Connecting Spheres: Insights from Industry on Youth Entrepreneurship and Governance
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Youth entrepreneurship has become a defining element of India’s evolving start-up ecosystem, influencing patterns of innovation, governance, and organisational legitimacy across industries. This study examines industry perceptions of youth entrepreneurship with particular emphasis on start-up governance, mentorship, and the institutional role of universities in enabling sustainable entrepreneurial growth. Anchored in an institutional perspective, the study adopts an exploratory descriptive research design and draws on primary data collected from 200 industry stakeholders, including founders, senior executives, investors, and incubator managers across manufacturing, finance, technology, education, and allied sectors.
The findings reveal a cautiously optimistic assessment of the current ecosystem. While 45 per cent of respondents rate India’s youth start-up environment as good and 19 per cent as excellent, 28 per cent perceive it as average, indicating both progress and persistent institutional gaps. Youth motivation for entrepreneurship is largely internally driven, with financial independence cited by 34 per cent of respondents, followed by innovation orientation at 31 per cent and social impact aspirations at 22 per cent. Despite strong motivation, structural constraints remain prominent. Lack of mentorship emerged as the most critical challenge, reported by 32 per cent of respondents, followed by funding constraints at 22 per cent and regulatory complexity at 21 per cent.
Governance is widely viewed as a determinant of sustainability rather than a compliance burden. More than half of respondents, accounting for 51 per cent, identify governance as an enabler of venture scaling, while 30 per cent emphasise its increasing importance as start-ups mature. Conversely, governance weaknesses contribute to 22 per cent of venture failures. Universities are recognised as pivotal institutional actors, with 71 per cent of respondents rating their role in nurturing youth entrepreneurship as significant or very significant.
The study highlights that sustainable youth entrepreneurship depends on institutional support structures that embed governance awareness, mentorship, and legitimacy alongside innovation and ambition.
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