Be an employer not employed

Prof. Mana Prasad Wagley PhD Chairman, KDBC Business School Twenty first century is a century of knowledge economy. When you become able to cash your knowledge to promote national economy you are considered to have knowledge economy. In USA 80 percent of the workers are knowledge workers. This percent is above 75 percent in countries like UK and some European countries. Working with logic and symbols rather than haphazard estimation is to promote knowledge and through that knowledge you can contribute to economy of your nation. In Nepal very few people are educated. For example only 3 million out of 27 million population have passed their SLC. Out of them the mortality of them through death or brain drain is estimated to be 30 percent. That means only 2.7 million people having their SLC are in Nepal. Out of them only 30 percent have passed their plus two exam. Now you can guess how many of them have participated in their undergraduate and graduate programs. Very few. And you are one of them. This tells clearly that the growth of national economy depends upon youths like you who are educated. Another fact is that in 2011-12 we produced around 46 thousand undergraduates and graduates. All of them were seeking job in the market. But, unfortunately, there were only six thousand jobs available. This means 39 thousand remained unemployed in one year. Now imagine, by the time you are a graduate how many people in your society have already been unemployed. The graduate unemployment rate in Nepal is more than 20 percent and if you add the number of those underemployed it goes up to 48 percent. Can you think of getting employed easily in this kind of situation where an addition of around 50 thousand or more wishes to have a job each year? This scenario tells us that there is no job availability in the market for graduates like you. I am not demotivating you in this regard. Rather I am suggesting you to seek alternatives. Will you go to gulf countries after you have an BBA or an MBA? Will you sell yourself in a lower price in the market after having such a degree? Can you become slaves being underemployed? Or can you tolerate getting no job after such a huge investment in study? I guess all of you say a big NO to all these questions. Then it is the high time for you to think of alternatives before you get through your BBA or MBA. Once you can click an idea of entrepreneurship the problem is solved. To this solution you have to create a group of like-minded people, basically your friends having the same kind of expertise. Forming a group is the first

step. Share of investment is the next crucial one. You may have to depend on your parents for such an investment for some years to come. Parents need immediate return of their investment in your study wishing you engaged in a job to earn. They may be reluctant to invest again and wait for the result. Your role, at this moment, becomes instrumental convincing your parents about the situation I have described above. Once you get through it, the third step is to select a leader from among your group. Leadership counts for 80 percent success in any business. So do not fight among yourselves who becomes the leader, accept such a person who has ideas more than you and who has a very good public relations. The leader should be an extrovert. Each member in the group has important responsibilities to make the leader successful. The success of any business depends upon the synergy among the members of that group. Then have patience for a couple of years and you can see you are the owner of your own company and not slave of others. Rather you will make yourselves capable of employing other youths so as to contribute the national economy, as well, to a positive direction. Not easy, but who dares such a herculean task if not you; who becomes tomorrows leader if not you; who becomes the master of business if not management graduates like you. A management graduate always thinks 10 years ahead having a vision and mission of life and makes himself/herself a successful business entrepreneur demonstrating leadership capability in the selected field. Instead of thinking going abroad after your study why not think of doing something of your own. Going abroad is not bad but that should be limited only to study purpose. Once you start working there you will become slave again of an unknown company of an unknown world. You may be contributing to the company making profits for the owner; you may get your salary for maintaining; but you never get a satisfaction out of that neither you will be known by anybody in your own country. Is this what you want, a passive dominated individual suffocating each moment trying to cover your household expenses? This is now high time for you to decide your own future by a kind of determination that you will become an employer and not an employed one.