'Only entrepreneurial mindset will lead to faster GDP growth'

NEW DELHI: Deputy CM Manish Sisodia on Thursday said that only an entrepreneurial mindset will lead to faster GDP growth. "The larger goal is not just education but to work on the country's economy by encouraging entrepreneurship. Only you can help us achieve this goal. If we want to see our economy grow faster we need to inculcate an entrepreneurial mindset in our students," said Sisodia.

Deputy CM addressed a group of 250 entrepreneurs on Thursday at the Delhi Secretariat Auditorium. With the interaction, a total of 1,000 entrepreneurs have now been brought on board to participate in the Delhi government's flagship Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum. The entrepreneurs were from varied industries including education technology, event management, handicrafts trades, retail, among others. The government has invited the city's community of entrepreneurs to engage with students of Classes IX to XII in government schools. The Deputy CM will continue to meet with entrepreneurs who have accepted the government's invitation to participate.

"If we are to ask these students about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, they might know about him. But they would not know the story behind the entrepreneur's thought process and mindset. We have taken case studies of several such successful entrepreneurs, from Zuckerberg to MDH's Mahashay Gulati to Bittu Tikkiwala, to Mumbai's Dabbawalas to Krishna Achar. The stories will reflect their entrepreneurial mindset. Children will relate to their stories and they will realise that they can also achieve the same success," said the Deputy CM.

He said that the aim is not to encourage all students to start their businesses. But when the students go into professional colleges to become engineers, doctors, etc, then they should be equipped to process that education to be able to use it as entrepreneurs.

"We are additionally asking all students to identify five persons around them who are entrepreneurs and five who are employed somewhere. Over the year we will facilitate guided interactions with these people. From Classes IX to XII we will ask each student to undertake this process each year. Over the four years we expect them to interact with 40 individuals and understand the nuances of entrepreneurship, understand the nature and scope of businesses, hear about the challenges and successes the entrepreneurs have experienced, learn about strategies they use to make their business successful. We even want children to be exposed to realities of harassment and corruption in the process of starting a business so they are prepared to take on challenges with confidence," said Deputy CM Sisodia.