St. Mira's College For Girls, Pune

CWE Activity “Online Mira Bazaar (2021)”

The Grand Gala Annual Event ‘Online Mira Bazaar’, the endeavour of the Centre for Women Entrepreneurship (CWE), St. Mira’s College was organized on April 20, 2021. The event was organized for the very first time on the virtual platform Zoom.

The event primarily provides a platform for the young ‘entrepreneur’ students to showcase their entrepreneurial skills. The Bazaar had 16 stalls of delicacies like cakes, handmade chocolates, handmade jewellery, clothes, accessories, home decor, confectionaries, etc. put up by the students with great enthusiasm and creativity. The students explained, in detail, their journey of setting up their new venture, the challenges faced, the products/services catalogue with contact details, pricing, offers & schemes, customer reviews and backed by beautiful photographs of their products & services. Also, new stalls like graphology, content writing and Seabuckthorn were the attractions of the event. Besides these, there were interesting games in between the showcase for the enthusiastic audience.

The event was coordinated by Mrs. Rekha Kankariya, T.Y.BBA students and the CWE team. Principal Dr. Gulshan Gidwani applauded the efforts taken by the students and wished them success in their endeavours. The feedback for the event was very encouraging and the event was a grand success, as always.

The Online Mira Bazaar 2021 witnessed an enthusiastic response from over 100 visitors comprising of students and faculty. The outcome/learnings are that even during a pandemic one can explore plenty of opportunities on virtual platforms with a little more effort and planning. The stall owners received positive responses from the visitors through orders and feedback.

CWE: Webinar on Intellectual Property Rights and IP Management in Start Up

The Centre for Women Entrepreneurship organized a webinar on Intellectual Property Rights and IP Management in Start Up on 18th March 2021for the TY BCOM students.The webinar aimed to understand Intellectual Property Management - from creation to valuation to commercial utilization.The resource person wasProf.Adv. GaneshHingmire, an Intellectual Property expert and Founder of GMGC (Great Mission Group Consulting) Pune.

Advocate Hingmire discussed about various IPRs and imparted valuable insights by sharing local examples of IPRs registered in Pune. He further elaborated on the concept of Management of Intellectual Properties from creation to valuation and its commercial exploitation. Lastly, Adv. Hingmire warned the audience about securing ideas by registering before disclosure. The concluding remarks included how new ideas in the form of Intellectual Properties can be further converted into a successful Start Up venture.

The students of TY BCOM learnt about Think Global- Act Local and conditions necessary for any product to be patented- worthiness, newness, inventiveness and novelty and various aspects of IP management.

CWE- Felicitation Ceremony

The CWE Cell felicitated the two stalwarts of St. Mira’s College for Girls, Principal, Dr. Gulshan Gidwani and Mrs. Stella Ambrose, Coordinator Unaided Section, on March 18, 2021 as a mark of respect for their journeys at St. Mira’s. Dignitaries, alumni, faculty and students came together to share joyous memories and heart felt tribute for them. The audience relived rich reminiscences of these two leaders, par excellence.

The dignitaries included Ms. AneetaSanas, Chairperson, FLO, Pune Chapter, Mr. SiteshThadhani, General Manager, Amazon Development Centre India Pvt. Ltd.,Ms. Nabomita Majumdar, Founder, nabomita.com, Mr. Salil Malhotra and Mr. Ankush Malhotra, Founders and PartnersInternal Communications, Outsourced LLP., Ms. Aparna Thadhani, Partner & Faculty AK’s Training Academyand Mr. Karan Shah, CEO, MDAE. The dignitaries expressed their warm feelings and experiences with St. Mira’s College, with a special note of appreciation for Dr. Gulshan Gidwani and Mrs. Stella Ambrose. They also expressed the desire to continue their association with the Institute lifelong.

The House was moved by the emotional rendition by faculty members and could not hold on to their tears as the stalwarts spoke a few words.Dr. Netra Neelam, Professor and Deputy Director SCMHRD, a proud alumna acknowledged the rich contribution of St. Mira’s in nurturing, shaping and equipping students to brave the toughest life. The ceremony was well conducted byAsst. Prof. Shanthi Fernandes.

CWE STUDENT DEVELOPMENT CELL -‘Fuelling up of Start-ups and MSME’s

‘Fuelling up of Start-ups and MSME’s webinar was organized by the St. Mira’s College, CWE – IIC on 06-03-2021 through Zoom Meeting.

The Session was conducted by Ms. Aparna Thadani - the co-founder of the AK’s Training academy and a faculty from ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

Ms. Aparna Thadani focused on the financial aspects of starting one’s venture. The primary focus of the webinar revolved around differentiating between fixed capital, working capital and how to keep the business running for a longer period by managing both the capitals of the business in an efficient manner.

