Unemployment has been a vexing issue for numerous developing nations and until recently, even developed countries. The advent of technology, automation, and AI has thinned their employable population, and this includes both the blue and white collar crowd. More often than not, unemployment plagues the two ends of the labour force age group - the youth (early 20s) and the close-to-retirement people (late 50s). While high unemployment rates threaten the economic growth of a country, there are a handful of solutions that can combat the problem. Entrepreneurship has emerged as a front-runner in recent times.
For years, entrepreneurship has been a key ingredient in providing a workforce with good employment opportunities. Big internet giants like Yahoo, Facebook or retail giants like Walmart, Costco sprouted from ideas of entrepreneurs. Within the bastion of entrepreneurship, here are a few viable and effective solutions to battle unemployment:
Relevant Industry
Perhaps the easiest way to generate more employment through starting up a new business is to be as relevant as possible to the local socio-educational pulse. For instance, a country like India has a massive number of IT newbies entering the workforce every year. So it would make sense for entrepreneurs to take a slice of this cake and make profits, while empowering employment within that sector. IT biggies like Infosys, TCS and Wipro are leading this charge.
Diversifying Across Verticals
Although entrepreneurs normally start with one line of business, most of them diversify into other product lines, into services or merge with companies of related products. This diversification attracts people from a wider talent pool. An example would be Uber branching out into the food industry through Uber Eats. Partnerships with other companies also lead to reduction of unemployment, as some services like HR and IT can be outsourced. Diversification and partnerships also contribute to reduction of costs, which create the same effect as unwanted employee layoffs.
Franchise Adoption
Successful businesses are hard to replicate, but they certainly tag along entrepreneurs who share their goals. Franchising - the concept of running a brand’s operations in a different city or country and sharing its success and profits - has become a handy business solution for aspiring entrepreneurs to launch their dreams. In the process, they take new hands on board, thus shrinking unemployment. A classic example of a company having accomplished this model is Derby.
Social Media Entrepreneurship
The world is more connected now than ever before - all thanks to social media. Ingenious entrepreneurs have taken social media by storm and have created their own personal brands, some even going on to kick-starting their own company. They rake dough on social media through sponsorships, advertisements, affiliate marketing, selling products and boosting visibility. Imagine this - these people literally live on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube and they carve a niche for themselves. People like Gary Veynerchuk have employed many people to help them run their social media channels.
New Skill Development
Most people’s careers become stagnant if learning is not part of their lives. In a world where automation is eating up umpteen jobs and causing unemployment, development of fresh skills is a necessity. Big companies like Amazon, IBM and Schneider Electric want their employees to flex their skill-muscles through training and development programs. Six Sigma, Design Thinking and Scrum Master are popular skills that entrepreneurs can encourage their colleagues to attain so that their work doesn’t become obsolete.
Over two decades of operation all over India, Derby has proven consistently that entrepreneurship can seamlessly lower unemployment. It's a company that ties together all the above points in its entrepreneurship model, and can be a superb motivational blueprint for aspiring startup heads.