A government’s role must be re-imagined

Across the world, governments are confronting a defining challenge of our time: how to foster sustainable economic growth, social resilience, and innovation in an era of rapid technological change, demographic shifts, and global uncertainty. In this context, a recent editorial in Bhutan’s premier English-language newspaper, Kuensel, came up with Entrepreneurial Bureaucracy, arguing that government bureaucracy must adopt an entrepreneurial mindset; it captures a far broader and more urgent truth.

For nations at all stages of development, rethinking the role of the state is no longer optional – it is imperative. Having spent more than three decades as an entrepreneur, I strongly believe that entrepreneurship cannot thrive in isolation. It is not merely the product of individual talent or private initiative, but of a complex ecosystem in which the government plays a decisive role. This is particularly evident in developing and transitioning economies, where markets are incomplete, institutions are evolving, and access to opportunity remains uneven. Entrepreneurs universally depend on a set of foundational inputs – often described as the seven M-s: Manpower, Money, Materials, Machines, Methods, Markets, and Management. None of these can be reliably accessed or scaled without enabling public framework.

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Education systems shapeman power ; financial regulations and public finance influence money; infrastructure determines access to materials and machines; governance and rule of law define methods; trade policy and competition rules open or restrict markets; and institutional quality underpin effective management. In short, the state is not peripheral to entrepreneurship – it is structurally embedded in it. The late American investor and economist George Gilder captured this dynamic succinctly when he observed that “the entrepreneur is not a tool of markets, but a maker of markets; not a scout of opportunities, but a developer of opportunity.”

Yet even the most visionary entrepreneurs cannot create markets in a vacuum. Their capacity to innovate, scale, and take risks is shaped – sometimes enabled, often constrained – by the quality of governance surrounding them. Where bureau cracies are rigid, opaque, or risk averse, innovation is stifled. Where they are adaptive, transparent, and collaborative, entrepreneurship flourishes. This reality calls for a fundamental shift in how governments conceive of bureaucracy. The state must move beyond its traditional role as a gatekeeper and regulator and evolve into a strategic partner in economic transformation. An entrepreneurial bureaucracy does not mean a reckless or unaccountable one. Rather, it means institutions that are problem solving, outcomes oriented, and responsive to changing realities.

It means public officials are empowered to innovate, simplify processes, and work constructively with the private sector while upholding integrity and the public interest. Key to this transformation is reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens, accelerating decision making, and replacing procedural rigidity with intelligent regulation. Governments must invest in human capital, ensure access to affordable finance, maintain macroeconomic and political stability, and build digital and physical infrastructure that lowers the cost of doing business. Equally important is cultivating trust—between the state and citizens, and between the public and private sectors. Trust reduces transaction costs, encourages long term investment, and legitimizes reform.

These issues resonate powerfully with the aspirations of younger generations. Across regions, Gen Z is demanding not just jobs, but opportunity; not just growth, but fairness; not just government, but good governance. They are increasingly intolerant of corruption, inefficiency, and performative policymaking. Their expectations align closely with what India’s President Droupadi Murmu articulated at the Black Swan Summit in Bhubaneswar when she emphasized digital ecosystem technology must ultimately serve social justice and human dignity and the need to build a culture of entrepreneurship and personal responsibility.

Similarly, Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat – self reliant yet globally engaged – reflects a growing recognition that resilience, food security, and indigenous technological capacity are strategic necessities in an uncertain world. Under current global conditions – marked by supply chain disruptions, geopolitical fragmentation, climate stress, and economic volatility – no sector can succeed alone. Governments and private sector leaders must coalesce around a shared entrepreneurial mindset to design policies that are realistic, adaptive, and grounded in local capabilities rather than wishful thinking.

Public private partnerships, when driven by competence and trust rather than patronage, can become powerful vehicles for innovation, inclusion, and national self confidence. Ultimately, an entrepreneurial bureaucracy is not about abandoning rules, weakening oversight, or privileging private interests. It is about redefining the purpose of the state in a dynamic economy: from controller to enabler, from obstacle to catalyst, from passive administrator to active architect of opportunity. Nations that succeed in this transformation will not only accelerate economic growth, but also unlock human potential, strengthen social cohesion, and meet the rising expectations of a new generation.

(The writer is a semi-retired entrepreneur and business consultant with 34 years of experience based in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. He can be reached at patnaikpk54@gmail.com