She also elaborated on the aspects of having a separate account; keeping track of loans (if taken), not spending prematurely and above all, check each aspect of the business before taking the next step.

The students learnt about the importance of managing one’s own money when starting or running a business. Even if there is some form of dependency, one must always be aware of certain important aspects of capital such as cash flow, profits, taxes, etc.

Centre for Women Entrepreneurship Webinar– “Will Digital Currency Empower the RBI”

St. Mira’s College for Girls, Pune and Centre for Women Entrepreneurship in collaboration with the prestigious MeghnadDesai Academy of Economics conducted an insightful webinar on “WILL DIGITAL CURRENCY EMPOWER THE RBI” on 5th March 2021.The session was conducted by the esteemed guest speaker Mr Shailesh Dhuri, Chief Executive Director at Decimal Point Analytics, a finance professional, having more than thirteen years of experience in fund management, trading, and research. The discussion revolved around a few important aspects coveringArtificial Intelligence in transforming human life, Blockchain Technology, Private Crypto Universe, CBDC and impact on employment in India.The webinar was very helpful and informative to all the participants. It provided in-depth knowledge of the world of cryptocurrency and its multi-effect on different prospects.

Workshop on “Design Thinking, Critical Thinking and Innovation Design”

The Centre for Women Entrepreneurship(CWE) and Institutions’ Innovation Council (IIC), Ministry of HRD initiative, jointly organised a workshop on “Design Thinking, Critical Thinking and Innovation Design” on 11th December 2020 from 3 to 4.30 pm on Zoom. The resource person wasMr.Tejas Shyam, an award-winningeducator and corporate consultant. The workshopwas attended by TYBBA, TYBCOM,SYBBA students along with CWE members of TYBCA and member-faculty of CWE.

The Workshop focused on four main points namely “What is Design Thinking”, “How is Design Thinking important to us?”, “How to come up with distinct innovative ideas?” and “What are the different tools for refining ideas?”

At the beginning, Mr. Tejas discussed about how designs in the logos of different brands like Amazon, Jio, Tour de France etc reflect the products and the fact that every design has a thought behind it. Then the five steps of Design Thinking namely Empathy, Design, Ideation, Prototype and Test were discussed with different examples. It was explained how feedback plays a vital role in design thinking and feedback loops can be created for better results.

Mr Tejas also explained the concept of creativity which has 4 components namely originality, novelty, practicality and utility. He stressed on the point that many times practicality and utility components of creativity are neglected. He discussed the questions necessary to be asked before we ideate i.e.need, necessity, comfort, convenience, emotions and aspirations through examples. At the end of the session the speaker explained in detail the SCAMPER tool for ideation. SCAMPER stood for steps to Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, put to use, Eliminate and Reverse.One of the SCAMPER tools namely Mind Maps which is a pictorialrepresentation of ideas was explained to students. Theworkshop ended with a question and answer session.

Entrepreneurs On Campus

The Centre for Women Entrepreneurship (CWE) and Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) jointly organized the event “Entrepreneurs on Campus” on 6th February 2021from 3-4 pmon Zoom. TenStartups by students were presented who shared their experiences about their ventures, the ideation, the challenges they faced and their future plans.

Ms. Zainaab Kapadia, co-founder of Graphe, a venture to learn graphology explained the concept of reading subconscious mind through handwriting and how tools in graphology help to build a better present.She talked about how she and two of friends have jointly started and are working on the business.

Ms Afreen Sabooni co-founder of Label Afreen Sabooni, a brand of Indian and western outfits explained the importance of building an excellent team in any entrepreneurial venture.She narrated how she diversified into masks and scrunchies to stay afloat during COVID times.

Ms Ritul Vackal, co-founder Ritul’s handcrafted jewellery explained her journey starting from college exhibition to having her own business.She also said that she has done online courses to upskill and come up with new & creative designs. Another budding entrepreneur Ms. Supriya Kale, who started SupkisBakes explained how she saw opportunity in the lockdown situation and started baking for people in nearby areas and later became successful for baking customised orders all over Pune. She also showcased varieties of her customised cakes while stressing upon learning new techniques in baking.

Ms. Moksha Shah, founder of Capturinguntoldstories revealed her exciting journey of wildlife and miniature photography and the opportunities in the field of photography. Ms. Sara Khambati, our alumus and Co-founder of Habitat Foods revealed how during lockdown she along with her husband and his friend began by helping people to buy essentials and now moved into a business where she buys products directly from mills thereby helping daily-wage workers and providing to consumer at reasonable rates. She also explained how a thorough market research and studythe popular brands like Dmart, Reliance Mart helped her. She has spread her business across countries like Australia and Dubai as well.

