MahaMandi 2011 Managers with a Big Heart

What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing. The students of National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai have taken this Aristotle quote to heart. In what is a one of its kind event, on Saturday, the 6th of August, students from NITIE will throng the streets of Mumbai taking part in MahaMandi. It is in an endeavor to satisfy their quest for learning outside the walls of the class room, selling educational toys to the public made by NGO Navnirmiti while at the same time, learning the importance of giving back to society. From a humble beginning in 2004, when the students of NITIE first took to the streets for Mandi, the event has grown in reputation and stature over the years covering most of the premier B-Schools in Mumbai and targeting a wider reach. The revenue generated over the course of the event is handed over to the NGO, which aids its noble cause of providing better education to the economically not so well off children. Thus MahaMandi is a unique event, epitomizing the twin ideals of Corporate Social Responsibility and Learning through Doing. The event, rechristened MahaMandi in 2010 to signify its enhanced stature, has signaled the start of an era of application oriented management education in India by its novel and simple approach. Brainchild of Dr. T. Prasad, faculty at NITIE, MahaMandi is an ideal platform for the otherwise classroom groomed future managers, to experiment the concepts of their subjects like marketing and consumer behavior though live application and bridge the gap between theory and reality. This year, MahaMandi-2011 is expected to witness participation from over 1500 students from reputed management institutes like Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies(NMIMS), Shailesh J Mehta School of Management(SJMSOM, IIT Bombay), Jamanlal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies(JBIMS), Tata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS) and KJ Somaiya School of Management (KJSOM) who join together to sell close to Rs 15 lakh worth of educational toys in a day across Mumbai, which will make it by far, the largest one day event by any B-School in India, eclipsing even its predecessor, MahaMandi-2010, which managed revenues of Rs 9 lakhs. The event will be flagged off by Dr. Aditi Gowitrikar (Bollywood actress & Mrs.World 2001) and Mr. S Roy Choudhary (Chairman, HPCL) this year. With Mandi growing from strength to strength and beginning to spread its wings of learning over the entire country, the aim is to produce good quality managers with a philanthropic outlook year after year.