Want to help your child develop entrepreneurial skills? Here is what you can do

Most parents expect, and want, their children to earn a graduate degree that would land them in a job that pays a handsome salary. They want to secure the lives of their children by making them walk on the path of least challenges, that is, join the bandwagon of the salaried class. And, in cases where children do voice an ambition of becoming entrepreneurs, many parents are either reluctant to or don't support the decision. Parents who want, and encourage, their children to become entrepreneurs are rare.

However, with the present-day job market experiencing unpredictable changes, the idea of becoming an entrepreneur is gaining ground and is definitely a good choice for your child.

Today, who doesn't know the inspiring success stories of businessmen like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, to name a few. This rare breed of individuals chose to travel on the path of entrepreneurship and reached phenomenal heights. They did, and are doing, things that have revolutionised our lives.

So, if you see the spark of entrepreneurship in your child, encourage him and nurture his dreams. Guide him towards realising his ambition. Here are some tips to help you understand how to do it:

• Talk to your child everyday about how you are really proud of his idea of becoming an entrepreneur. Tell him how it would make him stand out of the crowd and achieve greatness.
• Get her books that talk about amazing and inspiring success stories of entrepreneurs. Better Than a Lemonade Stand!: Small Business Ideas for Kids by Daryl Bernstein, Kidpreneurs: Young Entrepreneurs with Big Ideas! by Adam Toren and Matthew Toren, and I have a dream by Rashmi Bansal are some good books to start with.
• Encourage him to develop the habit of reading business newspapers and magazines that feature stories about start-ups and entrepreneurship. Reading these can widen his perspective and give him an insight into how things are done.
• Encourage her to watch videos of interviews by entrepreneurs; there are a lot of such videos available online. Watching TED talks, television shows and movies on entrepreneurs can also be great sources of inspiration.
• Take him to business conferences and seminars, exhibitions and fairs to give him a first-hand experience of what it would be like to be an entrepreneur. Let him listen to, and if possible, interact, with the speakers and presenters.
• Help her learn the basics of running a business, such as calculating profit and loss, maintaining accounts and managing people. Make use of role play to make it easier for her to understand.
• Assess his strengths and identify the field he is interested in. It might be trading, manufacturing, programming or management. Help him choose the field he loves and start collecting information from relevant resources that would help him learn.
• The most important thing you need to do is make her understand that entrepreneurship isn't always about succeeding at the first attempt. She should be brave enough to take risks and keep trying until she succeeds.

If you have read this article this far, it seems your child (and you, more importantly) is fascinated by entrepreneurship. Start working on it right from today and guide his march towards his goal.

Young Entrepreneurs of India

Shravan Kumaran and Sanjay Kumaran: At the age of 12 and 10, in 2011, these two brothers founded Go Dimensions, an app development company. Over the years, their company has designed numerous apps, which are available on Google Play.

Sreelakshmi Suresh: At 10, she became the Founder and CEO of eDesign Technologies, which offers services like website designing, web development, SEO and logo designing. She has also won numerous national and international awards.

Arjun Santhosh Kumar: This teen is the Founder and CEO of LateraLogics. At the age of 13, he designed two award-winning, Ez School Bus Locator and iSafeGuard.