Entrepreneurship and a degree when parents are rich

Do you know that when venture capitalists invest in firms, they do lots of due diligence? Yet, most of the companies they invest in do not become a star performer? Then, why are they doing it all the same? It is because that one company that do become a star performer would provide them returns far higher than all the losses they incurred from those that did not. It is the same for some entrepreneurs, the very aggressive ones, before they hit pay dirt. (became hugely successful)  Mr. Donald Trump has taken SIX business bankruptcies. Here’s the article in TheWashingtonPost. However, he became a very successful businessman and just a few months ago became the latest President of the United States of America. He was given those chances to try again based on the laws of the U.S. I am not sure if he has any mentors but he has an economics degree from the Wharton School. (University of Pennsylvania).  This is a very good university and one which Dr. Zeti Aziz graduated from too. Okay, this concludes my introduction.
This brings us to this question that is in my mind. Assuming the parents are very rich, should they provide funds for their kids to start their own business (many times since the first few times may not be successful) or for their kids to complete a degree first? Oh yeah, what we study during those 4 years of degree may not be very applicable when we graduate. By the way, even for Medical degrees, the doctors would have to keep themselves updated, else what they knew then may not be what is applicable today. For majority of us, we may not even be working on fields which we majored in! To me, it does not matter. A degree would be a foundation that my kids should have and I do not think it is a waste of funds or time. Once they have a degree, what they want to do next is up to them. Seriously, it should not just be how to earn more money lah. As long as it is what they love, what they are passionate about and they do it extremely well, the money would not be too bad. They may even find their best friends during those years and they would forever be laughing about their ‘stupid’ time in the university. Yes.. I still reminisce those foolish things I did even till today. I am fortunate that I met my wife then.
Entrepreneurs are amazing people. They can build up their new businesses that would then be able to provide lots of jobs to people. As the owner of a business /organisation, in the corporate world, we need good people. Many times, good people that we are looking for would become our senior managers, our general managers and these people would be those who has a good working experience gained from companies that hired them because they had a good degree in the first place. Personally, I think even for rich parents, encourage your kids to strive for things that they are passionate in. Provide them those opportunities since you could. As for that first degree, well, I would certainly think it is necessary no matter how rich the parents are. I remain just a full-time working professional who drives a Proton Persona to office everyday. Happy playing with your kids.
written on 1 July 2017
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