Last week I was one of the panelists speaking about entrepreneurship to about 100 or so Fulbright scholars currently in various US schools. What made it interesting was that they were predominantly from developing nations and this panel was part of a 3-day immersion in technology and startups and the Silicon Valley vibe - with the hope that they will take some of it back with them when they go home.
It was an interesting balancing act to focus on entrepreneurship, but not convey the impression that it's the only way to go, considering that the panel consisted of two entrepreneurs, a VC and startup consultant. So there were many qualifiers of 'not everybody has to be an entrepreneur' or 'you can learn a lot from working in a big company'. One of the panelists was Gibu Thomas, who I've written about in a previous post as being the quintessential passionate entrepreneur, and he was effective in the balancing act because, true to form, he focused on passion. His message was simply that they should seek to effect change and be passionate about whatever they do. One hopes that the young audience got that, along with the 'how-to's and 'what-if's that were also covered.
I must confess that personally, the best part of the panel was when the students stopped by to discuss their ideas and plans afterwards. It was very enlightening, and it also made me appreciate how much easier entrepreneurs have it in places like Silicon Valley. More than one student mentioned having problems 'back home' with the government, or society, or family, sometimes all three, making it very difficult to be an entrepreneur. It's not that you can't do a startup in these countries, it just means you need a heckuva lot more staying power and help from others to deal with an environment that's not conducive to them. But the most encouraging thing of all was the number of students who stopped by to talk about 'social entrepreneurship'. It was fun to hear their ideas and reinforce their belief that they can do good and make a nice chunk of change while doing so. I hope they stay in touch, I'm looking forward to hearing more about how they're changing lives for a living.