ScooNews April 2019 - Digital Edition by ScooNews

Children must be taught how to think, not what to think

Volume 3 Issue 9 April 2019 CHANGING TEACHERS’ LIVES EVERYDAY, EVERY WAY!

Margaret Mead

STRAIGHT

Group Editor Ravi Santlani Deputy Editor Parvathy Jayakrishnan

TALK

Reporters Anushka Yadav, Ashima Sharma, Anuj Kr.

Ravi Santlani, CEO

Website Team Pranav Sharma, Ojas Godatwar Art Direction Rexsu Cherry Advisory Board: Anand Kumar, Founder, Super-30 Dr Jagpreet Singh, Headmaster, The Punjab Public School, Nabha Dr Neeta Bali, Director- Principal, G D Goenka World School, Gurugram Dr Swati Popat Vats, President, Podar Education Network & President, Early Childhood Association India Geeta Dharmarajan, Founder & President, Katha Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar,Trustee, Vidyadan Trust & Maharana of Mewar Foundation Lt Gen SH Kulkarni (Retd), Director, Mayo College Meenakshi Uberoi, Education Evangelist, Founder, De Pedagogics Nishi Misra, Principal, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior Prajakt Raut, Co-founder, Applyifi & The Growth Labs Sandeep Dutt, Founder & Chairman, Learning Forward India Skand Bali, Principal, The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet Pics Pressfoto Pixabay, Shutterstock Cover Design ATLT Inc

Founder & CEO Ravi Santlani Vice President Operations Vinay K Singh Vice President PR Vanya Bhandari Sales & Communication Strategist Monica Singh BD Manager Virendra Kashyap, Ajeesh Joseph BD Executive Yashwant Parmar, Shivam Joshi, Aryan Mudgal, Shoaib Ali Sagar Nagpal EDITORIAL OFFICE EduPulse Media Pvt Ltd, J-3, Jhalana Institutional Area, Second Floor, Jaipur 302004 India Email: editor@scoonews.com FOR ALL SALES QUERIES Virendra Kashyap + 91-99532-19439 Ajeesh Joseph + 91-74120-73091 sales@scoonews.com FOR SUBSCRIPTION +91-72405-17913 subscribe@scoonews.com PRINTED AND PUBLISHED by Ravi Santlani on behalf of EduPulse Media Pvt Ltd PRINTED AT Popular Printers, Fateh Tiba, MD Road Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. PUBLISHED AT,J-3, Jhalana Institutional Area, Second Floor, Jaipur-302004, India Editor : Ravi Santlani Publishing Date: 10 April ‘2019 Total number of pages 48, including Covers

Educate, empower

rom among the many students in a class, a small percentage of toppers may join the IAS or become engineers, corporate executives and join Microsoft and Google and so on. But what about those like Ravi Santlani, in his childhood? The back-benchers, the ones who never obsess over marks and grades, the street-smart but far from bookish breed? I was not very bright in studies but from young, I was well aware of my natural ability to solve problems of different shapes and sizes. I knew how to talk, build relationship and network—yes, even back then! In fact, this ensured I was rather a famous child at school— not always for all the right reasons, of course! These, contrary to most harried teachers’ beliefs, were natural leadership characteristics asserting themselves. Invariably it’s the ‘badmaash bachchas’ who possess these leadership skills, and accomplish far more than expected. It does not follow that students who aren’t too academically inclined won’t be successful vis a vis the toppers of the class. A lot of so-called ‘failures’ in academics have proved to be great entrepreneurs. Like Alibaba’s Jack Ma, many others who are at the top in their entrepreneurial journey, were not necessarily good at academics. I think if entrepreneurship education existed when I was in school, I would have been a better entrepreneur today. Entrepreneurship does not require a certificate. But does that mean we wait till our kids are adults to provide them with the knowledge, skills and motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success in a variety of settings? With society developing with technology and innovations, it’s time to rejuvenate our stagnant K-12 school scenario. Education is the driving force behind every country’s economy and it is time to ensure our students do not lack the advanced skills and innovative thinking to work through the challenges in the workplace. Not every child will grow up to be a Mark Zuckerberg. But the least we can do is equip them to think creatively and ambitiously, and thereby nurture talents and skills, create opportunities, instil confidence and stimulate the economy. Yes, so many pluses and we are still pondering the issue?

April 2019

CONTENTS

22 TURNING SMALL

IDEAS INTO BIG WINS

36 BRIGHT SPARKS, SMART LESSONS

44 10 TED TALKS TEACHERS CAN USE TO FOSTER ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PARVATHY JAYAKRISHNAN explores the importance of teaching entrepreneurship in schools and how to go about it

32 ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN

SCHOOLS LESS BUSINESS; MORE LIFE SKILLS

ANUSHKA YADAV examines the need to raise lifelong learners and agile thinkers for a world losing its grip on traditional jobs

April 2019

From the importance of delegation to overcoming the fear of failure, MARIE Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;SOUZA explores the lessons that kid entrepreneurs teach us

TECH IT OUT

YOURS TRULY INTERESTING SUGGESTIONS I always look forward to the Take 2 section in your magazine. I love how your magazine picks a theme each month and wraps around the book suggestions accordingly. Even though the books suggested in the issue were for early childhood education professionals, I found the reads to be interesting as a preschooler’s parent as well. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Once Upon a Time written by Dr Swati Popat Vats and Vinitha. Love how the book is interactive and uses insightful anecdotes and quotes. Sonali Ghosh, New Delhi

PRINCELY POINTS I have been an admirer of Prince Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar. I find him embodying some of the best qualities of erstwhile royalty. Reading his address at Early Ed Asia, re-emphasised his wit and wisdom. The anecdote about the conversation between a key and a hammer did drive the point home—to engage with children’s minds, we must lightly touch their souls. Freny Mehta Gujarat

ESSENTIAL INDEED It was enlightening to read about the true meaning of early childhood care and education, and why is it essential for the healthy development of each individual. For years, we have sidelined this important part of education; the foundation years are responsible for an individual’s life. A very informative feature story for those who don’t know what ECCE is and the role it plays. I’d suggest everyone who is dealing with children, read this issue. Shanti Ahuja Chandigarh

FANTASTIC READ Congratulations to the entire team of ScooNews for putting up such a stellar issue post Early Ed Asia 2019. The way all the sessions have been encapsulated

in one issue is brilliant! It’s a wonderful read for those who couldn’t attend the conference. A must read for all ECCE educators and parents. Have to say that the February and March issues have been spectacular! Babita Jamwal Lucknow

ROYAL SHOW I enjoyed leafing through the March issue of ScooNews and was particularly impressed by the beautiful images of the Early Ed conference. Jaipur is a beautiful city anyway and ScooNews has evidently showcased the best of its warmth and grace. The beautiful palaces, lawns, elephants and horses and not to miss the charming décor make for a delightful sight. Jini Matthews Kochi

TREASURED LEARNING

FUN LEARNING I was lucky to find the Tech It Out section in ScooNews’ March issue. I found the perfect apps to download for my kid, Niharika. She has been loving the fun and educational games. Since there are four suggestions, I give her alternative apps to complete daily exercises and I don’t have to worry about monotony coming in. Thanks to the author for suggesting such amazing apps! Looking forward to more such suggestions. Vikram Sinha Ranchi

IMPORTANT INSIGHTS It was pure joy reading about the Early Ed Asia conference in Jaipur in your March issue. Early education is often ignored in our country while it is a known fact that a child's brain develops rapidly up to the age of five years. The ECA is doing a great job by promoting the importance of early education in India. Thank you, ScooNews for conducting the conference and sharing so much insight into early childhood education.

Thanks ScooNews for the special coverage of Early Ed Asia. It enabled educators like me, who couldn’t make it to Jaipur, to still catch up on all the wonderful and insightful lectures and sessions. I was particularly touched by the words of Dr Anupam Sibal on New Age Parenting. It was heartening to understand that for a child, we are a parent, nothing more and nothing less, with whom they want to share how their day went. I fully agree with his emphasis on not wanting to create perfect children with the “perfection bug” because “we aren’t perfect parents” either. As parents, we do need to have two-way communication with our children, with values slipped in real-life situations and interesting stories of personalities, as Sibal suggests. As a parent, I am now working on ensuring I have my child’s undivided attention for 15 minutes every day while focusing on what I want to teach her with my actions.

Your March issue was filled with information on early education from experts in the field including Dr Swati Popat Vats, Stefano Cobello, Claire Warden and Dr Ernesto Burgio. It would be great if we can incorporate some of their ideas into our preschools so that our children get the best. Claire Warden's kindergarten would be ideal for our tiny tots to grow in tune with nature. The job of a preschool teacher is immense and with the right training, they can make a huge difference to many lives. Let's use all the information we can get from these experts to better our preschools.

Tina Rodrigues Mumbai

Maria Jacob Hyderabad

Mythili Bhatt Bangalore

PRACTICE NEEDED

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April 2019

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TRENDING

Kenya’s Peter Tabichi

wins Global

Teacher Prize A most well-deserved win… Peter Tabichi, a teacher from Kenya’s remote village Nakuru, who gave away most of his earnings to poor students, was adjudged winner of the $1 million Global Teacher Prize. The award, that honours one exceptional educator a year, is granted by the Varkey Foundation, whose founder established the for-profit GEMS Education company. Tabichi, a Mathematics and Physics teacher, gives away 80 per cent of his income to help the poor in the remote village of Pwani. Here, almost a third of children are orphans or have only one parent, and droughts and famine are common. Peter is the first African male to have won the award, which was announced by Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He had started a talent nurturing club and expanded the school's Science Club, helping pupils design research projects of such quality that 60 per cent now qualifies for national competitions. Interestingly, India’s own Dr Swaroop Sampat Rawal, Life Skills teacher at Lavad Primary School in Gujarat, had made it to the top 10 finalists from among the 10,000 applicants. The awards ceremony, held in Dubai, was hosted by actor Hugh Jackman.

Cabinet approves reservation in Teachers’ Cadre Ordinance The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal for promulgation of "The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Ordinance, 2019" considering the University/ College as a unit instead of 'Department/ Subject'. This decision is expected to improve the teaching standards in the higher educational institutions to attract all eligible talented candidates. It will allow filling up of more than 5000 vacancies by direct recruitment in Teachers' Cadre duly ensuring that the Constitutional Provisions of Articles 14, 16 and 21 shall be complied with and stipulated reservation criteria for the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes are met with.

