Entrepreneurship Week Celebration
Every year the National Entrepreneurship Network celebrates the Entrepreneurship week in the second week of February, encouraging institutes and their e-cells to have a wide array of events to encourage innovation and development. This year too, the e-week was celebrated from February 10-16, 2018, and the Theme was “ Look into the dustbin, there are prizes you can win”.
The E-cell of NITMAS and TNU thought that there is no better way to innovate than out of all that everyone else discards as “waste”. In the week-long programme therefore, there was innovating and exploring the sanctity of all that we throw away. The events were evenly distributed throughout the week. The inauguration of the E-week 2018 was done by the Registrar, TNU and and the Head-Admin &Marketing, Mr. Suhas Mukherjee by planting saplings, in accordance to the theme. A series of events then followed where each event was evaluated and judged by a panel of experts, and the aspiring and competing young entrepreneurs has to face a Q/A session from the panel. The description of the events is as below.
Scavenger Hunt: The Scavenger Hunt was carried out in three rounds, the first being the Aptitude round, where the participants had to find answers to logical questions. The second round was to find the locations according to the clues where a packet awaited them. The packet had materials we throw away as waste, newspapers, old t-shirts, straws, cardboard, paper cups, chocolate wrappers, buttons and the like. The third round was to create something innovative out of what they found, to make them reusable and marketable. We witnessed teams making lampshades out of straws, grocery bags and dog collars out of an old t-shirt, a potpourri bowl out of buttons and an all-in-one stand out of a cardboard.
Innovation & U :- In this event students were encouraged to show their creativity skills and innovation through technical or non-technical projects. A total of 11 teams participated with 4 members each. All the projects received reviews from the visiting faculties, seniors and of course from the judges. The enthusiasm and encouragement received was magnanimous. The review forms also had a section that asked the judge’s ideas on upgradation. The final round of Innovation and You saw the teams try and implement the changes recommended to them by the reviewers on the first round. Some were asked to modify certain aspects to suit the commercial purpose, others were led into a specific direction of implementation of their ideas.
While some used Vaseline to make a wind- screen that traps dust particles, another made a dark-sensor on the miniature model of street lights. The most impressive was an Air Cooler that used ice with a melting temperature higher than that of water. The winners were decided by our Faculty Judges.
MasterChef: This event had the motto of Non-Gas Cooking in which the participants were to assimilate a Dish without the use of fire (GAS, microwave, induction, torch). The event drew a large audience with 11 students competing with finger-licking delicacies. The key was preparing a dish, fuss free and easy to sell. The points were on presentation, flavours, taste and texture amidst other things. The jury consisted of the Chef from the School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts of The Neotia University. The plates were licked clean within seconds when they were served for the popular vote. While a student came up with a snack that had Wai-Wai as the primary ingredient, the platter was a wide array of juices, shakes, sandwiches and other fresh and healthy snacks. It was an eye-opening and Refreshing event with all the alternative to the fried and unhealthy food we consume.
1$ Venture: The participating teams were provided with a basic investment of Rs.50. The teams had to purchase their wares with that amount and sell them within a stipulated time. The event saw a participation of 7 teams each having two members or more. The wares ranged from soaps to homemade laddoos. The sale was to be completed with an hour in which we witnessed the convincing power of the students while they sold their articles to the faculty, staff and their fellow friends. The teams made huge profits up to Rs.350, a part of which was to be returned to the coordinators to keep in check any profit they could have made by unfair means. The winners were decided based on the profit they generated, their choice of articles and the efficiency of the team by our faculty judges.
Ad Mads: The Ad+Mads competition was about making a short video promoting one of the articles of daily use. There four teams in total, with actors, a videographer and a scriptwriter Integrated in the team. The teams advertised for a mosquito repellent shot within the on-campus hostel to a fine video shot across the city advertising for sunglasses. There was a tie among the top two teams for the judgement was based on audience voting.
Rangoli: This event was concerned with logo designing by making a rangoli. There were 14 teams participating in the event and the colours were provided. They were encouraged to replace leaves with fallen leaves, flower petals to allow innovation. The designs made by each of the teams were staggeringly beautiful. Some even made their own Logos by integrating two brands, like Food Panda and Nestle and making Food Nest that were the runners up. With the creativity flowing the participants and on-lookers were rejuvenated from the stress of their studies.
Idea Pitching and B-Plan: This competition consisted of two rounds. The first round was Idea Pitching that asked for an idea they had in mind in regard to a venture that they had to place before a panel of judges. Once they were through justifying their products, they had to draw up a plan to execute their idea, seasoned with the nuances of entrepreneurship education that they might have received. While one team had Roller Skates in mind, another had a learning app. The choices were diverse, showcasing the different perspectives in judging the needs of the society these day. While some had a set conformation in their blue-print, others seem to be more malleable. The judges literally grilled the teams in the question-answer round giving them a glimpse of how outright a rejection can be when you decided to be an entrepreneur. Even though only one team won, the rest of the teams surely went to bed with an evening’s wisdom to be a better planner.
There was a turnout of over 100 participants during the e-week for the several different events. The participants had a chance to innovate and portray their creativity amidst the usual stress of classes and semesters. The event was wrapped up with the scores being disclosed, the winners announced and some of the gift hampers being given away.