10 BRILLIANT start-up ideas for college students

There’s been a lot of talk as of late regarding young entrepreneurs given the massive wealth Facebook’s IPO has created for its billionaire founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Google, Microsoft and many other companies were started on campus. Unfortunately, there simply aren’t that many investors in India out there to fund ideas from mostly unproven young adults, so it remains up to the entrepreneur to do it on their own.

For young adults, the best place to flex your entrepreneurial muscle is while you are in college — or at the very least when you are young enough to not be bogged down with a career. College is a great place to start your venture as you have lots of free time, access to a large pool of human capital and your college can provide much-needed support. The following ten business ideas are what can be executed while being on campus.

Flier Marketing Service- Lots of local small businesses are interested in different ways that they can reach the customers around them for cheap. Marketing for them usually involves buying space in the local newspapers or cable channels. Many small businesses would jump at the chance to have your company design and pass out fliers around town announcing sales or specials that they are offering.

Shoe Wash Company - Previously canvas shoes were cleaned using old toothbrushes and detergent but nowadays people have moved on to trendy sneakers and want the shoes to be cleaned by people who are experts in the field so that they can be maintained properly. In order to be successful in this business it is essential to know how to use chemicals and a fair degree of marketing skills are required too.

Doorstep Grocery Delivery Services - Nowadays customers want the groceries at their doorsteps without having to go the bazaar or wait in long serpentine queues on weekends at supermarkets.  This is where a doorstep grocery delivery company can come in handy. The main skills needed to run this business smoothly are sales and logistics management. This business has a break even period of 2 months at the very minimum and can provide gross profits of nearly 20 percent.

Wedding Planning - Wedding planning, made popular thanks to Bollywood flick Band Baja Baraat  is also a good business idea for those inclined towards event management and enjoy Indian Weddings! Nowadays, weddings in India are being celebrated on grand scales and the celebrators might not have the time to properly attend to every little nuance as a lot of time is involved in this as well. Wedding planners can help people in such situations.

Baby Sitting – Given rapid urbanization, nuclear families and both parents professionally working, babysitting services is the need of the hour. One needs to start with friends and referrals to build credulity and confidence of parents. The ability and tact of handling kids is a pre-requisite. If all is well this is a perfect business where one can study while being on the job!

Housekeeping For Corporates - Housekeeping services for small businesses is a proper business idea. With corporates and offices looking to keep their offices spanking clean, this is a good business idea. Good communication and man management skills are necessary to succeed in this domain.

Résumé Writing Service – Are you good at finding the best angles to present information? Start a résumé writing service helping students put their experience in the best possible format and phrasing to attract interview and career opportunities.

Student Awards Program – Everyone is looking for a way to get ahead in today’s competitive job market.  Team up with student affairs or any club like Lions or Rotary to start an on-campus student awards program where students are rated and awarded in certain categories that are relevant to future career success. Charge an entry fee and look for sponsors. This is a cool way for students to get accolades they can add to the list of credentials that can be presented to possible employers.

Financial Planning – Personal financial planning is a field that is expected to grow in the next few years. You can get an early start by beginning your financial planning business on campus. Work with students to help them save and manage their money. College is a time when people can really put a damper on post-college opportunities by ruining their credit or getting into debt. Help students avoid this and get paid for it.

Website For Rating Professors – Some professors are amazing, some are more boring than paint drying on a wall.  Your college mates might want to know that and maybe you can start a website to allow group rating and comments so everyone will know what they’re getting into before they register for a class.

There are possible many other things one can look to start with on campus. Just get a team in place, stop thinking and start acting. This is the single biggest step for an entrepreneur, Just do it!

Murtuza Rohawala is the Founder & CEO of Edfin Consultancy (www.edfin.in) which provides strategy and financial consulting to a lot of promising businesses. He also actively mentors students from various institutes in India. Murtuza is an MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.

Moving beyond the 4 Ps of an MBA

Ask an MBA aspirant about the four Ps and you will be surprised by the response. In case you were expecting a typical straight-out-of the Kotler reply you will be astounded to hear words like Placements, Package, Profile and Prospects!
As news of summer internships comes in from top campuses and students heading to all corners of the globe, the aspirants can't be blamed.
This makes me ponder?-- Is an MBA about just these four Ps?
With names like Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Macquarie, Merrill Lynch, McKinsey doing the rounds in portals of the top campuses, and the sweat?and night outs for that day zero slot one cannot deny the all important 'P' factors.
Having said that, one cannot just 'quantify' the output of an MBA course by these factors. In two years of one's campus life, one has the choice of a number of 'take-aways' that are more durable than the first job!

Knowledge: First and foremost, the MBA adds an immense amount of knowledge. Subjects ranging from Quantitative Techniques to Transactional Analysis help widen the domain knowledge. This learning may not be in too much depth, but surely in terms of breath of knowledge you are a know-it-all.
Presentation skills: With myriad class presentations, one is bound to become an expert in not only making PowerPoint presentations but also presenting them in a crisp, confident and professional manner.
Analytic skills: With the help of computer application tools like Excel and SPSS and the knowledge of various statistical and quantitative methods one is surely in command of analysing and number crunching any problem and coming up with an instant solution.
Networking: You end up studying, living, eating with over 200 of your batchmates, each from an different background -- diverse geographies, religions, educational backgrounds, work experience. Thus, an MBA college becomes a melting pot of learning from one another. What is more important is we also leave the campus with so many friends who would be working in various corporates across the globe.
Perspective: This is what B-schools have been known for. By way of case studies and contests -- students develop their own way of thought on a particular situation at hand. This helps future managers to have their own take on various situations/ problems they face in life.

Confidence: Presentations, quizzes, exams,?inter-school competitions, simulated games all make one a more confident individual. In today's highly competitive world -- where dog eat dog is the order?-- confidence is the most sought after weapon in the corporate jungle.
Team spirit: Well, this is not something that should be brushed aside. Team working skills are essential for success in any endeavour. B-schools ensure this by giving a platform in terms of group assignments and tasks. While working on it one encounters problems like social loafers, managing conflict, ego issues, coming to an agreement etc. This practice thus helps one achieve mastery at managing people.
Self understanding: By far the most important take-away for anyone --?to understand thyself. To understand what your strengths and weaknesses are. And thus work on things that are more 'fitting' them. To understand what motivates, the long term goals and break them into short-term goals is what one can hope to gain.
Thus, a budding MBA aspirant should look forward to an all-round growth and create relationships to last a lifetime from an MBA course to make the time spent here valuable forever. What about placements? As they say, it's just a freebie thrown in at the fag end to have something to look forward to after an MBA!
(This article was published on Rediff.com)http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/dec/04mba.htm