DNA

• Anupama’s business plan for a skin care product won her an all-expenses-paid trip at a Merrill Lynch award nite

Mumbai, Jan 1: Anupama Sharma, 16, an underprivileged student from St Anselm’s Pink City School in Jaipur, Rajasthan, not only won a cash award of Rs25,000 but also an all-expenses-paid trip to New York to attend the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s (NFTE) International Entrepreneurship Programme.

Anupama won this award for presenting a business plan for her skin care product line at the First Merrill Lynch - I Create NFTE National Entrepreneurship Competition - 2007 held in Mumbai recently.

Anupama’s unique business model, confidence and presentation skills ensured first place in the competition meant for high school students like her in India. Chandrashekhar L of Adarsha Polytechnic from Bangalore was the first runner-up with his business plan on shoe care, while Sudipta Mahapatra of Gokhale College, Kolkata and Aditi Alok of Kanoria College, Jaipur came in third for basic accounting services.

“Merrill Lynch is committed to building the next generation of business leaders by helping promising students of all backgrounds gain knowledge about finance, technology and a structured approach to business planning to achieve their goal,” said Radhika Haribhakti, Director and head of Corporate Social Responsibility at DSP Merrill Lynch. Apart from this meet, the organisers plan to hold competition series for the youth and have professionals imparting entrepreneurial education.

Merrill Lynch and I Create (NFTE India) started the first India-wide programme for youth entrepreneurship and financial education in early 2007 to educate and motivate students to consider entrepreneurship as a viable career option. The programme hopes to equip students with essential financial skills and teaches them how to prepare a strong business plan.