Mahabalipuram, India
Visit to the Elephant Rescue Center
|
Towards the end of the trip, students visited the Elephant Rescue Center, Elefriends 101. This center was started by a local woman who wanted to rescue elephants from temples in her state of Tamil Nadu. Due to the fact that elephants are considered holy in Hindu culture, it is very common for temples in Southern India to keep elephants. The facility has 3 elephants they rescued from a local temple, and visitors get the opportunity to learn about their daily habits, feed them fruit, and accompany them on their walk to the coconut grove where they get their bath.
|
|
Student Reverse Innovation Projects
|
In the last leg of the trip, students worked in Mahabalipuram on problems they identified in the first two weeks of their stay in India. They worked in teams of three or four students, and spent a week with guides and translators doing field visits. Each day, they worked on the customer discover process for developing business models for their proposed solutions, and they presented each night to the rest of the team members. The process is iterative, and the students ended the trip with a final business pitch presentation to a group community members.
|
|
