In this modern and innovative economy, we always celebrate success and at the same time look down upon failure. The fear of failure is one of the serious hindrances to actual entrepreneurship. As Bangladesh is a developing country, it is now thriving on innovation. So, we must reframe our perspective to not degrade failure, but as an essential learning process.
The world's most successful entrepreneurs have a past history of ventures which did not gain success. But the failure didn't tie them or make them fall behind. It taught them a lesson about the process of success. 'Failure' is not the endgame. It is an intensive training path. They teach redirection, resourcefulness and different ways to turn back and reach the goal. This cannot be taught in books. Whenever we shame the failed business, we discourage young or new innovators or entrepreneurs from entering the market. Perhaps those new entrepreneurs wanted to take the risk. We dim the light on their courage. What happens if we continuously do it? The answer is before our eyes-the best talents of our nation are leaving the country to avoid such a situation, making our economy slow down, as creativity and new ideas are also leaving with them.
Therefore, I call upon our entrepreneurs, educators, policymakers, and business leaders to build a supportive environment-an ecosystem that helps potential entrepreneurs learn through failure. This can be achieved by creating mentorship programs that connect new entrepreneurs with experienced business leaders who have faced setbacks themselves and develop financial instruments that are more forgiving of failure, and motivate them with stories of people who succeeded after initial failures. Let us create a culture where failure is not seen as a sin or a source of shame. By doing so, we will continue to see successful new ventures emerging in our low-income economy.
Tasrin Jahan Raisa
North South University