In 1969, the Gujarat Industrial and Investment Corporation (GIIC) and Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) jointly offered credit support to technocrats by floating ‘The Technician Scheme’. The scheme benefited technocrats cum potential entrepreneurs by making available 100% finance without collaterals. Several technocrats and employees, most with basic skills only, such as; turners, fitters, machine operators, artisans and craftsmen responded. As a result, some 300 enterprises were set up and the scheme came forth as an instant success. However, very soon it was realized that most of the enterprises could not survive beyond the first six months; these not only made an exit but also turned into defaulters.

Although, the scheme didn’t generate results as envisaged, there were fine learnings which clearly brought forth that a strong preference for entrepreneurship did exist. A survey initiated to delve into the weak areas of the scheme unravelled that the primary reasons for failure despite the urge to become an entrepreneur, were lack of:

• Awareness of viable business opportunities;
• Knowledge on market assessment;
• Know how on business plan preparation (necessary for securing a loan);
• Information about permits and licences, registrations and government formalities to support a business;
• Competence and the confidence to manage a venture

So, the scholars and thought leaders of the time were convinced that entrepreneurship, the growth engine of the economy, could be the order of the day but before that certain concerns had to be addressed to create trained, confident entrepreneurs within an entrepreneur – friendly conducive environment. A few quick experimental programmes generated appreciable results and established the need for a national level Institute in entrepreneurship.

Thus, came up the idea of setting up a National Resource Institute, the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, committed to breaking the myth that entrepreneurship was only an excuse for under-performance.

The curriculum design of the first ever EDP was conceptualized by EDII and the results that followed in terms of the enterprises set up, left little for speculation. The basic premise which the visionaries followed was – Entrepreneurs can be created through well-conceived training interventions and counselling.