By Luvena Rangel (The Curvy Yogi)

Bengaluru, Jul 27: The women members of Kanara Entrepreneurs (KE) gathered for their second meet on July 22 at Hotel Iris, to celebrate the central theme of the evening – Collaboration. Following the KE prayers led by lead member, Reshma Saldanha, Leena Lobo, mentor of the KE women entrepreneurs group aptly set the tone for the evening by lauding the members present for being bold and beautiful - for having the courage to take on the roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship and for being beautiful inside out through all their relationships and phases in life.

Inspired by the welcome note and encouragement to participate whole heartedly in the meets, KE member, Laveena D’Souza facilitated an enjoyable ice breaker helping everyone get to know each other better by adding a short but memorable professional adjective to their names. It was gratifying for members to have their businesses and work seen, heard and acknowledged.

The elegant emcee for the evening, KE member Ranjeeta Greta Chatterjee deftly led to the guest speaker, Cherian Kuruvilla introduce by KE member, Uma Maheshwari. With over 4 decades of corporate experience and as an eminent coach and business mentor, Cherian succinctly shared powerful insights on the idea of #WeCommerce and Collaboration.

With active audience input, Cherian, delivered key collaborative ideas through mnemonics and prompts. He stressed on the importance of adjusting, adapting and leveraging each other’s strengths to successfully collaborate. Interestingly, he broke down the word, ‘Collaborate’ to include a host of values within it:

CO – Co-create / Compliment / Connect, etc
LAB – Experiment / Innovate / Research, etc
RATE – Celebration

Some key concepts and memory aids that made for a great session takeaway:

• From the TOP of the head:
o T – Trust
o O – Open mindedness
o P – Presence (Collaborate with someone one looks up to professionally)

• The ABCDs of Collaboration:
o A – Awareness (build awareness of what one does so and talk about ones work)
o B – Business Networking
o C – Credibility
o D – Diversity (Collaborate with different people; It is a value add, not a threat)

• Play your CARDS right to build presence:
o C – Credibility
o A – Authenticity
o R – Reliability
o D – Dependability
o S – Simplicity / Humility

KE member, Manish Michael of Siel Blu India and his team energized the gathering with a demo of their adaptive fitness session using balloons as the prop of the day. Activities involved building lung capacity from blowing up the balloon, core strength, dexterity and balance through effective fun that hardly felt like exercise.

The table activity of the evening was prompted by an impromptu collaborative fun project that had initiated in the KE women entrepreneurs WhatsApp group a few weeks prior. The women members came out in high spirits and a giving attitude to offer their services to support a fellow member’s wistful desire for a beautiful wedding. KE member, Luvena Rangel, the bride in question, skilfully facilitated the ideation to develop a project using the resident businesses at every tables and present their business proposals. Projects that surfaced included an integrated event solution, a stress-free bridal package, a project bearing the initials of the businesses involved as well as one which focused on mental wellness.

Ranjeeta took the next few moments to highlight the achievements of the women members:

• Janice Pearl D’souza – Accredited as a professional facilitator with BYLD
• Luvena Rangel – Appointed as India chair for communication and advocacy for G100
• Vilina Sequeira – Honoured by Barkur Association of Bangalore for her contribution in recruitment in the hospitality industry.

Additionally, Laveena D’Souza was also acknowledged with a special prize to highlight her contribution towards the meet as the Best Networker Award.

The concluding bit on the agenda was a moment of warmth and gratitude where many women members took the opportunity to express their thanks to other members for both business leads and a listening ear. It is heart-warming to state here that the ripples of those shared words are echoing in the Women Entrepreneurs WhatsApp group even now.

The evening drew to a well-timed end with Leena’s closing message urging bonding and inviting more women to join KE. The strong ask for better participation from members in future events also made a resonant impact.

Needless to say, Friday evening was completed with a thorough celebration of collaboration with KE women entrepreneurs - a streamlined and focused agenda put together by the organizing committee that was well received and much appreciated.

Many thanks to the sponsors for the evening:

Manish Michael – Siel Blu India – Adaptive fitness demonstration
Leena Lobo – Angelina Consultancy Services – Wine (Lucky Draw Prize Hamper)
Ranjeeta Greta Chatterjee – Gretas Essentials – Granola (Lucky Draw Prize Hamper)
Shiny Rebello – Ruach – Decorated Candles (Lucky Draw Prize Hamper)
Uma Maheswari – We-Mana Nutrition – Healthy bars (Lucky Draw Prize Hamper)
The team and staff of Hotel Iris, Bengaluru

Volunteers
Ranjeeta Greta Chatterjee
Uma Maheswari

Organizing Committee
Laveena D’Souza (Riya International Pvt Ltd)
Leena Lobo – Angelina Consultancy Services
Luvena Rangel – The Curvy Yogi
Reshma Saldanha (Salvin Instruments)
Sabitha Lasrado (CB4)