Targets for the next season

[Nandan Luthra]

Hi all,

 

Well I just hope you all are having a nice long summer break. Well, I think that before we come to campus, we should work and decide on our targets so that we can start executing them as soon as we reach and do not waste much of our time in what to do and what not to.

 

@Aranyak : I contacted the guy in Ganganagar and he doesn't deal with goods outside the district. In Delhi, its the same story from two more that they won't provide transportation. However, there must be some guy even near Pilani, who can offer us a great deal. Otherwise, I just feel that lets just sell the paper to someone in Pilani because Transportation will increase the costs, reducing the price we'll get for our paper and making it equal to nearly 12/13 per kg. 

 

Also, the news for Enactus is this :

 

1. It does provide mentorship. In fact, it holds conferences for its members on yearly basis so as to train them.

2. It helps team members to recognize the various fields in which they can step so as to enhance entrepreneurship culture.

 

[Isha Inani]

A very good idea, Nandan.

Even if we do sell it in Pilani, we will have to get recycled sheets from Delhi, right? Or are we looking at making notebooks from normal paper?

[Nandan Luthra]

@Isha, we are supposed to get recycled sheets from delhi. Now, about that, I confirmed that they sell paper on the basis of their weight and not on the basis of the number of sheets. Also, the quality of the paper isn't same. It can be good, bad or very bad. It isn't segregated. So, in order to get blank sheets of a particular quality, we need to look at Greenobin or Greenotech. I personally feel that we shouldn't go for recycled paper from elsewhere because the quality of our notebooks might differ.

 

@Aranyak: At what rate did the Greenobin or Greenotech agreed to sell us those blank sheets? If they are selling these sheets at a fairly good price, then we should go for paper from these firms.

.

[Isha Inani]

So doesn't that mean incurring costs on transportation anyway?

[Nandan Luthra]

Yes, Even then transportation is going to increase the expenditure.

 

I also went to a stationery wholesaler here in ferozepur and the rates of the paper are these

 

1. A4 Blank Sheets New - Rs 123 per primer (150 pages) (high quality)

2. A2 Ruled Sheets recycled paper - Rs 130 per primer (300 pages) (medium quality)

 

And these are standard prices which we will get even in Pilani from a wholesaler, not the retailers.

So, I guess if we are looking to buy paper, then its better if we buy it from Pilani only or a nearby place so as to cut the transportation costs. Also, if we use these sheets instead of those recycled paper from the firms in Delhi, the overall quality of the notebooks might suffer.

--

Nandan Luthra

undergraduate student ,

coordinator E-WEEK 2013

member- CEL BITS, Pilani

BITS, Pilani

ph:- 9772206365

 

 

.

 

[Aranyak Mishra]

Hello everyone

@Nandan - Greenobin has agreed to sell us recycled paper sheets of 'copier' quality at ₹ 125 / 500 sheets. They are okay with us just buying recycled paper from them, not selling paper (waste) in exchange. With Greenotech this is not possible. Their model is more of an exchange kind. We have to do it in exchange(hence transport the paper to Delhi) and then only can we expect recycled paper from them.

We will obviously buy paper from the nearest possible source, I am pretty sure Delhi (or one of these two firms) is our only option right now. We should now try and find possible sources/retailers/wholesalers for recycled paper.

Nandan - Can the Ferozepur retailer (the one you mentioned in your post in this thread) get you any leads on this? Their wholesaler probably? And is it possible for you to get an idea about the Greenobin recycled paper quality (suggesting you to possibly visit their office or outlet)?

--
 

[Nandan Luthra]

well 125/500 is a pretty cheap rate. And the rates I have mentioned are from a wholesaler, not from a retailer. These people get it from a manufacturer here in Punjab.

 

The transport costs are 200 per kg per 100kms here and its the same throughout India except Hilly areas and some states like J&K and East Indian ones.

 

So, exchange model will be successful only if we have a large quantity of paper to cover up the transportation cost.

Also, I believe there is no greenobin dealer here , I am going to chandigarh , i'll try to find someone there.

 

If the quality is good, that of greenobin's paper, then we might raise our notebook prices and try selling them during the Oasis as people will buy then anyhow. So, that might cover the transportation costs.

 

[Nandan Luthra]

the present model takes us here approximately after one pilot run.

[Shruti Inamdar]

Hello

Sorry for chipping in late.

About the calculations in the doc, I guess the last part needs further detailing of calculations.

If I am getting it right, there is one assumption the model is based on - 

Use all money generated from scrap paper for buying recycled paper

We discussed in a meet last sem that there seems to be a problem with this one - the revenue generated by selling scrap paper (raw material in this case) is more than that by selling notebooks (final product) - that is negative value addition. 

