SIFE Story

Last week was the most fulfilling week in my journey as a student of Madras School Of Social work When i was a part of the team which reached the National Semifinals of SIFE.

A brief Introduction about SIFE : SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) is an international network of students, academics and business leaders.
Working in partnership with business and higher education, SIFE "mobilizes university students around the world to use the knowledge gained in the classroom to address real world business and economic issues in their communities. SIFE students form teams on their university campuses and perform community service projects that teach market economics, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, personal success skills, business ethics, and environmental sustainability."

The team was selected in Nov.2009 and it was an honor to be a part of the team considering the Mark set by our predecessors who were national finalists and along with the other core team of Hadeeja, Madhumitha Sowndararajan, Prashanthi, Adline Sophia, Sowmya Mathews, Harish, RakeshKumar Patil, Tanvir Ahmed we identified and tried to find out various communities with which we could work in creating our projects and after a month of searching we narrowed down to two communities

*Tsunami Affected women community near Thiruvanmiyur

*Tsunami affected Women community who were involved in Making of office stationery made out of recycled paper

Personally the icing on the cake was the fact that the second community was identified by me thanks to my association with the Theosophical Society which through its sister body the Theosophical order Of Service helped in setting up the recycling plant

In essence we worked with totally about 55 women affecting the lives of about 165 people. The experience was full of rich memories like Boating Trips and Travel and also the testing times of trying to find a community and working with them.

We were selected as Winners of the regional Competition and we finished just short of National Finals which was our aim leaving us disappointed. But in the end when we question ourselves on the fact whether this was worth burning our weekends and free days ? the answer would be an Emphatic "YES" the experience of setting up a business model for them has surely revived the entrepreneurial spirit in me and coupled with the chances in the wings the dream is not far away !! Thanks SIFE !!

Cheers

Arvind !!