Media Release

Bengaluru, Nov 24: Kanara Entrepreneurs (KE) spearheaded a unique outreach session with leaders from FKCA and its member associations titled ‘Discover 2025’ on November 21 at Ashraya International Hotel, Bengaluru.

KE director Eugene Mathias welcomed the guests, while president Pramod D’Souza gave the context of the programme with a call to build an entrepreneurial mindset in the community. He urged FKCA member associations to collaborate with KE to encourage youth and offered KE’s platform to foster mentorship and guidance.

Federation of Konkani Catholic Associations (FKCA) chairman Anthony Gonsalves shared words of encouragement and support for the initiative. He added that collaboration with KE was an important step in bringing the community together across sectors and in finding ways to build the community consistently.

KE Bengaluru chapter founder president Charles Gomes spoke about the background behind the formation of the KE chapter in Bengaluru. Immediate past president Claudius Pereira opened his session with a message to forge ahead with courage, clarity and purpose. He presented KE’s journey from Dubai in 2004 to its latest chapter in Goa in 2025, highlighting the coming together of more than 1,500 entrepreneurs from 120 industries with a combined net worth of over Rs 10,000 crore — a Roots, Shoots and Fruits concept forming KE’s model for strong foundations and sustained growth.

This message led into an engaging round-table discussion moderated by KE director membership Leena Lobo and lead member Arun Fernandes to brainstorm ‘Roots & Rockets’ across table groups. Following a short ice-breaker, the tables deliberated on two questions: why Christians are lagging in entrepreneurship, and how KE can ignite business interest among Christian youth.

Eight tables consisting of leaders from KE, FKCA and a few newly inducted KE members actively examined root causes and potential solutions, filling coloured post-its in a quick, energetic exercise. Table leaders presented their insights, along with creative group names. The results included a wide range of root causes and ideas with the potential to create meaningful change in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. All eight groups identified early exposure, mentoring, funding guidance, community support, family encouragement and showcasing success stories as essential to strengthening entrepreneurial culture.

A panel of judges comprising KE directors Sunil Attavar and Roshan Sequeira, and KE lead member Ajay Fernandes, assessed the group presentations. Representing the panel, Roshan announced the winners:

Second runner-up: ‘Pioneers’ (Vijay Lobo, Paul Rodrigues, Dr Anthony Pais, Melwin D'Souza, Nathaniel Fernandes)

First runner-up: ‘Adventurers’ (Austin Roach, George Timothy, Anand Edward D'Souza, Eric D'Silva, Anand D'Silva, Nithan Rodrigues, Patrick George, Lawrence Oliver, Praveen D'Souza)

Winner: ‘A to B’ (Andrea D'Souza, Boney Monteiro, Amith D'Souza, Ashly D'Souza, Dr Joseph Rasquinha, Naveen D'Souza, Noel Sequeira)

The session concluded with feedback from various member associations, FKCA leaders and newly inducted KE members. Paul Rodrigues (treasurer, FKCA), Anil Sequeira (president, Sezari), and Bonny Monteiro and Joel Pinto (new KE members) expressed sentiments ranging from a sense of instant connectedness to inspiration and insights beneficial to their own growth, even for those who were not entrepreneurs.

Discover 2025 was compered by Eugene Mathias, who coordinated the event with professionalism. Prior to the session, KE lead members convened for the 103rd Lead Members Meet, during which Leena, in her capacity as director of membership, officially inducted the following 14 new members into KE:

1. Andrea Marie D'Souza, educator, author and public speaking coach

2. Boney Monteiro, founder of B-Wise Investments

3. Iwan Olvin D'Souza, proprietor of Souza Engineering

4. Joel Leonard Pinto, HR manager at ACT Fibernet

5. Melwin D'Souza, entrepreneur heading Transit Logistics and Transit Global

6. Nathaniel Fernandes, company secretary at XL Financials

7. Nithan Rodrigues, senior programme manager at Google Cloud

8. Patrick George, president of Karnataka Tourism Forum and proprietor of Prakruthi Holidays

9. Peter S D'Silva, founder of Nestworks

10. Remedia Nancy Pinto, managing director of Remedia Facility Management

11. Richard Brian Nazarath, engineering manager at Broadcom Inc

12. Rohan J A D'Souza, tax leader at Volvo Group India

13. Santhosh Noble, CEO of Autoart

14. Twinkle Baptist, partner at Prostore Global

The evening concluded with fellowship and networking.