President inaugurates Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Shri Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on March 15, 2019. He also presented the 10th Biennial National Grassroots Innovation Awards. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that as we seek to meet important developmental goals and build a caring, inclusive and happy society, we have to draw upon the

April 2019

power of innovation to find solutions to India’s concerns in diverse domains such as health, education, food security, energy access, environmental protection, and national security. We have to make all efforts to promote an innovation culture and become an innovation society. This will provide us the best possibility of ensuring that every young Indian will have an opportunity to realise his or her true potential.

15 Rajasthan govt schools to be named after slain security personnel

The Rajasthan government will be naming government schools after the names of the 15 martyred soldiers who were defending the nation's volatile borders. The initiative is expected to bring students closer to the sacrifices of the armed forces and will promote them as real-life heroes and role models for the future generations. Among the schools to be named after the slain security personnel, one school is in Churu, Jhunjhunu, Nagaur district each, two schools in Alwar and Sikar district, and one school in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer district each.

Azim Premji Foundation raises endowment for philanthropic activities Billionaire Azim Premji, chairman of W ipro, raised his endowment to $21 billion for philanthropic activities. The rise in endowment is expected to result in the foundation going into deeper areas in fieldwork, apart from increasing annual grants by four times to other non-profit organisations. The foundation is also planning to open a university campus. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our work in the states where we are currently present will be more intensive with scaling up to the tune of two-three times. Grants to NGOs will also increase five times in the next five years,â&#x20AC;? said Anurag Behar, chief executive officer, Azim Premji Foundation, and vice-chancellor, Azim Premji University. April 2019

TRENDING Google Bolo reading-tutor app launched in India As the smartphone penetration expands in rural India, Google is hoping to piggyback on it to help children with their reading skills. They launched the Bolo Android app, that is a speech-based reading-tutor app aimed at rural kids, who otherwise may not have access to a good education support system. Being released in India first, the Bolo app is now available for free via Google Play and can work offline. Google believes that technology has the power to help transform teaching and learning, and has been actively directing products, programs and philanthropy to ensure that all students are able to benefit from it. Built for native Hindi-speakers in its current avatar, the Bolo app helps the children improve their Hindi and English reading skills by encouraging them to read aloud. It comes with a large number of engaging stories, which the company hopes, will help the children in improving their comprehension skills. The app has been designed to make sure that children don't need any help in using it and can read all by themselves. Google notes that all the reading material on the app is free and it is working with other companies to bring more content to Bolo.

Doctor provides free food and education to patients With an aim to help poor people, this 80-year-old physician, Dr Siddalingappa Murugeppa Yeli, distributes free medicines to his patients taking less than Rs.30 as consultation fee. While some offer him Rs.10, Rs.20 or Rs.30, a few don’t even pay anything and those who pay more than Rs.30 are returned the excess amount. As the patients wait for their turn at his clinic in Davanagere, they don’t get tired of praising him. He even recommends free tests for the poor at his diagnostics centre and even gives bus fare to those in need. That's why he is known as ‘The walking God of Davanagere’. Dr Yeli has been serving the poor in Davanagere for 50 years. Patients say he also conducts a free medical camp at Shivayogi Mandira once a year. “It is my duty to serve society as I have benefited from it greatly. There is nothing special in this,” the doctor says.

April 2019

‘W alking Library’of Bangladesh no more “People in my village do not pursue studies. Where is the time? Hunger makes them toil all day. That’s why I thought if I can somehow initiate them to reading…” a 96-year-old Polan Sarkar had once shared. He himself could not complete school but had been making the poorest of poor of Bangladesh read for the past 30 years. Recognised and revered as the ‘Walking Library’ or Alor Ferrywala (‘Peddler of Lights’) in his motherland Bangladesh, noted social activist Polan Sarkar breathed his last on March 1, 2019, at 98. Born as Harez Uddin Sarkar on September 9, 1921, in an obscure village of Natore, Bangladesh, Polan Sarkar got popular later in life with the nickname fondly given by his mother. Financial constraints did not permit Polan to pursue his education beyond the sixth standard. However, a young Polan had already picked up an addiction—the addiction for reading. As a young adult, Polan joined a folk theatre group and acted in small comic roles. In a 2017 interview, Polan Sarkar had said, “I have seen people donate food or clothes, but nobody ever thinks about donating knowledge.” He himself was the flagbearer of this concept in his country. The book crusader created a reader base of 5000 people across ten villages, simply walking on foot. Unsurprisingly, his gifts to his friends, relatives or acquaintances, on any occasion, would always comprise books. The people of Bangladesh have honoured the legacy created by Polan Sarkar through several awards, including the country’s highest civilian award for social work – Ekushe Padak. He was not someone to be swayed by the success and had always continued heralding his tradition. He had kept aside all the money he received with the Ekushe Padak, for renovating his school and library.

Karnataka ed dept locks MOU with Embassy Group Embassy Group has locked in a Memorandum of Understanding with Karnataka Government's Department of Education for holistic growth of children of Bengaluru and surrounding areas. The MOU entails providing support to 16 government and semi-aided institutes to improve their knowledge patterns and skill capabilities. The MOU, signed for the next two years, was inked between the Government of Karnataka Department of Education and Embassy Group's Managing Director Jitu Virwani.

It would include designing courses that look into deficiencies in learning outcomes of students and focus on targeted oriented results. The syllabi and teaching will be the focus areas so that results show an upward trend. Their other initiatives include distribution of school uniforms, books/notebooks, stationery, to deserving students. It also includes classroom collaboration through interactive learning sessions, discussions, e-classrooms, vocational training, scholarships and alumni exchanges etc.

India will take 87 years to have basic amenities in schools, RTE compliance

In the recent years, the share of schools that comply with the Right To Education guidelines have increased by a mere 3.7 per cent, says a report on RTE implementation. Implementation of RTE has risen marginally from 9 per cent in 2013-14 to 12.7 per cent in 2016-17 according to the Unified District Information System for Education data, said a study by The RTE Forum, a coalition of over 10,000 organisations across 20 states. This boils down to an average of 1 per cent per year. At the current rate of progress, the report states, it will take India 87 years to make every school compliant with its very basic quality norms.

PMO intervenes to end Kerala disabled boy’s fight for education Thirteen-year-old Muhammed Asim’s determination has paid off. Born without hands, Kerala’s Asim had approached everyone he could for the last two years to help him continue his education. Asim got a boost from the Prime Minister’s office, four days after he started a protest march from his house to the state secretariat after all his attempts to get his school in Omassery panchayat in Kozhikode district upgraded to a high school failed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office has directed the Union Human Resource Development ministry to consult with the state education department and address his issue immediately. The son of a madrassa teacher, who has 90 per cent disability, he had completed his class 7 from the Government Mappila Upper Primary School in Omassery, which is just 250 metres from his house, in 2018. Asim had written several letters with his feet to many leaders, including Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, to seek their support. Everyone promised to help but nothing came up. With the intervention of the PM’s office, Asim said his goal is now in sight. Asim said if the school is upgraded it will benefit many other children, including some from the nearby tribal colonies. “My education is my right. I want to study well and want to become a teacher. Once I achieve this, I will work among people like me to improve their lives,” he said.

April 2019

EXPERT SPEAK

THE NEW GOAL OF

EDUCATION

Ashok Pandey writeback@scoonews.com

very child is unique with an innate potential. It is our responsibility to help them achieve their potential. Children learn in a variety of ways. When children enter primary school, too much emphasis is laid down on linguistic and logical skills. Teaching and learning is restricted to the curriculum. Teaching is one way and lacks interaction with the students. Using multiple intelligences in the classroom allows a single topic to be taught and learned in eight different ways. It also enables children to learn that there are eight different ways to learn. Children can exercise their choice by learning in any of the eight ways, thereby facilitate their own learning. Before we begin to understand the concept of multiple intelligence, let’s take a look at where this idea originated. This revolutionary concept was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983. A developmental psychologist and professor of cognition and education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, Howard Gardner was an enthusiastic pianist. His extensive work in the area of human cognition led him to his theory of multiple intelligences. In simple words his theory leads to the understanding that intelligence is a property of all human beings. Each one of us possesses the eight intelligences listed in Gardner’s theory. Access to quality education is a prerequisite to the quality of life, social transformation, innovation, sound

April 2019

value system, and to build high human capital. The educators, policymakers and civil society are aware of the challenges that we face today in the country. Over 17 million children and adolescents are out of school, according to a report published in UNESCO’s eAtlas of out of school children. The share of GDP to education is hovering below the targeted 6% hampering efforts to provide educational access, especially to the weaker sections, investment in research and technology, teacher development, skilling, and in creating a pipeline of the employable workforce. Over 10 million young people in India need jobs at any given time. We face four fundamental challenges in school education; 1. Failure to retain every child in the school and to keep them on track (17% of the children who enrol today in class I, drop out before they complete class VIII), 2. Lack of education and skilling opportunities for dropouts, 3. Inability to respond to cognitive, socio-economic and linguistic diversities, and 4. Failure to teach entrepreneurial skills.

India has consistently improved its enrollment of school education ratio at primary level. However, at a higher level, it remains low at 23%, necessitating a need for strengthening the secondary education landscape, vocational education and skill development. India is a country with 65% of its youth in the working age group. The skill mission launched by the Prime Minister on July 15, 2015, has gathered great steam. With the expanding educational access, need for excellence, and maximising employability becomes imperative. The government is conscious of equality issues and accountability in achieving learning outcomes. In the era of globalisation, and India’s growing stature in the world, the right skills and competencies are the essential requirements. Our teaching-learning standards must match up to global benchmarks. Considering that we are the fastest growing economy, India will be a dominant hub of talent and the world’s workforce; the Union and State budget

substantially enhancing fund allocation and managing its utilisation efficiently, we will miss the targets of SDGs to be achieved by 2030. The SDGs call upon the nations to eradicate hunger and poverty, provide clean water and energy, to ensure wellbeing and prosperity to all the citizens.

