For Sharfa Nurain, a third year B. Com student of Shasun Jain College, the idea of starting a business was not fascinating till her teacher asked her to put up a stall at the entrepreneur bazaar at the college. After much thought, she chose to put up a scary house, along with five other friends. They invested Rs. 3,500 and in a day and they made over Rs. 24,000 in return. The seeds of entrepreneurship had been sown. Now, she is very keen to start her own venture after finishing college.
The Shasun Bazaar, organised by the Shasun Empowerment and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED), witnessed 101 stalls being put up by students of the college last week. This was the fourth edition of the bazaar.
“The preparation for the bazaar starts months in advance. We give a presentation on entrepreneurship to the students. Those interested are given the choice of setting up a stall during the bazaar. We had stalls selling food items, accessories, and textile products. A few girls set up a beauty parlour and a photo studio and a 3D corner jungle safari too,” says C.K. Deepa, coordinator for SEED.
Around 15,000 people visited the college on the day. “Students were awarded for the good ideas they came up with, exemplary service to customers and for the most sought-after stall,” she adds. “Right from planning and getting finance to executing the project, we did it ourselves. The effort received an enthusiastic response from visitors. Around 820 customers visited our stall. All of them gave a positive feedback,” says Sharfa. The college always has always had the practice of inviting students to set up stalls during the college annual day.
“One of the students, M. Divya, was working while studying. As a result, she would hardly attend college. We asked her to set up a food stall during the annual day. She made a lot of profits. So motivated was she that she went on to start an eatery in Kodambakkam. She was an inspiration for us to start this bazaar,” says Deepa. The bazaar also featured one SHG group from the city which sold hand-made accessories and textiles.
