The iDiya contest organised by management students in the city, promises to turn smart ideas into profitable business plans , "Each win WINNERS WILL BE ADOPTED BY A CORPORATE FOR THREE MONTHS.

In a recession-ridden economy where venture capitalists seem to have gone underground, a group of young biz school students are emerging as messiahs for budding entrepreneurs. If you have a business idea and you know it's brilliant, then these young guns might just be the ones you've been waiting for! In a first of its kind initiative, students of Net Impact Club have come up with iDiya, a contest where anyone with a great business idea can win a chance to be mentored by some of the biggest names in the corporate world and turn their idea into a viable business plan.
Their aim is to create highimpact, economically feasible and sustainable social enterprises in India, say the founder members of the event. Nishant Banore, president, Net Impact Club, says, "We believe that business is an effective mechanism to bring about a sustainable change in the society.

Through this contest, we are looking for ideas which will not only have a deep impact on society, but also generate benefits for the stakeholders in the social enterprise." He adds, "Our country needs its citizens to take up social entrepreneurship and be a part of the change they want to see."

Open to all working professionals, the contest hopes to promote social entrepreneurship and has roped in several corporates to lend their support.

Kaushal Bhalotia, a student co-ordinator, says, "Each winco-ordinator, says ning team will be adopted by a mentoring partner organisation for three months, so that participants can launch their ventures. We want to motivate professionals to think of social entrepreneurship as a career and support them to take their idea to implementation."

According to Sarat Chandra Vadapalli, the contest designer, the submitted ideas will be evaluated on the basis of social impact, financial sustainability and scalability. The best idea will then be chosen for the mentoring programme.

The contest, which kicked off on Monday, will also include a boot camp for the top five contenders, who will get an opportunity to interact with the industry bigwigs and help them identify possible avenues for ensuring a vision takes shape.