Ashok Pandey is a Delhi-based educationist and #SDGs evangelist

ought to give a push to the education sector. There is another set of problems that we face. We produce ten times more engineering graduates than we can absorb in the country. It is not surprising that most viewed jobs on LinkedIn in India are for engineering. On the other hand, we have failed to build a large pool of nursing assistants with foreign language proficiency to take up assignments abroad. Thousands of youngsters with a degree and training in education are unemployed, and several thousand untrained guest teachers are incompetently scripting the future of the millions of our young kids. What could be a more significant mismatch in human resource management than this? India is a signatory to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mandated by the United Nations in 2015. The SDGs, focus on providing inclusive and quality education, ensuring skill development, and decent employment to all. Education underpins these lofty objectives. Without an explicit provision for

India’s economic growth does not match adequately with job growth. There is always a gap between jobs available and the jobs required. We can bridge the difference if the selfemployment and its visibility get respect and recognition. The society’s shift towards technology gave rise to the introduction of entrepreneurial courses in business schools many years ago. The trend is steadily finding its way into our schools. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has set up an elective course for classes 11 and 12 aimed at teaching entrepreneurship. However, one would reckon that entrepreneurship is not about completing a formal session to obtain yet another certification. It is about a mind shift that promotes hard work, adaptiveness, willingness to solve a problem no matter what the odds are, the ability to disregard risk and excellent networking. Coming out with a great idea or a product to solve a social problem to bring in a change in people's lives is a trait that needs integration. The successful education systems in the world are introducing enterprise education in their schools. One UKbased not-for-profit organisation, Teach A Man to Fish, helps over 1500 schools to create fully functional school-led enterprises around the world that are both educational and profitable. In Finland, Nokia, the mobile communication giant, played a crucial role in influencing high-quality Finnish education. Many other business leaders and entrepreneurs shaped what young people should learn in Finnish schools. Their mantra was simple - innovation, collaboration and appetite for risk. Schools are the nurseries to pursue these experiences through intuitive education. Facebook’s famous motto, “Move fast and break things”, and Steve Job’s mind-shaking comment at Stanford, “Stay hungry and stay foolish,” has inspired the youth across the world to take a plunge in entrepreneurship. The launch of Start-Up America by Barack Obama and StartUp Britain by David Cameron over a decade ago signalled to the world the importance of entrepreneurship education in the mainstream curriculum. Prime Minister Modi said, “I see startups technology and innovation as an exciting and effective instrument for India’s transformation.” No wonder, startup

India is such a buzz in the country. The inspiring stories of Flipkart, Ola cars, redBus, Oyo Homes, and others are encouraging the young to take a risk and create a niche for new products and services. The question is how do we integrate enterprise education in the school curriculum? We can do it in many ways. One, the teachers must develop a mindset of growth and innovation in addition to their domain expertise. The other effective approach would be to encourage students to take up projectbased work, to be resourceful and creative. Job-shadowing and internship at the school level have the potential to foster the required traits. Most schools have begun to make teamwork and collaboration mandatory in task completion. Students are working together to develop soft skills such as effective communication, presentation, debating, and gaming to sharpen problem-solving abilities, useful articulation of thoughts and vision to influence the stakeholders to play a crucial role in entrepreneurship. Encouraging students research about successful people in business will impact the young in many ways. Children are capable of taking up issues, raise voices, manage events, run school-based enterprises which must be encouraged and facilitated. At no point in time, any society or the government can provide jobs to all. However, the individuals imbued with entrepreneurial traits can create jobs for many with the spirit of innovation, the ability to take risk and experiment. The Late Ramakant Achrekar who coached the legend Sachin Tendulkar famously exhorted the young Sachin, “How long will you sit in the stands and clap for others. Go out in the middle and let the world clap for you.” We all know what followed. If Achrekar were to advise the job-searching youth, he would say this, “How long will you stand in the queue competing with thousands for a single job, go and create jobs for others.” The vision statement of educational institutions needs a rewrite. Lifting the students beyond classrooms by helping them develop an entrepreneurial mindset so that they can sense opportunities and take action is the new goal of education. That demands we create an environment which encourages new ideas and approaches. Making a mistake should be the new normal. John Adams, one of the classical music’s preeminent living composer and entrepreneur, said, “I am like a gardener: I have these ideas, and I let them grow, but I know where to trim and pluck.” The entrepreneur’s mindset is like that gardener.

April 2019

EXPERT SPEAK

INNOVATIVE WAYS OF

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

LEARNING

Dr Bijaya Kumar Sahoo is Chairman, SAI International Group

Dr Bijaya Kumar Sahoo writeback@scoonews.com

ntrepreneurship education at school level sparks pioneering aims and goals in students enabling them to foster talents and skills to build opportunities for themselves and others. It instils confidence, develops, divergent, critical and innovative thinking and prepares students to become their own drivers. Entrepreneurship learning can be finely amalgamated into the curriculum in various creative and scientific ways to help the Z generation create an inclination towards it. Simultaneously educational institutes should be meticulous in teaching to enable and empower the new generation to develop an entrepreneurial mindset so as to carve a space for themselves in the 21st century. Learning about entrepreneurship does not restrict one to start his or her own business, rather it teaches skills and attitudes which helps in the seamless transition from school to college life and finally in their professional life. Some innovative waysâ&#x20AC;Ś Action orientated learning Students learn more through hands-on experience. From primary level, schools should make it mandatory for

students to participate in all the exhibitions and competitions held in the premises. Each one of them should be given a chance to speak about the project. In secondary school level, all the students should collectively think, design and construct projects as a team. Brain storming activities in groups should be conducted in the school and each project should have two dimensionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;how it will help society and how it can be transformed to a profit-making business enterprise. Proper evaluation and valueaddition - The student-made projects can be judged by external resources who can give valuable feedback to the students on how it can be improved. Teachers can help the students to note the feedback and incorporate it in their project. Students can be encouraged to take the project to an advanced level. At SAI International School Start-Up or Business Model competitions are held every year for senior secondary students of Commerce and in the year 2018 it was introduced for senior secondary students of Humanities. These competitions are judged by eminent people who have a vast experience in dealing with startups or entrepreneurship. Their valuable advice has inspired many of our students to take up entrepreneurship.

April 2019

Project-based learning - Student empowerment is possible if they are given the opportunity to take up projects independently. This helps them to understand the various dynamics of business and the importance of each component and their inter-relations. It also teaches them how to handle pressure, deal with failures and find ways to overcome various challenges. Two of the flagship events of SAI International School, UNWIND and SAITED are student-led. While UNWIND is conducted by class 11I students of Commerce and Humanities, SAITED is solely handled by class 11 students of Science. From planning to execution, it is conducted by students right from scratch. They are assigned various departments like marketing, finance, logistics, resources, IT, CSR, advertisement as per their interest and their responsibilities are defined accordingly. Each department has a chairperson and collectively they are headed by a Managing Director and CEO. Students visit different companies to raise funds for the philanthropic activities, design advertisements to be posted in social media, make minute-to-minute planning of several activities to be conducted etc. This gives them an array of exposure and an on-ground experience, equipping

them with the requisite confidence and instilling in them the right tempo to prepare for a promising future. Throughout the event the teams are carefully monitored to ensure that they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go beyond the boundaries and maintain work ethics and learn to work as a team. These are platforms where students learn the art to execute under pressure and maintain transparency in financial management along with fostering brotherhood. Stimulating talks Students need to learn the real tactics and strategies to manage an enterprise and this can only be possible if they interact with eminent entrepreneurs of the country. Inspiring lectures and talks can be arranged where students get to learn about their success stories, the challenges they faced and how they overcame it. This will help students to identify and evaluate business opportunities and how to map a blue print of a practical business plan. Students can also get to understand the personalities, habits, goals and approaches of known business leaders, helping them to work on their own skills. Idea forums Once in two months, students can discuss their business ideas and present their project report to a group of teach-

ers. These ideas can be developed into a real business plan by students themselves stating various aspects like financial, logistic, manpower, projected profitability etc. Students should be given an opportunity to present the idea in a professional way through a PPT. Teachers can value-add with their suggestions helping the students to think more constructively with greater focus on proper commercialization of concept, opportunity recognition, management of resources and arranging finance. This forum can also be a place where students get to understand the importance of market research before starting any venture. Teachers can discuss case studies in an elaborate manner in the forum to encourage and support business ideas. This will develop their innovative capacity and leverage the confidence to take risks and become masters of their own destiny. Financial literacy The educational institutes need to introduce finance at the secondary level of schools, to make the children financial literates. Financial literacy is the set of monetary skills and knowledge that enlightens the children to make an informed and effective decision in all money matters and become calculative in decision making. It will

not only help them become better entrepreneurs but also become wise individuals who plan their money and live a life without worrying about it. Enhancing communication skills Good communication, public speaking, or debating skill is one of the essential traits of an entrepreneur. Debates can be conducted on creative topics, so as to stimulate the minds of the students and encourage them to think out of the box. This helps in using imagination to expand the creative thinking process, reason logically to connect information and strategise ways to reach the goal. To be good orators one needs to hone his writing skills so that the child is able to communicate in the best possible way. Entrepreneurship education is a way to inspire students to develop their ideas into full blown projects and also to communicate that mistakes are not bottlenecks, rather they are great learning experiences. Parents and students need to recognise that entrepreneurship or self-employment can be a career choice. Profitable business ventures can have a tremendous impact not only on the self but will lead to a sustainable economic growth of the nation. Entrepreneurship education can only be fruitful if the teachers and students are equally motivated.

April 2019

EXPERT SPEAK

STAYING AHEAD OF THE CURVE

Samik Das writeback@scoonews.com

ntrepreneurship education should be the outcome of an urge to manifest such perfection in the learners. An urge to manifest what is innate in mankind, to achieve inner satisfaction.

ulties and let them grow. These are important and are extremely helpful for learners in acquiring 21st century schools, but are not so highly regarded by many universities or parents; they are not academic enough and are sometimes pushed to the sidelines of co-curricular.

From a very young age we allow learners to use colours and tools in order to give shape to their imagination. We try to create an environment at home and in school that supports and nurtures imagination, encouraging creativity. As time passes, the learner is guided to excel in what the curriculum and the assessment boards want rather than what his or her mind is craving for.

Therefore, as institutions, schools themselves need to be more creative and offer opportunities for scholarly learning that exercises the imagination. In the process of designing a curriculum (not the same as delivering the syllabus for an assessment board) we keep revisiting such ‘bucket of learning opportunities’ to include what is contemporary and likely to add value and throw out anything that has lost its importance or place in time.

