?
A critical appreciation of entrepreneurship landscape in India is a must as although the entrepreneurial fervour in India has demonstrated an upsurge since economic liberalization in early 1990s, entrepreneurship as a career still has ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ attached to it. When pitted against the conventional streams, there still remains scope for prodding, to orient the younger generation towards entrepreneurship. With the present government’s focus on entrepreneurship and skilled work force, the phenomenon of entrepreneurship will certainly get a boost. With emphasis on Make in India, Start Up India, Start Up Village, Smart Cities, Swachh Bharat, Digital India and the like, this discipline will become a career of choice and receive the societal respect that is due to it.
EDII offers programs like PGDM in Business Entrepreneurship that aim to develop Entrepreneurs from the youth. Give us a glimpse of your curriculum and pedagogical approaches.
AICTE approved 2-year Post Graduate Diploma in Management - Business Entrepreneurship offers specializations in New Venture Creation and Family Business Management. This course, following an outcome based learning approach, also offers electives which besides imparting knowledge on creating and managing business, enhances knowledge in the functional areas of marketing, finance, international business, HRM, information system and language and communication. EDI’s curriculum has a balanced mix of these three ingredients – knowledge of procedures, formalities, legal aspects, markets, business environment, etc.; skills of managing people, money, material, market, and so on; and aptitude to take calculated risk, quick decisions and face ambiguities successfully. All this is strongly backed by soft skills like communication skills, negotiation, networking, inter-personal relationships, leadership, etc. Therefore, a combination of these EDI inputs turn out successful, competent, competitive and successful entrepreneurs and global business leaders of tomorrow, from among its students. Students from family business management focus on diversifying and expanding their family business.
Along with this, the program focusses and provides continued support in identifying business opportunities and market efficiencies in varied sectors and industry verticals; to get the exposure and understanding of the market. The milestones based learning is introduced for students to enable them to achieve stepping stones in their entrepreneurial journey. These identified milestones provide students a momentum to get involved into various aspects of their family business or new enterprise creation by taking consistent small steps to achieve their goals. The EDI Launchpad facilitates students to learn about designing and creating sustainable, high-impact ventures by testing what they have learnt in the classroom and provide a supportive environment, where students benefit from being a part of the entrepreneurial community by networking with other budding entrepreneurs. At the end of two years students are ready with a bankable project report. EDI extends the necessary follow up support to ensure that as per their identified business opportunity, they have a sound and bankable business plan. Students of Family Business Management prepare a Five Year Perspective Growth Plan.
EDI has set up the New Enterprise Initiation Grant to reach out with financial start-up support and EDI’s incubation support to budding entrepreneurs.
Who is the ideal candidate for the PGDM BE program? What is the skillset and mindset that you look for?
We look for graduates with 50% marks and students from family business background who have undergone CAT, MAT, XAT, ATMA or CMAT and have a distinct entrepreneurial orientation. We call the eligible candidates for Entrepreneurial Aptitude Test and Personal Interview to understand more about them.
How successful are your past students/alumnus?
The EDII alumni have been a steady source of strength for the institute. Over the years, EDII has taught and trained around 900 entrepreneurs. EDII alumni have either joined their family business firms or established their own business ventures. The EDII alumni represent various sectors ranging from manufacturing to services and not-for-profit enterprises. The alumni are part of the movement of ‘Make in India’ through their entrepreneurial orientation, education and spirit. EDII also supports alumni in getting funding for their ventures
In case a candidate still opts for a conventional job after pursuing PGDM BE at your institution, what are the career options available?
Yes, our students are equipped to work at high managerial positions in any sector for organizations ranging from start-ups to small & medium enterprises to multinationals.
What are the other programs offered by EDII where fresh graduates can apply and skill themselves?
For fresh graduates, besides PGDM-BE, EDII offers AICTE approved Fellow Programme in management, the first of its kind, to create a cadre of trained educators, researchers and resource persons in Entrepreneurship for educational institutions, industry, government & non-government organisations.
Other important programme EDII offers is the Post Graduate Diploma in Management – Development Studies. This course is a multidisciplinary branch of social science which EDII has combined with Entrepreneurship and Management to ensure social transformation and grassroots entrepreneurship.
Finally, what are some of the other notable achievements of EDII in last 12-24 months?
There are many achievements in last few years. Our research has witnessed a noticeable upsurge with the GEM India Report 2014 getting published. A landmark achievement has been the setting up of Technology Business Incubator, which I am sure would ensure more technology based start-ups come into the mainstream.
Talking about innovative projects let me mention two major ones that will sure make a difference in the economy. These are:
--The Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme - It envisages creation of sustainable self-employment opportunities for a large number of rural youth, thus enabling them to engage with the market and generate wealth locally. With EDI as the implementing partner, the programme has commenced in eight states.
-- The Institute has been roped in the Accenture Project –‘Skills to Succeed 2020 Goal’ Under this project EDI would organize Micro Enterprise Development Programmes (MEDPs) in five southern states of the country to develop micro entrepreneurs among the rural youth.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on EDII Ahmedabad
