Graduates hope to turn around fortunes after IBA training

They have been selected for agriculture entrepreneurs’ course.

SUKKUR:

Makhdoom Faisal, after running from pillar to post to find a respectable job, has become one of the luckiest students, who have been selected by the Institute of Business Administration Sukkur for a six-month course in Development of Agri Entrepreneurs under an entrepreneurship development programme.

Belonging to an agriculture-focused family, Faisal, a graduate, believes if job-seekers do not have political backing or enough money to spend, they cannot get a government job.

“I had been trying to find a government job since I graduated in 2006, but failed. Finally, I applied for the entrepreneurship development programme at the IBA and was lucky enough to be selected,” he says.

He acknowledges that it has become next to impossible for the government to accommodate all the educated youth in state departments, therefore, “we should switch over to agriculture business.”

After completing the course, he will start working at his father’s farmland, hoping to introduce modern farming practices. “Our landlords are stuck with centuries-old methods of agriculture and cannot increase production despite hard work. I am planning to bring modern techniques, which will not only boost output, but also generate jobs for others,” he says.

Though Faisal could not find a job for himself, he hopes he will be able to create jobs for the unemployed.

Syeda Saima Mazhar, another student chosen for the IBA course, desires to help empower women after completing the entrepreneurship programme. A graduate in information technology and Masters in Business Administration (Human Resources), she is one of thousands of youth, who spend most of the time searching jobs after getting the degree. She wanted to be a businesswoman.

“After completing the course, I will start some agriculture-based business in partnership with rural women,” Mazhar says.



She has worked for an NGO where she got a chance to interact with rural women, who worked very hard, but got very little in return. “Rural women are very hard working and can give excellent results after motivation,” she says.

At present, she runs a small boutique at her home and seeks to help other women start their own business.

“This is an innovative programme with the potential to make an impact on agricultural entrepreneurship at grass roots level,” shares IBA’s Director Centre of Entrepreneurial Development and Leadership Syed Ali Akbar Rizvi.

He says 700 candidates applied for the programme, funded by the Sindh Board of Investment, of which 150 managed to clear the test. The selected ones will get free education, accommodation, food and transport, besides a stipend of Rs3,000.

He stresses that agriculture and entrepreneurship provide extraordinary opportunities, which can be leveraged to develop human capital required for a prosperous Sindh.



Rizvi says entrepreneurship is an engine, which fuels innovation, employment generation and economic growth. Creating an environment where agri-entrepreneurship can prosper and where young entrepreneurs can try new ideas and empower others, will ensure that many of Sindh’s issues will not go unaddressed, he says.

The course will develop awareness of the state of entrepreneurship in Pakistan and around the globe. Following the training, Rizvi hopes students will be able to assess customer wants and needs, analyse and interpret market research and link trends in environment to market decisions. In addition to these, they will be able to develop a customer or target market profile for a product (goods, service or idea) and communicate marketing strategy effectively in visual, verbal and written formats.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2013.

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