This is a thought that I’ve been meaning to put down for quite some time. Time as always is running ahead of you and procrastination, well let’s not get started on that.

It is a topic on which there is already so much written, my first instance was what more do I have to add to it? However, the comments I’ve received on leaving a corporate life to working on entrepreneurial projects, plus the conversations, feedbacks, looks of complete incredulity, wishful thinking and then the complete wool that I see people put over their eyes is what makes me write on this.

My first thoughts on the subject came about when I was at a gathering of alumni of my high-school alma matter under the beautiful shadow of the Burj Khalifa, just a few months after I’d left. Now, Aitchison College is an alma mater, which over countless decades has seen many an entitled scion of our elite and gentry walk it’s paths and manicured lawns. Mingling with the dapper and successful individuals at this dinner (there were of course some pocket squares), the inevitable question that everyone had to answer, after the intro and class names and the jokes about the assemblies and the horses and the boarding schools, was what they were upto? However, the question, come to think of it was not really that, it always was, where are you these days i.e. which grand corporate ladder are you climbing on one rung at a time?

When I stated that I had decided to strike out on my own, it was met with incredulity, expressions of “Jolly well done, Chap” and of course “I wish I could do exactly the same”. And that’s where I started asking the question – “Why aren’t you?” The advantages that my peers from Aitchison have had in order to start an entrepreneurial journey always are more than most people in Pakistan have. Coming from established houses, a relative safety net, exceptional academic opportunities at the best institutions abroad, and a diverse network of connections at the pinnacle of politics and business in Pakistan, why do more individuals not try their hand at something new?

It was safe to say that 95pc of the people there were following the traditional Ivy League paths of either being bankers, lawyers or taking up senior positions in the corporate world. Even coming from families of industrialists, land-owners, business-men, most of them had still decided to take the relatively tried and tested path of a corporate job. Was it being conditioned into them that success is being measured by associating a title of Director, MD or VP next to their name is what would stand them well with their peers?

Now, I am not at all saying that there are absolutely no entrepreneurs in the vast alumni diaspora of Aitchison, but have they taken those plunges more when they’ve been explored to more entrepreneurial environments a la Silicon Valley etc? Even when some wanted to take the plunge, they still feel that they have to beat the corporate path before going into a business venture. However, with the relative advantages that Aitchison alumni have, should that really be the case?

Now compare that to my college alma mater, LUMS. The number of entrepreneurs from there is definitely higher, however, when I do really take it in percentage terms, it is still not relatively high. While it does encourage an entrepreneurial mind-set, perhaps the time when we graduated with stars in our eyes about landing Silicon Valley or Investment Banking jobs, most people did succumb to the get comfortable quick schemes. However, the hunger for entrepreneurial ventures to some extent was higher.

An interesting question on this was also posed on a recent episode of “Shark Tank” that I saw recently. One of the sharks, Barbara Corcoran, dissed a pair of brothers on their venture that she would never invest in them as they were “rich kids” and they would never have the requisite hunger. That would be highly unfair as an overall characterization, which would also mean that second generation money people will then never be successful. But as always, is there a kernel of truth in that statement? Does less necessity, a comfortable environment and a plethora of traditional opportunities drive out entrepreneurial drives from even those bent towards it, a la peoples of the Aitchisons, Etons of the world? Or will the entrepreneurial spirit still rise over and above it, as the innate need to create something and leave your mark on this world?

Which also then poses the question, which I’m asking more and more in the education space these days, are we creating drones or are we creating individuals with independent trains of thought and the penchant for exploration?

The above rambling is not a definitive answer on the question, but has posed some interesting questions to myself and it’s interesting to read more about this subject and experience it first hand, and I hope to continue this post and blog to try and see what it is.