Mine and Mind

Role Of Government In Developing Entrepreneurs

ENTREPRENEUR

An Entrepreneur is an individual who efficiently and effectively combines the four factors of production. Those factors are land (natural resources), labor (human input into production using available resources), capital (any type of equipment used in production i.e. machinery) and Enterprise (intelligence, knowledge, and creativity.)

Entrepreneurship is often difficult and tricky, as many new ventures fail. is often . Most commonly, the term entrepreneur applies to someone who creates value by offering a product or service. Entrepreneurs often have strong beliefs about a market opportunity and organize their resources effectively to accomplish an outcome that changes existing interactions.

Business entrepreneurs are viewed as fundamentally important in the capitalistic society. Some distinguish business entrepreneurs as either “political entrepreneurs” or “market entrepreneurs,” while social entrepreneurs’ principal objectives include the creation of a social and/or environmental benefit.

The Enterprise can be set up in a designated industrial areas, where infrastructure facilities are available and is near to the market identified. It can also be set up in any other area depending upon nature of activity and local municipal rules.

Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations or revitalizing mature organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified opportunities. Entrepreneurship is often a difficult undertaking, as a vast majority of new businesses fail. Entrepreneurial activities are substantially different depending on the type of organization that is being started. Entrepreneurship ranges in scale from solo projects (even involving the entrepreneur only part-time) to major undertakings creating many job opportunities. Many “high-profile” entrepreneurial ventures seek venture capital or angel funding in order to raise capital to build the business. Angel investors generally seek returns of 20-30% and more extensive involvement in the business. Many kinds of organizations now exist to support would-be entrepreneurs, including specialized government agencies, business incubators, science parks, and some NGOs.

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ENTREPRENEUR

Entrepreneurs have many of the same character traits as leaders, similar to the early great man theories of leadership; Entrepreneurs are often contrasted with managers and administrators who are said to be more methodical and less prone to risk-taking. Such person-centric models of entrepreneurship have shown to be of questionable validity, not least as many real-life entrepreneurs operate in teams rather than as single individuals

• The Entrepreneur has an enthusiastic vision.
• The Entrepreneur’s vision is an interlocked collection of specific ideas.
• The overall blueprint to realize the vision is clear.
• The Entrepreneur promotes the vision with enthusiastic passion.
• The Entrepreneur develops strategies to change the vision into reality.
• The Entrepreneur takes the initial responsibility to cause a vision to become a success.
• Entrepreneurs take prudent risks.
• An Entrepreneur is usually a positive thinker and a decision maker.

ADVANTAGES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Every successful entrepreneur brings about benefits not only for himself/ herself but for the municipality, region or country as a whole. The benefits that can be derived from entrepreneurial activities are as follows:

1. Enormous personal financial gain.
2. Self-employment, offering more job satisfaction and flexibility of the work force.
3. Development of more industries, especially in rural areas or regions disadvantaged by economic changes, for example due to globalization effects.
4. Encouragement of the processing of local materials into finished goods for domestic consumption as well as for export.
5. Income generation and increased economic growth.
6. Promotion of the use of modern technology in small-scale manufacturing to enhance higher productivity.
7. Encouragement of more researches/ studies and development of modern machines and equipment for domestic consumption.
8. Development of entrepreneurial qualities and attitudes among potential entrepreneurs to bring about significant changes in the rural areas.
9. Freedom from the dependency on the jobs offered by others.
10. The ability to have great accomplishments.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF ENTREPRENEURS

1) Develop new markets.

Under the modern concept of marketing, markets are people who are willing and able to satisfy their needs. In Economics, this is called effective demand. Entrepreneurs are resourceful and creative. They can create customers or buyers. This makes entrepreneurs different from ordinary businessmen who only perform traditional functions of management like planning, organization, and coordination.

2) Discover New Sources Of Materials.

Entrepreneurs are never satisfied with traditional or existing sources of materials. Due to their innovative nature, they persist on discovering new sources of materials to improve their enterprises. In business, those who can develop new sources of materials enjoy a comparative advantage in terms of supply, cost and quality.

3) Mobilize Capital Resources.

Entrepreneurs are the organizers and coordinators of the major factors of production, such as land labor and capital. They properly mix these factors of production to create goods and service. Capital resources, from a layman’s view, refer to money. However, in economics, capital resources represent machines, buildings, and other physical productive resources. Entrepreneurs have initiative and self-confidence in accumulating and mobilizing capital resources for new business or business expansion.

4) Introduce new technologies.

Aside from being innovators and reasonable risk-takers, entrepreneurs take advantage of business opportunities, and transform these into profits. So, they introduce something new or something different. Such entrepreneurial spirit has greatly contributed to the modernization of economies. Every year, there are new technologies and new products. All of these are intended to satisfy human needs in a more convenient and pleasant way.

