By Luvena Rangel - Diversity & Inclusion Specialist (The Curvy Yogi)
Bengaluru, Apr 2: Kanara Entrepreneurs’ (KE) women’s vertical – KE Women Entrepreneurs (KE WE) celebrated their women members at the KE Women’s Day Exclusive on Friday, March 28 at the Grand Magrath, Bangaluru. The robustly attended event was conceptualized and executed – from end to end by the KE WE members and was a resounding success.
While volunteers gathered at the venue, registrations opened and the main agenda commenced promptly in the evening. Soon after members made their way to their allocated tables, Roushnee Sur heralded the start of the evening by leading the KE prayer.
An interesting ice-breaker had women excitedly dipping into their handbags to retrieve one unique or interesting item within and explain why they had it in 15 seconds flat. While the contents of a woman’s purse are always mysterious, there was a fair share of shocking gasps and tickled laughter as band-aids, medicine pouches and even a winning pocketknife was revealed from Zaveena Lobo. Nothing sinister – just a little knife to pare fruits with.
In the next segment, Luvena Rangel, who heads the KE WE, had a fireside chat with our guest of honour, Sweezal Furtado, Miss Global India 2024 and contestant at the recently held Miss Global 2025 in Cambodia & Thailand. The conversation explored the start and growth of Sweezal’s journey, professional challenges, pageant stories and the unique experiences of having the support of women, the Mangalurean community – including many KE members and the fanbase at large. The well-timed session was fresh, inspiring and brought in an air of pride and accomplishment for the audience.
An interactive round of Human Bingo, facilitated by Sabitha Lasrado, was the ideal mixer that brought members out of their chairs to actively match their interests with each other – getting to know each other better and demonstrating winnable streaks of competitiveness, collaboration and fun. Anitha Gomes and Rowena Coelho were the lucky winners.
The guest speaker for the evening, Dr Geetha Appachu, chief head of Swapreran, took over the stage for the main address by exploring mental health & wellbeing for women business owners. She dissected four areas of living – personal, professional, social and connection to self, and guided the audience introspect their 'worries’ with a fresh perspective. That all had a choice to feel better was the bottomline.
The KE board of directors and generous sponsors joined the women for a quick view of KE WE’s achievements and aspirations – a crisp presentation delivered by Luvena. The presentation highlighted new women memberships, referrals from KE WE, the role and influence of KE WE on in-house events and projects as well as the powerful representation of KE in social and business circles alike.
KE president, Claudius Pereira took to the stage next to deliver a powerful note of support and encouragement in his inimitable style, followed by director mentoring, Pramod D’souza, who urged the women members to look at the numbers through the lens of percentage and participation. He nudged all with the encouragement to increase their tribe. Lead member, Nivedith Alva, who was one of the event sponsors, also shared his assurance of support to KE WE. He was keen to leave a legacy for the next generation through the women’s efforts.
The evening closed with group photographs and the distribution of the very generous goodie bags worth Rs 3000, meticulously curated by Sabitha & Luvena and magnanimously supported by the generosity of sponsors: James Pinto, Nivedith Alva, Sunil D’Sa, Mark D’Souza, Sunil Attavar, Anoop Sequeira, Leena Lobo, Anil Rego, Mithun Cornelio, Nishan & Clarence Pereira, Joyson N and Jasmine Pinto. The sponsorship enabled the purchase of items from members, namely the women entrepreneur to include: Prawn Pickle (Carol Shelley D’Souza), Tomato & Apple Chutney (Rochelle D’Gama), Rice Laddus (Precilla D’Souza), cupcakes (Charmaine Saldanha), Chikki (Wilson), Millit Bars (Uma Maheswari), dental products, notepads, stainless steel bottles, keychains, leather coin purse and fridge magnets with a woman-centric quote. The highlight of the goodie was a KE branded, personalized frosted beer mug all set in a sturdy and sustainable jute shopping bag.
The event took a great deal of effort and collaboration from the KE WE organizing committee (Luvena, Sabitha, Leena Lobo, Rachna Rego and Jasmine Pinto) involving personal calls and follow ups, sponsorship calls, accounting, event management, logistics and planning. The skills demonstrated in a short period to put up such a successful show is a testament to the overarching skills that are in abundance within KE WE – people skills, creativity, collaborative leadership and timeliness alongside a huge dollop of generosity and humility.
The support of sponsors and the board of directors was exemplary. Sunil D’Sa was thanked for mentoring KE WE and Leena Lobo for being an active voice for KE as well. Volunteers Carol, Charmaine, Roushnee, Uma, Anitha and Shelma Furtal were also appreciated. Above all, the evening was kept to time by the fantastic emceeing by the very versatile Vilina Sequeira with her well-prepared and perceptive intros, stories and the spot prizes.
A wonderful evening, amplified by the wonderful women of KE.