For Saikat Basu Mazumdar, a final year engineering student of Bengal College of Engineering and Technology, Durgapur, receiving the award from Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was an emotional moment that he will treasure for a long time.

BCET students receive the Championship Award from Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

But his recent victory has touched not just his life, but that of his college mates too. "E Week has triggered a change in mindset in campus. Studious bookworms are now exploring new avenues and thinking differently. Though the placement season is on, people are approaching us to know more about entrepreneurship. They are more willing to take risks and work on their business ideas," Saikat says.

"In fact, I am so inspired by the E Week experience that I want to now set up something on my own in the field of embedded design," he adds.

Not resting on their laurels, the E Cell at BCET is already back to work, planning a seminar that will promote entrepreneurship across the State.

So I try again after 24 hours.

Roshni Sharma of MCC's E Cell sounds more coherent now. "The yay feeling is still there. Our victory hasn't sunk in completely," she confesses.

MCC receives the Championship Award

It was a victory well deserved. Her team had to arrange events even as their college auditorium was closed for renovation. Funds didn't come in until the last moment, when Canara Bank pitched in. Cross Current, a popular college fest was just over, and it left all members exhausted.

But despite the constraints, the E Cell team fared well. Over 80 entrepreneurship-related events were held successfully over the week. Many were serious, but some were for pure fun. In fact, there was even a game of dumb-charades based on the entrepreneurship theme!

"The biggest thing we have learnt is to coordinate and work with constraints," Roshni believes. A clearly defined organizational structure definitely helped. Initium, the E Cell of MCC is divided into internship pod, NGO pod, marketing pod and event management pod. "All the teams have been working through the year to create awareness about entrepreneurship. We unified our efforts this E Week, and our team work won us the trophy," she says.

Following their success in E Week, where they were declared Champions, NSHM is now planning to start a company in campus. Karan Walia, E Cell coordinator said the company would either be a design agency or it would provide logistic solutions within the campus.

NSHM students receive the Championship Award

"Winning the Championship was great. We feel motivated and geared up to start an entrepreneurial venture on our own. We are currently raising funds for the company. Aspects like organization structure, Board etc are still in its initial stages," Karan said.

Incidentally, the Championship Award couldn't have come on a better day. NSHM launched its E Cell on February 9, and the team won the prestigious trophy bang on its first birthday.

May there be many happy returns of the day!

"It was a year's effort that led us to be winners today," feels Janardhan, E Cell head of PSG. But the achievement made during E Week was no less. 600 students from PSG had registered as E-Cell members during the E Week, and 500 more after PSG walked away with the Championship Award.

PSG students accept Championship Award

"Our aggressive door-to-door marketing strategy worked very well in promoting the message of entrepreneurship. We reworked on our badges and publicity material to make it more attractive. We have 15 other clubs in campus, and we are the newest, so did things differently to make an impact," he adds.

His key learning out of E Week? After handling endless manpower and logistics issues over the week, he says, "I have learnt how not to make the same mistakes in the next E Week."

The E Cell is now planning to professionalize its management. "This E Week, we realized that we are short-staffed. We are now going to call for interviews for certain positions in E Cell to manage finance, publicity, advertising and so on," he adds.