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

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