‘Emerging Kerala Women Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Summit & Business Excellence Award 2015’, organized by DCMedia, a division of DC Books, was held at hotel Ramada Cochin On 23/01/2015. The conclave was inaugurated by K.C Venugopal MP, who also brought to the notice of the audience, the support available to the women entrepreneurs from the Government. ‘Emerging Kerala Business Conclave & Awards 2015’ celebrated the all-round successes of Kerala’s booming economy.
The event was aimed to encourage, promote and honour the micro, small and medium enterprises and the corporates that have been enabling this growth story. The momentous occasion brought together the who’s who of Kerala, including key policy-makers, political leaders, and dignitaries from across the wide economic spectrum. 300 plus delegates had participated in the event. 27 students participated from DCSMAT and students from other B-Schools also got an opportunity to listen to the dignitaries.
The first session “Do Kerala need women entrepreneurs and how our society benefited from women entrepreneurship” opened with the inaugural address by K C Venugopal, M.P.; followed by Bhadra B – Deputy Mayor – Kochi; R. Nishanthini – IPS – Dy. Commissioner of Police-Kochi; Sheela Kochouseph Chittilappilly – Managing Director – V-Star Creations; Adv Shanimol Usman – AICC Secretary.
The main highlight of the first session was the interaction with Sheela Kochouseph Chittilappilly. She spoke about the difficulties she had to face as a woman entrepreneur and how she effectively overcame the difficulties to develop, V Star, into the brand it is today.
The second session “Does woman can really be a leader and entrepreneur?” which was chaired by experts namely, K. Paul Thomas – Founder and Chairman – ESAF, Adv. Jeby Mather, Sabriya Tenberken – Founder of Kanthari, Smitha – Social Changer and innovative speaker, Priya Manoj – Principal Consultant – Urjja, P. Joy Oommen – IAS – CMD – KFC.
The third session was based on the topic “How can we promote and ignite women entrepreneurship from B-Schools”. The dignitaries were Diwia Thomas – Founder – Paper Trial India.in, Thomas Antony – Startup Village, Prof. Abhilash S Nair – IIM Calicut, and Nisha Jose – Social Changer.
The fourth session included a panel discussion about “Women Leadership and Entrepreneurship: Do We Need Social and Policy Level Initiatives” by eminent personalities Rajesh Nair – President – Ernst and Young, Geeethika Suddep – Joint MD – Kerala Travels Interserve and A P Thomas – J.C.I.
The conclave witnessed various sessions including Motivation & Mentoring, Opportunities for MSMEs, Infrastructure & Resource Solutions for MSMEs, Funding and Finance Solutions for MSMEs and Interactive Session & Formation of Emerging Kerala MSME Cell.
These sessions were followed by a “Business Excellence Award Nite”, award function, inaugurated in presence of DC Books CEO Sri. Ravi Deecee. Hon’ble Minister K Babu addressed the delegates present. During the event, book release of “Coffee Table Book” was done by, Hon’ble Minister K Babu by handing over the first copy to P.V. Gangadharan, Director, KTC Group of Companies & Mathrubhumi.
Award Nite felicitated the best small and medium scale industrialists. P.V. Gangadharan, Director, KTC Group of Companies & Mathrubhumi and Shahal Hassan Musaliar – Chairman – TKM College Trust were bestowed with the Life Time Achievement Award at the event by Hon’ble Minister K Babu.
Other Awards bestowed include:
• Kerala Business Excellence Award for Outstanding Leadership – V George Antony, Managing Director & Country Head, UAE Exchange
• Kerala Women Entrepreneurship Excellence Award- M. R. Jyothy, Executive Director, Jyothy Laboratories Ltd.
• Professional Leadership & Promoting Entrepreneurship –P. Joy Oommen, IAS, Chairman and Managing Director, KFC.
• Future Medicine Excellence Award for Healthcare Entrepreneur – Thomas John, Director, Agappe Diagnostics Ltd.
• Future Medicine Excellence Award for Innovations in Healthcare – Prof. Dr. C. Mohamed Ashraf, Medical Director & Chairman Craft Hospital & Research Centre
• Future Medicine Excellence Award for Outstanding Contributions to Kerala Healthcare – Dr K A Kammappa, Medical Director, New Alma Hospital
• Outstanding & Innovative Entrepreneurship- Johnson Mathew K, Chairman & Managing Director, Trans Asia Group
• Emerging Kerala Business Excellence Award- Thomas George Muthoot, Director, Muthoot Pappachan Group.
• Most Influential Brand of the Year- Anoop Mukundan of Kalyan Jewellers.
• NRK Entrepreneur of the Year- Dr. A.V Anoop, Managing Director, AVA Cholayil Health Care.
• Outstanding Entrepreneurship- Akshay Agarwal, Managing Director, Acumen Capital Market (I) Ltd
• Business Excellence Award for Introducing Innovative Business Model & Achieving Success- P Natarajan (Raju), Founder & Managing Director, Top In Town Professional Caterers.
• Business Excellence Award for Innovations in Customer Care- K V Zakir Hussain, Chairman & Managing Director, Swadeshi Group of Companies.
• Business Excellence Award for Consistent Brand Performance- V. Sunil Kumar, Managing Director, Asset Homes.
• NRI entrepreneur of the Year 2015- Shooja Abdul Kharim, Managing Director, ADMA Group.
• Best SME- N. Bhaskaran, Managing Director, Carris Pipes & Tubes (P) Ltd.
• Agri- Entrepreneurship – C M Jacob, Founder, Chalingal Rubber Nursery.
The conclave came to an end by 8.00 pm.