5)  Create Employment.

The biggest employer is the private business sector. Millions of jobs are provided by the factories, service industries, agricultural enterprises, and the numerous small-scale businesses.

PROMOTION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship  was potential to support economic growth and social cohesion, it is the policy goal of many governments to develop a culture of entrepreneurial thinking. This can be done in a number of ways: by integrating entrepreneurship into education systems, legislating to encourage risk-taking, and national campaigns

Many of these initiatives have been brought together under the umbrella of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a worldwide celebration and promotion of youth entrepreneurship, which started in 2008.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Financial assistance is available from institutions such as Nationalised Banks, Small Industries Development Bank of India, Regional Rural Banks, National Small Industries Corporation, State Financial Corporations etc. depending upon the project requirement and promoters background. Financial assistance has two components. Loan for fixed capital is used to acquire Plant and Machinery, land and building. Working capital loan is used to meet day to day operational cost of the production. State Financial Corporation and National Small Industries Corporation generally provide working capital. However under a package assistance, State Financial Corporations also provide a composite loan covering plant and machinery and working capital.

The general conditions for getting financial assistance are:

• Eligibility criteria
• Technical /Economic viability
• Promoters contribution
• Capacity to repay loan
• Collateral securities/guarantee

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in market economies are the engine of economic development. Owing to their private ownership, entrepreneurial spirit, their flexibility and adaptability as well as their potential to react to challenges and changing environments, SMEs contribute to sustainable growth and employment generation in a significant manner.

SMEs have strategic importance for each national economy due a wide range of reasons. Logically, the government shows such an interest in supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs. There is no simpler way to create new job positions, increasing GDP and rising standard of population than supporting entrepreneurship and encouraging and supporting people who dare to start their own business. Every surviving and successful business means new jobs and growth of GDP.

Therefore, designing a comprehensive, coherent and consistent approach of Council of Ministers and entity governments to entrepreneurship and SMEs in the form of government support strategy to entrepreneurship and SMEs is an absolute priority. A comprehensive government approach to entrepreneurship and SMEs would provide for a full coordination of activities of numerous governmental institutions (chambers of commerce, employment bureaus, etc.) and NGOs dealing with entrepreneurship and SMEs.  With no pretension of defining the role of government in supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs, we believe that apart from designing a comprehensive entrepreneurship and SMEs strategy, the development of national SME support institutions and networks is one of key condition for success. There are no doubts that governments should create different types of support institutions:

i)                    To provide information on regulations, standards, taxation, customs duties, marketing issues;

ii)                   To advise on business planning, marketing and accountancy, quality control and assurance;

iii)                 To create incubator units providing the space and infrastructure for business beginners and innovative companies, and helping them to solve technological problems, and to search for know-how and promote innovation; and

iv)                 To help in looking for partners. In order to stimulate entrepreneurship and improve the business environment for small enterprises.

Training

Basic training differs from product to product but will necessary involve sharpening of entrepreneurial skills. Need based technical training is provided by the Govt. & State Govt. technical Institutions.

There are a number of Government organisations as well as NGOs who conduct EDPs and MDPs. These EDPs and MDPs and are conducted by MSME’s, NIESBUD, NSIC, IIE, NISIET, Entrepreneurship Development Institutes and other state government developmental agencies.

Marketing Assistance

There are Governmental and non-governmental specialised agencies which provide marketing assistance. Besides promotion of MSME products through exhibitions, NSIC directly market the MSME produce in the domestic and overseas market. NSIC also manages a single point registration scheme for manufacturers for Govt. purchase. Units registered under this scheme get the benefits of free tender documents and exemption from earnest money deposit and performance guarantee.

Promotional Schemes

Government accords the highest preference to development of MSME by framing and implementing suitable policies and promotional schemes. Besides providing developed land and sheds to the entrepreneurs on actual cost basis with appropriate infrastructure, special schemes have been designed for specific purposes like quality upgradation, common facilities, entrepreneurship development and consultancy services at nominal charges.

Government of India has been executing the incentive scheme for providing reimbursement of charges for acquiring ISO 9000 certification to the extent of 75% of the cost subject to a maximum of Rs. 75,000/- in each case. ISO 9000 is a mechanism to facilitate adoption of consistent management practices and production technique as decided by the entrepreneur himself. This facilitates achievement of desired level of quality while keeping check on production process and management of the enterprise.

