Did you know?
The word 'entrepreneur' comes from the French word 'entreprendre', which means 'to undertake', or to take on a task. An entrepreneur takes on the task, and the risk, of starting something new.
In 1959, seven women in Mumbai borrowed just ₹80 and started making papads on the terrace of their building. Their business grew into a big women's cooperative, a business owned by its members.
Mumbai's dabbawalas have been delivering home-cooked lunches since 1890. They use bicycles, local trains and a clever code of colours and numbers painted on each tiffin box.
Try this: A one-page business plan
Imagine making handmade bookmarks to sell at a school fair. Answer these: Who will buy them? What materials will you need? If the materials for one bookmark cost ₹5 and you sell it for ₹12, what is your profit on each? How many must you sell to make ₹70 profit?
Show answer
₹7 profit on each; you need to sell 10 bookmarks.
Go further: The dabbawala code
Dabbawalas carry a huge number of lunchboxes across Mumbai every day, and they are known for rarely mixing them up. Their secret is teamwork and a simple code of colours, numbers and letters painted on each box. It shows where the box must go, right down to the building and floor. Business schools in India and abroad have studied how they work. Could you invent a code to sort your class's notebooks?