Importance of Entrepreneurship

Definition of an Entrepreneur

The word “Entrepreneur” is derived from the French word “Entrepredure” which means to undertake. In the 16^thcentury, the word “entrepreneur” was used to refer to military personnel. In the 17^th century, it referred to civil construction activities. Today, an Entrepreneur is a person who combines all the factors of production at a certain price to achieve a certain reward bearing in mind a risk of undertaking such a business. The concept of an Entrepreneur is further refined when principles and terms from a business, managerial, and personal perspectives are considered. In particular, the concept of Entrepreneurship from a personal perspective has been thoroughly explored in this century. This exploration is reflected in the following three definitions of an Entrepreneur:

             In all most all of the definitions of Entrepreneurship, there is agreement that we are talking about a kind of behavior that includes:

1.      Initiative taking

2.      The organizing and reorganizing of social and economic mechanisms to turn resources and situations to practical account

3.      The acceptance of risk or failure.

            To an economist, an Entrepreneur is one who brings resources, labor, materials, and other assets into combinations that makes their value greater than before, and also one who introduces changes, innovations, and a new order. To a psychologist, such a person is typically driven by certain forces – the need to obtain or attain something, to experiment, to accomplish, or perhaps to escape the authority to others. To one businessmen, an Entrepreneur tappers as a threat, an aggressive competitor, whereas to another businessman the same Entrepreneur may be an ally, a source of supply, a customer, or someone who creates wealth for others, as well as finds better ways to utilize resources, reduce waste, and produce jobs.          Entrepreneurship is the dynamic process of creating incremental wealth. The wealth is created by individuals who assume the major risks in terms of equity, time, and/or career commitment or provide value for some product or service. The product or service may or may not be new or unique, but value must somehow be infused by the Entrepreneurs by receiving and locating the necessary skills and resources.

            Although each of these definitions views Entrepreneur’s from a slightly different perspective, they all contain similar notions, such as newness, organizing, creating, wealth, and risk taking. Yet each definition is somewhat restrictive, since Entrepreneurs’ are found in all professions – education, medicine, research, law, architecture, engineering, social work, distribution and the Government.

             “Entrepreneurship is the process of creating something new with value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic, and social risks, and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and independence.”

              The definition stresses 4 basic aspects of being an Entrepreneur regardless of the field. First, Entrepreneurship involves the creation process – creating something new of value. The creations have to have value to the Entrepreneur and value to the audience for which it is developed. This audience can be:

1.      The market of organizational buyers for business innovations.

2.      The hospitals’ administration for a new admitting procedure and software.

3.      Prospective students for a new course or even college of Entrepreneurship

4.      The constituency for a new service provided by a non – profit agency.

             Second, Entrepreneurship requires the devotion of the necessary time and effort. Only those going through the entrepreneurial process appreciate the significant amount of time and effort it takes to create something new and make it operational.

             Assuming the necessary risks is the third aspect of Entrepreneurship. These risks take a variety of forms, depending on the field of effort of the Entrepreneur, but usually center around financial, psychological, and social areas.

             The final part of the definition involves the rewards of being an Entrepreneur. The most important of these rewards is independence, followed by personal satisfaction. For profit Entrepreneur’s, the monetary reward also comes into play. For some profit Entrepreneur’s, money becomes the indicator of the degree of success.

Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations or revitalizing mature organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified opportunities. Entrepreneurship is often a difficult undertaking, as a vast majority of new businesses fail. Entrepreneurial activities are substantially different depending on the type of organization that is being started. Entrepreneurship ranges in scale from solo projects (even involving the entrepreneur only part-time) to major undertakings creating many job opportunities. Being an entrepreneur is about more than just starting a business or two, it is about having attitude and the drive to succeed in business.

Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur

All successful entrepreneurs have the following qualities:

1) Inner Drive to Succeed

Entrepreneurs are driven to succeed and expand their business. They see the bigger picture and are often very ambitious. Entrepreneurs set massive goals for themselves and stay committed to achieving them regardless of the obstacles that get in the way.

2) Strong Belief in themselves

Successful entrepreneurs have a healthy opinion of themselves and often have a strong and assertive personality. They are focused and determined to achieve their goals and believe completely in their ability to achieve them. Their self optimism can often been seen by others as flamboyance or arrogance but entrepreneurs are just too focused to spend too much time thinking about un-constructive criticism.

