Excerpts from the speech of President.
National Policy for Skills Development and Entrepreneurship in 2015
Vision:- “create an ecosystem of empowerment by skilling on a large scale, at speed with high standards, and to promote a culture of innovation based entrepreneurship, which can generate wealth and employment, so as to ensure sustainable livelihoods for all citizens in the country”
Excerpts:-
In India, we have a large eco-system of 4,500 start-ups – the third largest in the world. Even then, it is not easy to start a new venture in India. Access to funding and mentorship remains a hurdle. In key parameters such as ease of doing business and R&D investment, there is scope for much improvement.
To achieve centre-stage in innovation, we need to work relentlessly in aspects such as creation of a favourable business atmosphere; improving the quality of education and skills training; and expanding the IT infrastructure including high speed internet connectivity.
Our policies like Start-up India and Atal Innovation Mission are geared to support the start-up environment. The public and private sectors both have to play a catalytic role in further developing such an eco-system.
The investor community – the angel investors and venture capitalists – has a crucial role to play in the transformation of innovative ideas into successful business models. Every start-up may not turn successful.
Studies have indicated that ninety percent of new ventures that don’t attract investors fail within three years.
Investors prefer a proven business model before investing and scaling it up. Innovation-based projects have uncertain outcomes. Their returns are often skewed as they have to confront the “valley of death”.
It is that early phase comprising the ‘seed’ and ‘start-up’ stages in which: (i) a novel idea or a concept is developed; (ii) its technical feasibility, market potential and economic viability are determined; (iii) a product prototype is designed; and (iv) a formal business organization is established. These early stage activities involve sunk costs resulting in negative cash flows for the new firm.
Investors are often shy to fund innovation start-ups as they are not sure of their success. But one must understand that even though nine out of ten ventures that an investor may fund, may fail; still, the one venture that will succeed, will make good the loss incurred on the rest.
Such are the rules of the game. Our investors must have an eye for sifting the good ideas from the ordinary ones. They must have the risk taking ability and appetite to nurture innovative ideas into successful products and services.
Remember these words of the famous management guru Late Peter Drucker:
“In every success story, you will find someone who has made a courageous decision” .
Death Valley Curve
It refer to the period of time from when a startup firm receives an initial capital contribution to when it begins generating revenues. During the death valley curve, additional financing is usually scarce, leaving the firm vulnerable to cash flow requirements.
The name “death valley” refers to the high probability that a startup firm will die off before a steady stream of revenues is established. After a firm receives its first round of financing, it incurs a lot of initial costs. Offices are usually built, staff is hired and operating costs are incurred; meanwhile, the firm is not earning significant income. Unless a firm can effectively manage itself through the death valley curve, it will fall victim to negative cash flows.
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[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.