TOKYO, 20 JULY, 2018: Students experienced the journey from ideation to the creation of a company as they participated in the three-day Entrepreneurship Bootcamp organised together with the professors from the INSEAD Business School.

Grade 8 to Grade 11 students participated in the bootcamp that was held from 13th July - 15th July, at the auditorium of the Higashi Kasai High School Campus. Meant to make the students future-ready, the bootcamp was aligned to the school’s 9GEMS holistic pedagogy.

The 4 participating teams from GIIS presented the following ideas:

• Team 1- Debris Decay (Dnyanda Kulkarni, Faizah Jahir, Nupura Prabhune) - A Garbage bin which has the unique capability of compressing waste and converting it to compost.
• Team 2- Rent a book (Keertana and Jagriti) - A device on which one can purchase, rent or upload a book.
• Team 3 - SIMM – (Madhumilla, Isha, Momo, Shardul) - An application which can detect emotions.
• Team 4 – Flipping Shoes (Chetna, Shun) - Shoes which can be flipped and used as both formal and informal wear.

All the 11 participants put their best and delved together as groups to brainstorm new and fantastic ideas. At the end of the bootcamp the participants presented an investor pitch to the external investors from Canada and Singapore to help them invest for the betterment of the society. The first winners of the bootcamp were Dnyanda Kulkarni, Faizah Jahir and Nupura Prabhune of Grade 11.

Prof. Ash Singh - Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, INSEAD Business School and Ivey Business School, Canada, conducted the bootcamp. Prof. Singh is one of the top start-up entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia. He featured in the Business Week in 2009 as one of "Asia's Top Young Entrepreneurs" and in Economic Times in 2012 for having "built a solid reputation as one of the most successful serial entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia."

The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp sessions included tactical guidance on business modelling. The programme used the same curriculum as used for the official startup course at IIT-Bombay Entrepreneurship Summit 2018. The objective was to train the students to foster out-of-the-box and unconventional thinking. Students enjoyed and learnt from a simulated experience of how to build a startup from ground zero.

The Event Coordinator, Ms Yasmeen Jahir shared that organising a bootcamp instills excellent teamwork and presentation skills in participants. The students felt that the challenges presented to them - access to finance, product development, and marketing, offered them a real-life business experience.

GIIS is dedicated to producing next generation of global thinkers, while also cultivating the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurial skills in the pupils. The school constantly endeavors to provide valuable life skills to the students.