Asian countries have displayed remarkable growth of late and leading to the emergence of Asia as one of the fastest growing continents offering great business opportunities, creating in its wake an array of successful entrepreneurs, according to the experts.
Young business people have managed to capture the attention of American financiers, who are taking notice of the improved business climate over Asia and are taking keen interest in local entrepreneurs. Fortunately for young people starting up new businesses, there's a growing familiarity with entrepreneurship, especially among Chinese and Indians. "The entrepreneurial ecosystem has changed." I can recall starting my venture 8 years back in Thailand and India and was trying to negotiate office space with a landlord who wanted to see four years of the start-up's balance sheet. "So we didn't have an office for a year." Today, people know what start-ups are and do not ask those kinds of questions. While young entrepreneurs in China and India are well positioned to benefit as financiers in the U.S. pour more money into the region, not everyone is in such good shape. Money is not the only problem. In some Asian countries, many cultural obstacles still remain for entrepreneurs. Japanese culture still is not supportive enough for young people keen on launching their own businesses rather they prefer them going to work for big corporations. That is one reason why a less developed country like Vietnam is gaining prominence as an investor’s paradise. The Vietnamese are "trying to mimic China in attracting venture capital to nurture entrepreneurship”.
The advantage for Asian entrepreneurs is the availability of talents in Asia. "It is less easy to find good talents in Europe than in Asia, as you have to pay a lot for the same quality in Europe. In Asia, there are a lot of young people who are eager and keen, and if you give them the opportunity, they will stay with you. In the past entrepreneurship in Asia was about making the ends meet, but now it is about raising the standards of living, as many entrepreneurs have quit their jobs in big corporate as their pay packages do not seem much. "During my grandfather’s time, setting up a business was all about survival and today it is about improving standards of living, like buying properties, taking a holiday, the next generation of iPad, Ferrari and Porsche. People are creating better lives for themselves."
Indian scenario differs
India is ninth in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey of entrepreneurial countries. It is highest among 28 countries in necessity based entrepreneurship, while 5th from the lowest in opportunity based entrepreneurship. Indians have entrepreneurial capacity. However the society and government are not very encouraging towards entrepreneurship. To a large extent, the Indian society is risk averse. People usually seek secure and long-term employment, such as government jobs. The physical infrastructure needs to be improved and along with it other factors like social attitude, lack of capital, inadequate physical infrastructure and lack of government support are becoming major impediments.