Media Release

Bangalore, Jul 24: As a follow up to the MoU between Kanara Entrepreneurs and Christ University, the first full day workshop was conducted at the Christ University campus recently. The workshop was well attended with 140 students participating. It was conducted for students of 1st and 2nd year of the Bachelors in Business Administration stream.

The workshop was inaugurated the guest of honour, Dr Fr Thomas C Mathew and the chief guest was CA Mark D’Souza, president, Kanara Entrepreneurs. Bangalore. The dignitaries who attended the seminar included Dr Anil Joseph Pinto, registrar, Christ Univ; Prof Suresh Pai, associated dean, Christ Univ; Dr Jain Mathew, HOD, Christ Univ; Dr Jyothi Kumar, BBA coordinator, and directors and members of KE.

CA Mark D’Souza, president of KE, Bangalore, in his keynote address said building a successful business today depends on the ability to pick entrepreneurs very early and get them embedded into business. He highlighted the points. students need to keep in mind before starting a business and said that one need to be a Jack of all rather than master of only one area of managerial functions. He cautioned to the new entrants about large group of failures are due to lack of all-round understanding of the business chosen. He spoke of the options of financial structures available today including a one-person company.

He also touched upon family run businesses and the professionalism that the next generation can bring into their family businesses. He stressed the importance of the legal document “Family Constitution” which lays down the philosophy of how the business will be governed in future and mitigate the risk of disputes in succession of family business.

Adrian D’Souza, Director Finance, KE spoke of the points to keep in mind to build a successful business. He spoke of the ability to take risks, while having faith in one’s ability. He also spoke of the need to persevere and adapt to changes in one’s standard of living. He finally spoke of remaining humble even after one has acquired wealth.

Selvam George, member, KE spoke on the Leadership Lessons for the budding entrepreneur. He spoke that the three ingredients required for the entrepreneur as Thinking (both lateral and logical, using the left and right brain), Networking (giving our time and energy to those who are in need of that, than to seek who will be of use to me) and to have a positive attitude all the time.

A panel by KE members followed, where students were given a chance to ask their questions to the experienced Entrepreneurs. A number of ideas were deliberated and queries answered.

A humour session was conducted by Vijay Anand, Toastmaster and soft skills trainer. He evoked laughter by talking about his own entrepreneurial pursuits.

The post lunch session was set aside for analyzing varied industry case studies. The students were divided into groups, which was moderated by members of KE. The case studies were chosen so as to capture the varied aspects of business including Business Ethics, Business Strategy, Marketing Management, Human Resources Management, etc. There was very active participation among students and this was followed up by a presentation by each of the groups. The two best evaluations were awarded in the closing ceremony.

The workshop concluded by a vote of thanks by Prof Sridharan, Christ Univ. Immediate past president Robinson D’Souza, past president Charles Gomes, director membership Clarence Pereira, Gregory Lobo, Vivon Pinto and Alan Aranha were also present.

Kanara Entrepreneurs (KE) had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Christ University (Christ Univ) to nurture entrepreneurship among students to mentor and give a boost to its students to become successful entrepreneurs. This was signed during the biennial seminar “Entreprenet 2014” on February 1, 2014.