Admissions 2025-26
Institution Distinctiveness
M.O.P. SWABHIMAAN – M.O.P’s Entrepreneurship Development Programme through IIC
M.O.P. Vaishnav College was established with the ideal of women’s empowerment at its core. The College seeks to inculcate and nurture self-reliance and social responsibility, the hallmarks to true empowerment among students other than academic proficiency. This ideal remains the lodestar that the College continues to work towards, most notably with the entrepreneurship development initiative- M.O.P. Swabhimaan.
The college creates a conducive ecosystem for women entrepreneurs. M.O.P. Swabhimaan aims at creating job providers rather than job seekers through a distinctive multi-pronged approach. This includes seminars, practice schools and mentorship programmes organised by the Institution’s Innovation Council.
The thrust on entrepreneurship is a natural outcome of the ‘Panchsheel’ or 5-‘I’ principle that guides all student programmes at the college. The process can best be described through the following five actions:
Impact
Pedagogy (through guest lectures and other academic and non-academic exposure programmes) creates an impact on the student.
Imagine
Kindling the student’s imagination and developing a problem-solving mindset.
Ideate
Simulating creativity through brainstorming sessions
Imbibe
Imbibing lessons from practitioners and management gurus
Inspire
An inspiration to peers in inculcating Innovation and entrepreneurship
M.O.P. Swabhimaan is structured to help students imbibe the required conceptual, analytical, technical, entrepreneurial and human relations skills to become effective and ethical entrepreneurs.
Institution’s Innovation Council
IIC is the nerve centre of all activities that pertain to creating entrepreneurial system and culture among the students. It organizes guest lectures, panel discussions, workshops and seminars on entrepreneurship, besides training programmes, field visits, open forum and research work for budding entrepreneurs. As an arm of The Student Ministry –M.O.P Sansad, the Ministry of Entrepreneurship Development of the college,functions actively throughout the year, conducting various activities like E-week celebrations, B-plan Competitions and M.O.P. Bazaar.
M.O.P. Bazaar
The Ministry of Entrepreneurship Development – one of the eight ministries of M.O.P. Sansad, or the Student Cabinet organizes the annual student-run M.O.P. Bazaar. It is a platform for students to showcase their entrepreneurial skills, wherein students ,alumnae and their mothers come together in teams to run their businesses for two days. The Bazaar is open to the public and generally sees a footfall of over 10,000 visitors.
For an extra element of fun, the Bazaar is structured in the form of streets, each having a unique name, holding around 80 stalls run by around 300 students and alumnae. A plethora of products ranging from artefacts, handicrafts, cosmetics, garments, footwear,games and entertainment and food delicacies are sold at the Bazaar. The event serves as an end-to-end workshop for students in all aspects of business including market research, strategy, capital-raising, budgeting, inventory management, book-keeping, marketing and people management.
Ignite
IGNITE is a biennial event held every two years to promote entrepreneurship among youth. Featuring eminent speakers, including practitioners and thought-leaders on entrepreneurship, it was aimed at inculcating passion for entrepreneurship among student community in Chennai.The summit created a forum for the exchange of ideas and insights, with the goal of inspiring budding entrepreneurs. IGNITE 2017 fostered entrepreneurial passion among students, while IGNITE 2019 equipped faculty to mentor and nurture aspiring entrepreneurs, the format being that of a Faculty Development Programme. IGNITE 2023 celebrated 30 ‘Under 30’ alumni entrepreneurs with awards and also insightful panel discussions. IGNITE 2025 expanded with the Swabhimaan Impact Awards, Expert talks, Fire side chat, Workshops, and competitions aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals.”
Yuva Samman Awards
The college also recognises young achievers with cash prize in the category of fine arts,sports and other field,entrepreneurship being noteworthy
Pre-Incubation Centre
The Incubation Centre, launched in 2019, trains students in idea generation and business plan preparation. The Incubation Centre handholds budding student and alumna entrepreneurs. Business-on-Campus practice school initiatives are conducted as a part of incubation on campus. Beyond Breads (Bakery), Impressionz (Stationery) and Akriti (Model Joint Stock Company) are businesses that have been incubated and operated on campus.
The registered students of the Incubation Centre are provided with one-to-one mentoring as they begin their entrepreneurship journey.
B-Plan Competitions
The IIC conducts business plan competitions for students,both within the college and at the inter-collegiate level. With veteran business leaders as judges and mentors, participants receive thorough feedback on every step of their plans, thus helping them hone their entrepreneurial skills. The students of M.B.A program have also emerged winners with cash prize several years in succession at the B-Plan competition organized by the Madras Management Association.
Practice School-Business On Campus
Every year, the students of Management Studies,Commerce,Food technology management,members of IIC set up day-long pop-up businesses on the campus that help them get a flavour of entrepreneurship, from conceptualization, through marketing, financial planning and operations.The students are trained the nuances of business in the class room, and then provided a hands on experience to run a thematic business for a day in the campus. Apart from this,several class based markets include DIY corner,Class mart to name a few.
Alumna speak
“Classroom to Boardroom” are sessions where in successful alumna entrepreneurs are invited to share the startup journey
Vaishnav Venture Vox
An exclusive podcast channel through Spotify was inaugurated for the benefit of providing entrepreneurship tips for the budding entrepreneurs of the campus.
Entrepreneurship Outreach
An evaluation of women entrepreneurial ecosystem nation-wide reveals that while NGOs, philanthropic investments, and businesses have combined their resources to work collaboratively, a lot still remains to be achieved. Access to government schemes such as MUDRA, Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Yojana, Startup India Programme, Skill India, Udhyam Sakhi Portal for Women Entrepreneurs, and the Women Entrepreneurship Platform by Niti Aayog, remains a huge concern due to lack of awareness or understanding of the benefits at the grassroots-especially for rural women entrepreneurs. Taking on the role of evangelists for entrepreneurship, M.O.P also conducts awareness programmes and skill development programmes for women in semiurban and rural communities.
The college takes an initiative to upskill women in suburban and rural areas to enable self-determination and income generation.The various Departments of the College extended the initiative in unique ways, including the imparting of skill training to 100 rural women in Thiruverkadu village to cultivate entrepreneurship skills such as agarbatti and jewellery-making.
In its more than thirty years of existence, the students graduating from M.O.P stand out in their exhibition of entrepreneurial skills. The number of success stories scripted by these students stand testimony to the fact that the spirit of entrepreneurship and M.O.P graduates are inseparable.