The need for such an approach to education is strongly felt when it comes to university admissions and is implemented with a success rate measured in per cent and grades. However, there continues to be a need to let imaginations grow and manifest themselves, to let creativity find acceptance and success; a need at the pinnacle of Maslow’s hierarchy. Schools provide opportunities for this through courses like music, art and dramatics etc. in order to cultivate their student’s creative fac-

Talking about creativity in today’s context, when ‘startup’ has become a buzzword, entrepreneurship should not be far away from what we are doing in the classroom. Curriculum developers across the globe are incorporating learning from business, economics and behavioural psychology in school curriculum. What if such learning could be verified, tested and applied by students in a laboratory? What if we could imagine and implement a clinical approach to the study of business man-

April 2019

agement, economics and commerce? With almost a third of our students joining university to study economics, management and business, it is an important area for development. Maybe such a laboratory that focused on the design thinking and creativity around these subject areas would become an Entrepreneurial Hub. We have examples of such real-life hubs in the form of ‘Playgound’ situated in Silicon Valley, which brings human and financial capital under one roof. Ajay Madhok, founder of such a hub in Silicon Valley (see his Welcome to the Future interview with Prannoy Roy), believes that while financial capital was scarce at one point of time, it is the talent capital that is scarce. Playground is a shared place where young entrepreneurs collaborate, learn and implement great creative ideas to solve some of the world’s wicked problems. There are more examples of such forums in the form of The Common in Auckland, The HHL Spin Lab in Leipzig and Startup India. As economies around the world realise the importance of creating environments that support innovative ideas, schools cannot afford to be lagging behind. At The Doon School, Dehradun, we have a society of boys

Samik Das, The Doon School, is an experienced teacher skilled in Lesson Planning, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, Examinership and Class room management

and teachers called Business Club which is our attempt to stay ahead of the curve. Business Club was founded in 2008 with the aim of supporting and nurturing learning through business principles, case studies and contemporary business news. This club, as any club should be, is a voluntary association for the students to participate in discussions and activities planned by them and the teachers. A large number of students from all the age groups show a great deal of enthusiasm about the club. This could be because many students came to Doon from families running their own businesses, so they find such activities relevant and they can connect and contribute well. This will not be unique to Doon, and as is often the case, if students are allowed to contribute, they bring more to the table than we imagine and a club doesn’t need to be confined to the syllabus. We also bring in a regular stream of guest speakers for the boys to listen to and question so that their real world learning comes straight from the horse’s mouth. As always seems to be the case in business, we soon realised the need to scale up the project and we introduced the

Young Entrepreneurship Conference in 2012. It was a conference in which many schools from different parts of the country participated to delve into the concept of entrepreneurship in school. Conference participants take part in various activities designed keeping in mind contemporary business issues. In 2017 our 5th Young Entrepreneurs’ Conference consisted of three activities; a board meeting simulation, an effective problem-solving round and, perhaps the most essential component, a pitching session. The first activity was based on the proposed merger between two giants in the Eyewear Industry – Luxxotica and Essilor. The apparent formation of an exploitative monopoly was discussion point and it was fascinating to hold simulated board meetings of the two concerned companies. There were two separate meetings of the two companies followed by the final joint meeting. This was essentially testing the impromptu thinking skills of the participants along with their business acumen. The first meeting saw plans and strategies being drawn up by the participants to take to the joint meeting. The debate in the first session revolved around each company developing the terms for the merger. The participants

drew up draft agreements to be taken forward to the next meeting and examined them carefully in the joint meeting to agree upon a deal. After intense debate and hastily drawn up documentation, the merger was struck and Luxxotica and Essilor were merged. In the Effective Problem Solving round each team received a detailed problem that had recently plagued the corporate world. The participants were required to come up with solutions to these problems. With ingenuity being the crux of entrepreneurship, this activity was quite successful in stimulating innovative thinking skills. The case studies included Google firing James Damore over the sexist memo, the unavoidable question of the Indian e-commerce market and the possible survival of Snapdeal in the cut-throat competitive environment of India. The participants presented their solutions and interpretations to these problems; the motto being ‘don’t go for the obvious answer!’ The final activity of the conference was the much-awaited pitching session. The judges were entrepreneurs themselves and were open to the possibility of an actual investment. Almost all teams put up authentic products,

April 2019

EXPERT SPEAK

A WAY OF LIFE Entrepreneurship is not about what’s on the syllabus; that’s already out of date! Samik has articulated what we are trying to do at The Doon School to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to business, management and economic education. Let’s not think about this as another course or textbook, let’s adopt the playground, hub or business club concept as a way of life. The world for which we are educating and preparing our students, to the extent that it is known, will always need the imagination, creativity and enthusiasm that is encapsulated in the entrepreneurial spirit.” - Matthew Raggett, Headmaster, The Doon School

which received encouragement from the judges. There were several innovative products such as the ‘Coil’ – a hair brush with an inbuilt oil dispenser and massager. The ‘Safety Sole’ – a sophisticated personal safety product that allowed a person to make a figure-ofeight with their foot when in trouble to notify the nearest police station. We also saw hypothetical products such as Bitcoin currency and irrigation trays. Although the Bitcoin currency proved to be impractical, the irrigation trays intrigued many and were viewed as possible future projects. The pitching session turned out to be the highlight of the conference. In the 2018 edition of the conference we had staged a meeting with the Finance Minister. This activity involved assigning various companies’ portfolios to participants and asking them to pitch their concerns related to GST to the government. Participants had to research the impacts of GST on their respective firms and pitch a collabora-

tive resolution for reforms to the government. This activity tested the participants’ collaborative and diplomatic skills, which are extremely significant in the corporate world. The second activity was based on the creation of an advertisement that challenged the delegates to intelligently design for a product given to them, keeping in mind marketing techniques that influence consumer psyche. They were required to design a poster (digital or hand crafted) and to use audio visual aids to market the product to a panel of judges while explaining the reasoning behind the design choices, colour schemes, catchphrases etc. The activity helped to develop an understanding of the needs, methods and impact that advertising has on the sale of a product. We kept the pitch for the third activity. These activities above helped to bring a number of students together and find meaning and relevance to the knowledge they acquire through classroom

April 2019

discourse. It got scaled up from intra school to inter-school. Sir Ken Robinson (British author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies) opined in his Ted Talk that ‘schools kill creativity’. I wonder, should we not think differently? ‘The batch system of production’ model was adopted for education two centuries ago. It has helped to create executives for the world consisting of simple to complex mechanics and labour, but for a world with autonomous robots, intelligent assistants, human machine convergence and such technological advancements pushes us to think differently. Maybe we will have startup hubs in school to supplement learning for the next generation. Maybe creativity and imagination will find context and inspiration though an educational eco-system that will encourage risk taking, enterprise and the resilience required to keep going when things don’t go your way.

EXPERT SPEAK

HOW LIFE SKILLS, INSPIRATIONAL STORIES AND BEHAVIOURAL SKILLS HELP CHILDREN IN ADULTHOOD

Reekrit Serai writeback@scoonews.com

t is not really possible to increase productivity and sustainability of enterprises and improve work conditions and employability without proper skills development. In this day and age, we cannot leave the scope of

nurturing the true qualities of an individual based on their college education alone. It is a process that needs to be tackled right from the school days. In order to secure a good job, young men and women need a lot more than technical skills. The core skills of communication, learning to learn, problem solving and teamwork probably has more impact. Development of core skills, awareness of workers’ rights

April 2019

and an understanding of entrepreneurship are the building blocks for lifelong learning and capability to adapt to change. The critical importance of acquiring 21st century life skills was highlighted in a 2016 study by the World Economic Forum (WEF) & Boston Consulting Group (BCG)— 65% of today’s schoolchildren will have to take up the kind of jobs that are non-existent today. Simply put, a child entering the K-12 education system in 2019, will be graduating in the year 2031—the world will be a completely different place; jobs will be different and the required skill-sets for these jobs will also be different. The ILO (International Labour Office) defines employability skills as: “…the skills, knowledge and competencies that enhance a worker’s ability to secure and retain a job, progress at work and cope with change, secure another job if he/she so wishes or has been laid off and enter more easily into the labour market at different periods of the life cycle. Individuals are most employable when they have broad-based education and training, basic and portable highlevel skills, including teamwork, problem solving, information and communications technology (ICT) and communication and language skills. This combination of skills enables them to adapt to changes in the world of work.”

cially in urban slums of Delhi and rural Madhya Pradesh/Gujarat has had vocational and training support along with skills training. Higher rate of education completion (66%) is observed among them as compared to the control group.

Reekrit Serai is Director & Dean, Satluj Group of Schools

Without a proper idea of the world and how to relate with it, we cannot expect any individual to cope with the harsh realities of society. We need to, therefore, train our kids in such things from ground zero itself i.e. school. The mind of a child is like an empty canvass. S/he grows up to be exactly the way we want them to be. This is where proper training in life skills effectively comes into play. These young minds must be made acquainted with the purpose one must have in life and work towards its fulfilment. A small gesture to true humanitarianism can actually bring about a great change in society and the mind-set of its members. It is possible only if we inculcate such values in them from school level. Life skills also seem to have a positive effect on the adolescents of both urban and rural India and also on the economically backward sections of the society. According to the International Journal of Advanced Research (2015), a positive and net effect is observed in the study on impact of life skills-based training in the attitude of adolescent girls. Similarly, life skills-based approach, namely ‘Better Life Options Programme’ (BLO), for adolescent girls in India, implemented by the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CED-PA) espe-

According to World Health Organisation (WHO), life skills are “the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with demands and challenges of everyday life”. At Satluj, as an example, we aim towards the holistic development of a child with the help of several innovative activities like, ‘Beyond the Classroom Lesson’ (BTCL), ‘Cross Domain Knowledge Sharing’ (CDKS), ‘Applied Learning’ (AL) and ‘Subject Awareness Drive’ (SAD). The Innovation Lab has also proved to be an amazing way to ensure complete understanding of a concept. These methods have brought about an amazing improvement in the students as well. Prabal Gupta (name changed) used to be very laid back and disinterested in his work. We realised that he had a lot of potential and untapped knowledge from his inputs during the above-mentioned activities. Proper counselling of the child and allowing him to work on things of his interest brought about a drastic change in him and transformed him academically, with his grade improving from a C to an A. Eventually, since education isn’t only about academics, we also witnessed an overwhelming spike in his curiosity for learning. Moral education and life skills can therefore be the building block of a child’s metamorphosis to an adult, thus leading to her/his bright future. According to research by India Today, apart from the core subject expertise, employers look for certain prominent skills like: communication skills (verbal and written), attitude towards work, lifelong learning, self-management, teamwork, problem solving, initiative, self-motivation, adaptability, stress management, creativity, interpersonal sensitivity. These prominent skills are very important life skills that we should be teaching our children and, in the process, create suitable candidates for the cut-throat job market. Apart from these concepts, lessons on proper behavioural skills also are key in the future success of a child. Kindness, thoughtfulness, humility, being self-reliant, honesty and integrity as a result plays a vital role in creating a child’s successful employable future. Without these

qualities one can never be true to her/his work and make a positive impact in the world. UNICEF, whose mission includes the goal of expanding children’s opportunities so that every child can reach his or her fullest potential too has been very enthusiastic on this issue. They are of the view that life skill education—so whether formal or informal— is not something that can be attained automatically. It is greatly influenced by the environment that one lives, learns and acts in. Being a role model or helping children find a role model from various inspirational stories is also an amazing way to make children realise their own potential and self-worth. The stories of next-gen entrepreneurs seem to inspire many children into realising their own dreams and capabilities. It is like, “If they can do it, why not us?” New-age entrepreneurs like Ritesh Agarwal, the Founder of OYO Rooms (India’s largest hospitality company) and Kylie Jenner, the make-up guru and the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, have proved to be an immense success at such a young age only because of their own confidence and intent of proving themselves. It enlightens a fire within them, that culminates into an attempt towards a successful future. It is rightly said in the Bhagwad Gita, “Do your duty, your work without thinking about the results.” The important thing is to teach our children to be good human beings first—to be honest, kind, humble, self-reliant and confident. These are the building blocks of a strong personality and that is exactly what is necessary if one needs to land their dream job. Only the hunger of knowledge is always not enough but how we are as a team member makes or breaks a deal. As an adult, one can easily grasp the knowledge or any technical skillset quite easily. What s/he cannot do is suddenly change their personality, methodology and character. On the other hand, if all these qualities are imparted at an impressionable age, then perhaps, children will have a better hand at their future endeavours and work towards bringing about a positive change in the country, and, eventually, the world. -With inputs from Sayoni Bhattacharjee, Manisha Sahni & The Satluj Innovation Department

