AIMIT hosts national level B-Plan presentation 'Manasa Manthana'

Mangalore, November 10: A national level B-Plan presentation 'Manasa Manthana' organised at AIMIT, the new campus of St. Aloysius College (Autonomous), Beeri, Kotekar on November 9.

The programme began with video presentation on “Catalytic Innovation”, the theme of the event. Dr. Vinaya Hegde, the Chancellor of Nitte University was the chief guest.

Dr. Vinay Hegde in his address described how a person has to be innovative to face challenges in life. He said, “Do what you really like and have an open mind to learn from your peers and even your subordinates.  Dr. Hegde gave some live examples on how an innovative mind sets an example to society and can empower a billion.

Rev Fr. Denzil Lobo SJ, the Director of AIMIT highlighted the contribution of Jesuit Institutions towards developing society by guiding thousands of students to learn and think. He spoke on how an innovative idea can bring about a change not only a person's life but in the lives of millions. He said failure is just a stepping stone to success. Just like vigorous hammering on an iron gives it shape and form, so also initial failures make us strong and help in shaping our ideas into reality.

Rev Fr. Oswald Mascarenhas SJ, Chairman of the MBA Dept, AIMIT, enlightened the gathering on the real meaning of catalytic innovation and how it can help people and the society to develop and move towards success. He gave the example of the Nobel Laureate Mr. Mohammad Yunus who came up with the innovative concept of a Grameen Bank which helped millions of people. He mentioned how exactly a catalytic innovation can help and empower millions of people. He mentioned the five factors which make catalytic innovations successful.  He said catalytic innovations need to bring systemic change, make them available to masses, should have high diffusion index, lead to development of products and need to be stable and convertible to increasing value.

The inaugural ceremony came to an end with the event coordinator Mr. Elroy Monis delivering the vote of thanks.

The inaugural was followed  by presentations at various venues by the participating teams.  Mr  K Socrates, Deputy Director, MSME Institute, Mangalore and Prof. K Ramesh Kamath, faculty member of  MBA Department, AIMIT were the judges for the session I.  Prometheus – A self recharging battery plant to be situated in Mumbai to overcome the shortage of power and the harmful effects of burning fossils;  Metro Train Powered by Wind Power; Mangalore Tiffin Service;  Intelligent Automatic Vehicle Identification for Traffic Regulation and Management; Mangalore Organic Fertilizer Manufacturing Facility;  Manufacturing Unit for Paper Bags; and Packaging of Tender Coconut Water into Bottles and Tetra Packs were some of the Business Plans presented during the first session.

Mr Mithun Bhat, a distinguished entrepreneur in Mangalore, and Mr Venkatesh Amin,  Lecturer, at the MBA department,  AIMIT were the judges for teh second session. During this session participants came up with presentations on “Nexterz.com”-a market for future;  “Honest Tea”- a health conscious beverage;  “Stree Shakti”-marketing a device to detect cervical cancer; ”Project Prithvi”- producing methane gas through decomposition of waste and there by using it as a fuel to generate electricity;  “Leaf  Plates”-producing plates from arecanut and coconut leaves and finally “Bhoomi Mitra”- a vermiculture project producing pesticides and manure from waste.

The judges were  Rev Dr Oswald Mascarenhas, SJ,  Mr.  Stephen Pinto  and  Mr Dharmendra  V. Mehta were the judges for the final round. There were five business plans. Mangalore Tiffin  Services ; Intelligent Automatic Vehicle Identification , Stree Shakti,  Indian Kalakaar , Biogen Services Dr Rowena Wright, Dean(Academics) welcomed the gathering.

Valedictory Ceremony

The valedictory ceremony of Manasa Manthana -2012 started with a beautiful video recording of the preparation for  Manasa Manthana-2012. Rev Fr. Denzil Lobo SJ, Director of AIMIT in his concluding remarks on the event, appreciated the hard work of the organizers.  He commended the participants for making this event a meaningful intellectual exercise. A special announcement was made by Rev Fr. Denzil Lobo SJ to setup a “Business Incubation Centre” at AIMIT, St. Aloysius College (Autonomous) to enthuse and energise the budding entrepreneurs to work towards their dream project. Rev Fr. Oswald Mascarenhas SJ, the Chairman of the MBA Department, AIMIT in his feedback of the event said that our country is at the threshold of revolution or evolution.  He was of the opinion that catalytic innovation would be the right answer to our nation's formidable challenges. The fruits of such catalytic innovation would percolate to the masses and  would bring about social justice and prosperity to all.

The 1st Runners Up and the 2nd Runners Up were awarded to St. Joseph's College of Business Administration, Bangalore and the 1st Prize was won by Ashish A and Fadhil Ahmed of MBA Department, Aloysius Institute of Management and Information Technology, St. Aloysius College ( Autonomous). Cash Prizes were awarded to the winners. Mr. Siddharth Umesh, the student coordinator delivered the vote of thanks.

The first prize Rs 30,000 and the third prize Rs 10,000 was sponsored by Mr Bryce  and Saritha Pais, New Zealand; and the second prize Rs 15,000 was sponsored by Mr Valerian Pereira, USA in the name of his mother Mrs Rosy Pereira.