Budding entrepreneurs invest in society's uplift

Revved up by the success of the third anniversary of Project Akshar, Aantika Tandon, a first year student of Bachelors of Management Studies, says, “The project gives us a chance to apply our business knowledge practically in making a difference to society.”

Students of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies collaborated with the not-for-profit organisation Enactus to carry out business models to empower those 

in need. 

Project Akshar, started in the year 2011, aims to provide employment opportunities, help the environment and provide affordable education to the underprivileged.

 

The project involves making extremely affordable, environment–friendly notebook, by recycling and reusing paper that is discarded by corporates, organisations and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs).

To commemorate the third anniversary of Project Akshar, Enactus SSCBS organised 

‘Akshar Diwas’ on March 30, enthused by the great success of Akshar Day on March 24, 

last year.

The milestone event was celebrated through paper collection drives, in order to fulfil the recycling waste paper aspect of the project.

The Diwas involved simultaneous waste paper collection drives in various residential societies across Gurgaon, Dwarka, Noida and Mayur Vihar over the course of 12 hours.

“Many volunteers, networked through the College Leaders Programme, came together from various colleges in Delhi and around, to be a part of the collection drives in the various residential areas,” shared Aantika.
 

Collection started early in the morning around 10 at each of the locations and went on till the evening. 

Trucks collected the paper later the same day and transported it.

Last year, the team had set a record in the Limca Book of Records for the most amount of paper collected in 12 hours, collecting 15.67 tonnes. 

This year, the team set out with the aim of breaking their own record. 

The students managed to collect 21.48 tonnes of waste paper within a span of 12 hours with 325 volunteers from across Delhi-NCR.

Aantika informs, “Our team also invests in two other projects: Gramodhar and Sanitation Solutions. While the first one aims at adopting a village for its development, the latter picks up two enterprising village women to run a manufacturing unit for sanitary pads."