During my time at Going to School, I was part of the research for the Be! an Entrepreneur Project. Here on the one hand we did in depth qualitative interviews with children from low income groups mapping their challenges to starting social business as well as the entrepreneurial skills they already possessed. And on the other we mapped stories of entrepreneurs who ran social and environmental businesses. Based on this in-depth research we created stories that inspired young people to become social entrepreneurs that were viable, believable and rooted in their socio-economic context. The characters in these stories exhibited entrepreneurial skills and used tools and information that aided them in starting a business in areas such as waste management, earth friendly housing and harnessing solar energy to light.

During our research, many young people said that 'illustrated stories were made believe but a story told through real pictures had to be true'! So, in this book I choose a photo realistic style to tell the story of Bijali, a young girl who uses her entrepreneurial skills and social network to bring a travelling fair to her village.

Story & Direction: Smriti Chanchani & Mahamaya Navlakha

Photography: Umang Bhattacharyya

Organisation: Going to School, India