印度蓄勢引爆創業潮

????印度人口增長迅速，對如何解決就業問題卻沒有明確方案，特別是在密拉特這樣的城市。有鑒于此，創業可能讓印度受益。2011年的最新人口普查數據顯示，密拉特的人口為340萬——摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）2011年發布的印度城鎮化進展報告則指出，當地就業機會的增長落后于消費。

????人們一直認為初創型企業——特別是技術型公司是個潛在的解決方案，前提是要為它們建立一個有利的生態系統。就勞動力而言，印度擁有絕佳的機會。據行業組織Nasscom介紹，大約有300萬印度人在從事IT工作，印度的工程人員數量居全球第二（每年約有70萬工程類畢業生）。

創業扶持機構的崛起

????5月底，在一個炎熱的星期天，辦公空間出租公司91 springboard寬敞的地下辦公場所里正在舉行一次創業活動。從這里沿著街道望去，能看到一座漂亮的地鐵站和一家寶馬車經銷店。這里曾是倉庫，現在已經成了初出茅廬的創業者的聚集地。91 springboard由三名創業者組建而成。就經驗和背景而言，他們和阿盧瓦利亞相差無幾。

????32歲的瓦倫?查瓦拉在美國完成了大學學業，還在紐約市為高盛（Goldman Sachs）工作了一年半。2005年他返回印度，但繼續為高盛工作到2007年。隨后他辭職，創建了一家專項咨詢公司，幫助初創型企業在起步階段籌集資金。可惜的是，他得到的投資有限，業務發展得也很緩慢。他在兩年時間內簽下了40名客戶。查瓦拉隨后離開了這家公司，又做了幾次嘗試，但都沒能成功。2012年，他把自己的一家公司轉讓給了旅游網站MakeMyTrip。之后，他萌生了這樣一個想法，那就是開辦一家公司，而它的目標客戶都是和自己一樣的創業者。

????查瓦拉說：“創業者最頭疼的是什么？基礎設施薄弱，網絡很差，而且很難獲得資金。我們希望能解決這些問題。”跟他合作的有阿南德?維姆里和普若內?古普塔。維姆里畢業于斯坦福大學（Stanford）工程專業，最近剛從加利福尼亞返回印度；古普塔則是80多家初創企業的顧問。他們在尋找辦公地點的過程中說服了查瓦拉的一位叔叔，租用了他在Mohan大廈的倉庫。這座大廈位于新德里東南郊——在印度，家庭的影響總是如影隨形。他們從自己的存款中拿出啟動資金，把其中的一大部分用于室內粉刷，安裝發電機以解決新德里經常停電的問題，鋪設網線，以及裝修，把它改造成適于人們逗留的地方。在這個過程中，他們也碰到了讓自己頭疼的問題——維姆里說，有一次他們不得不對付一位承包商，原因是后者故意抬高建材價格。

????Entrepreneurship is a potential boon to a country wondering how exactly to employ its rapidly growing population, especially in towns like Meerut. According to the most recent census in 2011, Meerut has a population of 3.4 million -- but job opportunities lag consumption, as suggested in a 2011 Morgan Stanley report tracking Indian urbanization.

????Startups -- particularly tech companies – have been touted as a possible solution, if an ecosystem is built to support them. India has a huge opportunity in terms of manpower. The country has an IT workforce of about 3 million and the second-largest number of engineers in the world (around 700,000 graduate every year), according to industry group Nasscom.

The rise of entrepreneurial support groups

????One hot Sunday in late May, at a cavernous, underground office down the road from a gleaming metro station and a BMW dealership in New Delhi, 91springboard is hosting an entrepreneurship event. 91springboard is a co-working space, a former warehouse and a gathering place for budding entrepreneurs. The organization is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs who couldn't be more different from Siddhartha Ahluwalia in terms of experience and background.

????Varun Chawla, 32, went to college in the United States and worked for Goldman Sachs (GS) for two-and-a-half years in New York City. He returned to India in 2005 but kept his bank job until 2007, when he quit to start a boutique advisory firm helping startups secure early-stage funding. Unfortunately, investment was limited, and business was slow. In two years, he signed 40 clients. He left that venture and started a couple more, all without success. Then, in 2012, after selling one of his companies to the online travel site MakeMyTrip (MMYT), he came up with the idea of starting a business that would target entrepreneurs like him.

????"What are an entrepreneur's biggest hassles? Infrastructure is poor, networking is weak, and it's hard to get capital," he says. "We wanted to address those problems." His partners included Anand Vemuri, an engineering grad from Stanford who'd recently returned to India from California, and Pranay Gupta, an advisor to more than 80 startups. After an initial search for office space, they finally convinced one of Varun's uncles -- in India, the influence of family is never far – to let them rent his warehouse in Mohan Estate, on the outskirts of southeast Delhi. A large chunk of their initial investment -- drawn from savings -- went into painting the walls, installing generators to guard against New Delhi's many power outages, laying Internet cable, and making the space fit for human habitation. Along the way, they had their share of hassles -- at one point, Vemuri says, they had to deal with a contractor who was artificially inflating the price of construction material.