Colleges Should Help Students to Become Entrepreneurs

 

Photo Credit: Microsoft Copilot. I had asked it to create an image to illustrate an article on self-employment ideas specifically for Indian college graduates. This is what it created. Please don’t ask me to describe and explain the image!  

The world is in turmoil. Everyone who knows how to download and customize software offers to implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. Irrespective of their merits, they threaten mediocre workers. A mediocre implementation is good enough to replace mediocre employees. Indirectly, they threaten mediocre colleges. Everyone who can drive an electric scooter and home-deliver retail purchases is doing that instead of wasting four years in a mediocre college.

There is no saying if a college education will get one a job. So, we must prepare college students to think ahead about what they would like to do after they complete their courses or drop out earlier.  Some of the world's great entrepreneurs got an idea of what they wanted to do while in college. They were so excited about their ideas that they dropped out!

I propose that investors, including banks and governments, fund commercial property for renting out on a “College Road”. Several colleges could share one such road. Simultaneously, colleges should introduce one or more courses on business management available as electives to students in all disciplinary streams.  These courses should cover what one needs to know to identify promising business ideas, to start up a business, and run it profitably. Students who come up with good proposals would be given loans by the banks involved and invited to rent a shop on the college road.

There are two major developments that shops on college roads should exploit. One is finding niches in the market which enable survivability and profits. A shop offering pizzas in a small town gets a premium as customers wish to experiment with items they perceive as upmarket. A pharmacy that home-delivers medicines gets a sizable market. The same pharmacy could also offer affordable transport of patients to hospitals round the clock. 

The second significant development is quick commerce. Customers want their orders delivered in 10 minutes or less. Millions of youngsters on electric two-wheelers are there to do the delivery. You must pay a commission to sell through a good online network, vastly increasing your visibility. It automates your cash handling with customers paying online in advance. This enables you to increase the variety of items you keep and sell.

Political leaders could endorse shops on the college road by addressing student audiences, telling them how they create job opportunities.  

Srinivasan Ramani 

 

 

Photo courtesy Wikimedia

A Fit Case for Indians to Fight Against

The world is now recognizing that alcohol causes cancer in humans. The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million men and 600,000 women die annually due to alcohol consumption. This accounts for 4.7 % of all deaths. Visit

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/alcohol

The US Surgeon General's warning on alcohol consumption is a government warning that appears on all alcoholic beverage containers sold in the United States. The warning is intended to inform the public of the health risks associated with alcohol consumption. The warning includes two statements: (1) women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects, and (2) consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems. A proposed new language for the warning is "Government Warning: According to the Surgeon General, consumption of alcoholic beverages can cause cancer, including breast and colon cancers."

The Indian Home Minister, Mr Amit Shah, while speaking at a Conference on Drug Trafficking and National Security on Saturday, 11th Jan 2025, said that 7% of all Indians use narcotics. He added that he would fight this menace.

We can ask why plants produce habit-forming or addictive substances. It turns out that it is because this attracts bees, who come back to pollinate the plant repeatedly! Why do plants and germs produce harmful biochemicals? It is to kill or deter their enemies. You must read about goats’ and cows' suffering when they eat coffee beans! However, humans find uses for plant chemicals that harm other living things. This is where care is needed. Tobacco killed over 100 million people worldwide during the 20th century alone and is now killing 8 million people a year worldwide! We don’t need to allow alcohol to kill 200 million more during the 21st century!

 Srinivasan Ramani