Entrepreneurship and classroom education often appear incompatible.One  perceptually encourages you to follow the crowd, the other demands that you stand out and be CEO the day you aspired to be an entrepreneur. When one is dabbling in the history of the nations, others might be envisioning the future.

It is often told that many prosperous entrepreneurs struggled in school or dropped out of college.They weren’t suited to the “educational system” or were not sure how to deal with them. Many college graduates enter the workforce right away after receiving their degrees and remain there until they retire in their sixties or seventies, without giving entrepreneurship any thought. For today’s youth, fortunately due to the evolving cultures on campus, being job seekers and entrepreneurs is an equal opportunity track.

Taking a few examples, consider the couplepreneurs of Coachx, who lived in 12 different countries and were CXOs with Fortune 500s companies, came back to India and turned serial entrepreneurs.The founder first picked a Masters degree and then headed into becoming a venture developer. Similar is the case with Simulanis founder who started as a postgraduate in chemical engineering and turned a venture developer of India’s most awarded XR company.The list can go on and on like E42.ai and Accops founders giving relentless energies and devoting their every breath to entrepreneurship and scaling up the ventures. Were they taught or did they develop into successful entrepreneurs by spray, pray hit and trial? Seemingly they took the best of both worlds : academic teachings and entrepreneurial instincts both worked for them in symphony to bring around the best ideation to scaleup process. Fortunately, all these new age ventures are partners with Vijaybhoomi University for developing futuristic learners on campus.

The paradigm is truly shifting for what happens on progressive and liberal campuses? Teaching is not just about what gets going in a classroom. When Bulksum took shape as a startup at Vijaybhoomi university, it is a venture developed by the first batch of management students. Such sightings are rare to see in the academic system,however the student founders did learn entrepreneurial nuances first and then put them into practice. Most certainly they were taught to experience, experiment, and extrapolate. What worked for them was a supportive university leadership team and the faculty ensuring that these students got whatever learning was necessary from in-house and external support systems.

If one does not compartmentalize the definition of “teaching” and instead considers knowledge seeking ability to develop competences, then entrepreneurship can be taught for sure.Other than the classroom sessions, the learners gain knowledge directly from mentors and even the administration staff around.One learns things by watching movies and reading books, or even by simply going for a stroll. Anyone who has the willingness to have a “growth mentality” can move to be an entrepreneur.

When it is said that “one cannot learn to be an entrepreneur” its paraphrased by those who have fears of commitment, failure, and an uncertain future filled with initial disappointments.The two hinges of entrepreneurship are R & I :Risk and Initiative which makes teaching-training-coaching-mentoring a venture developer, to be a very viable process.

It’s also important to know why xperiential entrepreneurship program on Vijaybhoomi campus is the most popular and well-attended session of every weekend. The cohort consists of students from technology, management, music, design and law disciplines: it’s the most interdisciplinary amalgamation of a batch one can think. Every student may benefit from having entrepreneurial abilities even if not every student aspires to be an entrepreneur. No matter where a student ends up in their career, whether they found their own business or work for an established one, entrepreneurial abilities allow them to first serve others before serving themselves.

Lastly, empathy, experimentation and iteration, creative problem solving, financial management, and effective communication are the essential qualities of an entrepreneur. It is important to first educate students and professionals about these talents and then let them utilize these in building something relevant and necessary. In all, the core purpose of entrepreneurship starts with education and knowledge seeking. The spillover advantage of “teaching” entrepreneurship is to have new age careers and a strengthening gig economy, something which will be the growth engine of the Indian and global providence.

The willingness to study entrepreneurship whilst beginning a startup implies the theory has real-life applicability, a much-needed requirement to become an entrepreneur. The models that they study can be used by students in their own businesses like the Mullins Framework. BCG and 5 Forces models to name a few. Students must “engage” in entrepreneurship to fully understand it when learning the ropes of the processes and theories.

Hence, peer support, access to tools, and a wealth of inspiration are all factors that contribute to a startup’s success.The students interested in entrepreneurship learn how to process information, evaluate situations, and plan their way ahead. They can receive counselling and support when they run into the expected roadblocks. It goes without saying that successful founders are growth-oriented and curious, for which academic ecosystems play a vital role in giving them a playground to run onto.

Rishi Kapal, Director of Innovations and Employability at Vijaybhoomi University