The Manipal-based TA Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) organised ‘SEVA Jatre 2021’ as part of its engagement with local clients, stakeholders and community members.
The SEVA course is an attempt by TAPMI and the ‘TAPMI Center for Entrepreneurship, Inclusive Growth and Competitiveness’ to engage with the local community and help students understand the issues, problems of the community and find management based solutions for the same.
Objectives
The overall aim is to ensure that sustainability principles are ingrained in students so that they are equipped to deal with the challenges of the future.
A media statement said that the ‘SEVA Jatre’ started with students making presentations to TAPMI faculty members and receiving feedback and inputs to make their projects more valuable for the client. After making these presentations to the clients in the coming days, students will be handing over their projects so that clients can take this work forward.
It said that ten out of the total 36 teams were selected to be in the SEVA final rounds, and three teams won the SEVA awards. The winners included a project that worked on sustainable packaging solutions for milk products, a project that helped a woman micro-entrepreneur to learn how to grow mushrooms to receive better income, and a project that will help the TAPMI campus to implement better rainwater harvesting solutions. Through these projects, the students were also able to implement theories and models that they have learnt in class onto the realities of the market.
Development dialogues
These awards included a cash prize, certificates and a chance to take the projects to further rounds of funding and project development for the client’s benefit.
Post the SEVA awards, Madhu Veeraraghavan, Director of TAPMI, also gave special commendation to three more projects whose work promised outcomes for the client and tremendous learning opportunity for the students.
Speakers put forward their ideas about sustainability and impact in the two panel discussions that were held as part of ‘SEVA Jatre.’ The statement said that the ‘SEVA Jatre’ is aimed at enabling TAPMI students to understand the issues of the future, be familiar with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and help realise that sustainability is front and centre to all business and development dialogues.
TAPMI has partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to help students learn more about sustainability and impact, it added.