Entrepreneurs of the future planned, pitched, presented and partied at NEN E-Week, organised by the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), Calcutta, in association with The Telegraph, from February 11 to 18.
The week, with "Invent the Future" theme, had plenty of excitement lined up for the students from the Sector V campus and outside.
Invent and Exhibit on the third day was for budding entrepreneurs to showcase their products and services. Students grabbed the opportunity with both hands, offering unique services like institutional catering with customised poetry.
"Give us a word and we will write a poem for you," said Priyam Ghosh, who came up with the business plan along with Arindam Paul. Executing the plan required negligible capital investment.
"Though this may raise eyebrows, the poems are being sold at Rs 5 for four lines. We have actually managed to sell poems worth Rs 170 today," said Priyam.
What happens when an entrepreneur accidentally meets a possible investor in an elevator and has just three minutes to pitch his idea was in evidence the next day.
Eight students took the stage and tried to impress imaginary investors as invaluable elevator minutes ticked by in the event judged by IIPM professors B.D. Gupta and Sudas Roy,
Fashion Paradise on Day Six was an exhibition with a "difference" with no long-legged models and flashy costumes.
From designing a T-shirt with little red hearts in keeping with the post-Valentine's Day mood to making a neckpiece with pink and white shells, the afternoon was all about boosting and exhibiting the creative streak in the young entrepreneurs.
The students went into the business mode as the bidding started. Students Nilanjana Dutta and Somnath Banerjee, promoting their natural shell neckpiece, faced stiff competition from Priyam Ghosh, who had made a double-layered beaded neckpiece with varnished pieces of glossy magazine cuttings.
Judges Neha More, winner of Sawansukha Designer ki Khoj, and fashion designer Karishma Roy, crowned Priyam the winner. Her creation, priced at Rs 70, was eventually sold for Rs 170.
The last day saw the students racking their brains trying to answer questions that spanned savouries to superstars.
The E-Quiz, an inter-college entrepreneurial quiz competition, had 10 teams in the written prelims. Six made it to the final.
A team from Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management emerged victorious in the quiz, organised by the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Quiz Club.
"Entrepreneurs solve problems, create values and jobs. We are proud to support a cause that makes a difference and helps build a stronger value," said Vishal Verma, one of the core committee members of IIPM.
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