Young entrepreneurs: E-dustbin proposed for clean environment

Students propose solutions to various social issues at summit

LAHORE: A team from the Lyceum School Karachi pitched the idea of an e-dustbin during the Idea Junction contest on the third day of Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs’ Summit 2016 (YLES’16) at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

As many as 126 teams from educational institutions across the country are participating in the four-day competition, sharing concepts aimed at bringing about positive change the society.

“The e-dustbin aims at ensuring a clean environment by using technology,” Ibrahim Aslam, one of the team members, told The Express Tribune.

He said an e-dustbin had a built-in solar panel and it contained a vacuum pump that collected garbage. He said it was a cleanliness equipment using green technology with solar panels attached to it.

During the second round of Social Sustainability Challenge, students presented business ideas catering to various social issues. The participants were assigned social problems and were required to propose entrepreneurial solutions to these.

The five-member team from Lyceum proposed a way to end child labour. It presented the design of a welfare organisation tasked with arranging awareness campaigns to highlight the problem. Under the concept, team members are to visit and talk to parents, government officials, teachers and other stakeholders.

On Friday, the team had been asked to give a presentation on child abuse.

Students set up stalls and traded with each other during the third event of the day called Investomania.

Laiba Wasif, one of the organisers, said the purpose of the summit was to promote new business and entrepreneurship ideas as well as giving exposure to students.

Wasif said that this year’s theme was inspired by John Elkington’s triple bottom line to advance the goal of sustainability in business practices. She said the three measures included profit, people and planet.

Wasif said that on Saturday, Round 1 of Idea Junction, Round 2 of Social Sustainability Challenge and the first round of Investomania competition were held. She said the ideas pitched at the Idea Junction would be judged during the final evaluation on Sunday (today). Wasif said the team that made maximum profits during the event would be declared winner.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2016.