Colour, music, the smell of street food, and the unmistakable buzz of young entrepreneurs counting their first day’s revenue — that was the spirit of CIMAGE Holi Mela 2026. Held at our Patna campus, the festival transformed into much more than a cultural celebration. It became a working classroom, a live business arena, and a launchpad for the founder mindset that India’s economy desperately needs.
At the heart of the event was the much-loved One Day Startup Project, where over 30 groups of students from BBA, BCA, B.Sc. IT, MBA, and MCA programmes set up and ran their own food stalls — from procurement and pricing to marketing and final accounts. Adding a defining moment to the day, Padma Shri Dr. Bimal Jain graced the campus as Chief Guest and was warmly welcomed by Director, CIMAGE Group of Institutions, Dr. (Prof.) Neeraj Agrawal.
A Festival That Doubles as a Business Lab
Holi Mela at CIMAGE has always been festive. What sets the 2026 edition apart is how clearly it doubles as a structured learning experience. Each of the 30+ student teams was responsible for running a complete micro-enterprise within a single day — choosing a menu, designing a brand, sourcing raw materials, negotiating with vendors, paying for electricity and equipment, marketing the stall, serving customers, and finally closing the books.
For students of management and IT, this is theory turned to practice. A balance sheet stops being a textbook diagram the moment your stall’s profit depends on it.
A Walk Through the Stalls: Encouragement from the Top
Before the formal addresses began, Padma Shri Dr. Bimal Jain, accompanied by Director Dr. (Prof.) Neeraj Agrawal, took a tour of the student stalls. From colourful chaat counters to creatively branded sweet stalls, the dignitaries spent time at each setup — tasting the food, asking students about their costing, pricing, and marketing strategy, and offering on-the-spot feedback.
For the student founders, this was the highlight of the day. Pitching your one-day venture to a Padma Shri awardee and to the Director himself is the kind of real-world exposure no classroom can replicate. Many groups later said it was these few minutes of conversation that left them with the loudest takeaway: “We are being seen as entrepreneurs, not just students.”
Director’s Address: The Seed of Entrepreneurship
Setting the tone for the day, Director Dr. (Prof.) Neeraj Agrawal reminded students that entrepreneurship is not a distant, glamorous world reserved for venture capitalists. At its core, it is something beautifully simple.
“The entire global economy is built on one ability — turning a small investment into something greater. Whether you turn ₹500 into ₹1,200 or $500 billion into $1,200 billion, this ‘unit-level’ growth is what drives national GDP and creates employment.”
The “One Day” Experiment: A Miniature Business World
Director Sir explained why the One Day Startup Project matters far beyond its scale. Survival rates for real startups are low; the difference between those who merely survive and those who thrive often comes down to qualities first practiced in small experiments like this one. In a single day, students engage with the exact same functions as a full business:
- Planning & Costing — designing the stall to make a profit while covering every expense.
- Operations — procurement, bargaining, hygiene, and quality control on the ground.
- Marketing — building a stall name, crafting digital marketing posts, and even on-the-ground promotion across the campus.
- Accountability — taking ownership of real costs like electricity connections and equipment rentals, learning that every startup must rest on legal and ethical foundations.
Developing the Founder Mindset
The most decisive shift, Director Sir said, is the move from a job seeker to a job provider mentality. Management education often gets stuck on the question of how to land a job. National growth, however, depends on founders.
A founder mindset means you stop worrying about how to get a ₹5 lakh package and start thinking about how you can offer those packages to others. That transformation begins with a simple act of imagination: you must be able to see yourself as a businessperson before you can ever become one.
Integrity: The Bedrock of Success
Beyond hard skills, the success of an entrepreneur ultimately depends on attitude and behaviour. A self-centred approach fails in trade; entrepreneurship is built on a community-centred approach. The non-negotiable foundation, Director Sir emphasised, is Integrity (Imandari) — being honest with your team and partners, with your customers, and with your own goals and decisions. Without this honesty, the roots of a business will never be strong enough to support long-term growth.
Resilience and the Power of a Smile
The life of a founder is demanding, but it should not feel like a burden. A true startup leader faces challenges with a smile, understanding that profit is a victory and a loss is a valuable lesson. Whether you are building a pan-India brand for traditional sweets like Ghevar or scaling an international franchise, the journey requires you to strive, not merely survive.
“The seed of this thought — that business opportunities exist everywhere, from Patna to the global stage — is what will ultimately transform the economy. Start thinking, stay honest, and keep smiling. That is the formula for a true entrepreneur.”
Chief Guest Speech: Padma Shri Dr. Bimal Jain on Leadership, Technology, and Service
The atmosphere turned electric as Padma Shri Dr. Bimal Jain took the stage. A celebrated industrialist and philanthropist, Dr. Jain shared insights drawn from a lifetime of building businesses and serving society. His message was clear: for any society to thrive, we must respect and cultivate entrepreneurs, founders, and business leaders, because they are the engines of job creation.
