Management students to run for eco binders’ cause

Seventy students of Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education will debut at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on Sunday.

Seventy students of Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education will debut at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on Sunday.

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They will run in support of Eco Binders — a cause that was personally appreciated by the US First Lady Michelle Obama when she had visited the city last November.

“The Mumbai Marathon is a wonderful platform to promote our cause,” said Akankasha Sharma, 22, member of the Eco Binders team, which will be one of the causes promoted by the students.

In October 2010, the Eco Binders team, comprising Sharma, Pratik Mittal, 23, Upasana Koul, 23, Michelle Rodrigues, 24, and Akanksha Bhalla, 21, won the Mumbai University New Initiative For Joint Action Now (MUNIJAN) competition organised by the University of Mumbai.

“The project involves recycling and reusing notebooks, which not only promotes literacy but also helps save trees,” said Sharma.

“We are using this marathon as a means to reach out to as many people as possible, both nationally and internationally,” said Mittal. “Promoting our project at Asia’s biggest philanthropic event is the best chance we have got in hand.”

The management students are also collaborating with Sanskar India Foundation to raise their voices against child labour, crime and organ donation. But it is their flagship corporate social responsibility project, the award winning Eco Binders that they will be actively promoting.