An Enduring Beacon for Youth

Over the last two weeks, the media has been full of the fantastic achievements of Steve Jobs, the founder of the iconic Apple Computer.  Unquestionably, he was a giant among entrepreneurs, honoured, often praised and sometimes abused, who took technology by the neck, shook it up, added to it, removed from it, and reassembled it “nearer to his heart’s desire,” and took the world by storm.

But what we would like to dwell on here is the beacon he lit for the youth of not only his country but the entire world.  He was not born a genius or into a rich family whom he could turn to in time of need.  How many of you know he was born out of wedlock and let out for adoption?  Jobs is the surname of his adoptive parents.  He dropped out of college after the first semester and became a hippie.  He developed a bent towards Eastern mysticism and experimented with fasting and total fruit diets.  When he was 19, he visited India in his quest for enlightenment.

At that time he was probably the last person anyone would have picked as the man who would shake up the information technology world and become a millionaire at the age of 25.  His adoptive parents lived in a land of apricot orchards.  A valley that was to became the famous Silicon Valley.  Probably this was Jobs’ only stroke of luck.  To become what he was when he died, he had to struggle fiercely in his early years.  Living in Silicon Valley, he developed a life-long interest in personal computers, which was buttressed by his friendship with Stephen Wozniak (Woz), a computer wiz.  When Jobs returned from his search for enlightenment, he joined Woz who was working on computer boards and persuaded him to sell him the products—that was the humble beginning of Apple Computer.

Jobs loaded computer boards in his car and sold them to local computer stores.  He attracted the attention of angel investors who were convinced by Jobs’ enthusiasm and devotion to work.  To cut a long story short, Apple went public, became a worldwide success and Jobs’ wealth exceeded $200 million.  He went on to become one of the first computer technology billionaires. 

It was not roses all the way.  Jobs was impatient to the point of being aggressive.  He was fired twice from his own company for his intransigent manner.  There were times when he had nothing to do and stayed at home with his family.  But not for long.  Along the way he had become interested in computer technology for films. He wrote the script for Toy Story which became the first all-computer animated movie and was a great success.  Jobs was always aware of where he was going.  After developing the world’s most successful desktop computer, iMac, there was no stopping him,  The iPod and the iPhone followed and the rest is history. 

The important aspect here is that Jobs met with almost insurmountable obstacles.  Not only was he fired from Apple (and taken back, of course), not every product he developed was successful.  There were many that found no market and cost his company losses of millions.  But he continued to do what he had to do and came out on top.

Jobs’ life is a lesson for every youth in the world.  Especially in India, where our young entrepreneurs face problems; financial, administrative and political, and many of them to give up hope despite their talent which is acknowledged worldwide.  The lesson of Jobs is: you don’t have to be born rich, you don’t have to be an MBA.  What is needed is an insatiable appetite for success, the ability to see opportunities in the environment, to bounce back when you fail and never give up hope.

You’ll be surprised how many people are looking to invest in projects with a future even if they are not successful at present.

As Steve Jobs’ company said: Think Different!