Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

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.

Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?
Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

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.

Also Read | One Step at a Time: Why Rigid, Long-Term Career Planning Won't Always Work

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 ?

Hello Pragyan

So you have done Diploma and have a work experience of 4 years which is great. But unfortunately, doing MBA requires an undergraduate degree (of minimum 3 years) from a recognized university. Diploma holders are not eligible for regular MBA.

But there are some alternatives routes which you can take if you wanna do MBA which are:
1. Lateral Entry: You can apply for lateral entries in colleges for B.Tech/B.E. if you have done your diploma in engineering/technology field. So you will be in 2nd year and after completing the degree (which will take 3 years as you will be lateral), you could pursue MBA.
2. Distance/Online MBA: Some private institutions offer Distance/Online MBA but be aware that many of them are not recognized by UGC/AICTE.
3.  Degree: You could also pursue a 3 year degree in BBA/BA/B.Com/ whichever stream you are interested in.

If you would really want to pursue MBA, my personal recommendation would be go for a lateral entry or New degree as per your convenience as both will take 3 years. Or if you just want the skills taught in MBA, you can gain them by doing certificates/courses uploaded by IIMs and other professional institutes/individuals like Coursera and Udemy.

Thank You!!!

Hello, vinisha

in gurugram there are two best mba colleges .

1. management development institute

2. great lakes institute of management.

for faridabad these are the best mba colleges

1. Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies

2. Lingaya’s Vidyapeeth

and for noida these are the colleges that has good mba programm

1. Amity Business School

2.Jaipuria Institute of Management


Yes. If a student:

  • Does not meet attendance requirements ,

  • Performs poorly in internal/external assessments,

  • Fails to keep up with the heavy academic load ,

then they can fail or be barred from continuing. So far, while there's no exact failure percentage, student reviews highlight that failure is possible , especially for those who treat the course lightly.

You can apply for MBA through entrance exams like CAT, MAT, XAT, CMAT, or through direct admission in some private colleges.

Hello,

Yes, with a 622 rank in IPU CET for MBA and being a Delhi candidate, you have a good chance of getting admission in MAIT (Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology).

You don’t need to worry about not giving the CAT exam. IPU CET rank is enough for admission in MAIT under the CET quota.

Just make sure to keep MAIT high in your preference list during counselling.

Hope it helps !

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