Nurturing children’s entrepreneurship skills

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“Entrepreneurial skills are not limited to those who want to start a business. These are skills that every child needs to succeed in life,” says Sriram Subramanian, Mumbai-based co-founder & CEO, Clever Harvey, a firm which offers a Junior MBA online program to teenage children.

Subramanian’s 10 pointers to nurture entrepreneurial skills of adolescents:

  1. Ringside view opportunity
    Work from home is the new norm. Business owners, professionals, artists etc, have converted their homes into satellite offices. This presents an ideal opportunity for teenage children to shadow their parents. By observing their parents’ work projects and listening in at e-meetings, teens can get ringside views of businessmen and entrepreneurs in action.
  2. Speak their language and support children’s interests
    Parents should initiate and encourage conversations on subjects that interest children, especially teens. Recent surveys show that gaming, sports, dining and lifestyle are some high-interest subjects of contemporary adolescents. For instance, a discussion on why Nike’s latest ad campaign is better than Adidas’ can develop their analytical and research skills.
  3. Best time to start a small business
    Investment required to convert ideas into businesses is at an all-time low. For example, to start a channel on YouTube all that’s needed is a Gmail ID. Parents with professional and business experience are the best teachers. Encourage and mentor children to research and investigate ways and means to start business enterprises, however small. Role play customer interaction, selling, product trials, etc with your children. You may learn about consumer behaviour, yourself.
  4. Understanding consumers
    Understanding consumer mindsets is critical for the success of any business. Introduce teens to market research to understand consumer segmentation and principles of orderly decision-making. For instance, if there is a television you wish to upgrade, ask them to lead the process. Ask them to research the market and document the decision-making process resulting in the ultimate purchase.
  5. Pass me that bowl of revenue stream, please…
    At the dining table, parents should openly discuss their work day in the office, share problem-solving experiences, detail decision-making and success and failure stories. Encourage children to voice their opinions on the issues discussed. This is a great way to acquaint them with the language of business and decision-making processes.
  6. Enable early financial literacy
    Financial literacy is a precondition of success in the current and foreseeable future workplaces. Don’t hesitate to disclose bank statements, ledger accounts and invoices to teenage children. Financial literacy and money management is a survival skill which is overlooked by most schools. A good book to introduce children to money management is Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
  7. Develop growth mindset of children
    Children with a growth mindset have a greater chance of success in later life. Encourage children to develop a growth mindsets — the belief that they can develop and grow their inherent natural endowments through personal effort. Change children’s mindset from ‘I can’t do this’ to ‘I can do it if I make the effort and have the support’. Support and mentor your teen to keep moving forward with confidence.
  8. Preach teamwork & collaboration virtues
    Indians have a global reputation as brilliant individuals but poor team players. Invite your child’s friends and parents to collaborate with you and your child to work on joint venture projects and business promotion ideas. Adding other opinions and perspectives to the project they initiate will enable children to develop collaboration and teamwork skills. Great enterprises are built by smoothly functional teams not proprietors!
  9. Failure is a signpost to success
    Enterprises and initiatives that fail offer valuable learning opportunities. It’s important to teach children that it is okay to fail. Tell youngsters that the process/journey, learning and acquiring experience of the pitfalls of doing business is necessary for success in business and industry.
  10. If children do what they love, they become good at it
    Encourage children especially teens to pursue their interests and translate ideas into business and marketable projects. Once they develop love of breaking new ground with innovations which make life easier for consumers, they will automatically begin to learn to love what they do, and succeed.

SUCCESSFUL STUDENT STORIES:

Anish Garg

A case in point is Bengaluru-based teenager Anish Garg (14), a class IX student of the top-ranked Vidyashilp Academy, Bangalore. In April, Anish and his classmate Haashir Ahmed Shaikh (15) launched their company/website virtudopt.com offering virtual adoption services of household pets during the lockdown. “The prolonged six months-plus Covid-19 pandemic has forced millions of people to work and study from home. I discerned a need for families to adopt online pets and follow their progress on their phones and computers. This idea came to me because my father is in the business of importing and marketing exotic pets such as iguanas, macaws and diamond doves on our farm on the outskirts of Bengaluru. It occurred to me that families would love to adopt pets online without the bother of caring for them personally. Under our programme, families or individuals can adopt online pets, track them on our farm via our camera 24/7 and personally visit them at will. To put this idea into practice I signed up for an online programme in entrepreneurship development,” recalls Anish who teamed with his classmate Haashir to self-design and launch virtudopt.com with a total investment of Rs.2,000.

Haashit Shaikh

Five months on, several people have signed up for the pet adoption scheme. “Business is good and we are now drawing up a marketing strategy to scale our operations,” says Haashir.

Thank you Education World for sharing this article. Read more about it here

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