Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

Edited By Aditya Arora | Updated on Apr 14, 2023 09:01 AM IST | #MBA

Salary is the drug they give you to forget your dreams. This phrase has become quite popular amongst today's youth who want to chase jobs with independence and a higher purpose than one with just a higher salary. Many surveys have revealed the changing needs of people today to reflect the growing transition to pursue entrepreneurship as a long-term career.

If you are wandering the same path, thinking about whether entrepreneurship is the right career choice for you and whether doing a formal degree helps the cause, let us help you find the answer.

Do entrepreneurs really require a degree?

Entrepreneurship is a practical field, so why does anybody need a degree? The question is correct, but not to a larger extent.

Entrepreneurship requires domain knowledge of fields ranging from finance, technology, and marketing to hiring. It needs a solid theoretical understanding of the functions that must be executed. Hence, an entrepreneur is expected to know the basics of these subjects to run the business smoothly.

A degree helps to understand the subjects from a foundational perspective so that entrepreneurs can get the required knowledge to know how a small business works. It becomes the launchpad to kickstart an entrepreneur's journey.

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Still not convinced? Let us talk about what degrees teach.

What Do Entrepreneurship Degrees Teach You?

Degrees in entrepreneurship cover aspects from idea generation to post-funding scalability. Let us understand this with the curriculum of the majority of such courses:

  • Identifying and building new business opportunities
  • Building an MVP or prototype of the product
  • Pricing models for monetisation
  • Growth marketing to reach customers
  • Understanding key business ratios to achieve profitability
  • Learn business modelling and financial planning
  • Raising funds from angel investors and VCs
  • Managing self and team
  • GST, TDS and legal compliances
  • Effective business leadership and communication
  • How to blitzscale smoothly?

The entrepreneurship course covers the background data of building a startup from an idea to a scalable business proposition. It helps a first-time entrepreneur understand the challenges and pain points of building a successful startup from scratch.

But more than giving the theoretical framework of running a company, a formal degree does help in getting some other added advantages. Let us understand that in detail:

Other Benefits Of An Entrepreneurship Degree

Large Network Of Students: The benefit of doing a degree course is the access to an extensive network of students that someone gets. These students may be your co-founders, customers or even early investors for your startup. Your NetworkNetwork is your net worth in entrepreneurship.

Diversity of the Class: The beauty is the diversity of the class in a BBA/MBA class. The students are from different backgrounds and fields and bring a wide array of experiences. As wisely said, humans are the best books to read. Every experience and every lesson in the journey counts. You might also interact with students globally and understand the global landscape and the problems, which will help you while going global. These lessons are a goldmine and become a base learning ground for anyone aiming to become an entrepreneur. For example - If you are from a commerce background, you might get the opportunity to meet with engineers and learn the facets of emerging technologies from them.

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Incubation/Funding Support: Many colleges offering entrepreneurship offer incubation and funding support to students. This support includes but is not limited to office space, mentorship support, equity-free grants and strategic partnership opportunities with relevant customer groups and institutions. For example - The incubators at IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad have been some of the top incubators mentoring and funding early-stage startups, which the college students run.

Brand Image of an Alumni: A brand image helps in many ways to establish the trust and credibility of the founder. Though it may not be the deciding factor, a good college background puts the entrepreneur on a higher pedestal in the business world. And the best part is that the brand image is everlasting, so it can be used to an advantage anytime, especially for first-time founders.

What-Do-Entrepreneurship-Degrees-Teach-YouEntrepreneurship requires domain knowledge of fields ranging from finance, technology, and marketing to hiring.

Change of Surroundings: A startup journey is very challenging, and there are several times an entrepreneur is stuck in it. Issues may be dynamic, ranging from commercialisation and funding to the supply chain and distribution of the product/service. A change in surroundings does help to release some of that pressure building in the mind of an entrepreneur. Pausing in your journey and going to study entrepreneurship enables you to get back to things from a fresh perspective later on.

High-Pressure Environment: A college perfectly creates a high-pressure environment with assignments, projects, vivas, and exam preparations - all done in a super-crunched timeline. The urge to excel from peers builds up even more pressure from the inside. A student who learns the art of prioritising goals and managing their time has the potential to go ahead and become a great businessperson.

