News, Masala and Spice
Mantra-CEL Leadership Awards 2007
By Amruth B. R. (’04 B5)
It was early last year that Anupendra first discussed the idea of instituting a Leadership award for BITSians. It instantly struck a chord- as at the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership; our goal has always been to create leaders through entrepreneurial thinking.
The diversity and quality of the applicants for the first Mantra Awards was impressive: from people who’d set up their own companies, successfully run rural initiatives, to others who had set up their own rock band, the applicants seemed to have done it all.
The winners of the 2007 Mantra Awards were:
Abhishek Nayak (’05B1A5)
Entrepreneurship: Abhishek Nayak (’05B1A5)
Abhishek was a key member of the Dhanax team that introduced retail investment in the microfinance industry and will soon make microfinance more accessible to rural India. Dhanax’s business plan came in second at Intellecap's microfinance business plan competition “Srijan”, was a finalist at Genesis, IIT Madras B-plan competition, a semi-finalist at Stanford University’s e-challenge and at Conquest 2007, BITS-Pilani's international business plan competition.
Dhanax launches in early 2009. Abhishek was also a speaker at the Fortune Global Forum 2007, a premier summit for the world's leading chief executives. As the only undergrad at the forum, he talked about the aspirations of India's new generation. At BITS, Abhishek serves as Vice President at Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL). He is also active in the quizzing circle of BITS and was the runner up at the Brain of BITS (BOB) quiz competition, held in APOGEE 2007.
Social Impact: Krishna Hasa (’04B2A8)
Krishna Hasa('04B2A8)
Hasa started as a volunteer of "Rural Development Unit" of MyINDIA (a student movement at BITS Pilani) since its inception in March 2005. Her frequent visits to nearby villages have exposed to the bare and ugly realities of rural India. With a small group of ten students, she played a major role in nurturing NIRMAAN as a vibrant platform for social service in BITS-Pilani and elsewhere. She established "Rural Employment Incubator" which designs business models for livelihood generation. During the summer of 2006 & 2007, she spread the concept of NIRMAAN (registered as NPO – non profit organization in July 2007) in Andhra Pradesh. She also established a collaboration with "Byrraju foundation" with a workshop on "Sharing of best practices" to reinforce the work efficiency. As Vice President, she has been successful in initiating new ideas like School Adoption Program, Spoken English classes, and a major project on Solar Lamps. Hasa will shortly assume the position of President of NIRMAAN from Jan’08.
Innovation: Ankit Mittal (‘05A4)
Ankit has filed two sole inventor patents; one of which relates to making taps more accessible to the differently-abled. This innovation also won him the first place in Techbazaar 2006 (organized by CEL). His innovations have also been recognized as the most promising in the "Industrial Process and Applications" and "Material Sciences" and "Communication and Networking" categories in APOGEE 2008. A firm believer that successful innovation drives commercial success, Ankit has also won second position in "Epsilon2k7", BITS Pilani and been the finalist of B-plan competitions at IIM-L and IIM-A. He is also the Coordinator of Mechanical Engineering Association. Ankit will graduate in 2009.
Sriram V
Leadership: Sriram V (’04 A3)
Sriram believes his mission, as Steve Jobs would say, is to create dents in the universe around him. Sriram has caused a 180-degree shift in the way BITSians think about Oasis: from deep resignation to the fact that Pilani was disconnected from the metros and getting sponsors was a mere game of chance. As StuCCAn for Sponz - Sriram and his team made Oasis 2007 the biggest ever. Projecting the previously considered constraints into strengths turned the remote location of Pilani into a psychedelic, road-trip experience, and the limited audience made Oasis elite entry-by-invite fest. He also served as the Vice President (Technology Domain) at the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, where he led teams that worked on initiatives to encourage technopreneurship on campus by helping setup the Technology Business Incubator and events like Tech Bazaar and Stimulus. Sriram is also the co-founder of Yofa (for Youth Factor), a web initiative to enable the Indian youth, NGOs and community welfare groups to network, float, build and publicize activities.
Many thanks to Anupendra Sharma for putting in all his time and effort into helping institute these awards. This experience has shown us how fruitful a direct involvement of alumni in our activities can be. I must also thank the panel that selected the winners: Prof. Raghurama (Deputy Director, Academic), Prof. Sajeev Chandran, and Prof. Arya Kumar (Head of the Entrepreneurship Development and IPR Unit. Above all, I would like to thank Prof L K Maheshwari, the Vice-Chancellor of BITS Pilani, for his generous and whole-hearted support. Having the inaugural Mantra Awards being given away by him is an honor for us all.
First-ever Mantra Leadership Awards ceremony at BITS Pilani. Four leadership awards, one each for Entrepreneurship, Social Impact, Innovation and Leadership, were given away by Prof L K Maheswari. | |
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We hope to grow with more of similar initiatives touching BITSian lives with the support of faculty and alumni which we have shared since the beginning. Here's to the Mantra team and all the winners of Mantra Awards – Stand Tall!
(Amruth B.R. is an ex-President of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at BITS Pilani. He served as the student member on the Mantra Awards Panel. He is shortly starting up on his own venture at Vitaperacta)
