"Rattling Minds" at BIMS a Success!

On Monday, February 21^st, BIMS E-Cell students held an inter-collegial quiz and business plan competition. The event, called ‘Rattling Minds’, was a great success! The idea for ‘Rattling Minds’ was sparked, in part, by the 2k CHALLENGE, a competition conducted by Entrepreneurship Academy. In this challenge teams of 3-4 students are given Rs. 2000 to invest and turn a profit on in a short period of time.

D.C.S.E. Director Naveen Jha was the chief guest and addressed the attendees about the importance of thinking entrepreneurially. Genny King and Malcolm Charles of Entrepreneurship Academy were the judges for the business plan competition. The competition’s theme was “Art out of Waste” and contained 3 rounds: the first was a brief presentation on each team’s product, the second was an ‘elevator pitch’ delivered to the judges, and the third was a five minute formal presentation. It was great seeing E-Cell members from IMER and GBS do so well at the event.

Ideas ranged from the hydroponic farming of strawberries to a cheap water filtration system. The winning team, from Gogti Institute of Technology, Udyambag, presented a plan to take old, discarded saris and use them to create blankets.

The day concluded with awards for the winners of the quiz and business plan competitions. Mr. Deepak Dhadoti, a Belgaum-based entrepreneur, delivered the valedictory speech.

EA would like to congratulate the Envision E-Cell for a wonderful event. In particular, credit should be given to Kiran Wali and Shabaz T. for managing the business plan competition, Shoaib Syed and Aishwarya D. for managing the quiz, and Moses Carvalho and Sayed Inamdar for acting as event coordinators. Students also had the support of BIMS Director Dr. Anilkumar Garag, Prof. Shreedevi Shintri, and Prof. Prasanna

EA Meets with Northeastern Students

On Tuesday February 8^th, EA met with students from Northeastern University. Northeastern is located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA and is known for its innovative programs that send students out into the workplace during their college careers. This is the second year that Northeastern has set a batch to Hubli. These students will be here for six weeks and are working and learning within the Sandbox.

EA’s interaction with the students included an overview of EA’s mission and how it operates. Afterwards, a micro-lab icebreaker activity was conducted that had students swimming and skipping, among other things, around the room. Finally, students from BVB College stopped by to meet their Northeastern counterparts. Both groups participated in a team building exercise in which they had to use their hands to transport water from one bucket to another.

You can read more about the Northeastern student’s experiences in the Sandbox at http://neuindia2011.tumblr.com/.

2011 Development Dialogue Kickoff

After the close of the Yuva Summit in the afternoon, the 2011 Development Dialogue began with an inaugural Kickoff.

The event included speeches by Deshpande Foundation Trustees Jaishree and Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, as well as an overview of Deshpande Foundation activities. In order to showcase their work, organizations like LEAD, Hubli Champions, and the Deshpande Fellowship Program used a range of media and performances from skits to video, music, and dance.

The Entrepreneurship Academy held a “Rocket Toss” competition between students from BVB and Oxford College in order to illustrate the kind of activities and critical thinking that are core parts of EA’s mission. Each team of 3 was asked to make an “initial investment” for the paper needed to make the rockets. This investment was manifested as negative points. Teams were then given 45 seconds to make the rockets. Afterwards, one team member held a plastic pail and another was blindfolded. The third team member guided the blindfolded teammate in throwing the rockets into the pail. In the end, BVB College triumphed.

See video of EA's segment on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhUuc43Dhco&feature=player_embedded

Check out more photos of the 2011 Development Dialogue kickoff:

DD Kickoff Event

Yuva Summit Breakout Panel

On January 27th, after the conclusion of the Yuva Summit opening ceremony, faculty and administrators were invited to D.C.S.E.'s seminar hall for a special panel session.

Moderated by D.C.S.E. Director Naveen Jha, the panel included:

Dr. Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, Founder, Deshpande Foundation

Dr. Ashok Shettar, Principal, BVB College of Engineering

Prof. Ken Zolot, Senior Lecturer, MIT

Prof. Indumati, V.C. Davangere University

Prof. Geetha Bali, V.C. KSWU

Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and dialogue with the panelists about teaching entrepreneurship. Prof. Ken Zolot was a particularly unique and valuable resource. He is a serial entrepreneur having started several different companies and teaches entrepreneurship at M.I.T.

At the conclusion of the panel, faculty and community members who completed a rigorous training on achievement motivation were presented with awards.

Check out our Picasa album for more photos of this event

Yuva_Post_Panel

The 2011 Yuva Summit

On January 27^th 2011, The Deshpande Foundation held the first ever Yuva Summit. Championed by D.C.S.E.’s LEAD & EA programs, the Yuva Summit was a tremendous success.

Rahul Bose, Bollywood Actor, Director, & Social Activist, was the Yuva Summit’s featured speaker. Other special guest speakers were:

Dr. Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, Founder, Deshpande Foundation

Dr. Ashok Shettar, Principal, BVB College of Engineering

Prof. Ken Zolot, Senior Lecturer, MIT

Ms. Meenu Venkateswaran, CEO, Pravah

Mr. Vishal Talreja, Executive Director, Dream A Dream

After the opening ceremony, the Yuva Summit continued with a special panel session for college administrators and faculty. A LEAD Mela was also held, allowing guests to visit stalls and learn more about the different projects LEAD has helped to bring about. The Yuva Summit concluded in the later afternoon with Rahul Bose once again joining LEAD students and other dignitaries on stage.

Yuva_Summit

Visit www.deshpandefoundation.org and http://dcselead.blogspot.com/ for more coverage of Yuva Summit 2011 and Development Dialogue 2011.

M.I.T.'s Professor Ken Zolot visit with students at D.C.S.E.

In advance of the 2011 Yuva Summit and Development Dialogue, Professor Ken Zolot met with students on the D.C.S.E. campus. Professor Zolot is a Senior Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) School of Engineering. He teaches entrepreneurship and is also the founder of M.I.T.’s “Innovation Teams” Initiative.

Prof. Zolot conducted an activity with students to illustrate the important distinction between entrepreneurship and business management. A business manager will start with a goal and then will collect and structure resources in order to achieve that goal. In comparison, an entrepreneur might first consider all of the resources at his/her disposal and then experiment with them to create something undetermined.

We don’t want to give away the specifics of the activity as we plan on using it with more students in the future! It was effective in delivering its message about entrepreneurship and business management and the Entrepreneurship Academy thanks Professor Zolot for his time and experience.

See more photos:

Zolot Fabric Activity