From non profit social enterprises, to innovative ventures dealing in consultancy of management of parties, the IIM-A Entrepreneurship Fair on Sunday had a motley bunch of start-ups.

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The fair, open to students from institutes across India, was organised with an aim to provide insights to young management students wanting to launch their own start-up and to provide a first hand experience through summer internships.

Over 200 students participated in the fair; in which close to 20 ventures with diverse portfolios participated. The companies expected students to provide them with managerial inputs and help them with expansion plans during their internship period.

"The fair has been useful as I got some important guidelines which will be of lot of help when I start my own start-up. Through my conversations with the entrepreneurs I learnt about market research, alliances and basic finances and the revenue model," said Chaitanya Bhangale, student, Fr. Conceicao Rodriguez Institute of Management Studies, Vashi.

Dr. Rita Salva, of Radhee Disaster and Education Foundation, Mumbai, a social entrepreneurship venture, working towards standardisation of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for accident victims, were looking for interns to help them streamline the much needed disaster management programmes. "Our disaster management itself is mismanaged and I think the management students can come forward and help tackle this. We have internship cum volunteer programmes for two months."

There were also social entrepreneurship startups like Bharat Calling, Ekjaa and Armaan Foundation. "We want our interns to help us design curriculum, teach and also mobilise the kids as we work towards alleviating poverty in underexposed rural areas through democratised higher education," said a representative of Bharat Calling.

Meanwhile, a professional tank and car cleaning solutions provider, Tiszta in Mysore, too generated a lot of interest as the start-up model has now been replicated by many in South India. VVIP Parties, a venture offering both internship options and stake in the company was also frequented by the students. "Honestly speaking these people are intelligent but when it comes to partying, there are dumb. Mine is a niche business which involves listing of high-end Christmas and New Year parties and am also offering them stakes in my company."