PRAYAAS-2011 is an initiative by Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research to help a group largely consisting of middle aged women, realize their entrepreneurial dreams. The initiative comes in shape of a three day workshop which was inaugurated on Gandhi Jayanti by Ms Sunita Ramnathkar ,a well known entrepreneur herself;  the erstwhile founder -director of FEM brand and currently the Director of Michell Ltd.

The group of women , very suitably named ’Kasturimrig’ ,  had always nurtured a secret dream of starting a business and thus came  with a steely determination to succeed at whatever they put their hearts and minds  to. Welingkar has taken up the initiative for providing them  with  all the possible support needed by them  to spread their entrepreneurial wings. It would offer them expert guidance and mentoring till their dreams translate into meaningful entrepreneurial ventures and take off. WeSchool has also roped in the  expertise of National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) for the workshop. Besides the renowned faculty from WeSchool like Prof Kaustubh Dhargalkar, Prof Dr.S Gondhalekar, entrepreneurs and investment consultants, Dr Snehlata Deshmukh, who has had an   illustrious career as Dean LTMG Hospital and VC University of Mumbai will also interact with the women at a later stage.

Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research speaking on the rationale behind the initiative said, ‘It is our endeavour to help women who have put in all their efforts to spread happiness in lives of those around them. This is our tribute to the spirit of Indian women. Each one of us has the potential, some latent talent hidden inside. Innovation and creativity leading to successful entrepreneurship and Leadership are integral factors of all academic programs at the WeSchool.  A bit of help, guidance and mentoring from our faculty members will help to bring out the latent talents of these women and make them bloom. We are just a medium to that and thus trying to add to the progress and prosperity of the group ‘Kasturimrig ‘and society in turn.  And there could have been no other day as befitting as Gandhi Jayanti for starting this venture of WeSchool.”

The women who entered the portals of WeSchool with hesitant steps, were under the guidance of Prof Kaustubh Dhargalkar, faculty-Business Design  who took them through the first session of the workshop aptly titled, ‘Understanding yourself ‘

“Are you Identifying a need in the market & building the skill to capitalize or Are you Possessing a skill & then identifying a need to capitalize ?“ he asked, prompting the  women to  take a hard look at their business plans. He continued with Need identification, Opportunity spotting & Concept Generation and made them ask those five vital questions that every entrepreneur must ask. He finally took them through a very basic yet practical resource analysis that is the first step in the creation of a business plan, thus familiarizing the participants with the basic factors and issues that they need to consider before embarking on the journey of entrepreneurship.

While the first session threw open a wide range of entrepreneurial ideas to the participants the second session amazed them when Internationally well known Kaizen expert and Head – PG Diploma in Family Managed Business, Dr Shriniwas Gondhalekar walked in to guide them on ‘Find Your Own Niche  In An Owner  Managed Business’..

He explained the modalities of how to identify potential customer, how to identify his pain points and give him that ‘something extraordinarily special’ that would satisfy his needs. His ‘Business Mantra’ was simple,” One doesn’t always need huge amounts of funds to start a business. Take the money from customer and offer him that product or service with a USP that only you can offer .And aim for a lifelong rapport with the customer; turn him into your friend, your ally”.

Every point that he made, was hitting the right note, as the women listened in rapt attention and the same was obvious from the feedback that came from the much relaxed and delighted group at the end of the day.

The next two sessions of Prayaas -2011 are scheduled for 8th and 15th October.