INSPIRING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS FROM ABHYASA AT ISB

It was claps, applauds and compliments for all the 14 Abhyasites along with the other participants who participated at the "Inspiring Young Entrepreneurs Work Shop" conducted in collaboration with Butterfly Fields from India and Camp izSmart from US at the renowned international B‐School "ISB – Indian School of Business". Thanks to the (Ex) Abhyasites Master Aashish and Master Abhishek who have passed on the information to Abhyasa that such kind of workshop has been organized.

The things moved very fast from Abhyasa, as usual. After the announcement in the Assembly, there was good response from all the students. As per Mr.Anantharajan, Vice‐President, Butterfly Fields – "Abhyasa is the only school that has sent 37 applications when compared to all the other schools in the twin cities" – this itself shows how concerned Abhyasa is towards her wards' education. Hence Abhyasa could get 14 seats out of the restricted 48 seats for the workshop. This is another achievement – 30% of the seats in the workshop were allotted to Abhyasa itself. All the selected students were called for a meeting a day in advance and were explained the dos and don'ts of the workshop.

"It is heartening to see such a colourful uniform" – was the first comment from Mr.Sarat Chandra, CEO, Butterfly Fields. All the Abhyasites, formally dressed coolly walked into the workshop with all their Laptops and Headsets getting ready for the SKYPE meetings to be conducted for 5 days with the US team. Lo, their performance was too good and everybody appreciated about their behavior and team‐building skills. "I have never seen such a kind of students – they are unique when compared to other participants. They don't make noise, they are never fussy and posses good interpersonal skills" – said all the facilitators of the workshop. All these comments demonstrate what Abhyasa is.

The gist of the 5 day workshop was as follows:

Day 1 – Formation of 8 teams – Team Building Activities (Construction of Paper Towers) – Importance of Effective Communication in life – Ice Breakers – Creative Thinking – Team Role Descriptions (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Sales Officer and Chief Promotion Officer) – Definition of Team Goals – Projects, Goals and Constraints – Dinner.

Day 2 – Entrepreneurship Quiz & Review – Presentation of cases of Club One and Butterfly Fields – Where do ideas come from – Exercise 20 ways to use a product – Brainstorming and Affinity Analysis – Prioritizing top 3 ideas – Peer focus groups – Peer presentations and feedback – Videos of Steve Jobs launching the iPad – Dinner

Day 3 – Entrepreneurship Quiz & Review – Customer requirements, Features, Advantages and Benefits, Affinity Analysis, Market Research, Market Plan, scope, cost and schedule, Market trends, Market literacy quiz – Dinner.

Day 4 – Entrepreneurship Quiz & Review – Logo design examples and tips – Presentation Coaching – guidelines for Logo design – Dinner.

Day 5 – Entrepreneurship Quiz & Review – Presentation Coaching – Online presentations to US judges through SKYPE – presentations to winners – Dinner.

On Day 5, Dr.Micheal E.Gibbs, Founder and C.E.O of CampBizSmart, USA spoke to students and judged their presentations.

When it came to winning the events, Abhyasa left its mark. The eam lead by Miss Apoorva Ghale as C.E.O (Class X IG) emerged as winner and the facilitator for this team was Master Aashish- an (Ex) Abhyasite. The team which was facilitated by Mr. Dasaradhi (Dean of Academics- Abhyasa) got a surprise – the student team leader got the best C.E.O of the event. All the students were given away the graduation certificates for completing the 5 day workshop successfully. Team Abhyasa has scripted yet another success story!!! Thanks to all the parents who co-operated and sent their wards to the workshop and all other members who have made this workshop a wonderful event. Let us have some glimpses of the workshop…