Bangalore: FKCA to confer annual awards on three achievers
Media Release
Bangalore, Jan 21: Federation of Konkani Catholic Associations (FKCA), a premier umbrella organization representing Konkani Catholics of Karnataka and world-wide has announced the names of its prestigious FKCA Award winners for the year 2014.
FKCA started in 1998 in Bangalore has grown into a giant organization with global reach. As many as 27 associations of Konkani Catholics in different parts of Bangalore, Mysore, Chikmagalur, Hassan and other places besides 9 in different countries including USA, UK, Canada, Kuwait, Qatar and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in UAE have been affiliated to FKCA so far.
The FKCA has instituted three awards to honour Konkani Catholics for their achievement and services not only to the community but the country in different fields.
The Lifetime Achievement Award will be conferred on philanthropist Leslie Joseph Fernandes, former chairman of Dockendale Shipping Co, Nassau, Bahamas.
The Professional Excellence Award will be presented to eminent Konkani film and stage actor, TV artiste Richard G Louis, popularly known as 'Richy' for his contribution to the entertainment industry in Karnataka.
The Entrepreneur of the Year Award will be presented to industrialist Benedict Machado, one of the founding members and director of the renowned Ace Group of Companies.
The awards will be presented at the annual Federation Day of FKCA at St Joseph’s Indian High School Grounds in Bangalore on February 2 at 5 pm. Siddaramaiah, chief minister of Karnataka will be the chief guest. K J George, home minister, and S R Patil, IT-BT, statistics, science and technology minister, have consented to be the guests of honour. Archbishop of Bangalore Dr Bernard Moras will preside over the function.
About the Awardees
Lifetime Achievment Award: Leslie Joseph Fernandes
After his education, Leslie Joseph Fernandes joined the Indian Navy in 1951 as engine room artificer and worked there until 1965. Thereafter, he served the Merchant Navy as chief engineer from 1965 to 1971.
From 1971 to 1985, he worked as principal surveyor for GTR Campbell Consultants, supervising shipbuilding construction at Tokyo, Japan.
In 1985, Leslie started Dockendale Shipping Company, Nassau, Bahamas and was a successful shipping magnate, managing over 50 ships and employing more than 1,150 Indians in his organization. He continued to be its chairman until 2010.
After his retirement, Leslie settled down in Australia, continuing the philanthropic work which has benefitted thousands of needy people.
Some of his large donations have benefited hospitals, orphanages, churches, hostels for children, homes for specially challenged children, etc.
Leslie has been recognized for his magnanimous contributions by the Rotary Club of Breakfast Point, Sydney which presented him an award for all the charity contributions that he made to various institutions that were sponsored by them, and by Rachana Catholic Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the "NRI Entrepreneur of the Year Award" in January 2010.
Professional Excellence Award: Richard G Louis
Richard G Louis popularly known as 'Richy' is one of the most sought-after standup comedians of Karnataka.
Richy started his career in theatre, has acted in more than 150 plays and performed in more than 1500 shows worldwide. His play 'Sikku' was staged in London and Manchester at the Vishwa Kannada Sammelana. Richy heads his own troupe 'Natyadarpana' which is well known for staging original Kannada plays like Sikku, Udhbhava, Beli Matthu Hola which are based Kannada novels. He has acted and scripted more than 25 TV serials. Crazy-Colonel, Putta-Putti, Edavattu-Annaiah, Parampare and Sankranthi are a few serials in which he has acted. He has also acted in more than 25 feature films and has written stories, screen plays and dialogues for more than 40 feature films. Trendsetters like Halunda Tavaru, Tutta Mutta, Curfew, Tuvvi Tuvvi, Nanna Preetiya Hudugi, Kotigalu Sir Kotigalu are a few of them.
Coming to comedy shows, Richy and his troupe have performed more than 3,000 'Nagehabba' shows all over the world. Television shows like Udaya TV’s 'Harate' and Zee TV’s 'Comedy Kiladigalu' have reached the elite and the masses as well. His shows have been made into VCDs and audio cassettes by Lahari Recording Company which are popular internationally for their entertainment with enlightenment.
He has been bestowed with many awards for his contribution to the entertainment industry, some of which are Lifetime Award by the Karnataka Nataka Academy, Best Communicator Award, Best Child Artiste Award for his movie 'Dange', and State Award for 'Ananya Chetana'.
Entrepreneur of the Year: Benedict Machado
Benedict Machado is a renowned industrialist who completed his mechanical engineering in 1970 from the Karnataka Regional Engineering College, Suratkal.
He started his career in the year 1970 at Central Machine Tool Institute, Bangalore and worked there until 1979.
Thereafter he ventured into business and he is one of the founding members and director of the renowned Ace Group of Companies.
He is also a director / shareholder for Micromatic Machine Tools Pvt Ltd handling sales and service of machine tools and Pragati Transmissions Pvt Ltd which is a specialized job shop.
Currently, Ace Designers Ltd and Ace Micromatic Group have directly employed more and 650 employees and 1,500 employees respectively.