April 2019

COVER STORY

TURNING SMALL IDEAS

INTO

BIG WINS PARVATHY JAYAKRISHNAN explores the importance of teaching entrepreneurship in schools and how to go about it

April 2019

alt Disney’s quote defines the true essence of what good entrepreneurs do—they don’t just hold on to an idea, they get the ball rolling.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

Our teachers are doing a fantastic job of training students to learn topics that are covered in their textbooks, guiding them morally and making them independent and self-sufficient. They are also often focussed on preparing students for the future - to make them strong, confident and sometimes ready for jobs that are not even discovered yet! (It is true that technology is taking over a number of jobs and we cannot predict the jobs that will be available 10 years from now). We are living in a time when students will most likely use their skills to create their own employment. They may not use their skills to join a workforce necessarily. In this case, it is the risk-takers who have a better shot at success. This, in turn, implies that teaching entrepreneurship in schools is imperative and can have far-reaching results in encouraging students with creativity and encourage them to work hard towards a goal. Entrepreneurship education prepares students to identify and address challenges and opportunities.

- Walt Disney However, the word “entrepreneurship” can be daunting for a school student. They would wonder how they would learn what entrepreneurship is considering they can barely pronounce the 16-letter word! What we need to teach them is that an entrepreneur is an entity which has the ability to find and act upon opportunities to translate inventions or technology into new products. An entrepreneur becomes successful when he combines skill and innovation. You have had that student in class who is great with technology and designing and creating logos and videos in exchange for money. Today, students own and run YouTube channels which earn them good money. Students often become entrepreneurs without even realising it! When given the right knowledge and boost, they will be able to take it forward as they become adults. Omkar Mantri, a grade 8 student at Vibgyor High school, Bangalore, has dropped science and chosen to learn only economics from class 9. He explains why teaching entrepreneurship in schools can be a big boon for

students like him. “I would love to understand how an idea can be converted into a business plan. It will be great to get practical information, instead of the excessive amount of theory that we normally have to study. I would love to learn about rules/laws, business models and related subjects in school. It will give us an idea about the perils of getting into business and we can choose our electives accordingly. Also, entrepreneurship must be made an attractive and viable concept, so that students don't rush towards an engineering college or a job in an IT company.” While the world around us is developing at a fast pace with technology and innovations, education in K-12 needs to move an extra mile to evolve accordingly. Education is the driving force behind every country’s economy, directly or indirectly. Many schools in India have adapted to technology or are slowly making the change. They are encouraging students to work in groups to solve problems, they are encouraging online learning and they are even attempting to merge art with science to make learning more effective. However, even with all these new techniques, students often fail to perform at jobs because they lack knowledge in entrepreneurship. Thus, entrepreneurship, the capacity to not only start companies, but also to think creatively and ambitiously, is very important to be included in school curriculum. “Entrepreneurship skills are necessary for the current generation of kids. They need to have negotiation skills right through early years. They need to build thinking skills and design thinking is the beginning to an entrepreneurial journey. They also need to be risk-taking and they need to develop the ability to forecast. If students are taught these skills at school level, they can be more planned and ready when they grow up. Most kids don't know that they have an entrepreneurial streak and this can be identified if it is taught in schools,” says Deepali Ghosh, mompreneur and mother to a 10-year old. Entrepreneurship education empowers students with the skill to think outside the box and nurture unconventional talents and skills. It creates opportunities for all, ensures social

April 2019

COVER STORY

justice and instills confidence in students. We often mistake entrepreneurship to be a skill to be imparted in undergrad or post graduation. Why wait till then? Entrepreneurship is a lifelong learning process - it can be taught from elementary school till they become adults. Introducing young kids to entrepreneurship develops their initiative and helps them to be more creative and self-confident in whatever they undertake and to act in a socially responsible way. According to Dr Prakash Sai L, Professor, Dept of Management studies, IIT Madras, “Teaching entrepreneurship in schools is absolutely necessary. Already CBSE has a course called Business Studies in class 10 to introduce basic concepts of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is seen as a particular type of skill that will

enable a student to start a firm and ensure business growth. Today, even our society is encouraging student entrepreneurs. We often see young children set up stalls in apartment complexes, trying to sell food. When society is encouraging students to develop entrepreneurial skills, schools need to back them up by giving them the knowledge.” Entrepreneurship teaches students about money, investing, business strategies, loans, and creating budgets. At the same time, students can learn critical life skills such as problem-solving, brainstorming ideas, taking risks, facing failure and getting up again, setting goals, working together, and feeling comfortable to work individually. Deepali recalls how she was amazed at her 10-year-old daughter’s idea to sell

April 2019

homemade watermelon juice to tired gym-goers at 10 am during her summer holidays. “She made the juice and sold it at a profit of almost 110 per cent! What she figured was the ability to judge that there is a buyer’s market and she figured the pricing on her own. She even used a USP ensuring that she used organic watermelon and brown sugar (keeping in mind that her target audience are gym goers),” she proudly remembers.

Government initiative The Delhi AAP government took a step in the right direction by launching the Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum Framework for government schools in February, this year. The Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum Framework was developed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

COVER STORY Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had explained that the curriculum would invariably bring about a paradigm shift in the education system in the way students explore and learn and in the manner teachers facilitate and guide these exploratory processes. He also emphasised that an entrepreneurial mindset was required for all professionals to be successful in their career. Success stories of various professionals and public servants testify it. It will be implemented in all Delhi government schools from classes 11 to 12 and will build awareness and knowledge of various aspects of entrepreneurship among the students. The curriculum is expected to inspire students through various entrepreneurial stories, case studies and many mindfulness activities and approaches. It focuses on imparting the personality and character traits of successful entrepreneurs other than the business aspects of entrepreneurship. The curriculum is expected to be launched as a pilot project in 15-20 schools in April and will see a full-fledged launch in all government schools in July.

Introducing entrepreneurship skills in classroom You don’t even need to introduce the concept of entrepreneurship in a formal way and use business jargon that can seem complicated to your students. Multiple skills that aid entrepreneurship can be developed using activities in the classroom. Some skills that need to be developed include: Communication skills: Communication is key for an entrepreneur and enhancing communication skills in students is something that teachers can work on in schools. Instead of standard class discussions, teachers can give students a chance to practice public speaking. Teachers can make this shift by introducing pop-up debates. With these activities, kids are positively pressurised to speak in front of an audience and they gradually develop confidence to do it. Brainstorm ideas: Teachers can set up a box in class where students can put in their ideas. The box is a good way to encourage students to come forward with their ideas and to pitch them confidently in front of their class. Once all the ideas are in, there can be a brainstorming session where the entire class can discuss the viability of the idea and see if they can be implement-

April 2019

‘School teachers are the most important influencers’ …Says Pradeep Mishra, Founder, Leader to Creator, India's first organisation providing entrepreneurship training to children Why do you think entrepreneurship learning should be introduced in schools? Our entrepreneurship for kids programme intends to make a remarkable impact on various fronts of developing nations like India. The world has migrated to a knowledgebased economy where innovation and entrepreneurial mindset will be a game changer. We cannot push the youth directly into jobs after their attain their degree. My conviction is that an entrepreneurial mindset can only be beautifully crafted at an early age. Children can be exposed to a controlled economic environment so that they understand the world around them and relate to it. They can recognise the problems of people as an opportunity and come up with innovative solutions which are scalable. Our entrepreneurship programme also helps students unleash their creative potential in a big way. The entrepreneurship programme also focuses on life skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, time management, self awareness and personal brand image. These skills help them excel in any field of their choice. Kids have ideas but giving them a proper ground and skills to make it a functional model is what we do. Studies have shown that 80 per cent of our graduates are not even employable. This is the consequence when we have one size fits all approach in education. How many schools do you cater to? In 2017, Leader to Creator has been shortlisted by Economic Times Power of Ideas. I have personally interacted with more than 5,000 students. We have worked with 11 campuses and we are operational in three states with expansion in Nepal. Our in-house "Train the Trainers" programme is creating a pool of passionate trainers who can operate in different parts of the country. We have identified six more states touch points in Northern and central India, where we will be operational this year. We are also encouraging schools to nominate teachers who are interested in getting trained. What was your inspiration to start Leader to Creator? I have seen the pressure of placements and degree completion. I have witnessed the shattered aspirations of students who are not doing the things they wanted because their talent could not be converted into a business model. I worked with a few reputed brands in my career and there the problem was scarcity of talented people. So on one hand, students are looking for jobs but the industry says they are not good enough. Economics shows that there are too many problems that need to be sorted out in our country. It means that there is a lot of work to be done. At the same time, we have a workforce that is looking for jobs. Do you notice the gap? Our mindset needs to be changed and the necessary skill set needs to be imparted. However, the moment we started teaching entrepreneurship in colleges, it only added on as another subject to pass. Students often asked me “Will this course help me get better placement offers?” Leader to Creator is bridging this gap. How has the response been from schools? Majority of schools are now interested in trying new things because they strive to be ahead of the times and they are committed to provide a better future for their students. There are schools where people still think that entrepreneurship is a business study meant for business schools only. We must sensitise education forums about entrepreneurship education as this is happening all across the globe. Awareness is the key. Is it hard to convince the parents? Fortunately, in our country, teachers are perceived as the best guide for a student's career and future. Parents trust them and kids listen to them. Leader to Creator is continuously working for awareness programmes in schools. We organise free seminars in schools during PTMs and other fests, but school teachers are the most important influencers.

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COVER STORY ed. The brainstorming session can improve their critical thinking skill and problem-solving abilities. They can explain how their idea can bring about a change in the society. Teach students to think about what’s positive or strong about their work and let them ponder on their weaknesses to find the changes needed to make their product more interesting.

