Return of the entrepreneur

Until just a couple of years ago, young Americans by and large felt like they had it made. They lived in a vibrant economy — and enjoyed a seamless transition from college into a well-paying job.

Or so it seemed from the outside. On the inside, many young Americans have been quite concerned for some years now about the rise in global competition — principally from China and India. If one switches perspectives across the Pacific, we find that young Chinese have certainly felt exhilarated by the positive changes in their country’s economy over the past couple of decades. And yet, on the inside, many are nervous, too.

Even if they did manage — often against strong competition — to attend a prestigious college, graduating from it has not necessarily ensured a job offer.

This applies the world over. Just as young people in other industrialised countries can relate to the sentiments of young Americans, the Chinese experience is shared in emerging markets. The global economy, in other words, is a great leveller. It provides challenges to people the world over — and its constant churning means there are no longer any true “birth rights” for any society.

Extra step

From November 16-22, as more than 100 countries around the world — including the UAE — celebrated Global Entrepreneurship Week, I have a daring, but completely logical, suggestion to make to all young people: Consider becoming an entrepreneur.
Sound far-fetched? Not really. If we acknowledge that virtually everybody in the world today, no matter where they live, has to contend with much more risk in their personal lives, then taking this extra step is more natural than ever before.

All the more so since the world needs entrepreneurs right now, and lots of them. In fact, we need an army of the smartest, most passionate young people to try their hand at building a business — people who will take their heads and hearts into the market and create companies that will bring forth new products and services that will help humankind. Why is the emergence of a truly globe-spanning army of entrepreneurs so critical today?

First, it is ultimately business, not government, that will end this recession. Second, we have to let new entrepreneurial firms challenge companies that can no longer compete — and make way for these new entrants to push us to frontiers of innovation. And third, the world economy needs more entrepreneurs to continuously advance human welfare through innovation. We need new kinds of products — and revolutionary uses of technology.

In addition to bringing forth innovations that we didn’t even know we needed, entrepreneurs create new jobs, which is a keystone to expanding human dignity. Every time an entrepreneur takes the risk to start a new company, he or she strengthens our communities — and the global economy.

Formula for vitality

In my own country, the US, we have never viewed economic growth as a happy accident. We have always sought growth and embraced its vitality, a formula that has made our nation the wealthiest in history. Now, an even bigger race is on — the race for success on a global scale.

But the global race for entrepreneurial success is not — and will never be — a zero- sum game. Indeed, what American and European entrepreneurs achieve can be very good for the rest of the world (think of technologies that drastically reduce the carbon emissions not just from China’s coal-fired power plants). The same is certainly true in the opposite direction (think of Indian call centres that help lower costs for US and European firms).

Even though we are amidst a grave economic crisis, these lessons are embraced almost universally. We live in a world where the only way to grow is to create — new products, new services, new business models, new companies, new jobs and new wealth. Embracing these lessons offers all societies the best ticket to a meaningful, prosperous and sustainable future — whether here in the UAE or beyond this country’s borders.

In short, the task before today’s young people, particularly college graduates, is to become the world’s most entrepreneurial generation in history. Take all that you have learned and bring it into business. Apply it to that idea sitting in the back of your mind. If you haven’t had that flash of inspiration yet, be patient. Work in business and learn the ropes.

Maybe a big idea will come to you. And maybe one won’t. You don’t have to be Thomas Edison, Henry Ford or Bill Gates — or Ratan Tata, Celtel founder Mo Ebrahim, and Baidu co-founders Robin Li or Eric Xu — to make a difference.

Millions of less famous entrepreneurs have done more than their part to enrich their country and their fellow citizens. Any successful business reflects a brilliant idea joined with an important expression of service to other humans. It’s really how business works.

Which is why, in a world shaped by more risk-taking on a personal level than has been the case in a long time, I view entrepreneurship as becoming an increasingly integral part of the global DNA. We would do well to remember the words of Nobel Laureate Mohammad Younus — that “everyone is an entrepreneur, but only the lucky come to know it.”

(Carl Schram is the President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, which is co-founder of Global Entrepreneurship Week.)