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Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu urges entrepreneurs to ‘think rural’ for untapped talent
Zoho's Sridhar Vembu urges entrepreneurs to hunt for talent at the source in Rural India which holds more youth demographic potential compared to the cities which rely on migration, according to the post on platform X.
Zoho Corporation's co-founder and Chief Scientist, Sridhar Vembu, urged Indian entrepreneurs to look towards the rural parts of India to access untapped talent, according to his post on platform X.
“If you are a smart ambitious engineer or entrepreneur with a long term horizon, rural India is a great place to build your dream,” said Vembu in his post on X.
Sridhar Vembu also highlighted India's youth demographic and said that, unlike the rural areas in developed countries, India has better demographics. It is better even compared to that of the major cities in the nation, which rely on migration for talent.
“Unlike rural areas in developed countries, rural India still has youthful demographics - in fact better demographics than major cities in India, which rely on migration from rural areas for their talent,” said Vembu.
The Chief Scientist also questioned that why can't the entrepreneurs go to the source of this talent in the rural places of the nation.
“Why not go to the source of the talent? In the average rural district in India (Tenkasi being typical) you have about 20,000 kids born a year. Think deeply about this number! What can you build with that talent? There are over 600 such rural districts in India!” said Vembu in his post.
Focusing on the bigger picture, Vembu said that a “long-term horizon” is important as it will not work if anyone wants to exit in a few years. He advised entrepreneurs to look beyond English and hunt for talent in their native languages.
"The "long term horizon" part is extremely important. If you want an exit in 3 years, forget it! And look beyond English and engage the talent in their native language," said Vembu in his post.
Netizens React
People on social media had mixed opinions on Vembu's comments urging entrepreneurs to hire from rural India. Some people like Ravi Kumar supported the founder's take and said, “You are absolutely right sir but to build a sustainable business in 3-4 years, will be a challenge but long term, definitely.”
Others like Devendra Mahra said that it will only be possible when companies are willing to spend more time and effort on training. “This is only possible when companies are ready to spend effort and time on training. The advantage of having a team trained within an organization is not appreciated enough,” he said.
There were also people like Himanshu Tyagi who took the application approach and said that most entrepreneurial rural youth leave for the cities, while the unemployed or under-trained youth remain in the rural parts.
“But most of the entrepreneurial rural youth leaves for cities. When I visited North Indian villages a few years back, I could only find unemployed or under trained youth. Most of the others had left. You have a better pulse of this though -- don't you think rural entrepreneurship has been reduced to just social entrepreneurship now,” said Tyagi.
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First Published:6 Feb 2025, 09:55 PM IST
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