KOCHI: In today’s world, a student’s education can’t be termed complete if they don’t get to apply the theories learnt in classrooms in real-life situations. The onus is on hands-on experience, which the student organisers of ‘Thanima’ got in ample amount. The second edition of the expo organised by the School of Legal Studies, Cusat, saw students learn the ropes of entrepreneurship the hard way.
According to Aparna Subramaniyam, student coordinator, Thanima, besides lending a helping hand to the smallscale industries in the flood-hit areas of the state, the expo aimed at equipping the students coming from various streams like engineering, management and law, with skills that will enable them to tackle issues related to entrepreneurship.
“There were around twelve stalls set up by those from the small and medium-sized enterprises. We wanted to give them a space to come and showcase their products and get a business opportunity,” said Aparna. “These SMEs don’t get exposure and they fail to attract business. They offer quality, environment-friendly products unlike the MNCs,” she said. The situation of the enterprises located in flood-affected areas is very sad, she added.According to her, the student organisers were tasked with the job of procuring, advertising, selling and managing accounts of one stall. “We had to procure handloom products from Koodali in Kannur. Handle their transportation to Kochi, set up the stall, attract customers, sell the products and deposit the revenue in the accounts of the handloom society.”
The entire process was a big learning experience, said Aparna. “Those learning accountancy got to keep the accounts, those in the business management realised it is not an easy task to get a shop up and running profitably while the future engineers and lawyers got a glimpse into the functioning of entrepreneurship,” she said.