Concession on Excise Duty

MSME units with a turnover of Rs. 1 crore or less per year have been exempted from payment of Excise Duty. Moreover there is a general scheme of excise exemption for MSME brought out by the Ministry of Finance which covers most of the items. Under this, units having turnover of less than Rs. 3 crores are eligible for concessional rate of Excise Duty. Moreover, there is an exemption from Excise Duty for MSME units producing branded goods in rural areas

Credit Facility To MSME

Credit to micro, small and medium scale sector has been covered under priority sector lending by banks. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has been established as the apex institution for financing the MSME. Specific schemes have been designed for implementation through SIDBI, SFCs, Scheduled Banks, SIDCs and NSIC etc. Loans upto Rs. 5 lakhs are made available by the banks without insisting on collaterals. Further Credit Guarantee Fund for micro, small and medium enterprises has been set up to provide guarantee for loans to MSME up to Rs. 25 lakhs extended by Commercial Banks and some Regional Rural Bank.

Policies And Schemes For Promotion Of MSME Implemented By State Governments

All the State Governments provide technical and other support services to small units through their Directorates of Industries, and District Industries Centres. Although the details of the scheme vary from state to state, the following are the common areas of support.

1. Development and management of industrial estates
2. Suspension/deferment of Sales Tax
3. Power subsidies
4. Capital investment subsidies for new units set up in a particular district
5. Seed Capital/Margin Money Assistance Scheme
6. Priority in allotment of power connection, water connection.
7. Consultancy and technical support

Government of India runs a scheme for giving National Awards to micro, small and medium scale entrepreneurs providing quality products in 11 selected industry groups of consumer interest. The winners are given trophy, certificate and a cash price of Rs. 25000/- each.

CONCLUSION

Government accords the highest preference to development of MSME by framing and implementing suitable policies and promotional schemes like policies and promotional schemes, providing incentives for quality upgradation, concession on excise duty and provides technical supportive services. Thus Government play supportive role in developing entrepreneurs.

R.Yuvarani

M.Phil Scholar

Department of Commerce,

Periyar University, Salem-11.

Hindu Weddings in India are known for its great pomp and show. The wedding ceremonies extend over a period of four to five days. These ceremonies are based on great Indian traditions and customs. In addition to this, the Indian weddings are considered as an important sacrament of the Hindu religion. Hindu weddings are one among sixteen cultural practices a devout Hindu has to go through. Hindu marriages are not only a union of two hearts but two families as well. For this holy union a large number of customs have to be followed. These customs are divided into three parts, pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding ritual.

The Pre Wedding Rituals are beginning of wedding ceremony. The pre wedding rituals consists of engagement, tilak, sagai, sangeet and mehandi. The Engagement ceremony is marked by the exchange of rings by prospective brides and grooms. The next ceremony is Tilak ceremony, wherein the girl’s brother applies tilak (red mark) on the groom’s forehead and offers him gifts. Next is the Sagai ceremony wherein bride and groom sides exchange gifts. The next part of pre wedding rituals is Sangeet ceremony, in which women and girls of both the families sing and dance to enjoy these moments. The next and last part of the wedding rituals is Mehandi ceremony in which mehndi or henna is applied on bride’s hands, palms and feet in an artistic way. It is one of the important aspects of Hindu weddings in India.

On the main day of Wedding the wedding ceremony begin with Jaimala, the ceremony in which the bride and the groom exchange flower garlands in the presence of their friends and relatives. This ceremony is followed by Kanyadaan for which the bride and groom arrive to the mandap to perform this custom. This ritual is considered very significant because it is the ritual in which the bride’s father gives his daughter’s hand to the groom. This moment is sanctified with mantras chanted by priests. The next thing is Mangalpheras which is performed around the holy fire. The couple also take the seven vows called Saptapadi, and make promise to stand by each other through all thick and thins. This ceremony is followed by the groom putting sindoor or vermillion in the bride’s hair parting. Then the groom ties mangalsutra around the bride’s neck.

After completion of wedding ceremony the Post-Wedding Rituals starts. The post wedding rituals consist of vidaai and reception. The Vidaai ceremony is the event in which bride leaves her ancestral home to join grooms family. When the couple arrives at the groom’s house, the proud groom’s mother welcomes them with aarti. After completion of some other rituals a grand reception party is organised to introduce bride to the grooms family and society.