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Entre-Ed: Support for teachers and programme leaders

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Kairos Society: Network for entrepreneurs under 25

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The Future Project: Helps high schools provide entrepreneurship programmes

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Lean LaunchPad: From Silicon Valley’s Steve Blank

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Junior Achievement: Fostering work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills

MIT Launch: High school entrepreneurship programs

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Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE):

Discuss solutions: Students often complain about facilities or rules that are implemented in the school. Teachers can encourage them to come up with solutions to these problems based on discussions rather than giving them space to complain. This can have positive outcomes. It can improve the relationships among students, improve their self-esteem and encourage problem solving. Discuss success stories: Encourage students to research on successful entrepreneurs and their methods and strategies and get them to discuss them in class. Each entrepreneur uses different skills and strategies to make their way to the top. For example, Oprah Winfrey relies on her oration skills and compassion while Steve Job’s quest for innovation and perfection made him reach the top. Such discussions also encourage students to find out what they could have done better to improve their skills. Learning a business: Students can practice writing interview questions and conduct interviews with entrepreneurs. The information can then be compiled into a directory of the types of goods and services, locations, and hours of the businesses. Students can then discuss the location, advertisement and the products involved in the business. Encourage imagination: Creativity dwells within imagination. Pass around common objects to students and encourage them to imagine the object in a different outlook. This will help students see the same object through a different perspective.

Organisations Supporting Student Entrepreneurship In the USA, there are numerous organisations formed that support student entrepreneurs in various capacities. •

Dorm Room Fund: A student-run venture fund backed by First Round Capital

April 2019

Preparing young people for business •

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National Student Leadership Conference: Conference supporting high school entrepreneurs One Stone Solution Lab: Organisations, foundations, businesses and start-ups can engage a

team of One Stone students in design thinking a solution, business idea or product. •

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Real World Scholars: Works with teachers who use entrepreneurship to engage students in core curriculum

and put them to practice. However, there are not many such awards that encourage school students. •

The Global Student Entrepreneur Award (GSEA): Student entrepreneurs compete through regional competitions to win their shot at going head to head against the best student entrepreneurs in the world at the GSEA. Undergraduate and graduate college/university students who own and operate a business for at least six months are eligible to compete for the $20,000 cash prize.

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The Big Idea (Australia): Coordinated by The Big Issue, The Big Idea is a social enterprise planning competition. Open to undergraduate and postgraduate students of participating Australian universities, applicants are invited to develop a concept and business plan for a brand new social enterprise.

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Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition: The competition is designed for undergraduate, college or polytechnic students across the globe. The idea is that students can display their business skills on a global platform, which will allow them to gain seed funding

Roadtrip Nation: Roadtrip offers experiences, interviews and curriculum

In the UK: •

Shell LiveWIRE: Shell LiveWIRE aims to inspire young people to find solutions to energy and resource challenges facing today’s society.

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National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs - A membership charity organisation fostering student entrepreneurship with a focus on supporting the creation of enterprise societies in educational institutions in the UK.

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Santander Universities Enterprise Portal - The portal helps young entrepreneurs win funding for their startups, build their business knowledge and access networking opportunities.

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Tycoon In Schools - Tycoon in Schools gives upcoming entrepreneurs, aged 5-18, a start-up loan between £50 to £1000 to manage a business while at school or college.

In India: Leader to Creator programme Started by Pradeep Mishra, the Leader to Creator programme is India’s pioneer academy for entrepreneurship training in schools. Leader to Creator is a group of professional trainers who have scientifically designed curriculum, which is a blend of technical skills, soft skills and life skills to teach entrepreneurship to students. They use the latest technology to interact with participants. They add fun in learning by live projects, camps, smart classes and business games. Mishra has designed a fun-filled 60hour course on “Entrepreneurship for Kids”. The idea was recognised by the Economic Times Power of Ideas. The course is now offered in some of the most prominent schools in India. Awards Entrepreneurship awards are a good way of encouraging young entrepreneurs to come up with innovative ideas

Teaching entrepreneurship skills in school is not merely for helping a student identify his skills or to fulfil the ultimate goal of starting a firm. We need to provide teachers with the appropriate training to impart knowledge to students in a way that they can understand and be involved and interested in. The learning can provide life lessons like perseverance, money management, problem solving and much more. The classes will enable teachers identify potential entrepreneurs and give them the support they need to move ahead towards their goal. Let’s not merely include it in our syllabi as yet another subject. Let’s adopt it in a way that it becomes a life-changing experience for our students, where they learn values and skills that they can use when they become successful adult entrepreneurs!

April 2019

EXPERT SPEAK

CREATING ENTREPRENEURS AND JOB CREATORS

Prajakt Raut writeback@scoonews.com

ntrepreneurship is a serious career choice for several young people - many students have the aspiration to become the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg or Vijay Shekhar Sharma. They dream of starting up and becoming successful like a Paytm or Flipkart or Oyo or Ola. Moreover, with technologies like robotics, machine learning, smart-bots and artificial intelligence, several million jobs will no longer exist. And this is not a faraway future. These technologies are in play now, and already transforming several industries. Think of manufacturing industries which use robotics instead of traditional human-led manufacturing. Or when was the last time you called up a call centre to check your bank balance?

But despite the interest and aspiration, most students just do not start up a business because they fear that they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how to run a business. Teaching students the basics of business in schools will encourage more youth to become entrepreneur-job creators. And our country needs lakhs of job creators, else we will have a severe social problem on hand. But it is not just about starting a business. A holistic understanding of what it takes to build a business will give students an advantage in their life whether they start their own business or take up a job or even start an NGO. It will therefore be useful to have a foundational programme in schools to help students understand the basics of building a business. The current education system was designed largely to create employees.

April 2019

And parents and students used to evaluate education institutions on how well the students from those institutes got placed. As jobs vanish, the parameters on which education institutions get evaluated will change to assessing how well students are prepared for life in general, and professional life in particular. And entrepreneurship and self-employment will be a key area of career choices for students going forward. It will be therefore important for education institutions to build a strong foundation for teaching students about business and entrepreneurship. There are several ways in which we can make learning about entrepreneurship and business exciting for students. Apart from a structured curriculum designed around case studies that students can relate to and are interested in, there are a number of initiatives that can help make students more business aware.

Entrepreneurship evangelist Prajakt Raut is founder of Applyif and The Growth Labs

How do we do it • BizWorld • Business Plan competitions • Guest lectures from entrepreneurs – inspiration and awareness and role models • Managing ‘business’ projects in schools • Alumni angel investor networks in colleges Alumni Angel Investor Groups in schools While several students would like to consider entrepreneurship, many after completing their academic journeys, one key challenge they would face is lack of initial capital to start up. Encouraging alumni of your schools to collectively co-invest in startups by other alumni of your school is a powerful way of helping aspiring entrepreneurs find the initial capital to startup. Eg. if a team of two young alumni need Rs.10 lakh to startup their

venture, after due evaluation by an independent and professional body, the money can be raised by 20 alumni coinvesting Rs. 50,000 each. And that too can be done in two instalments, thus making it possible to test the progress and mitigate risks. Existing angel groups and investors typically invest in startups raising upwards of Rs.2 -3 crore as their members do not usually want to write smaller cheques. As a result, startups that could do with between Rs.10 lakh to Rs.1 crore funding, find it difficult to get investor attention from the currently active investor circles. Smallticket co-investments by new alumni will make it possible to provide capital for a startup by your students or alumni that seek lower amounts of capital than what is provided by existing angel investor groups, but are not able to get it from existing forums. In India, Harvard Angels – India and

BITS Spark Angels (BITS Pilani alumni’s alumni angel group) are excellent examples of alumni angel networks. While BITS Spark Angels looks at investing in startups founded by current students or alumni from that institution, Harvard Angels – India is open to investing in any high potential startup. Much like most business schools and engineering colleges have entrepreneurship cells, it will be great if each of these institutions also have an alumni angel network. Closed-knit forums like these have the potential to significantly increase the entrepreneurial activity in the country. Emergence of newer angel groups is excellent news for the startup eco-system in India. We need to be able to provide capital to thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs so that they can create strong businesses that can create more jobs.

April 2019

FEATURE

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SCHOOLS

LESS BUSINESS;

MORE LIFE SKILLS Anushka Yadav examines the need to raise lifelong learners and agile thinkers for a world losing its grip on traditional jobs

hen we think about the term entrepreneurship, we think of words like business, enterprise, capital, franchise etc. A glaring error, we tend to associate an interesting subject with only “business”. But entrepreneurship education is more than business, it’s more than creating mini capitalists. Just like early childhood education prepares children to be prepared for formal schooling, entrepreneurship education helps students prepare themselves better for their post-school future.

neurship as a theoretical subject in schools; “While studying entrepreneurship in school, I realised the curriculum focuses on theory more than the practical aspect. As students, we wish to attain practical knowledge and skills that will help us to understand the importance of not just business ownership but living as a confident individual with a balanced life as well. For this to happen, we need the voice of real experience along with focus on developing practical and life skills,” says Abhimanyu Singh, a class 12 student from commerce stream.

their point of view forward, they can be good leaders as well as team members while being on board with the ideas the team has; igniting the belief to make something better happen. It equips young people with the adaptability and attitude required for an unpredictable future while providing them with a greater understanding of the real world. The psychological barriers are broken efficiently and smoothly when students are given the chance to understand how this real world works while meeting the employers and employees.

But how do we do that? Ask yourself first whether entrepreneurship can teach children valuable life skills that are often lost in quotidian classroom instruction. The answer is probably yes but don’t confuse teaching children home economics with entrepreneurship. Before teaching our children, we, as educators and parents, need to see the subject as something broader, a programme that acts as a catalyst to the individual’s growth. We need to raise lifelong learners and agile thinkers for a world losing its grip on traditional jobs.

Entrepreneurship education aims at giving individuals the space to envision what their future might look like while learning how their own passion and skills can be channelled in a certain way. What skills, you may ask? Our children need transversal skills such as innovative and critical thinking, the ability to function in teams, to be an information literate, self-aware and motivated.

There is an urgent need to equip young people with life skills because they don’t value fulfilment and are left in a maze without any knowledge on how to reach the final destination. Why and how does that happen? Because it doesn’t exist in their lexicon of terms; they are brainwashed with the pattern study hard, score a perfect grade and move to the next challenge.

