AIB: Indian Mario

Education As A Way Of Life

Education is for life, not merely earning a living and team FinLit at Enactus Somaiya Social Cell has always striven to contribute to the cause of providing education to the underprivileged and giving India a chance to speak, read and write lines of a fresh, literate and visionary Bharat.

As a part of this, Finlit organised a certificate distribution ceremony for the students of KJ Somaiya Vocational Training Institute (VTI). The event started at 2:00 PM in presence Prof. Asha Bhatia, the faculty co-ordinator of Enactus SSC, Mr. Mathew, Principal of VTI and Dalvi Sir who was instrumental in helping us throughout the FinLit program at VTI.

This was followed by the certificate distribution ceremony for the meritorious students of VTI by Prof.Asha Bhatia. She later thanked the Principal and teachers of VTI for their continuous support and encouragement to the FinLit members that helped them complete the 3 month course at VTI successfully. The principal of VTI, Mr. Mathew, also appreciated the efforts put in by the volunteers and looked forward to the upcoming FinLit sessions and requested to increase the number of batches for VTI since more students are now interested to be a part of this program.

All FinLit Programs are supported by IIFL who recently felicitated Project FinLit with a grant of Rs. 30000 and also provided Financial Literacy Material to all 442 students associated with the Project. Prof. Asha Bhatia extended gratitude towards IIFL for their continuing support for Project FinLit.

It was a proud moment for all the FinLit members to see their students doing so well in the exams conducted by them and the resultant increase in financial awareness and English speaking skills.

Project FinLit will continue to contribute to the cause of spreading financial awareness and English proficiency amongst the students and contribute in a small way to the Millennium Development Goal of Literacy.

Project FinLit will now start with the next batch of students shortly hoping to see more financially aware students with better English proficiency passing out this year as well. 

Contributor:

Prerna Malhotra

PGDM 2013-15

A beginner’s view of Enactus!

At the heart of entrepreneurship is the ability to see hidden opportunity that might not be visible to the naked eye. At SIMSR, Enactus students have always demonstrated that entrepreneurial action can be a powerful catalyst for enabling greater human progress. Through rigorous scrutinization processes conducted by student of senior batch,I got selected in Enactus Junior batch of 2014-16.

In the first official meet, the junior batch was taken through all the initiatives of the committee. My big moment came when the projects were presented by the team leaders. I was overwhelmed by the excitement, passion and, most of all, the impact of the projects on the communities. The power to change all parties involved – students, community and sponsors – and giving them a totally different perspective on how to act as a society was incredible. These projects included empathy, empowerment, responsibility, initiative, etc. – everything was there, and on top of it, with a long-lasting effect. This inspired us to build a better Enactus so that all participating students can go on to change more lives.  Together we set about constructing new project resources – so keep an eye out for new tools and training event materials to come soon.

So as a new joiner how do I sum up Enactus? It is a unique program that is capable of changing the lives of all involved and starting a cycle of improvement for the whole society. First few days proved fantastic for bettering the program and we look forward to implementing the new ideas and working further with our seniors’ batch. A BIG thank you to all for giving us an opportunity to work with Enactus team. We assure you that as a new team we will do our best to make you proud.

In the end, we have legacy to continue!

Making Enactus a way of life

I felt there was a certain aura surrounding Enactus when I applied for it. I knew for a fact that Enactus had an international base, I knew it was one of the most sought after and active committee in the campus and I also knew that it was one of the most heavily funded committee. But at that point of time I couldn’t entirely comprehend the fusion of Social work and Entrepreneurship. Nevertheless I continued and sure enough as the rounds progressed it became evident to me that it was indeed a genius combination. 

I remember facing the first blow while filling the form. The first 3 questions asked me about my past experience in the domain of Social work and Entrepreneurship which I did not have. I was just a boy who had a great passion for social work and felt guilty of not doing it in 22 years of his life. But the Statement of Purpose came as a saviour wherein I poured my heart out in the 100 words allotted to me about my guilt of not doing social work till now and my passion and willingness of starting to contribute towards the society. 

