Is the value of man measured by amount of money he has? Is it measured by his educational background? Is it measured by the portfolio he manages of his clients? Is it measured by his passion for teaching? Money can be earned. Education can be learnt. Portfolios can be built. Passion can be acquired. But the value of a man is beyond measure.

Mandi, the brainchild of Dr. T. Prasad of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) is an event which encompasses both learning about the art of selling and teaching future managers how to deal with a variety of customers As a direct marketing exercise, the B School students are asked to sell educational items designed and manufactured by Navnirmiti, an NGO that works towards the upliftment of economically deprived children.

Consistently ranked among the top 10 management institutes in the country, NITIE, teaches its students that practical implementation is as important as the theory that one learns in the classroom. Mandi encompasses both this practical application of knowledge together with the corporate social responsibility that is expected out of each and every student when he/she ventures out into the corporate world.

Students are taught to deal with varieties of customers and learn about the art of marketing which will give them a valuable insight into the customer’s mindset & allow them to truly understand their market in the future: the very people that they are dealing with. This is after all the best way to learn the market: to be right in the middle of it.

This year, NITIE is scaling new heights. For the first time ever, Mandi is going beyond the walls of NITIE as Maha Mandi will be involving students from some of the best B-schools in Mumbai such as NMIMS, KJSOM, TISS and SJSOM. Together, all the students from these colleges will take to the streets of Mumbai together and aim to raise more than `12 lakh. The money collected will be sufficient to fund the activities of Navnirmiti for the whole year.

Navnirmiti is an NGO which is focused on approaching education from a different angle. The toys which are to be sold during Maha Mandi are a part of the classroom kit of Navnirmiti that is used to teach primary level school mathematics. These kits have been found to be so effective that schools in South Africa have started to adopt Navnirmiti’s teaching methods.

The sponsors for this year’s event are Canara Bank and rediff.com. The latter is organising contests for the best picture and video taken during Maha Mandi. Last Saturday, students from NITIE put up a show at Bandra Band Stand and Carter Road in order to help people understand the social cause of Maha Mandi as well as the resolve and determination of students from one of the best management institutes in India.

On July 31^st 2009, Maha Mandi will bring the best of Mumbai’s budding managers to the masses as the students take to the streets in order to apply their management knowledge and convince Mumbaikars about the social cause which they are striving for.