3) Search for New Ideas and Innovation

All entrepreneurs have a passionate desire to do things better and to improve their products or service. They are constantly looking for ways to improve. They're creative, innovative and resourceful.

4) Openness to Change

If something is not working for them they simply change. Entrepreneurs know the importance of keeping on top of their industry and the only way to being number one is to evolve and change with the times. They're up to date with the latest technology or service techniques and are always ready to change if they see a new opportunity arise.

5) Competitive by Nature

Successful entrepreneurs thrive on competition. The only way to reach their goals and live up to their self imposed high standards is to compete with other successful businesses.

6) Highly Motivated and Energetic

Entrepreneurs are always on the move, full of energy and highly motivated. They are driven to succeed and have an abundance of self motivation. The high standards and ambition of many entrepreneurs demand that they have to be motivated.

7) Accepting of Constructive Criticism and Rejection

Innovative entrepreneurs are often at the forefront of their industry so they hear the words "it can't be done" quite a bit. They readjust their path if the criticism is constructive and useful to their overall plan, otherwise they will simply disregard the comments as pessimism. Also, the best entrepreneurs know that rejection and obstacles are a part of any leading business and they deal with them appropriately.

True entrepreneurs are resourceful, passionate and driven to succeed and improve. They're pioneers and are comfortable fighting on the frontline the great ones are ready to be laughed at and criticized in the beginning because they can see their path ahead and are too busy working towards their dream.

Role of entrepreneurship in Economic Development

The strength of any nation undoubtedly is measured on the basis of its entrepreneurial success. In the last hundred years, the USA, Japan, Germany and many other countries have shown this to the world while India and China, the oldest civilizations in the world have lagged behind because they could not develop their entrepreneurial society. All the resources available to them have not been put to use and these countries have lagged behind in the global markets. While countries like the USA (12.3%), Japan (10.2%) and Germany (9.5%) have the global market shares as shown in the brackets, two of the most populated countries in the world, China (1.2%) and India (0.6%) have a small share in the global market. This picture can only change for them if they can systematically bring in the entrepreneurial culture in their countries. This will require collective effort on the part of the individual, their families, the educational institutions, the Government and the society at large.

          The role of Entrepreneurship in Economic Development involves more than just increasing per capita output and income; it involves initiating and constituting change in the structure of business and society. This change is accompanied by growth and increased output, which allows more wealth to be divided by the various participants. What in an area facilitates the needed change and development? One theory of economic growth depicts innovation as the key, not only in developing new products (or services) for the market but also in stimulating investment interest in the ventures being created. This new investment works on both the demand and the supply sides of the growth equation; the new capital created expands the capacity for growth (supply side), and the resultant new spending utilizes the new capacity and output (demand side).

                In spite of the importance of the investment and innovation the economic development of an area, there is still a lack of understanding of the product – evolution process. This is the process through which innovation develops and commercializes through entrepreneurial activity, which in turn stimulates economic growth. This point, called iterative synthesis, often fails to evolve into a marketable innovation and is where the entrepreneur needs to concentrate his or her efforts. The lack of expertise in this area – matching the technology with the appropriate market and making the needed adjustments – is an underlining problem in any technology transfer.

                The innovations can, of course, be a varying degree of uniqueness. Most innovations introduced to the market are ordinary innovations, i.e., with little uniqueness or technology. As expected there are fewer technological innovations and break – through innovations, with the number of actual innovations decreasing as the technology involved increases. Regardless of its level of uniqueness of technology, each innovation (particularly the latter two types) evolves into and develops toward commercialization through one of the mechanisms:

·        The government

·        Intrapreneurship

·        Entrepreneurship

                 Entrepreneurship has assisted in revitalizing areas of the inner city. Individuals in inner – city areas can relate to the concept and see it as a possibility for changing their present situation. One model project in New York City changed a depressed area into one having many small entrepreneurial companies.

Contribution of Entrepreneurs to a country

1)      Develop new markets. Under the modern concept of marketing, markets are people who are willing and able to satisfy their needs. In Economics, this is called effective demand.      

2)      Entrepreneurs are resourceful and creative. They can create customers or buyers. This makes entrepreneurs different from ordinary businessmen who only perform traditional functions of management like planning, organization, and coordination.

3)      Discover new sources of materials. Entrepreneurs are never satisfied with traditional or existing sources of materials. Due to their innovative nature, they persist on discovering new sources of materials to improve their enterprises. In business, those who can develop new sources of materials enjoy a comparative advantage in terms of supply, cost and quality.

