Power, fame and a lush lifestyle - they all lie in the conscious
mind of an individual; celebrating on the cruise with champagne ready to be
uncorked and the most expensive fruits laid on the platter next to it. There is
no point denying that this is the mindset of most of us young adults.
But the subconscious mars the play of our consciousness. Slumdog
Millionaire, Nirbhaya, an innocent malnourished infant, Transgenders or a
differently abled adult seeking, begging for money and food, a mother selling
hairclips and such small accessories with her little baby in a zhola on her
back; we all feel for them, emotionally get attached to them, we want to reach
out to them and tell them that they'll survive and it isn't such a worst place
to live in - but we don't, we can't, we shouldn't because we know they are
forced to do all those things and that giving them money would only make them
dependent leading to their further exploitaiton.
When opportunities knock at your door, grab them and make the most
of it. So, when in the year 2008; Enactus knocked our door, we grabbed it as an
opportunity and since then, there is no looking back. It offers the most
worthwhile activities to students whilst still in college that can be justified
with pride by each of its members.
‘Enactus’ – the International Nonprofit Organization is formed to
create a better and more sustainable world, to make the world a beautiful place
to reside in by creating opportunities for those who couldn’t even imagined
that they existed for them. These opportunities are sourced out by over 66000
students, business and academic leaders in 1600 Universities across 37
countries; by applying economic and business concepts. The students strive to
elevate the standard of living of the people in need by implementing their
academic knowledge in the practical world. It follows the principal of “Empowerment
through Innovation”.
Enactus endeavors to restore the masses’ faith in humanity and
there’s no better option to do that than to be done by the young students who
are responsible to build a stronger and healthier nation. Every woman you impact,
every hope you give to a differently abled, every young entrepreneur you show a
brighter future to, every family that you help, every life you light, every
smile you’re a reason for – these tiny moments of joy will be treasured for
eternity unlike the wealth.
Enactus gives this opportunity to enjoy those memories by building
a social enterprise and empowering the world. It’s a slow and a gradual process
done in parts but gives infinite happiness when you see 115 countries on the
map impacted positively, and you are the reason for one small part of it.
When I joined Enactus M. L. Dahanukar College of Commerce in July
2012; I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. Marketing experience in
Vile-Parle Grahak Peth, the National Competition rush, the continuous
brainstorming sessions, building – scraping and building again the business
models to impact larger number of people, the early mornings and the late evenings
on the field, all hands in one lunchbox with your team – all of it became like
the survival necessity of my life. Your project becomes your baby, your team
members become your family, your juniors become your kids, your target audience
becomes your emotional attachment and your faculty advisor and alumni becomes
your lifetime support!!!
Approaching the corporations to financially assist your project
gets your nerves racking. The boardrooms shouldn’t decide to fund the food for
thirty million children or a year’s ration to thirty thousand women as their
CSR initiative. Funding the empowerment of the target audience with the aim to
elevate their standards of living and quality of life in the long run would be
the apt choice.
Companies like Walmart, Syntel, KPMG, Mahindra, The Tata Group,
etc have been strong supporters of Enactus. Enactus MLDC received the Walmart
Women’s Economic Grant in the Preliminary Round and the grant has enabled us to
empower a lot of our project beneficiaries.
Enactus MLDC pioneers student leadership, social responsibility
and commitment to community upliftment. The most beautiful milestone achieved
by us was to see the financially unstable women in Sawarsai Village (Penn), to
establish their own business by creating links overall in Mumbai and finally
breathing the air of freedom and to see the young entrepreneurs persuing their
passion as a career and setting up their own venture in this highly competitive
market.
Together we pledge to take action, together we commit to apply our
passions and talents and ideas to impact as many lives as we can, Not to hand
out help to people in need but to work side by side with them to create
opportunity. So every person and community we touch is empowered to live up to their
fullest potential…..
Each of us within us has an entrepreneurial spirit, Each of us has
an ability to transform lives, Together We ARE Enactus!!!!
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