BIM's Pro Green wins intl awards

A team of students from Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM) has won the first place in the Microsoft IT Business Plan category as part of the Imagine Cup 2005 competition held at Yokohama, Japan.

The team won the event (which includes a cash prize of $ 8,000) amidst competition from participants over 170 countries.

Earlier, the team had won the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) conducted by the university of Washington in February 2005 securing a prize amount of $ 5,000.

The team, called "ProGreen", comprising the final year MBA students Santhosh Ramadoss, Deepak Kumar, Anand Venkatraman, Saravanan and Anita Parthasarathy aimed at bringing marginalised communities in rural areas to the mainstream of economic revolution.

ProGreen's business plan involved producing bio-degradable tableware such as cups and plates using areca sheath and ensure employment opportunities in rural areas through this plan.