4)      Mobilize capital resources. Entrepreneurs are the organizers and coordinators of the major factors of production, such as land labor and capital. They properly mix these factors of production to create goods and service. Capital resources, from a layman's view, refer to money. However, in economics, capital resources represent machines, buildings, and other physical productive resources. Entrepreneurs have initiative and self-confidence in accumulating and mobilizing capital resources for new business or business expansion.

5)      Introduce new technologies, new industries and new products. Aside from being innovators and reasonable risk-takers, entrepreneurs take advantage of business opportunities, and transform these into profits. So, they introduce something new or something different. Such entrepreneurial spirit has greatly contributed to the modernization of our economy. Every year, there are new technologies and new products. All of these are intended to satisfy human needs in more convenient and pleasant way.

6)      Create employment. The biggest employer is the private business sector. Millions of jobs are provided by the factories, service industries, agricultural enterprises, and the numerous small-scale businesses. For instance, the super department stores like SM, Uniwide, Robinson and others employ thousands of workers. Likewise giant corporations like SMC, Ayala and Soriano group of companies are great job creators. Such massive employment has multiplier and accelerator effects in the whole economy. More jobs mean more incomes. This increases demand for goods and services. This stimulates production. Again, more production requires more employment.

A Few Reasons Why One Might Enjoy Being an Entrepreneur

Ultimate flexibility

You have absolute flexibility in your work schedule. Some business do allows work hour flexibility but nowhere to this degree. It helps you to bring back balance in your life, unless you are too greedy.

Enjoying roller-coaster rides

Business can sometimes be roller-coaster ride - sometimes you get high with success and sometimes everything seems to go against you. If you can realize the pattern you will learn to enjoy it over time. And you will learn ways to control it down the road.

You choose what you want to do

No longer will you have to limit your imagination to dull projects assigned to you. You can venture into any field you want and commit your time as much as you want. You can follow your heart (remember not to leave your brain far behind).

You are you own boss

No longer will you have to answer for your actions to any incompetent boss. More importantly you control your life and your future. You answer only to yourself. If you are self-confident, aware of your abilities then nothing beats being in control of your own destiny.

You can be Bill Gates or Laxmi Mittal or Donald Trump (and brag about yourwealth)

Only in business can you rise to such dizzying heights of material success if you play your cards right.  

Dhiru Bhai Ambani - Reliance India Ltd

Dhirubhai Ambani built India's largest private sector company. He created an equity cult in the Indian capital market. Reliance is the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list. Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. His life journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. He is remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history and built a truly global corporate group.

Dhirubhai Ambani alias Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on December 28, 1932, at Chorwad, Gujarat, into a Modh family. His father was a school teacher. Dhirubhai Ambani started his entrepreneurial career by selling "bhajias" to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends.

After doing his matriculation at the age of 16, Dhirubhai moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked there as a gas-station attendant, and as a clerk in an oil company. He returned to India in 1958 with Rs 50,000 and set up a textile trading company.

Assisted by his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, Dhirubhai Ambani built India's largest private sector company, Reliance India Limited, from a scratch. Over time his business has diversified into a core specialization in petrochemicals with additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics.

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with shaping India's equity culture, attracting millions of retail investors in a market till then dominated by financial institutions. Dhirubhai revolutionized capital markets. From nothing, he generated billions of rupees in wealth for those who put their trust in his companies. His efforts helped create an 'equity cult' in the Indian capital market. With innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance quickly became a favorite of the stock market in the 1980s.

In 1992, Reliance became the first Indian company to raise money in global markets, its high credit-taking in international markets limited only by India's sovereign rating. Reliance also became the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list.

Dhirubhai Ambani was named the Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him "greatest creator of wealth in the century".

The Reliance Group founded by Dhirubhai is India’s largest business house with total revenues of Rs. 80,000 crore (US $ 16.8 billion), cash profit of over Rs. 9,800 crore, net profit of over Rs. 4,700 crore and exports of Rs. 11,900 crore. The group’s activities span exploration of production of oil and gas, refining and marketing, petrochemicals (polyester, polymers and intermediates), textiles, financial services and insurance, power, telecom and infocom initiatives. Reliance emerged as India’s "Most Admired Business House" for the second successive year in a TNS-Mode survey for 2002.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India's largest private sector company on all major financial parameters with gross turnover of Rs. 65,061 crore, cash profit of Rs. 7,565 crore, net profit of Rs. 4,104 crore, net worth of Rs. 30,327 crore and total assets of Rs. 63,737 crore. RIL features in the Forbes Global list of the world's 40 best big companies and in FT Global 500 list of the world's largest companies.

