Creating a spin-off of the reality show Shark Tank, underprivileged school students from Mumbai teamed up with business school pupils to pitch their own ideas for seed fund. From mobile repairs and beauty services to arts and crafts, students as young as 16 years old, who work to support their families, showed up on Thursday to showcase their talents at the ‘Dolphin Tanki’ — a seed-funding platform organised by the Salaam Bombay Foundation.

For three weeks, these teenagers were paired with MBA students from NMIMS who helped them create a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities, threats) analysis for their business ideas while helping them with the 101s of entrepreneurship the students learnt through their course. As many as 36 students presented their ideas to a panel of industry experts brought together by Salaam Bombay, who offered a total sum of '11 lakh in grants to the students, while pitches were judged on practicality, local demand, and community needs for micro-businesses like theirs.