FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Pankaj Patel, PhD
“ How people manage risk has always fascinated me. If I am an entrepreneur, there’s a significant chance that I’ll fail. I’m always looking to understand how to mitigate that risk.”
When talking with Pankaj Patel, PhD, you quickly realize just how much he brings to Villanova. Dr. Patel joined VSB in 2015 as the newly created Frank J. and Jane E. Ryan Endowed Chair in Strategy and Innovation, a position that allows him to share his research and first-hand venture experience to inspire even more entrepreneurship within the VSB community. Most recently, Dr. Patel taught at Ball State University, an institution recognized for its entrepreneurship program. There, and as a PhD candidate at Louisville University, Dr. Patel published on a range of issues related to entrepreneurship, with particular focus on risk-taking.
An entrepreneur by nature
Dedicated to teaching
He’s especially interested in the risks of family-owned firms and whether family businesses are inclined to take on more or less risk, given the added responsibilities they shoulder. Part of that interest stems from his own experience.
Above all, he feels passionate about teaching. “I’m excited to expose students to innovation and help push them to think beyond their perceived boundaries,” Dr. Patel explains. In the fall semester, he taught an entrepreneurship course where students had to conduct a venture funding campaign. In four months, he led students through the process of identifying an idea and then creating and executing the funding campaign.
Born and raised in Mumbai, Dr. Patel grew up surrounded by entrepreneurs. His father, without a college degree, built a diamond business and most of his other family members also run their own businesses. Dr. Patel even pursues his own ventures, in addition to his teaching and research. He’s currently involved with a reverse-supply chain management company that handles product recalls for small- to mid-sized companies and another firm focused on microfinancing.
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Villanova Business / Summer 2016
“I look to create an environment where failure isn’t punitive,” Dr. Patel explains. He teaches a concept called the “lean startup” method, which looks at innovation and entrepreneurship as an experiment. It allows students to test their idea for a new product or business on a small scale to get feedback more quickly and adjust the business model more fluidly. “If they fail ‘small,’ students are more likely to learn, rebound and move ahead,” explains Dr. Patel. In addition to teaching, Dr. Patel also looks to encourage social entrepreneurship at VSB, similar to his work with the Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program (PAYLP) at Ball State University. PAYLP brought selected high school students from across Africa to the United States, where they explored entrepreneurial ways to fix community-based problems. “It was very illuminating for me, particularly as these students tried to find solutions for things that we take for granted,” Dr. Patel shares. “I’m excited to be here and share these ideas with my students,” Dr. Patel concludes. “As I say to them routinely: ‘The gap between what could be possible and what is possible shrinks every day.’”