The Case study round (Round 2) is where the picture became clear to me as to how Social work and Entrepreneurship can complement each other. The case was about providing financial literacy and even as I was thinking of a solution I got a preliminary picture of the kind of work I was going to do in Enactus and that spiked my excitement. 

 

Then came 18^th July, the day of the interview.  Nervousness was definitely mounting, but the interview was nothing as I had expected. The atmosphere of the interview was light and the only thing I had to do was justify my role in the committee. I explained to them what I can bring to the table and my willingness to work for the committee. I came out of the interview feeling satisfied and thinking to myself, “It couldn’t have gone any better”. 

After going through the entire process I was ecstatic at the positive result. The induction presentation was where I got a wholesome picture of the work done in Somaiya Social Cell and I know for a fact that the coming 2 years with Enactus would be the most formative period of my life.  But I cannot sign off without giving a hearty thanks to all the seniors at Enactus who saw through my inexperience in the domain and gave me a chance to be a part of SSC.

Ushering In The New Team

Enactus Somaiya Social Cell continues the legacy this year. As the new batch of juniors joined SIMSR for PGDM 2014-16, a lot of motivated young minds showed interest in joining Enactus. From a huge pool of applications and after a grueling recruitment process, Enactus SSC recruited 30 new faces into the team this year.

It all started from 12^th July 2014 and went on for 9 days until the results were declared on 20^th July 2014. When the existing Senior team of Enactus SSC received such an huge response from the juniors (Almost three times the expected number of applications) we were overwhelmed. It required great team work and efforts put in by the whole team to execute the four round recruitment process. Also, the efforts put in by the juniors in providing solutions to the cases, during the case analysis round, was commendable.

Enactus SSC begins the new year will lots of hopes and dreams to bring about change and empower more people. Here’s hoping that we move a step further in our motto of “Hope. Dream. Change. Empower.” 

Hope. Dream. Change. Empower.

Each of us has an entrepreneurial spirit. A passion that—if unleashed—can inspire others to act. A talent that—if developed—can create opportunity for ourselves, our families and our communities. An idea that—if cultivated—can build a healthier, more prosperous and peaceful world. Together, we are “Enactus”.

At the Enactus National  Competition organized by Enactus India in association with partners KPMG, Syntel, Unilever, Walmart, Cargill, Mahindra, Tata Chemicals, First Rand Bank, Regus, Hershey’s and BNY Mellon, all present experienced a deluge of ideas, a tremendous display of talent and a sense of pride. It was a phenomenally huge competition with 52 teams from all over India vying for recognition at the national level.

“Hope. Dream. Change. Empower”, was Enactus Somaiya Social Cell’s war cry for the competition. Among the five inspiring projects undertaken by Enactus SSC, we showcased two projects namely, Project Mogra and Project Kruti. 

Project Mogra is a social entrepreneurship project that was started with the purpose of stopping migration of the farmers, who were all paddy cultivators for 4 months of the year and working as construction site workers for the remaining part of the year. Project Mogra trained these farmers to do Mogra Cultivation. This project had a tremendous impact on the village, creating healthier family life and better standard of living for these farmers.

Project Kruti trained rural women in the art of bag-making. They were trained to stitch bags using Banhatti cotton and Kasuti Embroidery which are both indigenous to this region. This not only helped promote a local art form but also impacted the power loom industry and local vendors in this region.

“Word hard in silence, Let success make the noise” is something Enactus Somaiya Social Cell has always believed in. And lot of noise we did make.  

Following are the awards we received:

• We stood third in our league sponsored by Syntel

• Prof. Asha Bhatia received the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award for guiding the Enactus SSC team successfully throughout the year

• The highlight achievement of the evening was when Enactus SSC won the prestigious Enactus Special Unilever Competition for Leadership and Sustainability

But does it end with competition for us. The answer all Enactus SSC members give is an emphatic “NO”. The competition was an excellent opportunity to appreciate others and be appreciated, leading to us being more motivated than ever. Because we at Enactus Somaiya Social Cell are Still Hoping, Still Dreaming, Still Changing, Still Empowering - Our journey continues - Many more lives to touch, many more smiles to spread.

Contributors:

Binjal Salil Shah

Urvi Dharamshi