Entrepreneurial Motivation among the Rural Youth: Study of Students of Navsari Agricultural University

Abstract

India is undoubtedly the home of a tech savvy skilled workforce of 500+ million and a proud skill capital of the world. India gradually heading towards becoming the country with the highest population, especially the rural but tech savvy youth; need to inculcate entrepreneurial zeal among the students at the higher education forum, to ensure sounding success of the promising ‘Make in India’ and the ‘Start-up India’ campaigns launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. For this, the youth brigade needs to abandon the mentality of a desperate ‘Job Seeker’ and should intend to be a progressive ‘Job Creator/Giver’. This is particularly true for the students of Agriculture and Allied Sciences as there are ample opportunities for becoming the “Agriprenuers (Agri Entrepreneurs)”; provided the students of these courses inculcate such positive mentality. If these students – the budding Agripreneurs develop positive attitude towards taking up entrepreneurial venture, then and then only, we would be able to see many Agripreneurs coming out of the portal of the State Agricultural Universities of Gujarat. Entrepreneurial motivation is crucial to process of organizational emergence. In this regard, the present Empirical Paper, utilizing the published theoretical literature and Communication Approach of the Descriptive Cross-sectional research design, assesses the entrepreneurial motivation level of the rural youth studying in various disciplines related to Agriculture and Allied Sciences in a SAU located in the coastal region of the vibrant Gujarat State in India – the state which is known for having business in the blood of people. It also analyzes their perceptions of the drivers and inhibitors for entrepreneurship. This study found that there is a wide spread lack of awareness among these budding Agripreneurs regarding the entrepreneurial eco-system in place; and consequently they are not being benefitted by the promising initiatives of the University, State and Central Government. Data collected from 100 respondents suggests that personal attitude of the student, parental/family background, perceived structural support and family support are found to be the top most four factors that have significant impact on entrepreneurial motivation. The outcome of this hitherto research study will help the institutions and higher-ups of the university to come up with action plan to guide, encourage and motivate the students and facilitate their entrepreneurial journey; ultimately contributing to the missionary project of ‘Start-up India’.

Keywords: Agripreneurs, Demographic Dividend, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Motivation, Job Creator/Giver, Job Seeker, Make in India, Start-up India, State Agricultural University (SAU)

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