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October 26 The F.A.M.E VentureF.A.M.E India is a non-profit organization working with differently abled children. The executive director/program coordinator of F.A.M.E India was a part of my class at IIM-Bangalore’s management program for women entrepreneurs (MPWE 2006). I did not give much attention to the organization or the work that they do until this August when I met my friend(s) again at the F.A.M.E painting exhibition at Leela Galleria. The fact that I had some spare time (read as weekends & weekday evenings) and the intention to help a non-profit encouraged me to think about my contributions to F.A.M.E. Incidentally, one of the board members contacted me to help them promote the sale of Diwali Diyas painted by F.A.M.E children at my workplace. And I decided to go one step further to arrange a F.A.M.E India product stall for two days at my workplace to help their fund raising initiatives. (F.A.M.E is trying to expand and they totally depend on private donations to run and maintain the place.) I don’t intend to brag but making this happen was no easy task. Permissions from the HR, Admin and coordinating for dates were quite time consuming and annoying amidst bschool apps and work. Thanks to one of my close HR friends, I didn’t have to run around too much. The product stall cum sale happened on 17th and 18th of October and ended up being a huge success. Diwali Diyas, cards, pen-stands, t-shirts etc were available for sale in the campus. Diyas were sold out even before the cartons were opened and we ran out of stock in the first few hours of the sale itself. While F.A.M.E staff tried their best to replenish the stocks as soon as they can, most of my colleagues had to go empty-handed. Nevertheless, they did make some good money and I was happy that I could contribute to such a noble cause. I am looking forward to be an effective volunteer at F.A.M.E India. The whole process of organizing the stall gave me an immense satisfaction and this kinda job probably is what that keeps me ticking. On the other side, while talking to my colleagues I also realized how helpful such stalls could be for folks working in the IT industry, esp during the festive season. They are crunched for time b/c of crazy work schedules; they hate to spend time in traffic; they don’t mind spending few bucks extra if products they want are available right within the same ceiling as their workplace/residence; and they do support such non-profit organizations in whatever way they can. May be some of us can tap this and provide tailored services to such folks??? Please do check out this website: http://www.fameindia.org/ September 05 My take on Entrepreneurship and the Galleria experienceLast Friday I happened to attend, what I would call, an advertising campaign for a recent venture launched by two women entrepreneurs, one an alumnus of IIM-Cal and other a teacher with over 18 years of experience. The event was hosted by Oxford Bookstore at the Cha Bar at Leela Galleria. I wanted to check out the event partly because of my growing interest in entrepreneurship and partly because of my recent & wise decision to not stay at work on late Friday evenings stuck to the computer. Moreover I wanted to catch up with my professor who happens to be the official advisor to the promoters and this was obviously a nice chance to network and have another take on the whole entrepreneur thing.
So as always, I reached the place 15 minutes ahead of time in spite of the Bangalore peak hour traffic and again as always I was the only one at the Cha Bar on time along with the promoters. Being early to an event like this always has its own advantages. You get to talk to the important people around and make an ‘impression’. The fact that I didn’t make use of the opportunity is a different issue. However I did try and do some social service distributing pamphlets to the gathering while the technical glitches related to the projector and the laptop were being solved. The campaign was a technical presentation on the service followed by a demo. It started off one hour late as per the IST (Indian Stretchable Time) and lasted for an hour. I am not going to disclose the details of the service in this post as I am not expected to do so. But however what struck me was the simplicity of the idea and the belief the promoters had on their idea. Their idea or service tries to address a hidden need which most of the school going children and their parents currently have. The venture uses an existing technology backbone and an existing concept to deliver a service. What impressed me was the passion with which these two women have carried forward their idea from conceptualization to implementation stage and the conviction with which they presented their service to naïve audience.
That in a way summed up what I have always felt entrepreneurship was all about. It is about having ‘an unshakeable belief in oneself/one’s idea and an intense desire to see it through all odds’. It is just about conviction and passion. This definitely didn’t dawn on me on that Friday evening. It only accentuated what I had realized during my interactions with some almost-seasoned, some amateur and some wanna be women entrepreneurs in the last few months, thanks to IIM-Bangalore. During all those interactions, case studies discussions and business plan presentations, a successful entrepreneur clearly came across as a person with conviction and passion. I lacked both during the presentation and hence lost the game… April 20 Women Entrepreneurs Program - Prima FacieIIM-B has a "class" of its own. No denying this fact. Yday we had a debriefing in the morning. It was an icebreaker session. We are totally 69 women in the Women Entrepreneurs Program. The session started with recital of slogas by all and we moved on to some typical "getting to know each other" programs followed by some case studies. Everyone seemed quite enthusiastic in knowing about the rest of the class and were quite participative.
Some interesting profiles include - a medico working as a full time volunteer in a hospital, a Phd from IIT who is running her own consulting firm dealing with Carbon trading, textile designers managing their own firms and providing consultancy to other firms, another lady who runs a IT services firm that extends services to the construction industry in US, a very respectable school principal and a classical Bharatanatyam dancer who left her job with Infy to dedicate more time to her passion. Some participants are involved in Investment banking and some have travelled around the world. And there is a good mix old, young, loud, soft, energetic and intelligent women in the group. I dont think such diversity exists in any of the regular MBA classes at IIM. To me, it resembles one of those US B-school classes.
Women have really come a long way and looks like they are already set to create the real Big Bang in Bangalore and everywhere. But let me tell you, behind all these high aspiring women are their husbands and fathers who are constantly providing all the encouragement and support.
Btw, someone told me that I come across as a very intelligent and articulate person bubbling with energy. And I just smiled. April 18 Entrepreneurship and me - Curtain RaisingFrom today, I will be attending the Women Entrepreneurs program at IIM-B for the next one month. The program runs in 2 phases and we will have to present a business plan towards the end of the program. Today we had the inaugural function at Central Pergola Hall at IIM-B. Few participants already run their own businesses and few have plans to start something on their own sometime soon. Some are attending because they have nothing else to do and some are attending because someone else wants them to. Few are already in administrative roles and are looking at gaining some business knowledge. This course does come with the prestigious IIM-B tag and a lower cost. The reason that I am attending this program is threefold. 1. I will hopefully get to know the basic functional areas of Management which will sure help me when I am at my b-school 2. I will have a chance to network with like-minded individuals 3. I will get a certificate from the prestigious IIM-B. I have always wanted to be associated to this place. I work right across IIM campus and have been there umpteen times but those visits never give me a sense of belonging. I hope the next few days will change things. That apart, I do have plans to start off something on my own after few years. While I do not know what it is gonna be, I am clear on which section of the society my organization should aim to help. I intend to make use of this program and crack something solid. Who knows? This can just be a turning point in my life. Sad thing is that I will have to be back at work after slogging at IIM-B from 10 -5pm. Anyway it is back to classes again for the next few days. |
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