Rons Bantwal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai (EP)

Mumbai, Nov 6: Christian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCCI) organised its 12th award function in a glittering ceremony at Hotel Kohinoor here on Sunday, November 5.

As many as six achievers were presented awards. The mobile app of CCCI was also launched on the occasion.

Gopal C Shetty, member of Parliament was the chief guest and the Fr Stephen Fernandez and Xavier Britto, chairman of Kerry Indev Logistics were the guests of honour.

Anil Rego, Justice Aloysius Aguiar (retd), Eric Alfred Correa, and Vivek Aranha were conferred awards in recognition of their contribution and achievments in industry, public service, social service, and educational fields, respectively. Charmaine D'Souza bagged the award for being an inspiring woman entrepreneur, while Naveen Aranha received the young entrepreneur award.

Gopal Shetty addressed the audience stating that the country is not built by politicians or government alone and that every section of society has contributed to its development. He commended all businessmen for being equal contributors for the upliftment of society by providing employment and tax revenue. He also stressed on the fact that a large country like India required difficult steps to be implemented and there was no shortcut to development. The government is therefore taking these hard but critical steps for long term benefit. Implementation issues will always be there in a vast country towards GST and demonetization but we will see benefits in coming days and years. The government spent nearly Rs 21,000 crore for maintenance of ATMs across the country, whereas in the current digital push, we will save a substantial portion which will be diverted for development spending. He also appreciated the digital push that the chamber is moving towards and assured the audience that he will surely convey to the prime minister and the government officials that the Christian Chamber is also fully supportive of the government in their efforts for digitalization.

Fr Stephen Fernandes, guest of honour in a highly intellectual talk, stressed on the need for ethics in business. He commended the chamber for rendering invaluable service to society. He called the chamber as one of the factors influencing the collective conscience of society. He appreciated the awardees and admired their hard work, sincerity and dedication to achieve their aims and serve the society. He also applauded the generosity of the sponsors, donors and benefactors of the Chamber. He explained that giving to others is also giving to God and God surely gives back a thousand fold. He thanked the kind support of the members and wished them success firmly rooted in ethics and morality.

Earlier, chairman of CCCI, Antony Sequeira in his welcome speech expressed his gratefulness to everyone who strove for CCCI during the year. In his address he explained that his main purpose would be to realize the dreams of CCCI. He said that he would lay emphasis on the task of creating awareness to make this happen. "We will create more opportunities for our members, keep creating awareness about industry, and take bold steps towards evincing interest among youngsters, thereby making an effort to win this institution global recognition. For the benefit of guests and new members, I would like to brief you about the chamber. Today, we have strength of 650 members,” he said.

Xavier Britto in a highly inspiring and motivational address emphasized on the need of team work in an entrepreneur’s journey. Entrepreneurs need to keep people and talent with them and that can be achieved by giving them freedom with accountability. He enumerated his numerous difficulties in childhood. Being born in a large family with limited means, and having studied in Tamil medium, clearing the IAS prelims against the wishes of his family he bid goodbye to a secure government career and ventured into entrepreneurship by starting a custom agency which expanded over time which was possible only due to his vision for the logistics sector. He advised businessmen that the problem is never in the situation but in our handling of the situation. Our motto in life must be to ‘respond not react’. Success can be achieved only if we are different in a particular thing. The lion is the king of the jungle not because he is the fastest or the wisest or the tallest or strongest. It is because he is courageous and ever alert and uses the same effort whether for small or big things. His parting remark was that we must fight the competitor in our comfort zone.

CCCI founder chairman Vincent Mathias, immediate past chairman Henry Lobo, CCCI awards committee convener John D'Silva, vice chairmen Albert W D'Souza and John Mathew were also present. The awardees, reciprocating to the honour bestowed upon them, praised the functioning style of CCCI, which happens to be a premier Christian body.

A floral welcome was given by Jean Sequeira to chief guest and Philomena Lobo to Fr Stephen Fernandez and Premila Mathias to Xavier Britto. Pearl Sequeira compered the programme. Agnello Rajesh Athaide proposed the vote of thanks.


Launch of CCCI mobile app

Christian Chamber of Commerce & Industry helps businessmen from all walks of trade and industry and the motto of the organization is to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst members and to reach out to the community in particular and to the state and country at large. CCCI gives awards in various categories for successful entrepreneurs every year. An important step was taken by the chamber by launching a mobile app to increase business among the members and the community.

Chairman Antony Sequeira who explained about the app said, “As our Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Digital India, CCCI also decided to go digital. In that direction, our board of directors decided to take a two-step approach. The first involves drastically revamping the CCCI website with a fresh new look and with dynamic features. The second was far more ambitious; CCCI’s mobile app for the members and community that will enable connectivity, communication, collaboration and innovation which will result in more business among members as well as with others.

“The advantages by having an exclusive app of CCCI for members are many. Through the app/directory, any person can find out details of members who are engaged in particular industry/trade/services. Once our app is popularized, the Christian community as well as others can contact through the app any manufacturer/dealer/service provider. Members can share the information about their products on the wall of the mobile app. They can even upload photos of their products on the wall. Similarly, one member can deal with another member by using the app. There is a provision of transaction report which consists of the detailed report based on the transaction status of members in the directory. I am hopeful that this initiative will expand business of our members. I also hope that our chamber will become vibrant and this will motivate others to join our chamber leading to growth in membership.

“With the click of a button, one will know about the Chamber, its events, past as well as upcoming seminars/events/activities and there is a provision where members can give online confirmation to attend such events. Through the app, in association with some agencies, we will be able to bring competitive offers at discounted rates for the members and their families and for the community as a whole. These details will be available and will be displayed on the app.”

The app was developed by Ronald Noronha and his team of Arokia IT Pvt Ltd. He explained the features by PPT presentation and he was assisted by Reuben Buthello.