Neeraj Joshi is the Founder of Pushstart, India’s most active and trusted community of 25K+ Entrepreneurs. He is a dynamic, goal-driven, and innovative entrepreneur whose core focus is to “Create Impact in the everyday lives of professionals” through his work. He was a budding startup entrepreneur who identified a gap wherein people had great startup ideas but did not have a platform to discuss them. With the intent of providing support for these entrepreneurs, the idea of Pushstart was born. Under Neeraj’s leadership, the community was founded in 2018 and has evolved over the past three years to impact the lives of 500000+ entrepreneurs worldwide.
India as a country has always supported and encouraged new businesses over the years. Self-made men and women, who created breakthrough products and services, were always recognised and encouraged across the nation. However, the number of businesspeople were limited, as the safety of a job was preferred over the ‘risk’ involved in running a business. Over 76% of Indians admitted fearing ‘entrepreneurial failure’ that paralyzed their entrepreneurial dreams. However, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the loss of corporate jobs, thereby shifting many working professionals towards entrepreneurship. The ‘Great Resignation’ resulted in the growth of the start-up ecosystem in India.
The start-up ecosystem has been growing for the past decade but received a much-needed boost over the last two years. Information Technology, innovation, and consumerism play pivotal roles in the growth of the start-up ecosystem of the nation. The earlier apprehensions towards entrepreneurship have taken a back seat, as people are adopting various technological support to automate their solutions and sustainably scale their businesses. Moreover, the key to this transformation is the mindset shift among the Indians, wherein failure is perceived as a stepping stone towards success. The earlier speculation and criticism towards failure has become an essential step towards growth and transformation. Families are now supportive towards their children to embark on the entrepreneurial journey and create a brand for themselves.
The Government of India has also taken various critical initiatives to encourage the growth of the start-up culture over the years. India currently ranks highest in providing a supportive and encouraging environment for launching start-ups – facilitated by initiatives like Start-Up India, Stand-Up India, and The Atal Innovation Mission. These initiatives have paved the way for budding entrepreneurs to take the leap of faith in their entrepreneurial journey. It has created an ecosystem of growth and innovation, wherein they can approach their peers and receive the guidance required for their business growth. Scaffolding in terms of soft loans, start-up mentoring, peer networking, and special initiatives for women entrepreneurs are executed on a massive scale. This has created an enormous shift in the way people perceive new business ideas and start-ups.
Entrepreneurs are being empowered by various start-up communities, who assist them in their funding, networking, knowledge enhancement, and mentoring. Various initiatives are taken to carve out the entrepreneurial identity, which can evolve them to become powerful problem-solvers at the global level. New ventures from gadget start-ups, the food industry and various other avenues prove that ‘India is witnessing a surging entrepreneurial wave’ at the moment. The education system is also witnessing a massive transformation in terms of student entrepreneurship programs. Universities in India have adopted various courses and programs to develop the mindset of students at a very early age. ‘Growth mindset has become the catalyst, wherein working professionals are now taking the required ‘work experience’ from their jobs and shifting towards entrepreneurship as their career.
Information Technology plays an integral role in the mindset shift, as automation has reduced the time taken to complete tasks and enhanced the quality of services. With the proper technological assistance, the workflow has become seamless and integrative. Remote working has resulted in an explosion of digital disruption, which not only improved the internal systems but also enhanced the quality of work. Such massive positive transformations led to an increase in confidence for the budding entrepreneurs. Moreover, businesses are now focused on creating change at the local level and scaling up to the global level. The entrepreneurial mindset has become less about launching a start-up and more about creativity, asking questions, networking, and dealing with uncertainty.
Entrepreneurship plays a very positive role in boosting the economy of the nation. India is now shifting from being a market for ‘job seekers’ to ‘job creators.’ India has the third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world, which is a great attraction for foreign investors. With such exponential growth, various global investors are looking at India as a potential market for investment. This has resulted in the boost of the start-up culture in India. Many start-up founders are sensing the empowerment global investment brings to their business. This has increased the motivation of individuals to pursue entrepreneurship and create a revolution in the current digital era.
India has become a start-up hub and is moving towards rapid transformation in the entrepreneurial mindset. Individuals are aware that to create an external shift, the change starts from within. Entrepreneurs are getting trained by professional mindset coaches to think like an innovator. The earlier trend included completing education and entering the corporate world to build their careers. However, the mindset is gradually shifting as individuals are moving towards a more satisfying work-life than a meagre job. Entrepreneurs are finding solutions to solve human problems in the most unique and digitized manner, thereby positively impacting their niche.
With such massive shifts and positive transformation, the mindset of Indians is becoming progressive. Earlier, entrepreneurs were considered aimless individuals who lacked any particular goal or direction in their life. The vision was not encouraged as there was a lack of trust in the potential and the entrepreneurial journey. However, with the mindset shift, entrepreneurship is now celebrated as a culture in our nation. Moreover, entrepreneurs are now empowered to take charge of the present and script a prosperous future for themselves and India.