By: Devojyoti Bordoloi
After the examination, if the rank holders were asked about their future goals by the news channel reporters, the majority answers as doctor, engineer, administrative officer, and a small number as scientist or teacher. But have you ever heard someone in such a position or equivalent said that ‘I will become an Entrepreneur’ or ‘a successful Businessman’?
British made our people as clerks, lawyers, teachers to facilitate their own business during their regime. Our people were obedient servants during their rule and our local business men were crushed. The slavery blood not yet completely drained from us. There is a popular belief in our society (with an exception of few) that business is done by people who are illiterate, college dropout or those who couldn’t get a government job in their life. This is due to the tendency to earn in a safe, social and domestic environment because our culture isn’t one that has encouraged risk-taking.
When we think of highly educated businessmen, we only think of the owners of private nursing homes but these are not known as businessmen or industrialists in our society but only as doctors. The truth is that, majority of the people in our society believe that industry is only a smoking factory causing pollution or whatever and you can only become an entrepreneur if you belong from a very rich family.
The truth is we people suffer from a dependency syndrome, of working for someone than creating jobs. Even the students in colleges are taught to become employees and never employers. Yes, indeed, we need doctors, engineers, scientists, teachers, etc. But we also need entrepreneurs or successful businessmen who can employ themselves and hundred others.
Our Assamese society has a lot more left to do in fostering the dreams of its entrepreneurial children. In reality, we don’t do business; we don’t encourage our childrens to do business either. We will leave the state, work in some corporate sector if possible or waste half of our life doing absolutely nothing in a hope that someday or somehow we will get a Govt. job and will always curse Ambani or Adani on social media as if these Ambani and Adani are the root of all the problems in India and without these two, there would be victory everywhere, but little did we know that if the Ambani group alone disappears for any reason someday, more than 4,00,000 people in the country will lose their jobs overnight. It is Ambani – Adani who has built a business empire, contributing a huge amount in GDP and maintaining their position amongst the world’s business community.
Do we know how a man like Dhirubhai Ambani who was from a middle-class family worked in an ordinary petrol depot became the owner of an oil company like RELIANCE? No? We don’t even try to know. Our society raise their kids to be mirror images of them as they often don’t know much else. If the parent is a doctor, the kid is also likely to be pushed in medicine. If the parent is a lawyer, the kid is also likely to be pushed into law. If the parent is from the salaried class, they raise their kids also be in the salaried class. Same for politician, cricketer, cobbler, farmer and most other fields.
Yes, it is an undeniable fact that not all businesses require higher education or millions of rupees in the bank account but to establish some businesses or industries and succeed in today’s era of fierce competition and globalization it requires perfect business planning and knowledge on that particular topic. Recently, however in Assam, a few highly educated and very talented people were seen who have given up their jobs worth lakhs of rupees and set up industries and running successfully. This is a good sign for the society as it will encourage many new Assamese entrepreneurs.
Failure and success is a part of the journey. As there’s a saying ‘Praise effort, not outcomes’. Lord Krishna said in Gita, we should not think about fruit and focus on our karma. We have to do our duties without anticipating the negatives. Since we don’t have control over some barriers, but this should not stop us from doing our duties. Because dedicated and focused attention will lead to a successful work. (The author can be reached at 7002703540)
