Introduction

An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business and is willing to take financial risks to make more money. An engineer is a person who has obtained a B.E. or a B.Tech degree. At first glance, we may feel there is not much in common between these two personalities.

However, it is observed that several engineers have turned out to be successful entrepreneurs. While entrepreneurship is gradually and steadily shaping up as a highly regarded trend, what is the reason that engineering graduates make better entrepreneurs when compared to other entrepreneurs?

What is the technique that enabled engineers to take the entrepreneurship game to the next level?

What is the theory behind ‘engineers turned entrepreneurs’ making it big in the entrepreneurial world?

Let’s explore.

Traits of Engineers that make them Entrepreneurs.

Engineers have a vision. They know exactly what they want. They are quite clear when it comes to deciding what they need. Hence, they are able to visualize their ideas properly.

Creativity

Engineers have highly creative minds, and hence, they come up with brilliant ideas.

Workload and time management

When pursuing engineering, which involves a lot of subjects and brings along with it many assignments, the students have a lot on their plate. Through this habit, engineers can handle the workload and know how to manage their time effectively to fit in all their daily tasks. Hence, they are able to plan and utilize their time properly, which results in efficiency.

Leveraging opportunities

Engineers have studied in a highly competitive environment. Hence, they grab opportunities just as they come and ensure they use them to the maximum to succeed.

Pragmatic thinkers

For a business idea to be a success, it is important to think things through practice. Engineers do this with ease; they know how to calculate the scope of an idea. They are problem solvers. An engineer’s mind is well-trained to solve problems through logical thinking. They make great problem solvers, which will be of great use in a business in order to put out fires.

Optimistic and resilient

Four years of engineering teach them to keep going, even in an adverse situation with a positive attitude. They will not sit still until a solution is found. Even if they do, their resilient selves will make them get back and resume working.

Excellent planning skills

They can plan a task really well, right from what the task is, how to go about it, and finally when it is to be completed. Engineers would have done several projects during their college years, which would have taught them the art of planning a task. Often, they even have two or more ideas up their sleeve, just in case, the primary idea does not work!

Teamwork

Engineers during their college would have mostly worked on projects as a group, rather than as individuals. This would have taught them the spirit of teamwork. This ensures that the project receives numerous inputs which are significant for its success. Engineers are also comfortable in a group as they are pretty used to it. Hence, all these make the work proceed smoothly without any hindrance.

Becoming an entrepreneur and running a business is no piece of cake. It takes all of the entrepreneur’s physical and mental effort, right from thinking out an idea to executing it. Here are some Indian engineers turned entrepreneurs who made it big in the field of entrepreneurship.

Successful Indian entrepreneurs

Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee, Founders of Sugar Cosmetics

Vineeta Singh and her husband, Kaushik Mukherjee, are engineering graduates from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. They founded Sugar Cosmetics in 2015, targeting the Indian market and focusing on creating makeup products for Indian skin tones.

Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Founders of Ola Cabs

Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati are engineering graduates from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. They founded Ola Cabs, with the vision that the app would simplify the process of booking a cab for commuters.

Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, Founders of Zomato

Deepinder Goyal graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi with an Integrated Masters in Mathematics and Computing and Pankaj Chaddah is an engineering graduate from IIT, Delhi. They founded Zomato, which was initially intended to provide information about restaurants, menus, branches, and reviews. Later on, delivery was added to their services.

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Founders of Flipkart

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are Computer engineering graduates from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. They founded the e-commerce website, Flipkart, which has grown to be an online shopping app, popular for its products and quick delivery.

If you are an engineer and have an amazing business idea but are dubious about executing it, I hope this article will give you some inspiration. What a thrill it would be to see your name in a similar article! Think about it.