Parul, Pooja and Tejasa,the team from PGDM (Business Design) wins the IRF Rising Star Challenge 2014,with their business plan for recycling waste cloth to create apparel

In the 11th season of India Retail Forum 2014, premium fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger has presented the IRF Rising Star Challenge in which India's top B schools present strategies for retail in order to create the a retail business which delivers positive social impact. The fourth edition of the IRF Rising Star Challenge, brought an opportunity to the brightest young minds of today to put their best foot forward with a Business plan entailing the creation of a retail business which delivered a positive social impact. A socially impactful retail business is a great way to establish a leadership position in the eyes of customers and can help to achieve the differentiation of a retail brand in a crowded pool of competitors. In long term, it can create a loyal following of consumers who benefit from the product / service and from buyers that want to support socially conscious establishments. More than 300 students from 20 top B schools of India battled it out for top spot. Some of the participating institutes were ISB, Hyderabad, ISB, Mohali, IIM Ahmedabad ,IIM, Indore, Welingkar Institute, SIBM Pune, NMIMS, XLRI, KJ Somaiya, MICA and SJMSOM IIT Bombay. The presentations were judged by a panel of judges and Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research emerged victorious in the prestigious competition. Having presented a sustainable business plan and yet creating a positive social impact they were declared as the Rising Stars. The main concepts of the three winning presentations were as follows: Welingkar Institute of Management: Brand Virya (Winner) Recycling waste cloth to create apparel and readymade garment garments making use of unique design with social impact in terms of cash incentives to unorganized recycling sector, promotion of recycling of cloth and minimizing the fashion stigma associated with recycled clothing while giving a platform for aspiring fashion designers and creating rural employment for artisans. KJ Somaiya: Brand Respire (1st Runner Up) Creating a one-stop flower shop which retails flowers of all types for all occasions religious, personal as well as commercial creating employment in unorganized flower market. ISB: Brand Saral (2nd Runner Up) Creating an e-commerce platform and call centre for blue collar workers and creating trade centers for skilled workers and technicians. Thus, this was a great learning for the audience alike as the young minds opened up new horizons of idea creation and effective execution of the same. The winners were then presented with trophies.