They say that a journey of a thousand miles start with one small step. For the four of us – Eureka, Lidiya, Shubhanshi and Smriti Pandey – our ‘Friendship Day’ business venture started out as just a casual chat. On the 31st of July, 2012 there was a small charity event being organised by the students of Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida. The four of us thought that it would be a good opportunity to test our managerial skills – to put our ‘bookish knowledge’ to practical use.

The first thing was to decide on the products that would form a part of our ‘Friendship Day’ stall. The major challenge was to select products that would attract people to our stall, without making them feel that they were spending too much money. We decided that cakes, juices and Swiss chocolates could be sold in no time, even in unsure market conditions. As a high-risk-high-gain part of our stall, we included a few friendship bands, counting them straightaway as ‘bad debts’.

Next, we gave the location some thought. July falls bang in the middle of the monsoon season, so we chose a location in the vicinity of the Jaipuria Noida Mess.. We reasoned that it was a place that every consumer would have to cross before going in for lunch.

The pricing was the point which generated the least debate between the four of us. Our focus consumers were mostly students, and we knew exactly what their average pocket money and willingness to spend on a particular product would be. We priced the chocolate cake at Rs. 20/- and the pineapple cake at Rs. 15/- a slice. Juices were priced at Rs. 20/- per glass.Having taken care of the basics, we got down to the creative part – Promotion. The 31st of July was a Tuesday, so we began Promotions for our stall on Saturday, the 28th of July. We didn’t want the excitement to die down, and since our products were basic and did not need consumer enlightenment, this worked. We began by sending e-mails to everyone, and invited the faculty of Jaipuria Noida by distributing fliers to each one of them. Of course, our attractive posters were pasted across the Jaipuria Noida campus as well.

We made one big mistake, though; once the event began, we realised that we had underestimated our customers… and ourselves. In fact, we had played it too safe. When we think of it today, we realise that we could’ve made a killing on Friendship Day. Our stuff – including the friendship bands – was sold out in no time! There were a few other things we noticed, which could’ve make things smoother for us. For instance, we could have kept a dustbin handy, put up some banners and posters near the counter, thereby channelising potential customers towards our stall. Maybe we could have advanced our Promotions by a few days as well.

All said and done, this was a big confidence booster for the four of us. We got a very good response from the market, and as and when opportunity comes our way, we’ll scale this stall up by adding more products, and use this experience to make things smoother.

Our revenues from this initiative are being donated to a charitable trust. We hope that next time around we make more money out of our venture to serve this noble cause better!

Covered By:
Smriti Pandey- PGDM(A)
Eureka Dandapath- PGDM(M)
Lidiya Gogoi- PGDM (M) &
Shubhanshi Dhooper- PGDM (M)

Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida recently launched its movie club – “Entertainment with a Purpose”. On the occasion, the movie club faculty coordinator, Dr.Ritika Gugnani spoke to campus journalists (CJs), Geetika Goyal and Priyanka Priya.

CJs: What was the need for a movie club?

Dr. Ritika: Students of Jaipuria Institute of Management have come from various parts of the country. So if we pick and screen movies from different nations, different cultures and different languages it will depict and help the students understand cultural strong points, which would be very beneficial for them. The main objective of the movie club is to enhance the communication skills of the students by exposing them to international movies, besides the more obvious motive of entertainment, which the students need after long hours with academics.

CJs: What was the purpose behind choosing the movie that was screened at the inaugural session?

Dr. Ritika: The name of the movie was Invictus. The main purpose of choosing this movie was that the London Olympics were going on and the movie was based on a sports theme. Sports inculcate a sense of leadership and team building in the minds of the students. They help in capturing how ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things.

CJs: What is the motive behind the movie club?

Dr. Ritika: There is definitely a motive attached to it. We’ll encourage student discussions after the movie is over. This way, the students will try and identify what they learnt from the movie. The students will, of course, come and enjoy the movie but now there will be a learning attached to it.

CJs: What is the future plans for the movie club?

Dr. Ritika: We expect that more and more students will come together to watch movies. So there will be a fun element of expectation instilled in the students that ‘today is the movie day’. In future, we plan to have musical activities where people will be encouraged to sing and have fun.