Prof. Arya Kumar

There is one word in the English dictionary that is made for Prof. Dr. Arya Kumar. Passion. Passion for entrepreneurship. Passion for BITS. Passion to teach.Being a BITSian himself, entrepreneurship was bound to enter his heart.

After a successful 20 year career in the banking industry, he returned back to his alma mater in 2003, with the sole goal of instilling the fire of entrepreneurship among students. Well, it's safe to say that his leadership has made BITS among the best university in India in terms of successful startups founded. He is now the Dean of Alumni Relations and a Professor in the Department of Economics and Finance at BITS Pilani. With an astonishing experience for more than 40 years of serving in educational institutions, research organizations, banks, and financial institutions, he continues to strive to boost alumni relations and entrepreneurial culture in the campus.

Here's more into entrepreneurial teaching and development in colleges, from the words of Dr. Arya Kumar himself.

Entrepreneurship teaching is a different kind of ball game.

It has been very clearly established in research that entrepreneurs are not necessarily by birth, they can be made too, which means going through the process of the education system, or other systems which facilitate and expedite the chances of success at the same time launching a business. In that background, when we were discussing how to get more students into entrepreneurship, 2 things struck us:

• In general, alumni from BITS have been doing well, many have gone to the Bay area and launched successful ventures there. How did that happen?

• I got into STVP - Stanford Technological Venture Program - educational entrepreneur course - we went through 4 modules, then another module from a professor from London Business School, who's written a wonderful book authored by John Mullins, titled - Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model. This exposure, over and above my experience in the banking industry and funding and financing entrepreneurs gave me a firm view that teaching entrepreneurship is a different ball game which has to be purely experiential learning. It is not just conceptually knowing something, but also transforming certain innovations into reality. Also, teaching entrepreneurship in top universities abroad has been more along the lines of experiential learning, which enables the students to relate and learn along with the process.

My learning was that we should offer something similar on campus, which is of a need as established by the students' requirements. when I wrote the book titled "Entrepreneurship: Creating and Leading an Entrepreneurial Organisation" and started this course from 2005, a group of CEL students was associated with me and they identified the need on our campus. I translated the need, based on my experience and background, by coming out with this book which can fill up the gap in the market in terms of teaching entrepreneurship. There are many cases in the book, every chapter contains 2 in detail. Open-ended questions (critical analysis) vs questions that require research to be done. This kind of framework you will not come across in any other book.

Why did I get into academia instead of staying in the corporate world?

Well, the perks are my intangible benefits that satisfy some inner instincts and needs. I have been in the banking industry for 2 decades but my passion for teaching was always there. That brought me back to academia. I was one of the youngest senior executives there, but I hade a love for teaching, which started during my BITS days from '78, and I got back to BITS Pilani from 2003. If I look back at my journey for the last 17 years, I feel highly satisfied in terms of contributing and developing an ecosystem for entrepreneurship on campus. In 2003-2004, the first thing which happened was that we got recognized as among the 5 leading institutions of the country by Wadhwani Foundation to promote further entrepreneurship in the country, and the mandate was that for the Indian economy to grow in the next couple of decades, entrepreneurship will be a key contributor. We introduced a new incubation centre, we introduced courses like CLEO, NVC, we conducted workshops and invited top alumni to give talks and inspire the students. I find that it has created a seed on our campus. I find great thrill when I see ventures like Swiggy, GreyOrange coming out. Redbus came in 2008, Postman gained recognition...these things give certain satisfaction with regards to how we indirectly contribute to inspire the young generation, create jobs, leave a footprint for others to imitate, and then contribute more and more in development. NVC was introduced in 2008 with alumni support, to bring first-hand learning and experience. It had a completely different learning environment, without any written examination. Not a single student was dissatisfied with it. The passion was not in the marks, but in coming out with ideas and translate it again.

If we compare India's early-stage startup ecosystem with that of the US, there is a lag but that doesn't matter. The first seed fund we got from the Govt for our incubation was in the range of 5-25 lakh. But in the last couple of years, ventures have come out without any seed funding support and doing extremely well in the market. Never think much about the funding - an entrepreneur can create much out of nothing. In an Indian environment, seed funds seem to be on a lower side, but that's not a hindrance to IT-based solutions. It may be a problem with regards to high research-oriented startups, but even there, if you conceptualize the idea well, venture capitalists will chase you, as long as you dictate and negotiate the terms well. Seed funding support never comes in the way for a heavy-investment idea which has the potential to change the market wavelength.Many have asked if it's right to be emotionally connected with one's startup. I wouldn't say to anyone to get emotionally connected, rather stay passionate after doing a good deal of analysis in terms of the extra edge which he can bring to the market, which cannot be copied very easily by others. Once you are clear about this, you should be passionate to take it, even if the results may take some time. Confidence, determination, passion, courageous and thoroughness are the necessary skillsets of an entrepreneur, but emotions are not a dominant trait. If the venture seems to be sustainable, if it can create a dent in the market, then the entrepreneur should be passionate to take it up, but not get emotionally attached. "Plan B" states to switch over to the next plan as soon as the realization comes that the journey will not lead to a proper result.

In conclusion, I would like to say this:

It is a challenging journey, but this generation is far more courageous, clear than what was the case couple of decades ago. Look at Postman's success. In terms of bringing a change in the way people live or experience. The success rate is going up among youngsters. Ingenuity is coming with youngsters who are as young as 13, Tilak Mehta from Mumbai dreamt of starting a courier service in Mumbai with the help of the Dabba Walas is a testimonial and even OYO by Ritesh Agrawal for that matter. How to bring in a great value proposition to my customers by leveraging technology and leave footprints has become the mindset. Upcoming generations have far more potential and rigour with due diligence and assessment, in fact, they are starting as young as immediately out of university which portrays the sharpness, intelligence, confidence, and the potential for transformation within the Indian youth which will surely reflect in the field of entrepreneurship in a big way.