It surprises children to see entrepre-

What role does entrepreneurship education play here? It helps students to believe that they are confident and selfsufficient, they have values, skills and passion, they have the ability to put

April 2019

Pradeep Mishra, Founder & CEO, Leader to Creator, believes, “The general perception is that entrepreneurship is all about business education. Few understand it as an extended part of their curriculum. I was often asked

strategy, sales strategy, new features, customer support etc. Post launching a product or service, an entrepreneur may wish to understand the performance through feedback from customers. This understanding requires focus, critical thinking and remaining calm while looking at intricate details and suggestions. Instead of getting defensive, the child will learn to listen to the market, learn about new potential features and accept negative feedback. Most importantly, we never teach our children how to deal with failure effectively. Entrepreneurship education does that effectively! Letting students fail can, at times, be the best thing for a healthy growth not only in entrepreneurship but also in life. Failure teaches them the importance of trying and taking the leap forward. Even small startups or business such as running a lemonade stand can teach individuals about money management. An excellent finance lesson that requires logical thinking, students learn to develop a budget detailing revenue while being able to judge whether they are making profit or loss. whether studying entrepreneurship will fetch students better credit scores or placements. It troubled me how wrong our perception of entrepreneurship education is. Entrepreneurship is an amalgamation of various skills and majority of them are soft in nature. Developing an entrepreneurial mindset requires working with the generation Z at an early age.”

Instead of teaching life skills through the traditional moral science class, entrepreneurship education can be a fun, impactful and engaging alternative. “When looked at closely, the major content of entrepreneurship curriculum is all about life skills as they are the foundation of a productive life. And the best part is that all the skills can be learned,” says Mishra.

The entrepreneurship education for young minds includes four broadly divided skill sets namely business skills, enterprise skills, spiritual skills and life skills. Children learn business skills through “observations in controlled environment” and life skills through “project work and live workshops.”

You might ask, what kind of life skills? Entrepreneurship teaches children that sometimes the goal is to get to the next stoplight. And it may take up to six months or more to get there. Students understand the need for grit or perseverance for success as overnight successes are a myth. They learn to keep going even when things take the wrong turn. They are able to delay gratification on their road to creating their own product.

“Life skills are the most discussed yet least understood skill set. Imparting life skills is even more challenging. It includes problem solving, critical thinking, public speaking, interpersonal communication skills, decision making, leadership, personality enhancement, stress management, discipline, problem recognition, time management, goal setting, strategy formation and brainstorming,” Mishra adds.

An epitome of problem solving, entrepreneurship teaches students that it’s a constant juggling act when developing a new business. They are solving problems, making decisions, thinking creatively, learning from their choices while solving for product market fit, deciding on pricing strategies, social

Finally, their entrepreneurial endeavours teach them skills of management and leadership. They work with other students, suppliers, marketers, retailers as well as customers for their product to thrive in the market. Learning to become street smart and developing people skills goes a long way in all fields. We live in a digital age where the youth are crawling under a heap of expectations, at the expense of their mental health, to keep up with the rat race. And if they wanted to listen to a fable, they would listen to an audiobook on YouTube. They need to know how to face an interview – enhance their body language along with vocal cues while carefully observing the interviewee and the atmospherics. This example is just a drop in the vast ocean of entrepreneurship education and its capability to inculcate life skills in the coming generations. Years of monotony have compelled them to perceive entrepreneurship as another subject to score in. The education system needs to break free of this monotony and take the risk of making entrepreneurship education more than just a business class.

April 2019

EXPERT SPEAK

Entrepreneurship is synonymous with survival

Pratish Nair is co-founder and Managing Director, Prahlad Kakar School of Branding and Entrepreneurship

Pratish Nair writeback@scoonews.com

I believe a child is like wet clay. These are the best formative years of their lives; whatever you feed them will become their value system for life. Most of the times, we try to forcibly educate them in certain bookish language, just to pass an exam. This saturates their minds, and they have nothing more to take. So let’s stop that and start encouraging young kids to understand entrepreneurship. The very first step of entrepreneurship is taking risk. We Indian parents don’t even allow our 25-year-olds to take a risk. I am talking about allowing our kids to run a little longer, jump a little higher, swim a little farther, and play with that ferocious looking dog once in a while. And most importantly when they score low or fail in an exam or when they are unconventional in a classroom, don’t reprimand them, but rather appreciate them for making an attempt and for being different. You make an entrepreneur by giving them the seed of hope, because an entrepreneur without hope or the ability to take risk is useless.

I am not great in monetary terms because we never speak about money with kids. But I believe it’s the right age for the kids to understand the value of money. However rich or privileged you are, you’ll always see the world’s biggest entrepreneurs come from the lowest strata of society where they did not have enough money to even buy a meal. I believe poverty, being unprivileged is a degree. I am not asking your children to deal with poverty, I am just telling them to earn what they want, through the games that you want to do, and through the talks that you want to say. Do not create a false picture of who you are before your own kids. The branding that you do, showing the world that you are living in the best flat, driving the best car, and wearing the best branded underwear, it’s for the world the see. But your child needs to know the truth. Don’t let them be the victim of the EMI. Don’t let them fall in this new age of EMI payers. A child needs to be exposed to risks. A child has to be allowed to have hope. A child should be allowed to fail. A child should understand the value of money, where it comes from, and how they should spend it.

April 2019

Another important thing about entrepreneurship is if a child wants to work, let them do it. Let them face the challenges of the world, let them have the doors shut on their faces, let them be on the counters of McDonald’s, let them go to houses trying to sell things, let them write articles for a newspaper, let them be the last dancers in a Broadway show. Let them do all of that because while we want our children to be most important people in whatever they do, they need the experience of being the least important people too. There can’t be a better learning than that. Yes, I totally am for teaching children entrepreneurship from a very young age. And it’s a great idea because entrepreneurship is synonymous with survival. An entrepreneur for me is a person who doesn’t know where his next meal is going to come from, or which is the next city he or she is going to travel. For me, an entrepreneur is like a mountain climber who is halfway there, he can’t come down, he has to go up or tumble down. And I believe if we can put a survival instinct in every kid using entrepreneurship and its learning, we will have a responsible child.

FEATURE

BRIGHT SPARKS, SMART LESSONS From the importance of delegation to overcoming the fear of failure, MARIE D’SOUZA explores the lessons that kid entrepreneurs teach us

ast year, Tilak Mehta had the city’s business world scratching its heads in wonder—he had founded a logistics startup, sold the idea to a banker, persuading him to quit his job and join him as the Chief Executive, and also roped in Mumbai’s famed dabbawalas to handle the last-mile distribution… A rather

brilliant business model, especially for one who is just 13! Young Tilak’s inspiration came from a personal problem; he had needed a few books from the other end of the city urgently. Not wanting to stress out his father, tired after a day’s work, the idea popped into his head: why not have a startup dedicated to carrying papers and small

April 2019

parcels within the city for assured intra-day delivery? Researching the concept and running a beta for four months, Papers N Parcels (PNP) is up and running. It uses a dedicated mobile application for business and employs 200 besides 300 dabbawala partners, through whom it handles up to 1,200 deliveries daily. “It is my dream and I

…Something Neha Gupta did at age 9. Traveling with her family to India from a young age, carrying gifts and food to orphans living in their hometown, she knew that she could do more. Making homemade wine charms, selling them door-to-door and throughout her community, Neha raised money for education and school books, helping cover expenses for orphans. As founder of her non-profit organisation, Empower Orphans, she has raised well over a million and has received many awards. You can make a difference—and how!—as you pursue success.

will work to ensure that the business becomes big,” says its teenaged founder, who is clearly not resting on his laurels. For some kids—and the number seems to be steadily growing—the spirit of entrepreneurship catches on early. Running a business appears just as thrilling and doable as cracking an entrance exam or pursuing football. Their creativity, professionalism, risk-taking, passion, planning, knowledge, social skills, open-mindedness towards learning, people, and even failure, empathy and attitude of the customer is everything, is nothing short of astoundi n g — ideal qualities of a successful entrepreneur that many of us never quite approach even through adulthood. What they may lack in life experience and wisdom, they more than make up for with passion, drive, and optimism galore. There is indeed much that even small business owners can learn from these kid entrepreneurs who are busi-

ness powerhouses in the making. Take 12-year-old Farrhad Acidwalla who realised that there wasn’t an online space dedicated to aviation, where enthusiasts could discuss their interest in aeromodelling, and decided to fix it. Teaching himself web design and programming, he ventured into the world of online business after selling his first website. Founder of Rockstah Media, and worth approximately $4 million, Farrhad now travels the globe giving speeches which often focus on one’s need to take action in business. It is the bedrock of his beliefs—that the only one holding us back is ourselves, so we need to overcome our limitations, venture out of our comfort zone and take action. …Something Neha Gupta did at age 9. Traveling with her family to India from a young age, carrying gifts and food to orphans living in their hometown, she knew that she could do more. Making homemade wine charms, selling them door-to-door and throughout her community, Neha raised money for education and school books, helping cover expenses for orphans. As founder of her non-profit organisation, Empower Orphans, she has raised well over a million and has received many awards. You can make a difference—and how!— as you pursue success. It didn’t take too long for Moziah Bridges, who founded his funky bow tie company, to learn the importance of delegating work. After developing his online business at age 9, post learning to make bow ties himself from vintage

fabrics from his grandma’s closet, he realised that he had grown too big to do it all singlehandedly. While his mother handles the business while he is at school, he has also hired seamstresses to help with the orders. Along with drive and passion, it’s crucial to build a team of trusted people and give up the need to control everything. Building and then delegating is key. Leanna Archer of Leanna’s Essentials, a range of organic hair products, went through her share of hiccups before turning her homemade products business into a company worth $5 million. The 11-year-old believes failures can influence success, and as she continues to grow and develop her business, she will not allow the fear of falling to hold her back. Like Mikaila Ulmer, who added local honey to her great grandma’s flaxseed lemonade recipe, donating the profits to help save the dying bee population, these young achievers teach us that it is passion that is one of the greatest motivators which drives success. It provides the motivation to continue even after encountering challenging obstacles, when converting that passion into a business. Mikaila’s brand, Bee Sweet lemonade incidentally was picked up by Whole Foods for a whopping $11 million, and she continues to give a portion of the profits to help save the bees. The results are satisfying on many levels. Sixteen-year-old Noa Mintz, who runs a full-service childcare agency in New York City, believes that the best part by far is the fact that she is a job creator and has been able to get so many people employed. Mintz, who is on Fortune’s list of the 18 most innovative and ambitious teens under 18 years of age, finds this “rewarding and empowering.” Money, incidentally, is never the main driving force. For Mihir Garimella, creator of Firefly, a low-cost, intelligent drone for first-responders that can enter and explore dangerous environments to find people who are trapped, it’s all about digging into problems that he sees or experiences. For Shubham Banerjee, founder of Braigo Labs, it’s about “innovating for the right reasons—money is not one of them.” And like Haile Thomas, founder of Healthy Active Positive Purposeful Youth (HAPPY) believes, it’s all about being a leader not a follower. Last but not least, as Bella Tipping, founder of Kidzcationz.com, avers, ‘If you can think it, you can do it.’ May their tribe increase!

