The central purpose of MANDI is threefold. Firstly, to make a difference in the lives of thousands of children who lose out on basic education. Secondly, students practice the classroom concepts of Marketing, Principles of Management, Business Economics, and Accounting in the real field. Thirdly, this unique event intends to impart an additional dimension to the learning of the students who buy these toys.
The entire amount collected is donated to the NGO Navnirmiti which provides the event with toys (for sale) in the first place. Last year’s efforts went towards the education of many children – slum dwellers, tribal children and the children in special schools.
The inauguration of an event with such a noble cause was done by none other than Ms. Nandita Das, a lady associated with a number of NGOs catering to the educational empowerment of children and society as a whole. She stressed on the fact that unless we believe in something that we do, we can’t put in our best foot forward and neither can we achieve the desired results. The inspiration and the drive to do the work has to come from within.
Also present was Wg.Cdr Surendra Malhotra who heads the CDMA – Mumbai Circle for Reliance Communications. He shared his varied experiences with the students which helped them in relating various aspects of management with real life scenarios.
The overall experience was exhilarating. Selling toys to children who – with their short attention spans – are one of the toughest classes of customers to please, was a learning that no case discussion or text could replicate. Strategising how to convince these young minds and inculcating an interest in them in just 10 minutes time span was a task in itself.
Mandeep Manocha, a management student recounts, “Selling toys on the street is no joke. Convincing parents is easier than convincing kids. The rains also made the task harder. But perseverance did pay in the end”.
Shweta feels that any product can be directed both at an individual and at an institution, whatever its use as long as it is projected/perceived appropriately. She recounts from her own group’s experience at Juhu beach, “Middle class people who couldn’t afford Jodo – the higher priced product- but understood the educational value of the toys, enthusiastically bought out the Tangrams and Pentominos.”
One of the customers Mrs. Purnima Desai had to say, “The kind of enthusiasm shown by the young budding managers is unparalleled. If each corporate in his own small way can do something for the society then this world would be a better place to live in”
At the end of the day, Mandi achieved its objectives to the fullest. It enabled the student to succeed while permitting failures that did not demoralize. It sensitized students to the social raison d’etre of the activity which was to make a difference in the lives of the disadvantaged.
Truly, Mandi is a wholesome demonstration of NITIE’s belief that management can and should straddle the world of enterprise and profit with that of social responsibility.