RIL has emerged as the 'Best Managed Company' in a study by Business Today and A. T. Kearney. RIL was named in the World's Most Respected Companies list published by Financial Times based on a global survey and research conducted by Price Waterhouse Copers. RIL also emerged as the most respected among Indian companies and amongst the 10 most respected energy and chemical companies in the world.

Credited with a number of financial innovations in the Indian capital markets, the Reliance Group today has one of the largest families of shareholders in the world. It is now India's leading textiles-petroleum-petrochemicals-power-telecom player. And all this began in 1958 when Dhirubhai Ambani started his first company, Reliance Commercial Corporation, a commodity trading and export house.

Lakshmi Mittal - Mittal Steel

Lakshmi Mittal has become something of a cult figure in the global steel industry. His company Mittal Steel is the largest steel maker in the world. After the recent merger between Mittal Steel and Arcelor which raged a big debate throughout the Europe, Laxmi Mittal current controls 10% of the total steel production and the combined entity that has come into force post-merger is three times the size of its nearest competitors.

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal was born on June 15, 1950 at Sadulpur, in Churu district of Rajasthan, in a poor family. The extended family of 20 lived on bare concrete floors, slept on rope beds and cooked on an open fire in the brickyard in a house built by his grandfather. Laxmi Mittal belongs to Marwari Aggarwal caste and his grandfather worked for the Tarachand Ghanshyam Das firm, one of the leading Marwari industrial firms of pre-independence India.

The family later on moved to Kolkata where his father Mohan Mittal became a partner in a steel company. Lakshmi Mittal graduated from St. Xaviers in Kolkata with a commerce degree in 1969. He began his career working in the family's steelmaking business in India and in 1976, Lakshmi Mittal founded Mittal Steel Company. He split from his father and two younger brothers in 1994 and took the international arm, with interests in Indonesia and Trinidad and Tobago, while the rest of the family kept the domestic Indian business. In the last few years Mittal Steel has made a number of acquisitions, buying up a network of steel producers in former communist countries including Kazakhstan, Romania and Ukraine, and pushing into the U.S. in 2004 with the $4.5 billion purchase of International Steel Group. Today, Mittal Steel is the only truly global steel producer in the world with operations on 14 countries, spanning 4 continents.

Lakshmi Mittal is also known for his opulence. In 2003, he acquired the Kensington mansion, said to be the world's most expensive home, from Formula One racing's Bernie Ecclestone for £70 million ($128 million). His daughter Vanisha's $50 million wedding bash is touted as the most expensive wedding of the 20th century.

In March 2006, Lakshmi Mittal was listed as the third wealthiest person in the world after Bill Gates and Warren Buffet by Forbes Magazine.

In March 2007, Mittal was reported to be the 5th wealthiest person in the world by Forbes Magazine (up from 61st richest in 2004). The Mittal family owns 44% of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel company.

His residence at 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens was bought from Formula One car racing boss Bernie Ecclestone in 2004 for $128 million (£57 million), making it the world's most expensive house.

Mittal has two children. His son, Aditya Mittal, is the CFO of Arcelor Mittal. Mittal paid over $60 million (£30 million) to host his daughter Vanisha Mittal's wedding celebration in Vaux le Vicomte on 22 June 2004 and an engagement ceremony at the Palace of Versailles on 20 June 2004, the world's most expensive wedding ever. Mittal's house in Kensington, London is decorated with marble taken from the same quarry that supplied the Taj Mahal. The extravagant show of wealth has been deemed the "Taj Mittal."

Recently, Mittal had emerged as a leading contender to buy Barclays Premiership clubs Wigan and Everton. However on 20 December 2007 it was announced that the Mittal family had purchased a 20 per cent shareholding in Queens Park Rangers football club joining Flavio Briatore and Mittal's friend Bernie Ecclestone. As part of the investment Mittal's son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, took a place on the board of directors. The combined investment, in the struggling club, sparked suggestions that Mittal might be looking to join the growing ranks of wealthy individuals investing heavily in English football and emulating other similar benefactors such as Roman Abramovich.

