NITIE Organizes Field Sales Event - MANDI - in Association with NGO Navnirmiti

NITIE Organizes Field Sales Event - MANDI - in Association with NGO Navnirmiti
"Toys on street, making dreams concrete."

July 30th, 2006, will remain a landmark in the careers of first year students of NITIE's Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Management (PGDIM) course, batch of 2008.

Mandi happened. And it gave NITIE's students an opportunity to experience the thrill of direct sales of educational toys, made by the NGO Navnirmiti, for a social cause - engendering disadvantaged children.

Conceptualized by Prof. T. Prasad, Mandi stands as a hallmark in NITIE's curriculum as it integrates the theoretical principles of statistics, managerial economics, marketing and basic market research with their practical application. It is a unique socio-marketing initiative, and in that NITIE is the first business school in India to adopt the experiential method of teaching.

Waking up to the sound of rain on 30th morning, tense NITIEans enquired if Mandi would happen inspite of it. When we heard that it would, much of our cheer was restored. At the Mandi flag off function, Sri Ved Prakash Arya, the COO of Pantaloons, spoke of direct marketing - a concept already visited by a man who has stood on the store-floor, and by his own admission, "sold 52 shirts in a single day".

His young daughter had a go at the toys and when asked, she insisted on solving a Tangram puzzle without any assistance. The fascination she evinced in the toys, cheered us on as we were shepherded into the NITIE buses that were waiting to take us to various parts of Mumbai - Malad, Lokhandwala, Vashi, Thane, Parel, Vile Parle, Hiranandani, Bandra, Churchgate, to name a few. The students were carrying educational merchandise consisting of 3 products - Jodo 3-D Wonder Kit, Tangram and Pyramid - designed to serve as educational aids in the teaching of maths and science.

Aiyswarya, a management student, feels that any product can be directed both at an individual and at an institution, whatever its use, as long as it is projected / perceived appropriately. She recounts from her own group's experience at Chowpatty beach, "Middle class people who couldn't afford Jodo - the higher priced product - but understood the educational value of the toys, enthusiastically bought out the Tangrams and Pyramids."

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Contributed by -
Harsha Venkatesh,
Media Coordinator,
Management Class 2007,
NITIE, Mumbai.

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