Beyond the Paycheck: Aim to Distribute Salaries, Not Just Earn One
Dr. Jain urged students to redefine ambition. Instead of settling for the security of a standard salary, he encouraged them to aim for a future in which they distribute salaries worth crores. The transition from being a job seeker to a job giver, he said, is essential for national progress — and it does not require an elite pedigree. He pointed to the legendary G.D. Birla, who, despite never completing matriculation, built an empire that employed thousands of highly educated professionals, including engineers and chartered accountants.
Innovation, Information Technology, and the Speed of Change
The barriers to entry for business have changed forever. Modern giants like Ola, Uber, and OYO have become world leaders without owning a single car or hotel room — proof, Dr. Jain noted, that today’s success is built on:
- Innovative Ideas — choosing products or services with high market demand.
- Information Technology — leveraging tools like Google and mobile platforms to solve problems and stay informed globally.
- Speed of Change — with current technology, the next 50 years could see more progress in solving world problems than the last 500 years.
For students of BCA, B.Sc. IT, and MCA at CIMAGE, this was a powerful reminder that the technology they learn each day is the same technology that quietly powers the next unicorn.
Business with a Soul: The Ultimate Purpose
Perhaps the most moving part of the address was Dr. Jain’s reflection on the link between entrepreneurial success and social service. Calling himself a lifelong student, he shared that his philanthropic initiatives have provided artificial limbs to over 5,000 disabled individuals and helped 1,600 people in Bihar regain their sight through organ donation advocacy.
The underlying message was profound: to serve humanity meaningfully, you must first be capable and resourceful. By becoming successful founders and business owners, individuals build the capacity to support hospitals, centres for the disabled, and a host of social projects.
A Call to National Service
Every entrepreneurial venture, Dr. Jain reminded the gathering, should be a dedication to the nation. As India’s economy continues to rise on the world stage, the role of the youth is to channel their positive energy and education to ensure economic prosperity for their families and the country at large. The path of an entrepreneur is filled with obstacles — but by treating challenges like a sportsman and staying committed to the greater good, this generation can truly transform the world.
The Cultural Side of Holi Mela: Dance, Music, and the Spirit of Celebration
No CIMAGE festival is complete without showcasing the artistic side of our students. Once the speeches concluded, the campus stage came alive with a vibrant lineup of cultural performances. Dance groups set the tone with high-energy Bollywood numbers and folk-inspired choreographies, while solo and group singing performances had the audience clapping along well past the scheduled time.
From classical melodies to peppy Holi-themed tracks, every performance reflected the diversity and talent that defines student life at CIMAGE. The cultural programs were the perfect bridge between the entrepreneurial seriousness of the morning and the celebratory colours of Holi — a reminder that great business minds are also creative, expressive, and rooted in culture.
Why Events Like This Matter at CIMAGE
The CIMAGE Holi Mela is more than a festival on the academic calendar. It is an intentional, hands-on extension of our promise to deliver education that prepares students for the real world. Across our BBA, BCA, B.Sc. IT, MBA, and MCA programmes, we keep asking the same question: how do we make sure our students don’t just clear exams, but build careers — and, when they choose, build companies?
Initiatives like the One Day Startup Project answer that question by giving students a safe, supervised space to fail, learn, and try again. By the time they graduate, our students have not only studied business — they have run one.
Key Takeaways from CIMAGE Holi Mela 2026
- 30+ student groups across BBA, BCA, B.Sc. IT, MBA, and MCA ran live food stalls in a single-day startup simulation.
- Padma Shri Dr. Bimal Jain and Director Dr. (Prof.) Neeraj Agrawal personally toured the stalls, interacting with students and offering business feedback.
- Dr. Jain shared insights on innovation, integrity, and using business as a tool for social service.
- Director Dr. (Prof.) Neeraj Agrawal called on students to develop a “founder mindset” — to become job givers, not job seekers.
- Dance and singing performances by students added a vibrant cultural dimension to the event.
- Integrity, resilience, and a willingness to keep smiling through losses emerged as the day’s central themes.
- The event reinforced CIMAGE’s identity as one of the most experience-driven colleges in Patna.
Looking Ahead
As the stalls were wrapped up and accounts were settled, one thing was certain — many of the founders of tomorrow’s brands were standing right here on the CIMAGE campus today. We thank Padma Shri Dr. Bimal Jain for his inspiring presence, our Director Dr. (Prof.) Neeraj Agrawal for his guiding vision, and every student, faculty member, and staff member who turned Holi Mela 2026 into a celebration of colour, courage, and commerce.
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