As of 8th October 2007, the 44.79% stake which the Mittal family has in Arcelor-Mittal was worth $47.159 billion dollars, down from $48.4 billion in late September. This makes him the world's 5th wealthiest man after Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Carlos Slim and Ingvar Kamprad. As of 11th October 2007, his stake was worth $50.56 billion dollars, making him the fifth person in the world to have more than $50 b wealth.

Naina Lal Kidwai

A prominent personality of the corporate world, she is the first woman to guide the functioning of a foreign bank in India. At present, she is working as the Group General Manager and Country Head of HSBC India. Well, we are talking about the corporate diva Naina Lal Kidwai. In this article, we will present you with the biography of Naina Lal Kidwai. She was born in the year 1957. Raised in Mumbai and Delhi, she did her schooling from Simla. Alumna of Delhi University, she is the first Indian woman to have graduated from Harvard Business School. She is among the top business women of India, who have made it to the top with their constant hard work and sincerity. To know the complete life history of Naina Lal Kidwai, read on.

               She began her career in the year 1982, when she joined the ANZ Grindlays Bank, which is now known as the Standard Chartered Bank. She took up a variety of banking assignments before moving to Morgan Stanley's India operation. She kept climbing the ladders of success. She played an important role in NYSE listing of Wipro. She was instrumental in facilitating the cellular phone services nationwide through a deal involving the Tatas and Birlas. Last November, she became the Managing Director of the HSBC bank.

Naina Lal Kidwai, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in India, is rated as one of the most successful women in the world of finance. Ranked third by Fortunein their listing of the World’s Top Women in Business in Asia in 2000 and 2001, she was also counted among the top 50 women in international business in 2003. In a talk with Vimla Patil, this banker shares the time-honoured rules that have helped her achieve success. She is the mother of two children, who is maintaining a great balance between work and home. She is very fond of Indian classical as well as western music. She loves to go on trekking tours to the Himalayas. She is a nature lover, who has a keen interest in observing the wildlife. For her praiseworthy work, Naina Lal Kidwai has received many accolades. Her commendable work has been given due recognition by honoring her with the Padmashri award.

"I really value a one-liner written by George Bernard Shaw," says Naina Lal Kidwai, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. "He said: ‘Some men see things around them and wonder why! I dream of things that aren’t, and say why not?" I feel what Shaw said applies more to men. Women always knew that even the most unrealistic dreams can be turned into reality by sheer effort and dedication. Many women have demonstrated this truth today by breaking the most obstinate glass barrier and achieving unprecedented success in every kind of career. The finance and banking sector is just one example. Every major institution and bank today has innumerable women at its top positions. These women are not only handling huge projects spanning several countries, but also generating micro-banking in rural India and generating change at the grassroots."

According to Kidwai, who is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and influential persons in the finance business in the world, the secret of her success is passion for work. "We need to be passionate and driven to achieve any goal we choose," she says, need to push the limits of achievement and better our performance all the time. I think we should be ‘engaged’ in the profession of our choice rather than just ‘work hard’ in our chosen work area. We need to literally set ourselves on fire with our objectives."

Kidwai’s own career is an excellent example of her principles. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in economics from Delhi University, she went on to take a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School in 1982. She returned to India to work with Morgan Stanley and initiated the merger of JM Financial and Morgan Stanley in India in 1998. She has worked with leading financial corporations and banks in the last 20 years to emerge as one of ‘the 15 most influential people globally’ listed by the Time magazine in 2002.

Kidwai made her name at Morgan Stanley's India operation, which she joined in 1994 after a successful stint at ANZ Grindlays Bank. She is credited for forging a joint venture between Morgan Stanley (India) and Indian financial services giant JM Financial Group in 1997, making the firm one of the industries largest in India. Considered one of India's top bankers, Kidwai has also played a rather crucial role in NYSE's listing of Wipro; in enabling nationwide cellular phone service through a deal involving the Tata and Birla families and AT&T and in a number of privatizations.

Naina Lal Kidwai is arguably a creator of trends. When she shows interest in a company, people sit up and take notice. Her ability to learn from her experience and use that knowledge has seen her scale the corporate ladder rapidly. Her success has been credited to her skills at networking with the bureaucracy and the corporate world. Her instinct for spotting a deal combined with her ability to predict market trends have contributed to her meteoric success in the corporate world. In 1994, when she joined Morgan Stanley, IT was not the rage.