Later Ms. Gunjan Advani from Ritu’s creation explained how she initiated the idea of pay less buy more in clothing range for working women which turned out to be a big success. Exploring platforms like PULA has given her business a new focus and direction. Ms. Shweta Kshirsagar started her own German Language Institute and trained 30 people in online sessions during lockdown. She shared the challenges she faced and narrated how she plans to expand her business in future.

Dr. Rama Venkatchalam, President IIC, concluded the session talking about the importance of being Entrepreneurial in whatever we do. Members of CWE also provided tips and inputs to the budding entrepreneurs to encourage them to move to the next level. The event in itself was inspiring for All to think innovatively and develop ideas.

Webinar on “Identifying Intellectual Property Component at early stage of Innovation”

The Centre for Women Entrepreneurship (CWE), IIC and IPR Cell jointly organised a webinar on “Identifying Intellectual Property Component at early stage of Innovation” on 3 rd December 2020 from 4 to 6 pm. The resource person was Adv. Prof. Ganesh Hingmire, a renowned Intellectual Property (IP) enthusiast and founder, Great Mission Group Consultancy (GMCC), Pune. The webinar was attended by TY BBA and TY BCOM students on the virtual platform- Zoom.

The webinar focused on fundamentals of IPR, present scenario of IPR and empowerment of women through IPR. The speaker introduced the types of Intellectual Property Rights and narrated how they were related to our day to day lives through examples of products that we use, the patent related to text messages and software like Microsoft Word & Excel etc.

Professor Hingmire offered inspiring examples of patents filed by Indians in the past and present. He further explained the circle of IPR namely research, patent, industry and utilizing patents for welfare of society.

Advocate Hingmire motivated the audience towards women empowerment by sharing a very recent example of Mrs Shubhangi Patil, a budding entrepreneur from Pune who filed and received a patent for her “Walnut Ragi Soup” under his guidance. The webinar ended with a question and answer session.

Inauguration of Start-up Club at St. Mira’s College for Girls, Pune

The Centre for Women Entrepreneurship at St. Mira’s College for Girls, Pune established the Institution Innovation Council (Ministry of Education Initiative) GOI, in October 2020. The Start-up Club (IIC) was formally inaugurated by the Principal, Dr. G. H Gidwani, on 24th November 2020, through a virtual platform.

The session was introduced by Dr. Rama Venkatachalam, President IIC and hosted by Ms. Abhradita Chatterjee Nahvi, Vice President IIC. A catalogue consisting of profiles of 40 budding entrepreneurs from a wide spectrum of business such as fashion designing, baking, online classes, handmade crafts, graphology, handmade jewellery, vegan food, etc., was formally released.

Budding entrepreneurs like Pratiksha Bokadia, partner at Kaieo Health Care Services; Afreen Sabooni the founder of Label Afreen Sabooni; Kashmira Rajput the founder of Cakemira; Samina Kausar, a social entrepreneur and few others shared their experiences and insights on their business. They spoke of how CWE has motivated and guided them in fine-tuning their business ideas and taking them to the next level of registration, promotion, networking, etc.

Principal Dr. Gulshan Gidwani shared a short inspiring story and encouraged the budding entrepreneurs by saying, “Don’t be just job seekers but also be job providers.” Mrs. Stella Ambrose, Course coordinator BBA & BSc, shared words of wisdom and encouragement.

The session concluded with an appreciation for Riddhi Wadhwani of SYBBA for the catalogue designing and collating. Riya Barde of TYBCom, student representative of the Start-up Club of IIC proposed the vote of thanks. It was an interesting and inspiring session for all the participants.

‘Inauguration of the IPR Cell’

The Institution Innovation Council and the Centre for Women Entrepreneurship of St. Mira’s College for Girls have established an Intellectual Property Rights Cell. The Cell was inaugurated on 30th November 2020 by Advocate Shailendra Pathak on a virtual platform. The session had over 100+ participants comprising of institutional faculty and students of final year B.Com and BBA courses.

Advocate Pathak is currently heading a law firm by the name Legalance catering to an array of multidimensional legal needs of individuals and corporates across the country. Adv. Pathak has expertise in various legal domains- Corporate, Cyber, Civil, Criminal, Charity, Intellectual Property, Cooperative, Consumer and Conveyancing, etc. The chief guest inaugurated the IPR cell by a ribbon-cutting on a virtual platform and enlightened the participants with his valuable words, wishing them for the future endeavours.

A peer learning session followed, undertaken by students of TYBBA who shared a presentation in a skit form to give an overview of various Intellectual Property Rights and their types. Concepts of Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks, Geographical Indication, Trade Secrets, etc., were explained with the help of informative examples like Google, Coca-Cola, Yahoo, Starbucks, McDonald's, etc. The session ended with a vote of thanks.

