“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” — Steve Jobs
Have you perceived the biggest and fiercest debate of our times? Yes, it’s the one about jobs. Critics like Rahul Gandhi of the Congress Party say that the Narendra Modi government has not done enough to create jobs. The government, on the other hand, argues that the very definition of “jobs” may have undergone a shift during its tenure, with more loans being given out for entrepreneurship through schemes like MUDRA. It also points to how schemes like Startup India have helped foster a new culture of self-employment, “which will eventually turn the country into one of job-givers rather than job seekers”.
While the jury is still out on job statistics, what is not open to question is that governments increasingly will have less role in “creating jobs”. Jobs will have to emanate from more enterprises — and a land of a billion ideas must produce a billion entrepreneurs.
It’s with this belief that in this issue of BW Businessworld, we honour technology startups that have the potential to grow into behemoths tomorrow. Our first cover, BW TECHTORS, celebrates the most definitive list of tech startups, selected after a rigorous two-stage process. A trend evident here is that engineers are increasingly taking to entrepreneurship and founding startups.
Ironically, it is also true that a good many engineering graduates are just not fit for the job market. So, how good are the engineering schools that have mushroomed across our country lately? In a second cover story, BW Businessworld presents the most definitive ranking of public and private engineering colleges of the land. This study is brought to you in association with ICare Ratings.
Some of the entries, like the top IITs, were predictable. Some of the newer entries in the private list, on the other hand, show that even though only a few have noticed, the private sector has been innovating imperceptibly. The engineering package comes with thought leadership columns by some chosen domain experts.
The third cover in this issue is a corporate story that has only too often played out in our midst. We are talking of the cola wars of India’s scorching summers. This time round, though, there is a difference in the cola war between Coke and Pepsi. The rivalry is intact and the market sizes keep shifting, but this time the flavour of cola is changing too. Cola sales, as sales reports show, are dipping, and both the cola majors are diversifying into health and nutrition drinks. We call it Cola War 2.0.
This is also the season of the soccer World Cup, and while football may still not be the number one sport here, we look at how a greater focus and money in the game are turning football into a major sport in the country. The business of football is our fourth cover in this issue.
All in all, a highly readable issue, which I am sure, you will enjoy.
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