Do parents really know whats good for the kids ? May 27, 2007
Posted by savitakini in Culture.2 comments
My parents had very little expectation about their daughters. Personally, I had no clue myself, except that my mom constantly pursued us to study well so we could get a job and be financially independent. I hardly knew what I wanted to do or what I was capable of ?
When I was in 7th grade, a campaign by one of the parents caused the Atomic Energy School Board to allow girls to take ‘Boys craft’ which was basically electrical circuits as part of the vocational training. Girls were required to attend stitching/knitting etc. Needless to say I told my folks, I was going to switch to ‘boys craft’ as I was too restless to sit in one place and do stitching. When I look back at where my interest in technology really began, that was the begining. Subsequently, I chose electronics in 12th grade because I hated ‘mugging’ biology. My dad perhaps thought medical or computer science was a better profession for females, but I said I wanted to play around with ‘gadgets’ so stuck with my choice of electrical, which got me to focus on embedded systems for a big part of my engineering career. Later, I decided to do MBA because I figured I was having a good head for the business/marketing angle. This time again my parents thought business was not good for women. Since then they have changed their thinking thanks to all the media attention which Indira Nooyi got as CEO of Pepsi.
Personally, I had no baggage of what I could do or couldn’t do, and just went with my gut instinct. My dad often didn’t agree with my thinking or what I was doing. He continues to be bewildered by decisions, but he is now gotten used to the fact that I go about my choices in life. I have taken responsibility for my decisions and fortunately, haven’t failed at any of the critical personal or career choices I made.
Its been 10 years since I was away. In India, now I interact with colleagues who have children who are getting to the as we call it here in India the ‘critical phase’. Will my child get into IIT or medicine, what percentage, which coaching class etc. On the other side of the planet, I had colleagues with similar aged children, and the obsession about childrens career was far less. The children had much wider choice of courses, training and opportunities. The parents provide the necessary support structure and encouragement.
Looking back at my own life, several of my friends chose alternative careers after long stints in the technology industry, and then there are those who continue to pursue their hobbies in parallel with the same or more passion then their careers. I wonder if our parents really know what we are capable of or even allow us to pursue our real passions. Will this ever change ? Some say its changing, but I am yet to see that. Sania Mirza’s parents seem to be a good example. But where are the rest ?
Moreover, will our society provide opportunities for new kind of careers hitherto unheard of in the days of my growing up in India.
Coming back to the topic thats my favourite i.e entrepreneurship, I met a young chap recently, who was having a hard time convincing his parents of letting him quit his well paying engineering role at MNC to work in a startup. Did the parents really know that their son could be the next steve jobs or bill gates or michael dell ?
Do parents really know what their children are really capable of ?
Entrepreneurial Women of India May 4, 2007
Posted by savitakini in Entrepreneurship.add a comment
Yesterday, I had a chance to sit in for my friend – Anjana Vivek’s – business plan workshop which she teaches as part of the Management Program for Women Entrepreneurs, offered at IIM Bangalore. This is offered every year in the summer, and it runs for about 6 weeks where women from all across India – about 70 of them- go through a series of sessions on marketing, finance, venture capital, strategy etc, at the end of which they have to develop their business plan and present it to the judges. I had volunteered to my friend to sit in a few sessions and pitch in with marketing related questions/doubts of the students. It was an experience for me as I am trying to understand more about whether this culture even exists or not, and more so, how does it fare in the non-technology sectors especially by women.
Kudos to the 70 women who made me think on my feet for over an hour on different business ideas and the challenges they faced in identifying their market, doing market research, segmentation and analysis.
In the past few months I had spent interacting with entrepreneurs in Bangalore, I had only interacted with technologists who faced similar issues of identifying their markets and going after them. The IIM experience even topped these guys.
The sheer diversity of the ideas along with the motivation which drove these women was quite amazing. I saw women wanting to start a pre-school in their area to an investment portfolio management company. I was put on the spot quite a few times and I had to dig deep into my cache of marketing strategies to think of handling the different segmentation problems these women faced. Unfortunately, time is always a limit and I had to leave quite a few questions unanswered. Personally, for me, I had found some new avenues for addressing my own needs – trekking guide, homemade jams/jellies, an ayurvedic doctor to name a few. Maybe I had guaranteed some discounts for myself in the process 
I must applaud IIM and the NSRCEL for offering this wonderful program. It is really a step in the right direction to channel the entrepreneurial energies of India in a structured way in the right direction.
