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Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai
Dubai, Oct 2: Union minister for corporate affairs, government of India, former chief minister of Karnataka and high profile Congress leader met entrepreneurs, executives and well-wishers from the Kanara region of Coastal Karnataka on Saturday October 1 evening at the Movenpick Hotel Dubai.
The event was organised by the Kanara Entrepreneurs Ltd (KEL) to encourage Kanara entrepreneurship and address issues related to entrepreneurs investing back home.
Moily said that he was happy to meet entrepreneurs from the region, as, first of all, he belongs to the Kanara region, and secondly as he is holding a portfolio in the union cabinet which is closely connected to entrepreneurs.
M K Lokesh, the Indian Ambassador to UAE and Ronald Colaco, NRI entrepreneur and philanthropist were the guests of honour during an official programme conducted for this purpose.
Shobha Mendonca, president, KEL welcomed the gathering, and Ivan Fernandes, chairman, Global KEL presented an audio-visual documentary summarising the purpose and achievements of KEL which was started in the year 2004 in Dubai. He also announced the prestigious residential and commercial projects coming up in Pachanaday, Mangalore in the coming months.
Ronald Colaco, in his keynote address recalled his association with Veerappa Moily and called him a great politician with principles. He urged entrepreneurs from the Kanara region to invest in remote areas of coastal districts, in order to promote unexplored areas as well as to avoid congestion in cities. He gave his own example of setting up Hollywood Town and Swiss Town projects which he developed in an almost forest-like area, and which are two of the prime properties in Bangalore, today.
"During the initial stages, people underestimated me and flayed me for investing in remote regions. Today, my vision has been realised and the same place has become a prime location."
He expressed his concern over the political and bureaucratical issues pertaining to new projects in Mangalore where NRIs are investing. In a special request to the minister, he urged Moily to allocate one exclusive IAS-level secretary to address the problems and hurdles faced by Kanara Entrepreneurs in the region, so that any work related to the projects will be done within a short period of time.
M Lokesh, India's ambassador to UAE hailed Mangalorean community as well as their entrepreneurship. "I hail from Old Mysore where you can't find many entrepreneurs, but I can find Mangalorean entrepreneurs everywhere, who are not only dynamic but successful too. Entrepreneurship is in the blood of Mangaloreans," he said.
"I am very proud of you, and your presence in this country has boosted not only the image of Indians in the UAE, but also my personal image," he added.
Veerappa Moily in his address said, "Spirit of adventure is a basic requirement for entrepreneurship. Be a lamp unto yourself - that is my philosophy. I have a great dream for the coastal region, if environmentalists join hands with us, we can do wonders," he said, hinting that environmentalists have put hurdles to bringing major projects from companies like Tata, Aditya Birla and Cogentrix etc, which eventually went to Orissa and Gujarat due to lack of co-operation and support from environmentalists.
He hailed the country's IT capability, and specially of Karnataka. He proudly announced the initiative taken by him during his stint as CM of Karnataka when he allotted 25,000 acre land to IT park. He recalled how he gave opportunity to Infosys mentor Narayana Murthy with an investment of just Rs 10,000. "We have captured the entire IT world," he proclaimed.
He also announced plans for setting up IT hardware park in Devanahalli with the participation of the central government.
Moily urged Kanara entrepreneurs to join hands with the Indian government and render their support in investing, specially in places were investment is not sufficient. He requested them to participate in 'Exporters meet' to be held in Mangalore in November 2011 and also in 'Investors meet' to be held in Bangalore later this year.
He assured them that any bureaucratic hurdle faced by the investors will be looked into seriously.
In reply to Ronald Colaco's request for allocating one exclusive secretary to address the issues and problems of Kanara region's entrepreneurs, he said the request would be taken serious note of.
Regarding corporate issues in India, he said the present Company Act 1956 is too old, and he wants to bring in reforms. "I have already worked in this direction, and a new bill will be introduced in the next session of parliament to liberalise the Company Act," he said, adding that the new law is expected to help control inflation and bring new reforms to the corporate world.
There was a brief interaction with the minister as members of the audience raised questions related to problems of roads, power supply, airport etc.
Malathi Moily, wife of Veerappa Moily also accompanied him.
Errol Goveas compered the entire event.
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