N.R. Narayana Murthy- Infosys Technologies

Infosys Technologies is one of the few Indian companies that has changed the way the world looks at India. No longer is India a land of snake charmers and beggars. It is now perceived as an economic giant to reckon with, bursting with brilliant software engineers and ambitious entrepreneurs and Infosys is a symbol of India's information technology glory.

Infosys has many firsts to its name: The first Indian firm to list on Nasdaq; the first to offer stock options to its employees. The company crossed $1 billion in revenues for the first time in 2004. TCS, however, was the first Indian IT firm to top $1-bn in revenues. Infosys is an organization that inspires awe and respect, globally. On July 2, Infosys completed 25 years in existence.

The idea of Infosys was born on a morning in January 1981. That fateful day, N R Narayana Murthy and six software engineers sat in his apartment debating how they could create a company to write software codes. Six months later, Infosys was registered as a private limited company on July 2, 1981. Infosys co-founder N S Raghavan's house in Matunga, north central Mumbai, was its registered office. It was then known as Infosys Consultants Pvt Ltd.

Murthy borrowed $250 from his wife Sudha to start the company. The front room of Murthy's home was Infosys' first office, although the registered office was Raghavan's home. Murthy’s six friends who joined hands to launch Infosys were Nandan Nilekani, N S Raghavan, S Gopalakrishnan, S D Shibulal, K Dinesh and Ashok Arora.

Murthy is currently chief mentor and chairman while Nilekani is the chief executive officer and managing director. Gopalakrishnan, Shibulal and Dinesh are directors. Raghavan retired as joint managing director in 2000. He is currently the chairman of the advisory council of the N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Ashok Arora worked for the company till 1988 and left after selling his shares in the then unlisted company back to the other promoters. He moved to the United States where he now works as a consultant.

“Murthy was always broke. He always owed me money. We used to go for dinner and he would say, 'I don't have money with me, you pay my share, will return it to you later.' For three years, I maintained a book of Murthy's debts to me. No, he never returned the money and I finally tore it up after our wedding. The amount was a little over Rs 4,000”. An excerpt from Sudha Murthy's reminiscence said. She is the wife of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy.

Those days, Murthy wanted to do something with his life, but he had no money. Murthy was married to Sudha on February 10, 1978, while he was working with Patni Computers. In 1981, it was Murthy's idea to start Infosys. Murthy had a dream, and no money. So Sudha gave him Rs 10,000, which she had saved without his knowledge. Murthy and his six colleagues started Infosys in 1981. It was not in Bangalore, but in Pune that Infosys set up its first office, in 1981. The house that Murthy and Sudha bought with a loan became the first Infosys office. As Murthy ran Infosys, Sudha took up a job as a systems analyst with the Walchand Group of Industries to support their household.

In 1983, Infosys moved to Bangalore when it got its first client, Data Basics Corporation from the United States. The first minicomputer arrived at Infosys in 1983. It was a Data General 32-bit MV8000. The very next year Infosys switched from mini to main frames with a CAMP application for a Data Basics customer.

When they began moving ahead with Infosys, the founders -- Murthy, Nilekani, Shibulal and the others -- took a firm decision -- that their wives would not be involved in the running of the company. So after Murthy, it was Nilekani and his wife Rohini who moved to Bangalore. But they had no house to stay. So the Nilekanis stayed with the Murthys at their Jayanagar home in Bangalore. Rohini took care of Murthy's son as Sudha helped write software programs for Infosys. There was no luxury, only struggle, day and night. They had no car, no phone. Murthy later recalled that it was not the luxuries of life, but the passion to create something new and innovative that made them keep going on and on and on.  Despite the struggles, the Murthys, the Nilekanis and the other partners took time out for picnics in Bangalore.

The first years of Infosys were not smooth. Most of the founders -- Murthy, Nilekani, Dinesh, Shibulal and Gopalkrishnan -- were into writing codes. And they wanted to make an impact in the American market. So Infosys got its first joint venture partners in Kurt Salmon Associates. Gopalakrishnan, who had spent time working in the United States, was the public face of the KSA-Infosys venture in America. But the joint venture collapsed in 1989, leaving Infosys in the lurch.

