Bangalore: KE signs MoU with Christ University to provide industry-academia interface
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Jan 30: In a bid to ensure a collaborative effort to provide Industry-Academia Interface, the KE Global and Christ University signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as part of their path-breaking initiative to offer a platform for students of Christ University to develop entrepreneurship skills and qualities.
The MoU was signed during the afternoon session of the two-day global convention, Entreprenet 2014, being held for the first time under the joint auspices of Kanara Entrepreneurs, Bangalore and Dimensions, Mumbai, both of whom are chapter members of KE Global, by Christ University Vice Chancellor Rev Dr Thomas C Mathew and KE Global Chairman Ivan Fernandes.
Dr Mathew, who spoke after signing the MoU, said the University decided to collaborate with KE Global and its chapter members after being impressed by their dedication, commitment and offer to extend support, guidance and mentoring services to the student community from an early age and become successful.
Pointing out that majority of the students came from the most ordinary background like many of the successful entrepreneurs, the Vice Chancellor said the University felt the need to nurture and support the students to rise from their ordinary level to extra-ordinary levels and transform their lives.
The success story presented by Faizal E Kottikollon, Chairman of KEF Holdings, in the afternoon session after the signing of the MoU between Christ University and KE Global, caught the imagination of the audience and received a standing ovation.
50-year-old Kottikollon, who did his early education in his home-State of Kerala for 18 years and spent 10 years in Manipal and about 7 years in the US to return to India in 1992 to Mangalorean Shabana, moved to Dubai in 1995 to set up his own industry with a $ 5000 capital to one of the most successful enterprise, Emirates Techno Casting (ETC), worth $ 1 million into the third largest foundry in the world. He sold the business to $ 250 million and came back to India with a mission to give back to society and improve the lot of people.
Education, healthcare and agriculture or foodgrains production as well infrastructure improvement were the important areas and it was necessary to devote attention, he said.
Kottikollon mentioned that his Faizal-Shabana Foundation took over the 120-year-old government high school for girls in Kozhikode in Kerala in August 2010 for improvement. The entire school building was refurbished by KEF Holdings at a cost of Rs 15 crore in February 2013 with the classrooms being built within 10 months by using pre-cast techniques. It was officially inaugurated last month, he said pointing out that the success of the effort had resulted in the Kerala government indentifying 100 schools for improvement.
A state-of-art pre-cast concrete technology unit is being set up in a 40-acre plot in Bangalore, he said and explained that the pre-cast concrete technology developed by his factory is capable of producing 24 toilets in a single shift. ``We have perfected the technology to such an extent that we are able to construct a building in one year that needed four years under conventional methods,” he said adding: ``We need to dream big and make it happen.”
The Perfect Healthcare Services Hospital, being built by the Faizal-Shabana Foundation in Calicut, is another ambitious venture working on the principle of services going to the patients, who remain stationery in hospitals, and get treatment at affordable costs. The first phase of 203 beds would be operational by January 2016, he said.
The Faizal-Shabana Foundation has taken up an organic farming project in a 37-acre plot near Thumbe in Mangalore, adjacent to the Fr Muller’s Hospital facility, as his wife hailed from Mangalore. The Agriculture Universities in Bangalore and Dharwad are involved in the organic farming project, he said.
Kottikollon said he had offered a Rs 5 crore endowment to Manipal Institute of Technology, his alma mater, to set up an R & D Centre for training architects and engineers. The Manipal Group came up with a matching contribution and the R & D Centre was expected to be operational next year, he added.
Earlier, L Selvam Geroge, CEO of 5E Enterprise, gave talk on ``Leadership Development – Role of HR, Ms Jessie Paul, Founder & CEO, Paul Writer, talked on ``Winning in a World Dominated by Social Media” and Shankar Mahadevan, Author, Economic Historian & Business Writer, talked on on ``Shock Proof Your Business with a Business Plan,” all of which were followed by a lively question and answer session.