Rural Entrepreneurship Development Cell (REDC)

St. Mira’s College for Girls, Pune, through its Centre for Women Entrepreneurship (CWE), has set up a Rural Entrepreneurship Development Cell (REDC) in the college. REDC is an initiative of the Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India.

The purpose of REDC is to develop an understanding of entrepreneurship among students in the rural context, explore and identify the rural potential for a business idea, promote a rural entrepreneurship culture among the students within the campus and build a robust rural entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This initiative, supported by our Principal Dr. Gulshan H Gidwani, is co-ordinated by Dr. Rama Venkatachalam and Ms. Abhradita Chatterjee Nahvi. The REDC initiative, directed at management institutes of BBA & MBA, sees the involvement of all faculty members of BBA & BBA(CA): they will explore opportunities of internships, research projects, rural engagement, and training programs which will benefit the faculty as well the students.

A Certificate of Recognition has been awarded for the same on 30.11.2020.

‘Workshop on Problem Solving and Ideation’

A Workshop on “Problem Solving and Ideation” was conducted by Ms. Manjiri Latey- proprietor of Earthwise and director, Athletic Initiatives Sports Management, L.L.P, Pune, along with St. Mira's College Centre for Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE) on 11th November 2020. The workshop was conducted on the virtual platform Zoom. It focused on the inherent property of ideation possessed by women, ways of harnessing brainpower, problem-solving techniques and connectivity of the brain through creativity. The speaker also focussed on the fact that our objectives should be clear to have clarity of solutions. She emphasised the importance of internal resources and self-teachings. The students were inspired by the problem-solving techniques discussed by the speaker to become successful in their careers and life.

Webinar on “Entrepreneurial Process and Social Entrepreneurship”

A webinar titled, “Entrepreneurial Process and Social Entrepreneurship” was conducted with the aim of introducing students to concepts and practical aspects of Social Entrepreneurship. It was conducted by Mr. Sujay Dixit, VP, Incubation and excellence, TISS. on 31 st October via Zoom Meet Platform.

Mr. Dixit focused on the Entrepreneurial process, exemplified by Thomas Elva Edison through a matrix of creativity and implementation. The participants were introduced to the concepts of Social Entrepreneurship. He emphasized on having an idea or invention, developing a sustainable business model, managing business through creativity and innovation and becoming a successful entrepreneur. The fallacies of entrepreneurship and essentials of successful Social Entrepreneurship were also discussed. The session concluded with the mention of Holy Grail of Social Entrepreneurship which is a merge of Social Process and Social Purpose.

Centre for Women Entrepreneurship (CWE) - National Level FICCI FLO WORKSHOP ‘HOW TO START A BUSINESS’

A four-day National-level online workshop on ‘HOW TO START A BUSINESS’ was coordinated by CWE, St. Mira’s College, in association with FICCI FLO (Pune chapter) sponsored by Sleepwell Foundation and conducted by Maclead Certifications from 25-9-2020 to 28-9-20. The objective of the workshop was to empower girl students and give them insights into the practical aspects of enterprise development.144 students and 2 faculty members attended the workshop.

Day 1-(25-9-2020):

Objectives: To equip students with knowledge of different types of businesses; Social responsibilities; Handling criticism; Awareness about government aids to boost entrepreneurship.

Learning: Importance of doing business, various functions of business viz. Marketing, Operations, Finance and Management to supply the customer and serve society, how to handle criticism and different types of support provided by the government for budding entrepreneurs:

Day 2-(26-9-2020):

Objectives: To familiarise students with technology facilitating business promotion; SWOT Analysis; Market Research.

Learning: Insights about the 6 Pillars of Marketing, Significance of Social media, Digital Marketing, Cloud Computing, SWOT Analysis, process and different methods of Market Research, how to set a SMART objective and to choose the right business idea.

Day 3-(27-9-2020):

Objectives: To Familiarise students with the knowledge of the technical aspects to start a business.

Learning: Different types of business models, how to prepare an effective Business Plan, Registration process, legal requirements while registration, Relevant Employment Laws and methods of testing a business idea.

Day 4-(28-9-2020):

Objectives: To create an understanding of the need to protect a business’s financial assets, the importance of Intellectual Property Rights, awareness about the sources from which funds for business can be acquired, various schemes for budding entrepreneurs, women and people under the minority class.

Learning: IPR, Patenting of Logo and trademark, importance of Insurance for Physical as well as Intellectual Business assets, types of Insurance, PM Employment Generation Program, Classification of Enterprises under MSME- Micro, Small and Medium, NABARD, Types of Business Loan, different options to Start a Business without Collateral security, about Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs and Minorities.

All participants were awarded a certificate of completion on the successful completion of the workshop.