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LATEST
NEWS |
10th
March 2010 / Times of India / Bangalore Edition
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 IIM-B alumni partner MBA graduates to make ideas work
MAKING OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
Bangalore: Let go of the placement cell, let go of the job and let go of the fat and secure cheque you’re likely to get after your MBA. Insane? Not really. Not if you knew Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook even without making his degree. And the Harvard dropout did so from his dorm room.
The story is that IIMB Alumni Association (IIMBAA) and the N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) are working with IIMB students in a first-of-its-kind partnership to do something of a Zuckerberg — get the students to ideate, incubate and set up companies on their own and give their business ideas a chance in the market, by voluntarily opting out of placements and jobs for one year.
INCUBATING BIZ IDEAS
Alumni head Rakesh Godhwani told TOI that the alumni and cell are looking to foster entrepreneurial skills among students by convincing them to try out their new business ideas over a oneyear period, by deferring placements and jobs in the year they graduate. “We have proposed that the institute give the students a safety net in terms of placement participation the following year. The students then get one year to try out their ideas.”
“NSRCEL will also back students taking the risk by offering seed money over the one-year period, if the cell finds their business or entrepreneurial ideas workable in the market. It should be an idea that can sell, that can make the market,” says Godhwani. The Alumni Association, on its part, would bring in ‘market advice’ from its network of alumni spread all over the country and world. “IIMB alumni will advise the students on their business plans, the potential for an idea to sell, pricing of the potential product and even help run a pilot project on the idea — free of cost. Mentoring will be serious as long as alumni are convinced that ideas proposed by the students are feasible,” Godhwani said.
A CHANCE AT CREATIVITY
The Alumni Association and NRSCEL are hoping to churn out at least a few entrepreneurs from every batch of students with this new initiative. The trend after MBA graduation is mostly to take up salaried jobs through the placement cell. “If a student has to be creative in the economic realm and if the Institute wants to churn out creative business minds, students have to give themselves a break from the placement cell route. Entrepreneurships cannot be set up without taking some risk. We are only suggesting a year’s break,” Godhwani points out.
If an idea doesn’t work after a year, the student can get back to a salaried job by getting back to the placement cell. Most entrepreneurs, the alumni head says, would respect the fact that the student tried hard to make an idea work. The chances of such a student being hired by companies are high because of the entrepreneurial exposure.
And yes, Zuckerberg had absolutely no idea when he said good-bye to Harvard midway, that he’d be valued at $1.5 billion four years after he risked his education! |
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