Get A Creative Edge: The course also throws various practical assignments to you. From creating your pitch deck to interviewing a successful entrepreneur, the degree helps you get a creative edge in completing your tasks and projects.

After all - Entrepreneurship is all about creativity and innovation. Isn't it?

The benefits are well-rounded and boost a business journey from every lens. But, it is time to be the Devil's advocate and look at some of the cons that might put an overall thought to your decision.

Cons of doing an Entrepreneurship Degree

Lack of Monetary Support: Since entrepreneurship is a specialised course, the course fees are higher than any other regular course. A person lacking a solid financial background or monetary support would find it hard to afford it.

Time Off The Business: An entrepreneurship course (BBA or MBA) requires a lot of time and attention to the class and the myriad of assignments a student gets along the way. Though the course teaches the value of time management, that time is still from when you could be doing your business. There is always the opportunity cost you are chasing - learning on your own or through a degree.

Not Much For Second-time Founders: The course may not be helpful for a second-time founder who has already run a startup in the past. They would already have the Network, wherewithal and requisite knowledge. They may find little value in the degree.

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Understanding both sides of the table would help you decide whether to pursue a degree in entrepreneurship. Either way, entrepreneurship is about learning and unlearning new things outside your comfort zone. Developing the right mindset to think as an entrepreneur would help in entrepreneurship and life. The definition of an entrepreneur is someone who assesses risk and leverages it to make the best use of an opportunity at hand. Isn't it something supposed to be done in life too?

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Questions related to MBA

Have a question related to MBA ?

For an MBA specially in IT,you can consider SCIT (Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology) which is generally considered the better choice compared to SICSR (Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research) as it has a stronger reputation specifically focused on IT business management and offers a more specialized curriculum in the field and has good placement record, making it a more relevant option for aspiring IT professionals seeking an MBA.

The curriculum is good and niche in the field in this college you need to be among top 20 performer in order to get quick and good placement through the college.

https://www.careers360.com/colleges/symbiosis-centre-for-information-technology-pune

https://www.careers360.com/colleges/symbiosis-institute-of-computer-studies-and-research-pune

No, it is not possible to pursue an MBA after your 3rd year of a BA LLB integrated course from a Mumbai University college as you need to complete your full BA LLB degree to be eligible for an MBA program.Since a BA LLB is a 5-year integrated course, completing only your 3rd year does not fulfill the requirement for an MBA.

Not only in this university but you cannot take admission to any master course before completing your b.a llb integrated course however you can take admission to bachelor's degree on the basis of your 12th marks.

I suggest you to continue with your course after completing apply to MBA anywhere in india.if you have time prepare for CAT exam which is accepted by iims and Mumbai University. Remember When choosing an MBA program, you can consider specializations relevant to your legal background, such as "Business Law" or "Intellectual Property Law" to leverage your existing knowledge.

To know about admission in mumbai university refer link

https://www.careers360.com/university/university-of-mumbai-mumbai

Hello

Yes ,  you are eligible .

Completing a 2 years Agriculture Diploma course makes you eligible for an MBA in Agriculture Business Management , as many programs accept students with backgrounds in agriculture or related fields . You likely need to meet additional requirements like entrance exams like such as CAT , MAT or other . specific institution or universities may have their own eligibility criteria .

For more details check link given below :

https://www.careers360.com/courses/mba-in-agri-business-management

Thank you

Hello,

If you are currently in your final year and have not yet completed your bachelor’s degree, then selecting “appeared for bachelor’s” is the correct option. This option typically indicates that you have not yet graduated but are in the process of completing your degree.

The “bachelor degree” option would be appropriate only if you had already completed and been awarded your degree. Since you are still pursuing your final year, your initial selection of “appeared for bachelor’s” is accurate for your situation.

To get more information related to SNAP exam, visit : https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/snap-2024

Hope it helps !

Hello aspirant,

MBA 1st year subjects are as follows:

  • Organizational Behaviour
  • Quantitative Methods
  • Managerial Economics
  • Financial Accounting
  • Marketing Management
  • Human Resource Management
  • Business Communication
  • Information Technology Management
  • Organization Effectiveness and Change
  • Management Science
  • Economic Environment of Business
  • Financial Management
  • Management Accounting
  • Production and Operation Management

Thank you

Hope it helps you

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