Media Release

Bengaluru, Apr 20: The Kanara Entrepreneurs Bangalore held their 40th session of networking session cum installation ceremony at Grand Magrath Hotel on Friday, April 17.

In the beginning, KE Global chairman discharged the outgoing president Mark D’Souza and the outgoing board of directors, Adrian D'Souza - director finance, Clarence Pereira - director membership, and James Pinto - director marketing and sponsorship.

Mark D’Souza the outgoing president in his farewell address said, "Change is always imminent and without change we will not grow". He recognized the special efforts of Ivan Fernandes, the founder of KE and Valerian Fernandes who brought people together thereby introducing the concept of networking, mentoring and wealth creation in Bengaluru.

He also welcomed the gathering, in particular the key note speaker, Ivan Fernandes, chairman of KE Global and the chief guest, Hemacharya, editor-in-chief of Daijiworld Weekly and the managing director of Daijiworld Publications. Mark thanked all the members and the affiliate associations, Dimensions Mumbai, Rachana Mangaluru and CCCI Mumbai for their support during his term.

Ivan Fernandes then installed Peter Anil Rego as the 4th president of KE Bangalore and conducted the oath taking ceremony. He also installed other new board of directors, Victor Quadros, director finance, Naveen D’Souza -director membership and Claudius Pereira - director marketing and sponsorship. He also recognized the presence of the associate directors – George Timothy, Nigel Fernandes, Naveen Rodriques and Stan D’Souza and thanked them for their support to KEB.

Newly-installed president Peter A Rego in his inaugural address thanked the KE Global chairman and the outgoing BOD for the support and pledged that the new BOD will strive to take KE to greater heights. He drew inspiration for the new theme for 2015-17 - “Success through Networking” and said that each one of them should embrace this change in order to excel in whatever they do. He drew an apt comparison of the geese formation in flight, on how they cover 71 % more miles on their migration journey and how they rotates the leadership position in the formation to ensure that all roles are equally shared to bring about success.

The director-membership Naveen Dsouza installed 14 new members into KE. The newly installed members are: Aaron Watson, Ajish George, Bernard Lewis, Bryan D’Cunha, Canida Pinto, Clatus Mathias, Godrick D’Souza, Jaijo Joseph, Johnson Bruno D’Souza, Pritish D’Sa, Reena Serrao, Sachin D’Souza, Vanessa Aranha and Vivek Monis. The new members were welcomed by a standing ovation.

During the ceremony, Melissa Monteiro, the last year’s winner of the Speakers Forum as part of KE’s Speech Craft program on public speaking for members’ children delivered a brilliant speech on the challenges and pressure the students have to undergo in today’s world. It was an excellent presentation and she displayed a lot of confidence which had the audience spell bound. She concluded her speech by quoting Ronald Regan - We can’t help everyone but everyone can help someone.

The KE newsletter- “The Entrepreneur” was released by Ivan Fernandes.

Chief guest Hemacharya while congratulating the newly installed president and the new torch bearers explained how Daijiworld and KE can work hand in hand through networking. He offered the support of all three media segments of daijiworld - the website, the English Weekly and the TV daijiworld 24x7. He observed that Christian Society owns most of the educational, health, banking and business institutions but it should be proud of its only one sustainable media platform daijiworld which is always ready to help the needy and marginalized. He called on the members to support the humanitarian efforts of daijiworld. "Any initiative or business if it doesn’t touch the human heart, it is futile," he remarked.

Ivan Fernandes delivered the keynote address on the topic, ‘Success through Networking’. He described as to how networking and mentoring, two important aspects in business contribute to the success of a business. Networking is a soft skill and is rarely taught in educational institutions. He explained how many businesses suffer for want of networking at an early stage of business, but later on as they meet others in meetings; they learn certain etiquettes such as business awareness, exposure and local inspiration. He felt without proper mentoring we would lose out on certain opportunities that we get from the local government and also from the industry. He said without the support of the society, any businessman cannot carry on with business.

Ivan said that in a time when markets worldwide are struggling, an ambitious person with good business sense can build a profitable enterprise in less than a week with a little help from some business networkers. Successful entrepreneurs know that the lifeblood of their business is found in making the right connections. For many, it may not be so easy. He suggested a few good business practices like planning, being selective, using hostess principle, making real connection, and building network and help others to achieve success.

He concluded with the quote - ‘There is no future in any job, the future lies in the person who holds the job’.

The master of ceremony, George Timothy welcomed the gathering in the beginning and set the stage for installation of new board of directors. In his opening remarks, he described KE as a ‘Steering Wheel and not a Spare Wheel’. KE steers all its members on the path to success through networking, he said.

Nigel Fernandes proposed the vote of thanks followed by which all the members who were present in large numbers and guests were treated to a sumptuous fellowship dinner.