Budding Entrepreneurs! Entrepreneurial Development Programme held for Students at St Aloysius College
Mangaluru: The Department of Economics at St Aloysius College (Autonomous), Mangaluru has been quite active in organizing various seminars, programmes, activities etc for the benefit of students pursuing their studies in Economics- and today, a interesting and helpful programme was held on “ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT” at Fr Robert Sequeira Hall, LCRI Block at St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, on 29 Febraury 2020 from 9 am onwards.
The programme began with a prayer rendered by Miss Nicole Serrao and Miss Diana invoking God’s blessings, followed by welcome address and briefing of the Programme by Dr Norbert Lobo-HoD of Dept of Economics and Convener, who said, “21st century world has been very often described as VUCA world. Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Basic structural changes and transformations have taken place both in the way of living and mode of living of human beings. In this VUCA world what is not development has become development. Today development has essentially become a combination of JOBLESS GROWTH – RUTHLESS GROWTH -VOICELESS GROWTH- -ROOTLESS GROWTH- FUTURE LESS GROWTH. Accordingly the concept of Welfaresim has been forsaken and the spirit of self-interest dominates the decision making process”.
He further said, ” Job market has become more and more informal and casual. The new technology has made many of the salaried jobs redundant and educational qualifications obsolete. Leaner, meaner and fitter are the watch words of the job market. For instance according to CMIE India has lost 20 million jobs forever during 2016-2018. According to the World Bank by 2024 India would lose 69 per cent of the jobs due to automation. Unemployment rate has reached one of the highest in last 45 years. Moreover India growth story today is service sector lead growth. Employment opportunities in the service sector are primarily self-employment based rather than salary based. In this background we at the department of economics planned to organise a workshop on EDP for our students and enthuse them the spirit of entrepreneurship”
“It is said success can be obtained if you: Care more than others think is wise; Risk more than others think is safe; Dream more than others think is practical; and Expect more than others think is possible. I hope and wish today’s workshop will motivate you to care more, risk more, dream more and expect more and as our Mahatma Gandhiji, the Father of our nation said : “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Please remember “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” – Napoleon Hill” added Dr Norbert Lobo.
The chief guest of the Programme Ms Eulalia D’souza-Proprietor of Lia Travels and Tours, Mangaluru; Chairperson of Women Entrepreneurship Sub Committee of KCCI Mangaluru; and Former President and Secretary of Rotary Sunrise Club, Mangaluru while addressing the students said, ” Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t,so you can spend the rest of your life like most people cant. Coming from an upper middle class agricultural family I once dreamt that I should be an air hostess flying in the air. But my father grounded my dreams and plucked off my flying wings. I had to give in to his love rather than my dreams. It happened then, as many as 35 years ago. So, no regrets as and where I stand now. Winners never quit and quitters never win.” – – Vince Lombardi So, in my life, I never quit my dreaming and it continued”.
“Working sincerely and dedicating your 100% pays off – say wise men. After working odd jobs in Mumbai during my Air India Training, I returned to Mangaluru, and then started my own business- a travel and Tours firm, and I am happy with my decision. Steve Jobs says: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” This is what happened to me in my life” added Ms Eulalia.
She further said, “I believed : “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Mind you I am not taking entire credit. It was & it is & it will be a team work. But every team has to have a Team Manager & that is me. So, what I wish to emphasize here is work hard, work sincerely and work without cheating anyone in life, your work is blessed in thousand folds. Dear Students my advise to you is : Work hard, keep faith in God and balance work and home life. Do not cheat people at any time. “My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had — everyday I’m learning something new.” . By showing others in bad taste, by trying to back stab others to benefit your business, by cheating in business, you will not succeed long. Sustaining would be a challenge. “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – – Warren Buffett. So here comes an important lesson, being successful in life is important, but sustainability of your success is another challenge”.
“Never give up. Keep your family and friends intact and make them comfortable just as you did many years ago. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”- Albert Schweitzer. Keep smiling, keep your head high, respect yourself and you will respect others. Respect elders and respect God, you will be blessed abundantly. Life is beautiful but not easy, life is filled with ups and downs. We take risks in business-So, it is not always rosy as it looks. Can we sit and cry about it? No – we take it with a pinch of salt or take it to your stride and carry on with what you get. We do know that “ Pastures are greener on the other side of the fence always.” Isn’t it? But we hardly know what they are going through?” said Ms D’souza
Ms D’souza added, “All I need is to be careful with my outgoing, limit my expenses, donations and sponsors, to balance with limited income. So in simple words this is what being an Entrepreneur is. Ups n down is a part n parcel of life. Sea waves go high, but they will come down, waves start roaring in seas, but after every storm there is a calm. End of the day you should feel good that you have worked another day, those people who work for you, work with you, look up at you for their daily living, so I can not deprive them of their remuneration. That feeling should make you feel strong to get up raise up to another day in your life. Stay Blessed and happy always” .
The next resource person was Hisrar Tallani, the CMD/Founder of Hisrar Events and Celebrations who said, ” Empty pockets do not stop people. Empty minds do; Age has nothing to do with success. It is Easy to start a business but difficult to maintain. The Seven points to start a successful person (To be a leader you have to be a teacher.) – Passion for excellence; Leaders have a mastery in communication; High energy level; Value based decision making; Methodology (Speaker hired people who had a year backlog); Being loyal (to your team, administration, to yourself); and Faith.
The Third Resource person: Rohan Sagar Pereira (founder/Director of ministryofstyle.in) said, “You should Work without expectation; Do your research; Get into something that will give you experience; See your strength and your weakness. Capitalize and work around your strengths; Speaker has business ownership in hair and business ventures; Start small then grow step by step; Marketing should be done well; Delight your clients: Do something that makes them feel good; Do just be in the business. Be with your business; Start with a vision. Stick to it; Be a mentor yourself. Share your knowledge with your team; Learn to manage your money; and remember that A tree grows really tall because it’s roots go deeper. Don’t take things lightly”.
The Fourth resource person, Ms Laxmi Shenoy, Founder and Managing Partner ETC Branding Firm , said that digital marketing covers a lot of aspects like digital PUBLIC RELATIONS that has been completely ignored. It has various important points that come under it like event coverage, blogs, tie up with other sites, generating news, creating stories, creating compelling content, creating resource pages, build media relations, engagement with community, influencer campaigns and video testimonials. we should always believe in us, be fearless & remember that Slow success builds character whereas fast success breeds ego, so Never give up. I as an entrepreneur believe things that form the core for a business person are problem solving ability, scalability, not easy to copy, huge demand, people willing to pay, passion that drives and innovate from existing! For a true entrepreneur there’s should be fire in the belly!”
The programme was inaugurated by Chief guest by unfurling the theme poster, joined by Fr Praveen Martis SJ -Principal of st Aloysius College and Dr Norbert Lobo. Fr Praveen Martis SJ in his presidential address encouraged the students to follow in the footsteps of the chief guest to be a successful entrepreneur. Introduction of Ms Eulalia D’souza was done by Dr Norbert Lobo; introduction of Hisrar Tallani by Miss Karen Hezron 3rd B A; introduction of Rohan Sagar by Ms Diana D’souza, 3rd BA; and introduction of Ms Laxmi Shenoy by Ms Joeana Cera Mathews 3rd BA; and the programme was meticulously and professionally compered by Aiyappa Muckatira of 3rd BA. The vote of thanks was proposed by Reji John, the staff coordinator. Student coordinators Suraj G Shetty and Hima Nimasow, also played an important role in this programme.
