With Theme ‘Entrepreneurship Is My Passion’ Rachana’s Seminar on Entrepreneurship, Career Guidance & Training Launched
Mangaluru: Formed in the year 1999, RACHANA, is the Mangalorean Catholic Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Mangaluru, whose objectives are to Represent, Develop, Educate, Honour, Award and Promote the interests of Catholic Entrepreneurs, Professionals and Agriculturists hailing from Mangaluru spread all over the world. Its mission is to form a representative organization of Christian Entrepreneurs, Professionals, Agriculturists of all categories; To promote fellowship brotherhood among members; To encourage and promote entrepreneurs in generating employment potential, especially for youth and to encourage and assist new entrepreneurs by promoting their activities in the field of business, trade, industry, services and professionals; To guide and assist the members and others in their entrepreneurial problems; To encourage setting up of co-operatives and trusts for furthering of these objectives; among many others.
RACHANA in the past 20 years, has introduced and taken forward many activities – to promote its noble objectives, and to name a few are- Rachana Awards (Rachana’s Flagship Activity)- to recognize and honour; 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; Interactive meetings with State and Central Governments
Added to all these successful activities, Rachana today, 23 November 2019 organized an Entrepreneurship, Career Guidance and Training Seminar for Youth at Fr L F Rasquinha Hall, St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, which started at 10 am and ended at 4:30 pm. This Day-long Seminar/training was aimed To promote entrepreneurship, motivate, inspire budding entrepreneurs, with the slogan of ‘Entrepreneurship is my passion’. Rachana’s Entrepreneur Development Cell took leadership of this event and featured Eminent Personalities from the field of Commerce and Industry who addressed and train the youth, in various topics, related to entrepreneurship.
Rachana Entrepreneur Development Cell has been organizing workshops, seminars and training camps to motivate and promote the youth for self-employment, and this seminar/training event was yet another feather added to its cap. The programme was inaugurated by Fr Praveen Martis-the Principal of St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, who in his inaugural address said, “Totally overwhelmed to inaugurate this unique seminar, which will benefit the youth. And I am sure that many of today’s youth after attending this seminar will be motivated to become leading entrepreneurs and business-oriented folks. We need to compliment the energetic team of Rachana to put up such a unique and meaningful event which will help the youth to become the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. We need to look forward to such events from Rachana in future that would cater to the needs of the youth”.
The welcome address was delivered by President of Rachana-Elias Sanctis, where he said, “We had made the right decision in organizing this seminar, where the present youth could make their career in entrepreneurship a passion. Being an entrepreneur is not easy, there are hurdles and failures, but the youth should overcome all these and attain success. Keeping the present youth in mind to come up in their lives, Rachana thought of this unique seminar to help them become their own bosses. And with eminent resource persons deliberating their experiences and successes, I am confident this Seminar will benefit the young participants. I wish this informative and effective Seminar will torch a spark of entrepreneurship inside the young participants”
The inauguration was done by the lighting of the lamp by Fr Praveen Martis SJ, along with other dignitaries on the dais, namely the two resource persons of the morning session Dr John Wilfred Lobo and Albert D’Souza, Elias Sanctis, Convenor Louis Lobo, Secretary-Nelson Monteiro, among others. Louis Lobo, the convener, rendered the vote of thanks. Manoj Louis, the associate professor at Govt College-Kavoor compered the formal inaugural function, and the sessions thereafter. The first speaker of the day was Dr John Wilfred Lobo, followed by Albert D’Souza, who were both introduced to the audience by former MLA J R Lobo, who was also the moderator for the seminar. Both the speakers motivated and inspired the youth on making entrepreneurship their career.
During the afternoon session, speaker Praveen Nayak spoke on making KAS as a career, followed by speaker Dr Santhosh Kumar who spoke on the topic “Making IAS as a Career”- and the moderator was J R Lobo. There was a question and answer session where the youth put forth their queries, which were answered to the point by the four speakers during the day-long seminar. All the four speakers were felicitated during the occasion, and also the chief guest for the valedictory eminent Banker Allan Pereira, and also J R Lobo were felicitated. Five Best Young Delegate Awards were presented at the end of the seminar, which carried cash prizes and awards.
The speakers delivering on being entrepreneurs said that there is no magic bullet that can transform you into a rich and successful entrepreneur overnight. However, for those prepared to work hard to succeed, there is an almost formulaic blend of entrepreneurial skills that can help set successful businessmen/women apart from the rest. Being an entrepreneur means you are your own manager, as well as manager of others. Your skills need to be extensive in order to to be successful. An entrepreneur should be able to effectively manage people, a budget, operations and in some instances, investors. This requires a multi-tasking work style, planning for both the short and long-term goals of their business.
A successful entrepreneur must be able to make wise decisions about how he uses his time, continually evaluating and prioritizing tasks according to relevance and importance. This means including short and long-range planning and the ability to participate in economic forecasting and market research. Speaker Dr Lobo said that three essential things like Sustainability, Scalability and being Social can bring success. Finding and keeping customers is one of the entrepreneur’s most important management undertakings because revenue from customers keeps the business alive. Successful entrepreneurs are also continually soliciting new business and developing new business networks. Social media has proven to be a powerful tool when it comes to growing brand awareness.
Following the seminar , On the same day in the evening, Rachana will celebrate ‘World Entrepreneurs’ Day’ at Milagres Golden Jubilee Hall from 6 pm onwards, which will be a get together of senior and young entrepreneurs of the community along with exchanging of experience and ideas towards the growth. Each Time, Rachana has launched a new initiative, the support from its well-wishers and friends has been great.