The greatest obstacle to entrepreneurs in India is the attitude towards education. 这里几乎没有留给异类的空间

“为什么印度不建立自己的谷歌或脸谱网?这是科技圈里经常被问到的一个问题. 换句话说, 这个拥有大量训练有素的软件工程师的国家什么时候会改变, 英语语言能力, 有这样的企业家精神, and with a vast market — develop the conditions to build a global tech player?

India has many of the essential ingredients that fertile tech ecosystems need. It has more young people than any other country in the world — as many as 600 million — with over half the population under 25 years and two-thirds under 35. By the end of this decade it will produce the highest number of graduates in the world, 第二高的STEM(科学)数量, 技术, 工程, and mathematics) graduates and double the number of 工程 graduates as the US and China every year.

印度人才在世界各地蓬勃发展, exporting the country’s soft power and demonstrating the country’s pioneering approach to 技术. 15%的硅谷初创企业由印度人创立, 许多印度人已经在美国科技公司担任高级管理职位, 包括桑达尔·皮查伊, 谷歌的首席执行官.

正确的成分

India’s vast population and shortage of job opportunities creates a competitive environment that requires energy and initiative — two essential qualities for entrepreneurs. 自2010年左右以来，获得投资者融资的机会也大幅改善. The old assumption that India’s creaking infrastructure makes startup creation difficult is outdated. Digital India has performed well; and the revolutionary Aadhaar digital identity and payments infrastructure beats any international competitor.

The real barriers to tech success are cultural rather than physical, internal rather than external. 我们需要一场变革, 尤其是中产阶级的父母, 关于什么是成功的事业. 期望的重担落在年轻人身上，要么成为工程师，要么成为工程师, doctors or accountants — careers that offer prestige and security for their families — rather than the perilous but potentially vastly more rewarding path of the entrepreneur.

At Davos last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he wanted young Indians to be job givers rather than job seekers. 目前, even those who enter tech prefer to work for employers such as Google or Microsoft rather than start their own company. Figures from the IIM-Ahmedabad show that of its 383 graduates, nearly half (46.5%)从事金融或咨询行业. 只有8人选择创业.

我们必须改变

Creating a visionary company requires grit and a willingness to defer financial rewards until long into the future. 最重要的是, it demands that you ignore the insistent voices telling you to abandon your dream and settle on a career. Indian society does not give enough support to entrepreneurs who are on this arduous path.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to entrepreneurs is Indian attitudes towards education. 虽然教育受人尊敬, it is treated as important because it is the gateway to prestigious universities, 哪一个最终会成为名校, 建立了职业. Education is valued as the first rung in the ladder to a secure job rather than for its capacity to inspire creativity, 批判性思维和知识本身.

这种功利主义的态度也扭曲了学科选择:文科, 哪些被认为对职业生涯不太有用, 远不如科学那么受重视吗. 然而, creating a successful tech business often requires lateral thinking and insights into human behaviour — skills that are honed by the humanities as much as the sciences.

著名的, Steve 工作 claimed the most important element in the design of the Apple Macintosh was a calligraphy course he attended at Reed College (a liberal arts school). 脸谱网, Snapchat, Instagram and 推特 owe as much to sociological insight as technical innovation.

工作’ experience shows that inspiration comes from leaving students some freedom to pursue their own intellectual curiosities — which is the opposite of the preoccupation with ‘teaching towards the test” that dominates in India. 印度在创意产出方面排名世界第94位, 根据2016年全球创新指数, 印度教育必须更认真地对待文科.

Indian education must learn to leave room for the outliers: the freethinkers whose vision the start-up scene needs. Those young people who feel stifled by conventional education face the additional pressure of feeling they are letting their parents down. (I was one of those restless, short-attention span pupils who failed 8th and 12th grade). Such a narrow definition of success in the education system can be damaging because it can erode young people’s self-belief: a quality every entrepreneur needs.

培养企业家

然而，印度正在发生很大的变化. 印度科技侨民, steeped in the culture of Silicon Valley and knowledge of what is required for global success, 回国后运用所学知识吗. A generation of Indian clean-living tech entrepreneurs such as Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Vinod Khoslahas been elevated to hero status for their financial success, civic-mindedness; and because, 在这一切之下, 他们的工作依赖于神圣的科学技能. 反过来，这也在慢慢改变父母的态度.

It’s important that these role models from beyond traditional professions are discussed and showcased in our schools and throughout the media. One huge ratings success is the TED Talks India Nayi Soch show — a programme presented by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan that profiled entrepreneurs that are tapping into new trends. 每周有数千万人观看.

The greatest sign of India’s readiness to create a global tech giant will not just be the familiar metrics on investment rates or internet speed — but when Indian society finds better ways to nurture its entrepreneurs. It is then that more and more young students across the country — from the academically gifted to the unconventional – will receive the support and encouragement needed that can inspire them to create an Indian global tech player.

本文作者是Blippar的首席执行官兼联合创始人

发布于2018年3月1日