“Life is all about moments of impact, and how they change our lives forever.” -The Vow
Sixty odd students, stumbled upon this life-changing moment this July at the Enactus India National Competition when Enactus SSCBS were declared the Winners.
Enactus, or Entrepreneurial Action through Us, is an international not-for-profit organisation that works with business leaders and university students across the globe to develop outreach projects that improve the quality of lives of people in need.
Established in 2009, Enactus Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, University of Delhi, has been engaged in using business models to empower the community and transform lives, since their inception.
They will now represent India at the Enactus World Cup, which is scheduled in Beijing from the 22nd to the 24th of October, where National Winners from 36 countries will compete for the prestigious crown.
Currently, Enactus SSCBS has three projects:
SANITATION SOLUTIONS
308,000,000 Indian women did not use sanitary napkins during their menstrual cycles. Unaware of the health consequences, these women become susceptible to diseases such as cervical cancer and other ailments that follow from a lack of hygiene.
This alarming problem stems from the lack of affordability, availability and acceptability of sanitary napkins among the backward and underprivileged women in India.
Understanding this crucial need for intervention, Sanitation Solutions was launched.
Sanitation Solutions envisions ensuring use of affordable sanitary napkins by women in slums and villages by establishing a direct link between the manufacturers of sanitary napkins and a handful of enterprising women within the community. Awareness camps about menstruation are conducted and entrepreneurs are identified who then carry out the project in the area. The profit margin enables them to become financially stable and independent, thus encouraging self-sustainability.
PROJECT AKSHAR
12 million tons of waste paper are generated every year in India. While only 3 million tons manage to get recycled, the majority of the rest ends up in landfills, becoming irrecoverable. Recycling all this paper could save 92% of trees from being cut down to make new paper.
25 million people in India are physically handicapped while 5 million fall prey to substance abuse every year. These communities face extremely high unemployment rates and face severe discrimination in a largely insensitive society.
Tying these threads together, Project Akshar was conceptualized and started.
Project Akshar envisions creating extremely affordable, environment–friendly notebooks, by recycling and reusing paper that is discarded as waste by corporate houses and other organisations. Recyclable paper is collected from residential colonies, schools, colleges and corporates and bound into notebooks by victims of drug abuse and trafficking. Notebooks are then sold via a number of sales and distribution channels like sales to college students and corporate orders.
GRAMODDHAR
Over the last few years, India has seen tremendous economic growth, urbanisation and globalisation. With tall buildings and a galloping economy, Gurgaon is the symbol of rising new India.
But in the outskirts of this city, lies the Sohna belt of villages where insufficient economic opportunity, combined with a lack of basic amenities, restricts villagers to a stagnant lifestyle, causing hopelessness and despair.
Enactus SSCBS decided to adopt a village called Ghamroj in order to ensure holistic development.
Gramoddhar is an umbrella project, which envisions the holistic development of Ghamroj, a village in Haryana, by means of various activities.
Income generating activities include:
- Backyard poultry farming
- Shringaar (a beauty parlour has been set up)
- Alankaar (a boutique initiative involving the widow community)
Trust building activities include:
- Health check up camps
- Career counseling sessions
- Setting up a library in the girls’ school
At Enactus, students continue to strive to see the warmth in the smiles and happiness on the faces of the entrepreneurs.
At Enactus, every action is a beautiful memory, part of an unbelievable journey that is remembered life-long.
At Enactus, we say we’re changing lives, but in reality, we end up changing our own the most.
http://youtu.be/KAPToiBkO8o
