MOP Vaishnav College for Women ...college students turn entrepreneurs

Ashish Ittyerah Joseph,TNN | Mar 5, 2014, 12.00 AM IST

Recently, Joseph Ben Francis, a management student at SRM University, 

set up a juice stall along with his friends and a few faculty members

 to raise money for an upcoming college event. 

"From arranging transportation to bring fruits from the Koyambedu market

 to storing the remaining products for the next day, we had to manage 

everything by ourselves. We experienced first-hand the difficulties of

 running a business," says Ben.

Like him, several city students are now looking beyond just academics and

 indulging in some short-term commercial activity — either to develop their

 entrepreneurship skills or to help the poor.

A week ago, MOP Vaishnav College for Women (MOP) at Nungambakkam

 saw hordes of people at its campus as a part of the MOP Bazaar. "It was 

organized by the entrepreneurship development cell (ED cell) in college. 

While it made us aware of the possible challenges in starting a business, 

we also had a chance to learn how to tackle issues in the right way," says

 Pooja Kothari, one of the students at MOP.

Though students were allowed to sell any product of their choice, they had

 to submit a request with the stall specifications to the ED cell within a 

stipulated time period. "Once it was submitted, we were not allowed to 

change the type of products we sold. Products ranged from clothing, food 

and toys to mobile accessories and electronic gadgets. The expo was open 

to the public too," adds Pooja.

Students, who were part of the Student Christian Movement at the Madras

 Christian College, too were busy setting up food stalls this year too. "Food

 carnival usually happens during odd semesters. The main objective is to

 generate money to help orphanages and old-age homes in the college 

vicinity. Students themselves do everything — buying raw materials,

 cooking and managing cash at the stall. This also gives resident 

students a chance to indulge in some authentic Tamil, Kerala and 

Andhra food," says Samuel Das, one of the students.

Similarly, some of the girls at MOP sold products to support a charity

 cause. Subraja Subramanian and her friends put up one such stall. 

Says Subraja, "That was the least we could do for the students of the 

Little Flower Convent School for the visually challenged and hearing

 impaired at GN Chetty Road. We happened to see an exhibition at

 their campus when we visited the school as part of our project. Some 

of the products made by the school students looked really attractive.

 So, we decided to sell it in our college as part of

 MOP Bazaar and raise money."

Sarah Natasha, who organized a weekend carnival in the city recently, 

says, "We had a gaming stall put up by two students from Anna University. 

Those girls were so creative that they even had a live version of the Angry

 Birds game."