Mangaluru: Businessmen, Professionals and Agriculturists Party Hard at Rachana Entrepreneurs Day Bash

Mangaluru: Rachana, formed in 1999, is the Mangalorean Catholic Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Mangaluru- Its objectives are to Represent, Develop , Educate, Honor, Award and Promote the interests of Catholic Entrepreneurs, Professionals and Agriculturists hailing from Mangaluru spread all over the world.Rachana through its Entrepreneur Development Cell has organized workshops, awareness and training camps at various places of the district, and about 150 persons have been motivated, supported and mentored from the entrepreneurship.

Rachana has, over the past 17 years, introduced and taken forward the following activities – to promote it’s noble objectives, like the :Rachana Awards (Rachana’sFlagship Activity)- to recognize and honor; Rachana Entrepreneur Development Cell – to Develop and Support budding entrepreneurs; Rachana Senior Citizens’ Welfare Trust – to Improve the quality of life of senior citizens; Lecture Meetings – to Congregate, Educate and Inform Members; Publication of “The Rachana World” – A Quarterly Newsletter – to Educate and disseminate information; and Interactive meetings with State and Central Governments.

As part of World Entrepreneurs Day, Rachana organized “Entrepreneurs Day Celebrations” – a unique evening for businessmen, Professionals and Agriculturists on Sunday, 29 November 2015 from 6pm onwards. The fun-filled evening comprised of games, prizes, food, music, dance and fellowship- all for a good cause. The purpose of the World Entrepreneurs’ Day was to create awareness for entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership throughout the world. WED is the perfect day to celebrate the people who starts a business alone. WED is the day of founders, managers, producers, contractors, industrialists, innovators, administrators, designers and producers. World Entrepreneurs Day is a great opportunity to push philanthropic, social and ethical business practices via conferences, awards and initiatives.

The celebrations began with a welcome address by John B Monteiro, the dynamic president of Rachana, followed by reading of the citation to felicitate the Bishop ofMangaluru, Rev Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza by Roy Castelino-Past President of Rachanaand President of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy. The Bishop was felicitated for his contribution and support to Rachana al these years, where he has made time always to grace or support any Rachana events or projects. The Bishop was felicitated with a shawl, fruit basket, and a memento.

Acknowledging the felicitations, the Bishop said, ” It’s a honour for me to be felicitated by Rachana, although my contribution to this organization has been minimum-but I sincerely thank the members of Rachana for recognizing my small contribution to their great organization, which has been helping many youth settle in their lives. Rachana’smain objective of promoting fellowship, co-operation and collaboration among its members, has been motivating youth for self employment, recognizing and honouring outstanding achievers and contributors. Also helping its members to grow in their businesses”.

The Bishop further said, ” Rachana has been assiduously pursuing the objectives over the past 17 years through regular seminars, training programmes, laison and lobbying with government and semi-government. To promote youth for self employment this year,Rachana through Entrepreneurs Development Cell has organized many workshops and camps. It’s nice to note that Rachana is supporting and encouraging youth to become entrepreneurs. Having organizing 18 seminars with nearly 600 participants, 71 participants have started their own businesses, with nearly Rs 70 lakhs of financial aid from Rachana. Due to the unity between the Rachana members the organization has grown to greater heights and been successful in their ventures. My relationship withRachana has been growing stronger year after year during my tenure as Bishop, and I feel proud to be associated with this great organization. My humble request is that the Catholic community should also support Rachana in their efforts and projects which they are doing for the betterment of the Catholic youth and the community”.

Rachana bulletin “The World of Rachana” was released during the function by the Bishop in the presence of Rachana Board members. Following the formal programme, the celebrations kicked off for games, fun and frolic- and Dr Senek D’Souza fromBengaluru, the compere with his witty punchlines kept the audience entertained throughout the evening. Not only he was the compere, but his digital band ” Sen’s” comprising of Dr Senek on lead vocals, Mervin Menezes on keyboard/vocals, CleanneSerrao on Vocals/keyboard and Gratian D’souza on vocals enthralled the crowd with their scintillating performance- Kudos to “Sen’s” for an unbelievable performance, who rocked the night, and the crowd loved every bit of their rendition of Bollywood, western and Konkani hits.

There were quite a few games conducted by Dr Senek, and the audience had a chance to win many prizes, including cash. There were auctions, games for young and old- and the evening was nothing but a party time with fun and frolic. Compliments to John Monteiro for his unique idea to have this Entrepreneurs Day celebrations, which was highly applauded by the august gathering. Appreciating the support and encouragement from his colleagues, donors and well-wishers, John Monteiro speaking to Mangalorean.co, said, ” Rachana has been a platform for catholic Entrepreneurs, professionals and Agriculturists to come together, co-ordinate and get themselves involved in social development. An eventful year comes to an end leaving behind everlasting memories”.

” Having our own office is a big achievement and is marked in golden letters in the history of Rachana. This is a new milestone which has not only created necessary infrastructure to Rachana but also has enhanced its image. But in the same time, it is sad to note that only 15% of our members had contributed generously to this vision project. May be we have questions in mind-What does Rachana gives back to me? I am reminded of the words of John F Kennedy-“Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country. I am glad that while I am ending my tenure as president of Rachana, I feel proud to say that we have conducted several workshops, awareness and training camps to promote self employment. Success has always been on our side” added John.

While concluding quoting Theodore Roosevelt’s words, “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing to get along with people”, John Monteirosaid, ” Let entrepreneurship be a way to construct our society. I wish that Rachana be an instrumental in promoting youth for self employment, thus uplift the economic stability of our community and growth of our society. Long live Rachana”. Team Mangalorean which is proud to be associated with Rachana, would like to compliment and congratulate John Monteiro and his bevy of energetic members for putting up the first and unique “Entrepreneurs Day Celebrations”. And to compere Dr Senek D’Souza who simply stole the show, this event ended with the audience heading home with great memories. Great celebrations, indeed!