Dare to think beyond IIMs..but not beyond IRMA..please!!

Some mails just make you fall from the chair and roll onto the floor with laughter. This was one of them. It was from IIPM inviting business plans for their competition. I thought they had gone far enough by having Shahrukh Khan host a business quiz, but alas! Here is what the plan is all about..

IIPM's INCEPTION aims at finding a solution to end poverty through a business plan and hence the theme –‘A billion bootstraps–The Business solution to end poverty.’The vast untouched Indian consumers; not yet part of the urbanisation, represent an outsized business chance and challenge. The business and other associated economic challenges to reach and leverage this large market segment are enormously diverse and daunting in comparison to the presently exploited markets. It is definitely an unchartered territory in many facets. Yet, the opportunity is real and here.

Even a self confessed neo liberal like me scoffs at this proposal.As if the poor are waiting with money stuffed in their pockets waiting to "consume". Conceptually that is what they mean.And if that is the case, there is no poverty!
Certainly IIPM should add "free village trip" along with the "free laptop+global tour" to its promotional campaign.