Convocation Speech by Shri Shashi Ruia, Chairman, Essar Group; Chief Guest for the 9^th Convocation of EDI's Post Graduate Programmes held on 09^th June 2007.

But we need a radical change in our education system which stresses the need for stability and conformity rather than risk and “out-of-the-box� thinking. Industry and educational institutions need to work clearly to promote academies of innovation and excellence. Formal degrees should be supplemented and complemented by industry learning centers that award articates of practical competence.

We also need to look closely at how families and organizations treat and manage entrepreneurial spirit in their people.

Most Indian business families are comfortable with continuing a ‘running business’ and handing it over to the next generation. The one exception that immediately comes to my mind is that of Ratan Tata who has made the Tata Group a globally recognized and respected business house.

Organizations are typically happy achieving an equilibrium which experts in organizational dynamics refer to as ‘balanced feedback loop’ where there is no force strong enough to break the system out of the equilibrium. Take the case of American entrepreneurs who have had a great record of starting and sustaining organizational growth through their entrepreneurial spirit and then letting them get into a stage where they lose their innovative streak and become laggards and ideal cases for acquisition. Read the list of Fortune 500 companies 25 years ago and now and you will see my point.

Therefore, I stress that both educational institutes and corporations have a significant role to play in the promotion of entrepreneurship.

I would like to devote a few minutes to what I would like to see as a unique set of personal characteristics that an entrepreneur needs.

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