Muslim marriage as in other faiths is a sacred institution. It is a moral contract binding between a Muslim man and a Muslim woman. Muslim marriages are performed according to the laws of the Islamic Shariah. Islamic marriages are generally arranged marriages by the parents. The proposal for marriage is made by the girl’s parents to the guy and once with the acceptance from both the sides the ceremony of engagement is made which is further followed by the marriage. The Islamic marriage is solemnized by a priest who takes the consent of both the bride and the groom for the marriage. The bride and the groom’s consent is followed by signing of the marriage proposal by the bride, the groom and the witnesses. The Koran or the holy book is placed between them and they are made to see each other through a mirror. The Islamic marriage ceremony is celebrated with the distribution of dates and sweets and with a grand feast. In an Islamic marriage premarital intimacy is strictly not permitted. According to the religion of Islam a Muslim marriage is the foundation upon which an Islamic society is built.
Muslim marriage is characterized by offering of the dowry by a Muslim man to his spouse. The main purpose is to safeguard the economic status of the Muslim women in case of any unto do incidents. The dowry or the mahr can be paid before or after the marriage and with the failure of the payment of dowry the Muslim marriage becomes invalidated. The Muslim marriages insist on the husband supporting his spouse financially and therefore it is the duty of the husband to support and protect his wife. The Muslim marriage rules also insist that the husband should make sure that both his wife and children have access to the religious Islamic materials.
One major difference between Islam and other religion is the practice of polygamy, the Muslim men are allowed to marry up to four wives as long as he can support and protect them. Muslim women however are not allowed to marry more than one man. The religion of Islam does not permit homosexuality. It allows the marriage of a Muslim man to a Jewish or a Christian woman. Though the Islamic law permit’s the marriage of Christian or a Jewish woman to a Muslim male it does not permit them to have the inheritance of their spouse unless it is conferred by the Muslim man on their Jewish or Christian spouses.
Islamic religion lays down strict marriage regulations as marriage and family are the building blocks of Islamic society. The moral contract between the husband and wife in Islam is bound by certain rules and regulations. Islam clearly defines the role of a husband in a family as well as that of a wife’s duty. It is the healthy family life which would form the basis of healthy off springs. This further would lead to the growth of a strong Islamic society. The ultimate aim being the growth of the religion with staunch followers of Islam and Muslim marriage is a really a formatted institution.

Giving welcome

Rabbi at new synagogue speaks of converts to Judaism

BY SERGIO CARMONA.

JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

There’s a new rabbi in town.
Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn, who moved to Miami-Dade County in May and has started Adat Achim Synagogue in Sunny Isles, knows a great deal about those who convert to Judaism. Since his rabbinic career started more than a decade ago, Cukierkorn, 37, has converted many of those people himself – in Europe, South America and China. Welcoming new people as Jews is important to him.
“Today, we have as many Jews in the world as there were the day the Americans liberated the concentration camps,” he said. “Next generation, we will have negative growth, and we’re going to have less Jews in the world. Somebody has got to do something about it. I believe that as a leader of Jewish people, we should put them on the red carpet; we should welcome those people who are legitimately interested in becoming Jewish. It must be offered
to them.”
Cukierkorn was born in Brazil and comes from a rabbinical family that goes back 700 years. He is a member of the rabbinical cabinet of United Jewish Appeal. His conversion process involves an online course for people who are willing to be Jewish and can convert anyone from any part of the world through online study and a final exam.
“This course gives people the tools to empower themselves to establish Jewish identity in a way that they can work on their own time, because today’s environment and situation regarding our : mobility, regarding our schedule and other priorities we have in our lives, sometimes would not allow many people to be in a regular conversion to
Judaism course,” he said.
Cukierkorn. currently has 30-40 students from South Florida. One of those students, Tatiana Suarez, who resides in Miami-Dade County, is. grateful for the course’s flexibility and the learning opportunity provided.
“Rabbi Cukierkorn has a very nice method about learning Judaism;” said Suarez. “He’s critical. He can get deeper. If you don’t have time, he gives flexibility to his students. The” rabbi gives you everything you need to know and he guides you very well through the course.”
Cukierkorn enjoys working with students who posses the maturity to learn to become a Jew.
“I think that the very beauty of people coming
into Judaism is they have an adult mind and that they’re going to ‘experience things for the first time already with a mature mind,” he, said.
Cukierkorn is not only impressed with his students’ maturity, but impressed with their dedication, as well.
“Most of the people I work with, they could choose any religion, and for them becoming Jewish and joining the greater Jewish family is the most important thing in their life,” he said. ‘as a congregational rabbi, I have never seen another group ‘that opens so much enthusiasm in Judaism than people converting; and usually they make wonderful Jews.”
Cukierkorn has also provided close guidance to his students. One is Larry Hudson, a former student who became a
Jew in 2002.
“He’s provided close guidance to our family here in Florida,” Hudson said. “He is very astute in the field of Judaism, and he’s provided guidance to individuals like ourselves in converting to Judaism.”
Cukierkorn is proud to have an impact on his students’ lives.
“From all of my rabbinic duties, converting people gives me the greatest pleasure,” he said. “I have converted people from New Zealand to Argentina, and having a small part in their lives is the greatest reward I have in my
rabbinic duties.”
Cukierkorn’s guidelines, expectations and requirements. for his course are available at http://www.convertingtojudaism.com. He can be reached at 305-510-8111.
Origininally featured in the L’Chaim section of The Jewish Journal July 10, 2007

http://www.convertingtojudaism.com