1 ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

2 DEFINITION Entrepreneurship is (generally) the practice of – starting new organisations or reactivating mature ones – in response to major identified opportunities. Can range from – solo projects to – major undertakings leading to creation of many job opportunities and creation of new products and business

3 DEFINITION To engineering graduates, entrepreneurship (specifically) is the integration of – business management – with engineering/technical skills leading to the formation of engineer-entrepreneurs

4 EXPECTATIONS An entrepreneur should be willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a success innovation, be able to develop new markets of customers and buyers, discover new sources of materials, mobilize capital resources (land, machines, buildings, money, humans), introduce new technologies, products and services.

5 DUAL ROLE OF AN ENGINEER-ENTREPRENEUR a technological professional with entrepreneurial skills He must be able to integrate business management skills with technical skills.

6 Japan’s Statistics Factories with less than 20 employees account for up to 87.3% of total number of factories, 20.1% of total workforce, and 12.6% of the total national output. Indian economy grew because of attention to engineering entrepreneurship

7 ADVANTAGES OF ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP Self-employment, leading to job satisfaction, flexibility in time and resource management; Creation of job opportunities, the number depending on the size of, and available resources to, the entrepreneur; Healthy competition, leading to higher product quality; Availability of more goods and services; Development of more industries, particularly in rural areas; Development of entrepreneurial qualities and attitudes.

8 IMPORTANCE OF ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP Developed countries are continually searching for markets for their products Developing countries are becoming dumping ground for goods produced in other parts of the world.

9 SOURCES OF FUNDING Personal savings Loans from friends, relatives, relevant agencies/banks Gratuity from retirement benefits Security exchanges (e.g. buying/selling of shares and bonds) Profit plough-back Trade credits Hire purchase Mortgages Sale of securities

10 QUALITIES OF AN ENGINEER-ENTREPRENEUR Deal with uncertainty and ambiguity (risk taking); Understand and speak the language of other professionals, especially accountants, economists and other social scientists); Team player; Convincing speaker and attentive listener; Creative and inquisitive mind; Adequate computer skills; Understand economic and financial aspects of an engineering effort; Able to design sound business plan;

11 QUALITIES OF AN ENGINEER-ENTREPRENEUR Possess analytical and planning skills; Work well in dynamic and rapidly changing environment; Work under pressure and in short time frames; Work effectively across multiple organizations, boards, companies, and departments; Work with specialists of different mentalities, origins, and cultural backgrounds; Be willing to learn and grasp new things (approaches, ideas); Good manager of resources (money, materials, machines, etc.);

12 QUALITIES OF AN ENGINEER-ENTREPRENEUR Good record keeping (of stocks, sales expenditures) Understand market dynamics; Good communication skills, both oral and written; A psychologist; People-oriented; Have inquisitive mind; Goal-oriented; Good negotiating skills; Understand state-of-the-art in related areas.

13 TRAINING IN ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP Some recommended courses: Engineering Economics Design of Business Plan Leadership Human Resources Management Technological Entrepreneurship Cost Control Financial Accounting and Reporting

14 TRAINING IN ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP Some recommended courses (contd) Engineering Management Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship Financial Management Production and Inventory Control Maintenance Engineering New Product Development Marketing Management

15 WAY FORWARD Major stakeholders in the development of entrepreneurship culture are the various levels of government, the professional bodies, and the entrepreneur himself/herself each with different, but complementing, roles

16 WAY FORWARD Local Government : should provide the enabling environment that will make it easy for the entrepreneur to set up and operate The entrepreneur should, for example, have easy and cheap access to land, water, electricity, etc. not be stifled with unnecessary taxes and levies.

17 WAY FORWARD State Government: should encourage local governments to assist interested entrepreneurs

18 WAY FORWARD Federal Government should set up a functional regulatory framework to promote engineering entrepreneurship should harmonize all forms of taxes and levies in order to prevent multiple taxations

19 WAY FORWARD Professional Bodies: should ensure that adequate number of techno-entrepreneurship courses is introduced into the curriculum of polytechnics and universities; continuing education courses/workshops are mounted by the professional bodies at least twice yearly.

20 WAY FORWARD The Entrepreneur should ensure that the enterprise is located as close as possible to the source of local materials; focus on the needs of the populace for acceptability and marketability; operate in such a way as to encourage others to emulate him.