Media Release
Mangalore, Nov 10: 'Manasa manthana'- a national level B-Plan presentation was organised at AIMIT, the new campus of St Aloysius College (Autonomous), Beeri, Kotekar on November 9 began with a beautiful video presentation on “Catalytic Innovation”, the theme of the event.
Dr Vinay Hegde, the Chancellor of Nitte University was the chief guest.The programme commenced with the lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries on the dais.
Dr Rowena Wright, Dean(Academics) welcomed the gathering.
Dr Vinay Hegde in his address described how a person has to be innovative to face challenges in life. He said, “Do what you really like and have an open mind to learn from your peers and even your subordinates".
Dr Hegde delivered some live examples on how an innovative mind sets an example to society and can empower a billion.
Fr Denzil Lobo SJ, the director of AIMIT highlighted the contribution of Jesuit Institutions towards developing society by guiding thousands of students to learn and think. He spoke on how an innovative idea can bring about a change not only a person’s life but in the lives of millions. He said, "failure is just a stepping stone to success. Just like vigorous hammering on an iron gives it shape and form, so also initial failures make us strong and help in shaping our ideas into reality".
Fr Oswald Mascarenhas SJ, chairman of the MBA Dept, AIMIT, enlightened the gathering on the real meaning of catalytic innovation and how it can help people and the society to develop and move towards success.
He gave the example of the Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus who came up with the innovative concept of a Grameen Bank which helped millions of people. He mentioned how exactly a catalytic innovation can help and empower millions of people.
He also mentioned the five factors which make catalytic innovations successful. He said,"catalytic innovations need to bring systemic change, make them available to masses, should have high diffusion index, lead to development of products and need to be stable and convertible to increasing value".
The inaugural ceremony came to an end with the event coordinator Elroy Monis delivering the vote of thanks.
The inaugural was followed by presentations at various venues by the participating teams. K Socrates, deputy director, MSME Institute, Mangalore and professor K Ramesh Kamath, faculty member of MBA Department, AIMIT were the judges for the session I.
Prometheus – A self recharging battery plant to be situated in Mumbai to overcome the shortage of power and the harmful effects of burning fossils; Metro train powered by wind power; Mangalore Tiffin Service; Intelligent Automatic Vehicle Identification for Traffic Regulation and Management; Mangalore Organic Fertilizer Manufacturing Facility; Manufacturing Unit for Paper Bags; and Packaging of Tender Coconut Water into Bottles and Tetra Packs were some of the Business Plans presented during the first session.
Mithun Bhat, a distinguished entrepreneur in Mangalore, and Venkatesh Amin, lecturer, at the MBA department, AIMIT were the judges for the second session. During this session participants came up with presentations on “Nexterz.com”-a market for the future; “Honest Tea”- a health conscious beverage; “Stree Shakti”-marketing a device to detect cervical cancer; ”Project Prithvi”- producing methane gas through decomposition of waste and there by using it as a fuel to generate electricity; “Leaf Plates”-producing plates from arecanut and coconut leaves and finally “Bhoomi Mitra”- a vermiculture project producing pesticides and manure from waste.
Dr Oswald Mascarenhas, SJ, Stephen Pinto and Dharmendra V Mehta were the judges for the final round. There were five business plans. Mangalore Tiffin Services ; Intelligent Automatic Vehicle Identification , Stree Shakti, Indian Kalakaar , Biogen Services
Valedictory Ceremony
The valedictory ceremony of Manasa Manthana -2012 started with a beautiful video recording of the preparation for Manasa Manthana-2012.
Fr Denzil Lobo SJ, director of AIMIT in his concluding remarks on the event, appreciated the hard work of the organizers. He commended the participants for making this event a meaningful intellectual exercise.
A special announcement was made by Fr Denzil Lobo SJ to setup a “Business Incubation Centre” at AIMIT, St Aloysius College (Autonomous) to enthuse and energise the budding entrepreneurs to work towards their dream project.
Fr Oswald Mascarenhas SJ, the chairman of the MBA Department, AIMIT in his feedback of the event said that our country is at the threshold of revolution or evolution. He was of the opinion that catalytic innovation would be the right answer to our nation’s formidable challenges. "The fruits of such catalytic innovation would percolate to the masses and would bring about social justice and prosperity to all".
The first runners up and the second runners up were awarded to St Joseph’s College of Business administration, Bangalore and the firstt place was won by Ashish A and Fadhil Ahmed of MBA Department, Aloysius Institute of Management and Information Technology, St Aloysius College ( Autonomous).
Cash prizes were awarded to the winners. Siddharth Umesh, the student coordinator delivered the vote of thanks.
The first prize (Rs 30,000 ) and the third prize (Rs 10,000) was sponsored by Bryce and Saritha Pais, New Zealand; and the second prize (Rs 15,000) was sponsored by Valerian Pereira, USA in memory of his mother Rosy Pereira.