No investors. No air-conditioned offices. Zero experience. Just ideas, young energy — and a challenge to build a real business before the first semester ends.
Three months ago, teams of NEXIS students were handed a single challenge: build a business from scratch. Find a product, build a brand, and make money — before their first semester even ended. What they had going for them was ideas, energy and, admittedly, superfast Wi-Fi. What came out of it was the NEXIS Dropshipping Mela, where teenage entrepreneurs turned classroom lessons into real business stories.
The challenge: a business before semester one ends
Most first-year students spend their opening months memorising definitions of “entrepreneurship.” NEXIS students spend theirs being entrepreneurs. The brief was deliberately real: source a product, create a brand around it, and generate actual revenue. No safety net of theory — just the messy, valuable work of making something people will pay for.
From vendors to products to a real stall
The journey looked exactly like a real venture, because it was one. Students hunted for vendors and suppliers, worked carefully to get one product just right, and built their line-ups — personalised gifts, soft toys, even all-in-one charging accessories for watches and phones. Then came the hardest, most important part: setting up a stall and actually selling. As the organisers put it, “these 18-year-olds are ready to sell.”
“Here, every student isn’t just selling a product. They’re taking their first shot at entrepreneurship — and this is the start of many more to come.”
— NEXIS Dropshipping Mela
▶ Watch the full story on the NEXIS YouTube channel.
Why this matters more than a marks sheet
The Dropshipping Mela is a snapshot of a bigger philosophy: at NEXIS you learn business by actually building a business. Sourcing, branding, pricing, handling customers, managing the money in between — these are skills you can’t cram for. And they compound. Students who ran a stall at 18 walk into internships and their own ventures with something most graduates never get: real reps. Read how the whole first semester unfolds in first semester at NEXIS, unfiltered.
- NEXIS students build a real business from scratch in their first semester.
- They source products, create a brand and sell at a live mela — no investors, no experience needed.
- It’s hands-on entrepreneurship: sourcing, branding, pricing and real customer sales.
- The philosophy: learn business by building a business.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the NEXIS Dropshipping Mela?
It’s an event where first-semester NEXIS students sell products from businesses they built from scratch — sourcing, branding and selling to real customers as a first shot at entrepreneurship.
Do students really run a business in their first semester?
Yes. Teams are challenged to find a product, build a brand and generate revenue before the first semester ends.
What do students sell?
Products range from personalised gifts and soft toys to all-in-one charging accessories — whatever the team sources and brands.
Based on the NEXIS Dropshipping Mela, a first-semester student venture showcase.
