Bridge the Gap : Project Galaxy Bazaar - A SocioEntrepreneurship Venture of Grade 11-12 Students
Galaxy Bazaar is a social entrepreneurship venture by students of Grade 11-12 of The Galaxy Education System based at Rajkot, Gujarat, India.
About You
About You
First Name
Bijal
Last Name
Damani
Twitter URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
The Galaxy Education System
Organization Website
Organization Country
India, GJ, Rajkot
Country where this project is creating social impact
India, GJ, Rajkot
Is your organization a
Non‐profit / NGO / Citizen sector organization
Your role in Education
Teacher.
The type of school(s) your solution is affiliated with
Private (tuition-based)
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Established (past the previous stages and has demonstrated success)
How long has your solution been in operation?
Operating for more than 5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
Like every city, even my city – Rajkot has two extreme classes of people residing. I teach in a Private school where students are dropped in chauffer drive Audi car and in the same vicinity, there are children who drop out of formal school system and work as child labour trying to earn the living for the family. So there are two goals – to teach my students the business techniques so that they become creative capitalists in future and to bridge the gap in opportunity by providing education opportunity to children working as labour.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
The Solution comes in form of Project Galaxy Bazaar. A bazaar which is set by students before Diwali and money is raised based on pure business principles. Students contribute the capital, get the goods from wholesaler or retailers, rent out the venue, and market the event. A lot of hard work is put in and students face the risk of running a real business. Sponsorship is sought from various industries in the area. The net profits are donated to provide education to children who have dropped out of formal education system. The project has been carried out for the last six years taking sponsoring education of more than 450 underprivileged students
The project bridges the gap between different classes of people in the community. It also provides the privileged students a chance to help their lesser privileged counter parts.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
Project Galaxy Bazaar involves not only students but many members of the community in its working. It’s a Win Win Projects where various stakeholders of the society are involved – directly or indirectly. The primary activity of the students is to hone their business skills, target profit earning but keeping in mind the business ethics. This exercise plants the seeds of ethical business dealings at the impressionable age. (I am dealing with 16-18 years old.) Goods are sought from the Manufacturer or Wholesaler on ‘Sale or Return’ basis. Many new products and producers are encouraged and provided the ready platform. The Bazaar is set up before Diwali keeping in mind Diwali shopping requirements. All the goods are made available under one platform. Variety of promotional activities takes place during Bazaar days. Students run the Bazaar and after accounting for every expense, come to Net Profits. These profits are donated for education of the underprivileged children.
Galaxy Bazaar is a much awaited project in the community. The project has started in the year 2005 and six Galaxy Bazaars have already taken place with INR 8000 (Sponsoring education of 4 students) as the profit in first year to INR 700000 in the fifth and sixth year ( sponsoring education of more than 500 students) Something that was started as a simple Classroom project, Galaxy Bazaar has come a long way.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
My peers in this project are my students of Grade 11 and 12. ( Different set of students every year as batches change) There are many NGOs working in this area but I do not consider them as my competitors as this is the Project carried out by the students. Instead of competition, we join hands and collaborate with people or organizations who are working in the same area. For example, for two years, we teamed up with Rotary District 3060, one year with NGO Pratham etc. So I do not consider them as my competitors – I consider them as potential collaborators.
Now that you have thought out your entry, help us pitch it.
Define your company, program, service, or product in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
Galaxy Bazaar: Commerce in Education and Education in Commerce. A Social Venture - for the students, of the students, by the students.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
A Project which attempts to bridge the opportunity gap between privileged and lesser privileged students. It’s more than business.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
The impact of Galaxy Bazaar has been two fold. The first impact is on the underprivileged children who have been working as child labour. They got a chance to get the education out of the funds raised by my students. We have managed to touch lives of more than 450 children.
The second impact is on my own students. These students are future entrepreneurs. And I am glad that this project provides them with the most important lessons in business ethics and corporate social responsibility at an early age. Many Ex-students can vouch for it that GB has made them better human being and better entrepreneurs.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
We are planning to get more involved in this project. Students will be introducing basic ICT skills to these children. We have already received a technology grant from HP which will be used to bridge the digital divide as well.
Inquiries have been received by other schools and colleges wanting to be part of this project, we can think of expanding the horizon of the market. Moreover, we introduce something new every year. Plan for the next two years is as follows :
1] Introduce Flea market where we can bridge the divide of the resources between various classes of society
2] To introduce the Online market to reach out to that segment of the society which does not manage to come physically to bazaar.
We wish to introduce underprivileged students to basic Technology skills.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Introducing underprivileged students to technology skills
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Design Basic ICT related curriculum for underprivileged children
Task 2
Arrange for buying Akash tablets for these children
Task 3
Prepare my students to deliver ICT training to these children
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
ICT Module in its place
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
Will manage to get at least 20 Akash Tablets which will be used among underprivileged children
Task 2
Game Based learning for Underprivileged children
Task 3
May be able to train and help the teacher as well
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world [125 words]
As I would come to my school in school bus everyday, I would witness two different worlds at the same time - Neo rich kids getting down the chauffeur driven expensive cars to come to school and children working as labour in the same vicinity - working at a tea stall or selling flowers or newspapers or working as labour in construction sites.
The divide in the community is astonishing and at that time the idea of Project Galaxy Bazaar sprouted in my head. I realized it is important that privileged students not only empathize but come up with a solution to this problem. What my student blows up in one day can buy a year's education for these kids and its important for privileged kids to know it. I am sure the students who have been part of Galaxy Bazaar will always think of generating employment for lesser privileged people in the society when they will grow up to be big entrepreneurs. I wanted to mold 'CREATIVE CAPITALIST' who thinks beyond their own profits.
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
In this venture, students enter into two types of partnerships.
1] Partnership among 120 students - a Win Win is drafted as Partnership Deed
2] Partnership between students and suppliers
Moreover, we work in partnership with NGOs like Rotary, Pratham etc. to better utilization of our hard earned money.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section? [75 words]
As mentioned earlier, the team working for this project consist of Project Co-ordinator (i.e. me) and my team of 120 students. Together we are responsible for achieving the above mentioned goals. Many times, ex-students too provide their services for better functioning of the event.
We have Rotary members helping us to reach out to these children and fulfilling our goals.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
Need :
1] We need to expand and if any other school is interested in the Project, we can set up the Bazaar in other town, city, state or country to raise the money for educating underprivileged children in our vicinity.
2] Generous and consistent sponsorship from any corporate body would help us grow.My students can work for these corporates to compensate for their help.
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| donation_collage.jpg | 365.48 KB |
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| rotary.jpg | 216.24 KB |
 | 59 weeks ago Bijal Damani updated this Competition Entry. |
| 59 weeks ago Bijal Damani updated this Competition Entry. |
| 59 weeks ago Bijal Damani submitted this idea. |