The collapse of the KSA joint venture led Infosys to its first crisis. The company was on the verge of collapse. One of the founder-partners -- Ashok Arora -- was dejected with the way the company was going, and decided to quit. The others did not know what to do. But Murthy had the courage of conviction. 'If you all want to leave, you can. But I am going to stick (with it) and make it,' Murthy told them. The other partners -- Nilekani, Gopalakrishnan, Shibulal, Dinesh and Raghavan -- decided to stay and thus began to germinate the seeds of Infosys' enormous growth.

Infosys today is the benchmark in the Indian Information and Technology Industry. The company has emerged from a normal ''Body-Shopping'' outfit to an End-To-End solution provider through a strong process orientation and an enabling culture. It is on the threshold of breaking into the big league and become a recognized IT servicing outfit on a global scale. The company has installed quality systems and processes which are benchmarks today in the IT services sector. Training and development offered at Infosys is world-class, the ESOPs are offered for sustaining the employee motivation, which is the main reason for Infosys being regarded as the ''Best Employer in India''. It is also one of the few organizations in India, which is using economic value added (EVA) as a tool for performance measurement. The core values inculcated by the top management and its vision to excel will drive its growth in the coming future and make Infosys a global player in IT consulting and servicing arena. Core values, process driven business and customer retention make it sustain its competitiveness. The three major business processes that give it an identity are global delivery model, in-flux business model and quality systems. The three soft elements that helped Infosys to grow are organizational attributes such as open-culture, internal commitment and entrepreneurial orientation. These cultural elements and the process orientation made Infosys a reputed organization through its philosophy: ''Under promise and over deliver'', leading to customer satisfaction and customer retention.

Future of Entrepreneurship

                  As evidenced by many different definitions, the term entrepreneurship means different things to different people and can be viewed from different conceptual perspectives. However, in spite of the differences, there are some common aspects:

1.      Independence

2.      Risk taking

3.      Creativity

4.      Rewards

These commonalities will continue to be the driving force behind the notion of entrepreneurship in the future. One thing is clear: The future for Entrepreneurship appears to be very bright. We are living in the age of the Entrepreneur, with Entrepreneurship endorsed by educational institutions, governmental units, society, and corporations.

                Entrepreneurial education has never been so important in terms or courses and academic research. The number of universities and colleges offering atleast one course in Entrepreneurship increases each year. The number of faculty teaching entrepreneurship as well as the number of endowed chairs increases regularly. There are some unique entrepreneurial programs as well such as the Masters’ Program in entrepreneurial science, the masters in the technology Entrepreneurship, and the MBA with a concentration in Bioscience at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Entrepreneurship education throughout the world is also growing. Many universities I Europe have recently started a program in Entrepreneurship.

                   Various governments are taking an increased interest in promoting the growth of Entrepreneurship. Individuals are encouraged to form new businesses and are provided such government support as tax incentives, buildings, roads, and a communication system to facilitate this creation process. Encouragement by the local and federal governments should continue in the future as more lawmakers understand that new enterprises create jobs and increase economic output in the area. Some state governments in the United States are developing their own innovative industrial strategies for fostering entrepreneurial activity and the timely development of the technology of the area. The impact of this strategy is seen in the venture – capital industry, which is always sensitive to government regulations and policies. Many states now have their own state – sponsored venture funds, where a percentage of the fund has to be invested in ventures in the state.

                    Society’s support of Entrepreneurship will also continue. This support is critical in providing both motivation and public support. Never before have Entrepreneurs been so revered by the general populace. Entrepreneurial endeavors in the United States are considered honorable and even, in many cases prestigious pursuits. A major factor in the development of this societal approval is the media. The media has played and will continue to play, a powerful and constructive role by reporting on the general entrepreneurial spirit in the United States and highlighting specific success cases of this spirit in operation. Major articles in such newspapers as the New York Times, The Wall street Journal, The Washington Post have focused only pioneer spirit of today’s’ Entrepreneur’s, describing how this spirit benefits society by keeping the United States in the lead in technology.

                     Finally, large companies will continue will have an interest in their special form of Entrepreneurship – intrapreneurship – in the future. These companies will be increasingly interested in capitalizing on the research and development (R&D) in today’s hypercompetitive business environment. General Electric, for example, has created several $1 billion businesses internally in the last 15 years and has moved all its lighting research and development to Hungary to its joint venture, Tungstram. Other companies will want to create more new businesses through intrapreneuship in the future, particularly in light of the hyper competition and the need for globalization.