ISEED Unveils 2013 Indian Students Entrepreneurship Aspirations Survey (I-SEAS) Report

NEW DELHI, November 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

- 12% Students are Already Entrepreneurs - Doing Some Sort of Internet Business Related to Education, Entertainment, Mobile Apps

- Tier III City Students Ahead, Boys (72%) Outscore Girls (53%) While Southern India (75%) Beats Rest of India (62%) in Entrepreneurship Aspiration

ISEED - International School of Entrepreneurship Education and Development, a unique educational institution offering India's first full time 1-year post-graduate level program in entrepreneurship today announced the results of the 2013 Indian Students Entrepreneurship Aspirations Survey (I-SEAS). The report presents the results of a nationwide survey across more than 50 cities to understand entrepreneurship aspirations in Indian students and a total of 1117 respondents were surveyed for the report. The survey results reveal that more than 87% students aspire to be entrepreneurs in life, though they list lack of entrepreneurship knowledge (30%), access to funds (28%) and mentors (22%) as the biggest obstacles to student entrepreneurship in India. Infact, 12% students are already entrepreneurs - doing some sort of internet business related to education, entertainment, and mobile apps.

The ISEED - Indian Students Entrepreneurship Aspirations Survey (I-SEAS) reveals that Tier III city students are ahead of Tier II, Tier I and metros in wanting to become an entrepreneur immediately after their studies. The propensity to take entrepreneurship within 5 years of studies is higher for Tier 2 students (72%) as compared to Tier 1 students (65%). In terms of regions, students of Southern India (75%) outscore students of rest of India (62%) indicating stronger aspirations to be an entrepreneur at sometime in life. However, on a gender scale the difference is visible where only 53% of girls would like to start their own ventures within 5 years of completion of their studies in comparison to 72% of the boys. Education (17%), Social Work (15%), Food & Beverages (13%) and Service sector (13%) attract students the most in terms of potential entrepreneurship ideas.

Unveiling the survey findings, Mr. Sanjeeva Shivesh, CEO and Co-founder, ISEED said, "Entrepreneurship means creating new things, rather than sticking to conventional businesses or jobs. Students across India are bright, full of ideas and willing to take the plunge towards starting their own business. They are not afraid of failure and have a solid business idea. All they need is access to funds necessary to start their own business and the adequate knowledge/training to do so. I am happy that the entrepreneurial motivations here at least on par with or higher than global peers as creating jobs are pivotal to achieve productivity, economic development and growth."

Survey Highlights

• 65% students believe that it is safer to be in job than be an entrepreneur.

        o   Immediately after studies, only 30% students would want to be an entrepreneur. 43% students would like to join large MNC, 12% aspire for government jobs, 2% would want to join a SME. But the big surprise is that 15% students would like to work for startups.

• 75% students believe that entrepreneurship is risky and has too many hassles.
• 80% students agree that entrepreneurship means creating new things rather than sticking with conventional business.

        o   Most students (66%) would like to start their own venture within 5 years of their studies. However, on a gender scale the difference is visible where only 53% of girls would like to start within 5 years of completion of their studies in comparison to 72% of the boys.

• More than 90% students agreed that India is full of entrepreneurship opportunities. 
    o    More than 87% students said that they have several entrepreneurship ideas.

       o    More than 80% students said that they have a solid business idea.

• Only 20% students said that they have access to funds necessary to start their own business.

       o   Education (17%), social work (15%), food & beverages (13%) and service sector (13%) attract students the most in terms of entrepreneurship ideas.

       o   Only 18% of the respondents have attended entrepreneurship lectures or workshops, with 5% attending such sessions on a regular basis. This only highlights the gap between aspiration and supply of entrepreneurship courses in India.

• Almost 55% students believed that they have adequate knowledge to start their own business.
• Only 25% Indian students are afraid of failure.

About ISEED

Founded by a group of professionals from institutes of national repute, ISEED's vision is to be a world-class educational hub offering a variety of long and short-term programs for budding entrepreneurs and startups at various stages of their journey. The ISEED advisory Board includes global luminaries from the academic world like Dr. Chris Van Der Hoven, Innovation Strategy Expert, Former Professor at Cranfield University, PhD, Cambridge University and Founder, Crowd Cabin; Dr. Jaideep Prabhu, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor, Cambridge University; Prof. R. C. Bhattacharya, Vice Chairman, Globsyn Business School; Prof. Sudhir  K. Jain, Vice Chancellor, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University and Professor, Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi; Dr. Paritosh C. Basu, Senior Professor, NMIMS University; Mr. Amit Kaushik, Educationist and Former Civil Servant and Dr. P. Sigamani, Visiting Professor, University of Minnesota. For further information, please log onto http://www.iseed.edu.in/

Primary Media Contact: Pallavi Sharma, [email protected], 91-83-94901869