April 2019

FEATURE ANUSHKA YADAV spotlights five top entrepreneurs who proved there is no minimum age to become an entrepreneur

Shravan & Sanjay Kumaran Co-Founder & President (Shravan) and Co-Founder & CEO (Sanjay) - GoDimensions

C E O Sreelakshmi Suresh

Founder & CEO - eDesign Technologies

Identified as Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s youngest app developers, the Kumaran brothers have launched and developed 12 apps, which offer solutions to some of the most challenging social problems in India. They founded GoDimensions, a technology company with focus on developing simple solutions for the digital world, when Shravan was 12 years old and Sanjay was 10 years old. The duo looks forward to donating 15 per cent of their total profits to charity.

Suresh embarked on her entrepreneurial journey at the tender age of 10. She established eDesign Technologies, a website designing company that offers services such as website design, web development, SEO and logo designing. The youngest web designer girl and CEO in the world, Suresh has already designed and developed more than 100 websites for various institutions and organisations including Bar Council of Kerala, Angels International, EHP India, Mammas Passion, and others.

April 2019

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FEATURE Ayaan Chawla Founder & CEO - Asian Fox Developments (Group of Companies), Global Web Mount, Mind-In Advertising and Group For Buddies

The young entrepreneur started working with computers professionally at the age of 11. Over the years, Chawla gathered knowledge of over seven computer programming languages using books and internet. At the age of 11, he founded a social utility for people to connect with each other globally, on January 1, 2011 called Group For Buddies, and on March 7, 2011 he founded an IT company for IT solutions called Asian Fox Developments. On May 15, 2013 he founded a company for web solutions called Global Web Mount, and on July 27, 2013 he founded another company for Media & Marketing services called Mind-In Advertising.

Shubham Banerjee Founder - Braigo Labs Inc.

Braigo Labs was founded by Banerjee in 2014 when he was only 12 years old. The company offers low-cost Braille printers to aid visually impaired individuals. Braigo and BraigoLabs are registered trademarks of Braigo Labs Inc. Banerjee believes, “Technology should help us to make our life easier and not become a burden due to high cost”. The latest model uses WiFi and Bluetooth to print text from a website and translate it into Braille automatically.

April 2019

Arjun Santhosh Kumar Founder & CEO - LateraLogics

At mere 13 years of age, Kumar founded his own company, LateraLogics and developed two award-winning apps, namely Ez School Bus Locator and iSafeGuard. LateraLogics is a technology company started with a vision to come up with solutions that will help make our world a better place to live! It focuses on custom apps development, web development and consulting. An innovative Android app, Ez School Bus Locator aids parents in viewing the live location of their child’s school bus on map. On the other hand, iSafeGuard is a women and teen safety mobile app that helps them in sending distress calls or SOS messages with location details to the pre-set list of friends and family along with local community volunteers with the same app.

TAKE 2

10 BOOKS

Vinay Singh writeback@scoonews.com

Teachers Can Use to Foster Entrepreneurship

While there are many books to read for young, aspiring entrepreneurs, here are 10 of the best books to give young entrepreneurs a dose of inspiration and get started.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. - Dr Seuss

The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy The purpose of this book is to give you a series of ideas, methods, strategies, and techniques that you can use immediately to make more sales, faster and easier than ever before. This is a useful and practical book on all the key things you need to know when it comes to sales, persuasion and consumer psychology. Brian Tracy's ideas are both easy to understand, practical and well thought through.

The Art of the Start 2.0 by Guy Kawasaki In this book, Guy Kawasaki brings two decades of experience as one of business’s most original and irreverent strategists to offer the essential guide for anyone starting anything. From raising money to hiring the right people, from defining your positioning to creating a brand, from creating buzz to buzzing the competition, from managing a board to fostering a community, this book will guide you through an adventure that’s more art than science—the art of the start.

The Entrepreneur Mind by Kevin D. Johnson In a praiseworthy effort to distill some of the most important lessons of entrepreneurship, Kevin D. Johnson, president of multimillion-dollar company Johnson Media Inc. and a serial entrepreneur for several years, shares the essential beliefs, characteristics, and habits of elite entrepreneurs. Smart and insightful, The Entrepreneur Mind: 100 Essential Beliefs, Characteristics, and Habits of Elite Entrepreneurs is the ultimate primer on how to think like an entrepreneur.

April 2019

Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk Gary Vaynerchuck is widely considered a web celebrity and social media expert. He used social media and online video (WineLibrary TV) to gain incredible exposure and propel his wine business to unprecedented success. In Crush It! Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, readers will learn how to harness the power of the internet to make their entrepreneurial dreams come true. The book has some great tips regarding social media and personal branding.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Dale Carnegie’s timeless classic is a book that is packed with rock-solid advice that has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives. As relevant as ever, this book's principles endure, and will help the reader achieve maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age. Learn the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter

Zog and the Flying Doctors by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler Any organisation can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit— those are always results. WHY does your organisation exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? WHY are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?

Robert T. Kiyosaki developed his unique economic perspective from two very different influences - his two fathers. One father (Robert's real father) was a highly educated man but fiscally poor. The other father was the father of Robert's best friend - that Dad was an eighth-grade drop-out who became a self-made multi-millionaire. This clear, well-written, and thought-provoking book is not just about money. It's about how we are taught to think; how we are programmed by schools, family, and friends and the steps we need to take to reprogram our minds.

Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or who wants to find someone to inspire them.

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries Eric Ries defines a startup as an organisation dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively.

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebea In The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau tells you exactly how many dollars his group of unexpected entrepreneurs required to get their projects up and running; what these individuals did in the first weeks and months to generate significant cash; some of the key mistakes they made along the way, and the crucial insights that made the business stick. This is a great glimpse into what is possible with a small investment, for people who have absolutely no experience in being an entrepreneur or online business owner.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, the author reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow highly is highly recommended if you are interested in why human beings behave the way they behave and will transform the way you think about thinking.

April 2019

Source – Goodreads

Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs - in companies of all sizes - a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it's too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in an age when companies need to innovate more than ever.

TAKE 2 Vinay Singh writeback@scoonews.com

10 TED TALKS Teachers Can Use to Foster Entrepreneurship

Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs Bored in school, failing classes, at odds with peers: This child might be an entrepreneur, says Cameron Herold. In his talk, he makes the case for parenting and education that helps would-be entrepreneurs flourish -- as kids and as adults. https://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_herold _let_s_raise_kids_to_be_entrepreneurs

Why the secret to success is setting the right goals In this practical talk, John Doerr shows us how we can get back on track with "Objectives and Key Results," or OKRs -- a goal-setting system that's been employed by the likes of Google, Intel and Bono to set and execute on audacious goals. https://www.ted.com/talks/john_doe rr_why_the_secret_to_success_is_set ting_the_right_goals

How Airbnb designs for trust Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb, bet his whole company on the belief that people can trust each other enough to stay in one another's homes. How did he overcome the strangerdanger bias? Through good design. https://www.ted.com/talks/jo e_gebbia_how_airbnb_desig ns_for_trust How women in rural India turned courage into capital When bankers refused to serve her neighbors in rural India, Chetna Gala Sinha did the next best thing: she opened a bank of her own, the first ever for and by women in the country. In this inspiring talk, she shares stories of the women who encouraged her and continue to push her to come up with solutions for those denied traditional financial backing. https://www.ted.com/talks/chetna_gala_sinha_how_women_in_rural_in dia_turned_courage_into_capital

April 2019

Source – TED.com

The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed Bill Gross gathered data from hundreds of companies, his own and other people's, and ranked each company on five key factors. He found one factor that stands out from the others -- and surprised even him. https://www.ted.com/talks/bill _gross_the_single_biggest_rea son_why_startups_succeed

Don't fail fast — fail mindfully In this thoughtful talk, Leticia Gasca calls for business owners to open up about their failures and makes the case for replacing the idea of "failing fast" with a new mantra: fail mindfully. https://www.ted.com/talks/leticia_gasca_don_t_fail _fast_fail_mindfully

The little risks you can take to increase your luck In this insightful talk, Stanford engineering school professor Tina Seelig shares three unexpected ways to increase your luck -- and your ability to see and seize opportunities. https://www.ted.com/talks/tina _seelig_the_little_risks_you_can _take_to_increase_your_luck

Why schools should teach entrepreneurship Linda Zhang says she knows how to get students excited about learning: Wrap their lessons in real-world problems they want to solve. https://www.ted.com/talks/lind a_zhang_why_schools_should_ teach_entrepreneurship

What baby boomers can learn from millennials at work — and vice versa In this talk, Chip Conley shows how age diversity makes companies stronger and calls for different generations to mentor each other at work, with wisdom flowing from old to young and young to old alike. https://www.ted.com/talks/chip _conley_what_baby_boomers_c an_learn_from_millennials_at_ work_and_vice_versa

Want to innovate? Become a "now-ist" In this engaging talk, Joi Ito, the head of the MIT Media Lab skips the future predictions and instead shares a new approach to creating in the moment: building quickly and improving constantly, without waiting for permission or for proof that you have the right idea. Don't be a futurist, he suggests: be a now-ist. https://www.ted.com/talks/joi_ito_want_to _innovate_become_a_now_ist

April 2019

TECH IT OUT ANUSHKA YADAV suggests must-try apps and programmes for student entrepreneurs

1 Savings Spree Geared towards younger kids, Saving Spree is a fun animated app with serious lessons. Easy to use, it teaches kids how a penny saved is a penny earned. Young entrepreneurs learn how making the right choice on small things can add up towards fruitful profits. The game is presented in game show format, taking players through six rounds that test their financial knowledge.

2 Shopify An efficient app for kids, Shopify offers logo maker, guides, videos, and resources for kids ready to start a business. Their motto - Empowering kid entrepreneurs to build successful businesses - says it all. It even helps you sell your product. It is perfect for young entrepreneurs or children who are thinking of starting something exciting!

3 Biz in a Boxx Biz in a Boxx is an experiential youth development product that teaches kids how to start and run their own businesses. It is a DIY youth entrepreneurship programme with a variety of kits for children of ages 7 to teenage.

4 VentureLab VentureLab is an innovative youth entrepreneurship curriculum available free of cost. It is easy to understand and anyone can teach their children how to become young entrepreneurs. Divided and available for grades 1 to 12, VentureLab aims at creating the next generation of changemakers and innovators.

April 2019