Can we think of a way to overcome this? We can follow the current model as it is, but I think here is where we can look for ideas (holidays seem to be an effective time for this). 

Any updates with the paper collected in last drive? Just to see if anything can be coordinated in holidays to have a set of notebooks for sale in C'not right at the beginning of the sem. With a good price, we can reach out to wider group with this timing and that'll partly take care of publicity for the rest of semester. 

[Nandan Luthra]

Sorry shruti, i don't know how i overlooked your mail. But, anyways, The amount of paper that is collected is approximately 400 kgs, It is still to be collected from the chambers but, not much can be hoped from there. 

[Nandan Luthra]

Hi all,

Well, in order to increase the paper input. I was thinking, lets talk to the schools inside the campus. Now, how can they help us,

1. They will tell their students to give all the notebooks, rough as well as fair, to them after an academic year as they go to the raddi wala after that or maybe a dustbin. Thats what happened to mine. 

2,  We can also talk to the Birla Public School officials, There, many students live in a hostel where we can ask them to just put their notebooks to the collection from where not NSS, but the women involved in Saksham, the ones in Natt basti can  collect them.

And i guess, a school will generate more paper than a college. About this fact, i am pretty sure because they are pretty serious about making notes. :p 

[Nandan Luthra]

Also, again the exchange model will be possible only if we have increased input of paper. I see something like this can help us. Also, i guess, Shruti once told us to think of a deadline before we access our situation again so that we can backout successfully from Saksham and leave it entirely to the villagers, We should do it.

 

[Nandan Luthra]

also, i made an red website in html5.... not that good since, i didn't get a good template for html5 and bootstrap. But enough to show the sponsors, if we plan to get any. Only thing left is the content that needs to be added , means, text and your facebook links, if Isha and Shruti will be kind enough to add me on fb!

On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 2:31 PM, Nandan Luthra <nandan....@gmail.com> wrote:

Also, again the exchange model will be possible only if we have increased input of paper. I see something like this can help us. Also, i guess, Shruti once told us to think of a deadline before we access our situation again so that we can backout successfully from Saksham and leave it entirely to the villagers, We should do it.

 

[Nandan Luthra]

[Karthik G]

Any chance u can show me the website? 

--

Best Regards,

G.Karthik

Tune Patrol

+91-9660898828 | LinkedIn | Bitbucket | Twitter | http://gkarthik.net/ 

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, India

[Isha Inani]

Hey all,

Sorry for the late reply.

Was skimming through the mails again. So what is our plan then? Collect more paper or have the exchange immediately?

[Nandan Luthra]

I think we cannot collect the paper gain, because we wont get any. Still, some paper is to be collected from the fds. So , thats the only collection left. 

 Looking at the present scenario, i don't believe we should sell our notebooks before OASIS. At OASIS we are expected to get better price and larger sales???

Also, the sponsorship. Should we work on that? With the website up, we can ask for better price. 

[Isha Inani]

Yes, I think that would be the best course of action. We could wrap up the sponsorship scene before oasis and then sell the notebooks during the fest (and later, if needed).

[Karthik G]

Hey,

Been busy.

@Nandan: Some thoughts on the website.

1. Like the overall theme. What backgrounds are u planning to use? Choose them wisely and ensure there are no copyright issues. 

2. DO NOT GIVE FACEBOOK PROFILES ON THE TEAM PAGE. Either LinkedIn or a personal website or nothing. Facebook is way too informal.

3. Ensure text is readable on all pages. 

4. Provide links to Saksham's Facebook page.

And about the course of action I think what you and Isha have suggested is cool but then again I don't see sustainability anywhere. We need to push in that direction. 

I see sustainability in 2 ways,

1. Aranyak somehow gets NSS self help groups on board.

2. We get some sort of regular sponsorship in place. 

3. We ensure that Pilani is a regular source for paper for an organization, either a start up or a big company. 

I looked into a lot of deals over the summer, what we're doing is new and can be big but we need sustained effort to make it regular either yearly/bi annualy.

[Nandan Luthra]

Regarding Websites, Karthik, the backgrounds, i'll tell Bhanu to get us some photographs as hes in photog, so that we can get some decent ones. I think that will help us overcome the copyright issues. Regarding the links, I 'll change them. I'll put the linked in links there. 

As far as Saksham is concerned, 

1. Sponsorship is something we should definitely try to get. Additional revenue, will help us in our exchange model.

2. As paper source, we can contact Birla Schools aur BET to get us used notebooks from the schools at the end of the academic year, and we'll get enough plus regular paper source yearly.