A faint excitement and enthusiasm fills the air in the auditorium of MOP Vaishnav College For Women on the morning of October 12, 2012. The 130 or so, young students and alumni members seated there forget their manners, time and again, giggling, chattering and recalling good old days. However, this time, the occasion is not an annual reunion. The institution has gone one step ahead with its attempt to stage a ceremony to honour excellence in the field of women entrepreneurship in the institution.
Dr. Rosy Fernando, Entrepreneurship Educator, MOP Vaishnav College says, “MOP Vaishnav has been churning out successful women entrepreneurs since 1999. As we celebrate the bi-decennial year of the institution this year, we took the liberty to identify these young ladies and honour them on the occasion. We did our homework and realised that over the years, there has only been a spurt in the number of entrepreneurs from the college. We gathered around 130 women and here we are celebrating their success stories.” Many of these entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to set-up stalls on the day and promote their businesses.
The event began much ahead of the ceremony, with MOP’s own initiatives to promote business efforts among students at the college level. They launched what they call the MOP Business Incubator, two days ahead of the ceremony. “We wanted to go one step ahead of MOP Bazaar (a two-day long annual exhibition cum sale by students of the institution),” says Dr. Rosy Fernando, “We wanted to give students a full-fledged, intensive practical training in the field of entrepreneurship on the basis of which they can walk out of institution with reasonable experience and the confidence to begin their careers, fresh out of college.”
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The institution launched a stationary store, salon and health studio, a flower boutique and a cafeteria by the students on the occasion