You know, I am a keen observer of business activities, not at international level, but at the nook and corner of the city.

A “school drop out” makes gold coins on the street!

I was watching at the boy in a corner shop at the ninth street of that populous cross cut road. He was holding a small slicing tool with one hand and operating it rhythmically with the other. The slices fly off and fall into the simmering coconut oil. He turns and takes them out as gold coins. Yes. When you see them, they look like gold coins. More or less it is also true. The banana slices he makes are fetching very good money equal to real gold. He is a real entrepreneur.

But, tell me, what his educational qualification is. He is just a school drop out. He has learnt the techniques of making the banana chips from his father and uncle, who are all experts in this trade.

The technical knowledge required for making good banana chips should not be under estimated. Impregnating the color, taste, flavor and crispness quite naturally into the golden banana chips is so highly a technical subject. The expert person, say, the little boy, could be awarded with a Ph.D. in chips making! Here, the low level of academic knowledge and a high level of technical expertise brought the success!

A Management Expert also sells gold coins! But, in the international highways!

You may need to walk only a few more hundred meters to see a gentleman doing the same trade with the same technical knowledge, but with his customers in very far off places.

He is an M.B.A.; an expert administrator, sells a variety of beautifully fried and packed banana slices to Arab countries. Here, the gentleman is not too crazy to use all his knowledge gained from all institutions he studied.

He limits and narrows down his knowledge to a sharper point of doing his business with a single product, but to an international level.

If you want to say that both of them are minting gold or money in a special way, then, I will not deny it!

Both of them are successful, one with limited knowledge and another with narrowing down and limiting his knowledge!

What is the academic qualification required for achieving business success?

Man is a silent listener. He starts learning the very basics of life from his mother, the very first teacher to any child. Then, he goes on to learn from his close surroundings and the Mother Nature.

When he grows up, he is taught by teachers in the school and then in the college. He learns ‘how to learn’ from various resources. For a longer period, the print media and very recently the electronic media play a great role in bringing knowledge to the mankind.

The atmosphere is always ready to endow him with good amount of knowledge.

But, is he ready?

Only his open mind can tell us the truth.

What is open mind?

Open Mind: A Treasure house of knowledge!

“Open mind gathers knowledge.” What is an open mind? Open mind of a person has no preconceived thoughts! It has no egoism or restrictions! Open mind is very much receptive in action and is ready to gather knowledge liberally.

It allows the person to see, observe, study and accept from what is being taught by the teachers, associates, books, modern teaching aids and media like radio, television, internet, on-line education etc.

The open mind concurs that what it knows by itself is only to an extent expressed as ‘handful of earth’; the unlearnt things are enormous comparable to the size of our ‘Planet Earth’. Open mind says “I don’t know”, when it really does not know!

When a technical student pretends and says that he knows everything, he gets less opportunity to learn! But the one who admits and says ‘I don’t know’, gets great opportunity to learn more about it! The person with an open mind opts himself to gather more knowledge and equips himself with knowledge, the very first tool of entrepreneurship!

A small and sharp knowledge about doing a business is enough!

But, keep your mind open always. Be ready to learn more!

Say ‘I don’t know’ whenever you need to know more.

Learn whatever is needed! It is quite an essential and prime important qualification for an entrepreneur!

Narrow down the higher academic knowledge towards the purpose of the business!

We know, too much of wider knowledge brings dilemma in taking a decision, even about choosing a career or a business. In such circumstances, the higher academic knowledge could be narrowed down just for the purpose of the business in need. Keep your extra knowledge in reserve for the future.