Spark To Start – Mar 2021
A determined effort toward knowledge sharing and collaboration was evident as KCA, KONCAB, and KE jointly organised a Session on Start Up Entrepreneurs. The day-long meet was a fund of appropriate information, real-life experiences, resource-sharing, that fueled the spark to start an enterprise.
The event had experienced players in the entrepreneurship arena who shared their journey, and made a realistic canvas for the participants to draw their own framework. In a business climate dampened by the pandemic, the fresh burst of ideas, and possibilities was encouraging for the audience. The idea to dream on became compelling.
In the introductory session, Adrian Dsouza, co- founder Deccan Group underlined the process of creating lasting value. It requires time, devotion and energy, and while there pitfalls and problems, “you need to have the right attitude to handle it and the rewards are sweet,” Adrian said. He spoke of personal ownership, customer responsiveness, and innovation wrapping up the salient points of value in business.
The talks were followed by a Panel Discussion on Support System for Budding Entrepreneurs. The session was moderated by Vivek Cornelio (Communications Architect at WEconsult) along with Charles Gomes ( Founder CAD Pharma) from the Pharma Industry. Mark D’Souza a renowned CA and Financial Expert, Nisha Rebello (Director Metters International) a second generation entrepreneur and Dion D’sa (Cofounder Examplay) a first generation entrepreneurs were the panellists.
Neil Rodrigues, owner of the Konkan Restaurant spoke about his start-up experience with
the Konkan a seafood restaurant in Bangalore serving Mangalorean cuisine. He started it with the initial capital from his family. Neil motivated his staff to stay on and help him build this business. He said the cornerstones of his ability to sustain the business are quality and consistency. The main marketing strategy channels Neil uses are word of mouth and social media. His looks forward to start banquets and Cloud kitchens with a Konkan touch .
Mark D’souza, a Chartered Accountant with 35 years of experience that includes being member of the career counselling committee of the institute of chartered Accounts of India, New Delhi. He felt it is always wise to “discuss with your peer group, evaluate how the idea is accepted, and then take forward your plan.”
Vivek Cornelio, Founder WEconsult spoke about his enterprise, and the journey.
Nisha Rebello – Director Metters Pvt. Ltd, spoke of her start at the company in 1977.
She shared that she had joined the rather successful and smooth business of her father. But she had to focus to prove herself. Her advice was simple and insightful: “Scale up slowly and keep capital investment at a minimum. Focus on all angles of Business -HR, Finance and Sales. Be disciplined. Always go well prepared for a meeting.”
Dion D’Sa, Co-Founder of Xamplay Edutech, an award winning learning platform, said that the platform helps students learn better, and enables teachers to enhance their teaching skills. Dion spoke about entrepreneurship from a Tech Start-up perspective. He spoke about how they started and how they overcame various challenges they faced at various stages of their start up journey. He also mentioned They help to identify creative minds and help them achieve their goals
Santhosh Sequeira of VTT Travels shared from personal examples on goal-setting and relentless pursuit of those goals. His experience on navigating challenges to obtain his first vehicle, and deliberate steps to grow that to a fleet of over 300 vehicles, got the attention of the audience.
Laveena D’Souza, founder Riya interiors Pvt Ltd. spoke about her company’s mission to aggregate all interior designs and interior projects that will satisfy the style and needs of the customers. Laveena shared experiences from her entrepreneurial journey. She encouraged people to give highest priority to quality, and to be transparent with customers. She prompted the listeners to learn from experts, stay persistent, and build networks.
Nikhil Gonsalves, Founder and CEO at inGO Electric Pvt Ltd. spoke of his work in the corporate sector for more than 16 years. It was during this phase that he did a company-sponsored management programme at IIM Bangalore in 2016. During this time he realised that he wanted to be an entrepreneur himself. inGo has been incubated at IIM Bangalore. He shared information on how the organisation got incubated at IIM Bangalore. Vision was to develop an Electric Vehicle which is smart, connected, robust and stylish. It has raised a funding of up to 2.5 crores through various grants and awards.
Pramod D’Souza, Founder – Eagle10 Ventures, spoke about ways for start-ups to get funding. It included evaluating ideas for the business, building the business, getting funding through the Angel funders, making minimum investment etc.
The programme was well structured to include mentorship sessions which was suitably personalised. This was conducted by Lead Members of KE and helped guide those who aspired to start-up a new business.
A wide array of stalls showcased leather apparel, jewellery, toys, stationery, crystal glassware, candles, electric vehicles, homemade foods, health supplements, doors and windows, spices, and spyware. The food stalls served delicious Mangalorean cuisine and was in popular demand!
Arun Fernandes, KONCAB President and KE Director proposed a vote of thanks. Roshan Menezes presented a great flow to the events as they unfolded. He combined wit and cheer as compere for the day’s proceedings.
The collaborative efforts of the institutions like the KCA, KE, KONCAB and FKCA made this a event of value – both from an organisational and participant standpoint. The vision of knowledge-sharing, and timely support was of great advantage to the community.
