[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ast Dimapur business put a stop to their trading activities for a day, today a symbolic gesture to protest the unabated monetary demands on both big and small ventures. But nevertheless unmerited, unwelcome and illegal demands. What’s so great and brave and about eating off the sweat off someone else’s brow.
It’s a defiance and an abomination of the principal and purpose of life. Man was made to till the soil and eat by the sweat of his brow. If he does’nt he is better off dead, even a dog works for his meal.
Leaving aside the Biblical teachings how are entrepreneurs going to get motivated to break the glass barriers in innovation and break new grounds in improving our lives?One read at news like this and we should realize the potential we must surely be killing with some bad habits that we simply are unwilling to ‘kick the bucket’to.
Four young entrepreneurs from India are among this year’s winners of Harvard Business School New Venture Competition (NVC) inspired by a belief that “one simple idea can change everything”.
The Grand Prize in the Social Enterprise Track went to Saathi, founded by Amrita Saigal (MBA 2014) and Kristin Kagetsu The venture received the $50,000 Peter M. Sacerdote Prize in the competition. With cash awards and in-kind prizes totalling more than $300,000.
It provides affordable and available sanitary pads locally produced from waste banana tree fibre to women in rural India.
Booya Fitness, founded by Pritar Kumar (MBA 2014) was runner-up, Business Track, in the student competition.Kumar received the $25,000 Satchu-Burgstone Runner-Up Prize for his project.
It aims to revolutionise the physical fitness industry with its on-demand video platform, featuring workouts created by the best boutique gyms and instructors.
Tomato Jos, founded by Mira Mehta and Nike Lawrence (both MBA 2014), Shane Kiernan and Jared Westheim of the Harvard School of Public Health was the runner-up in Social Enterprise Track.
It’s a vertically integrated tomato processing company that helps small farmers in Nigeria grow tomatoes that can then be made into tomato paste. Other finalists in the student competition included easyBiodata, founded by Yu Kakitsubo, Pratik Agarwal, Peter Luptak, and Allyson Pritchett (all MBA 2014). easyBiodata, competing in the Business Track, plans to disrupt the arranged marriage practice in India by giving the power of control and choice back to prospective spouses.
Entrepreneurs are “quirky, unreasonable, and irrational”, Meredith McPherron, director of the School’s Arthur Rock Centre for Entrepreneurship told the audience.
As such, “they are the people who are changing the world, changing the fabric of our economic culture”.
