After a long gap of nine months on physical meetings, Kanara Entrepreneurs (KE), here, conducted its members meet at Hotel Grand Magrath on December 11, with all covid protocols in place. The meeting started with the KE prayer recited by George Timothy.

The members who were eagerly waiting to meet and greet each other after this unprecedented break, were welcomed by KE president Charles Gomes. “There were many ups and downs and many challenging situations, but the very presence of so many members at this meeting sends out a statement that the members of KE have overcome all the trials and fears of the past few months, and have reached thus far,” said Charles during his presidential address.

Though there were no physical meetings since March 2020, due to the covid situation, KE continued to have its members’ meetings online and also conducted several informative webinars for the members as well as non-members over the past nine months. During this time, KE had as many as 56 new members joining in. However, due to the covid restrictions, there was no chance for them to take the oath of membership. Therefore, director membership, Pramod D’Souza administered the oath of membership to these members who had enrolled over the past nine months. 22 new members took the solemn oath in the presence of the BOD and other members of KE. President Charles Gomes handed over the welcome kit to the newly inducted members. Earlier on, former KE President Peter Anil Rego briefed the new members about KE and the journey for the past one decade.

With the general economic, health and financial slowdown and people generally in a somber mood, the BOD decided to boost the evening for the members on the theme ‘The Elite Covid Busters 2020’, keeping in mind, that the members were meeting each other after a prolonged interlude. To set the stage on fire with his convincing analogy of things was none other than the dashing and motivational speaker Claudius Periera, who kept the members glued to the stage as he delivered food for thought, along with some excerpts from his own life.

Following this, the members were divided into ten groups for some interactive task on how to align future business prospects on the right track, maintaining employees etc, keeping in mind the past experiences, impact on business and challenges faced during the covid season. The groups discussed and came out with some great ideas that were shared to the audience by the respective group leaders. Two of the groups bagged prizes for coming out with the best prospects. KE GenNow members Aaron Rego, Carol Pereira and Santosh Sequeira were the jury who announced the winners.

Post the formal meeting, the members were entertained to some Christmas carols and karaoke singing performances from Anil Rego, Charles Gomes, Arun Fernandes and others. KE member, Peter Rebello had arranged and sponsored the music and karaoke session. Director of events, Philip Pais ensured that all the members were comfortable and overlooked all the arrangements with help from Anthony Gonsalves and Ronald D’Souza. Leena Lobo proposed the vote of thanks. Nishan Periera was the MC for the evening.

With all the entertainment, music and singing happening in the background, the members were also seen visiting and patronizing the stalls that were on display by the KE members Keroline Martis, Leena Lobo, Adrian D’Souza, Ivan Pinto, Nigel Fernandes, Sharon Christopher, Aaron Rego and Royline Rodrigues. From homemade wine to freshly baked cakes, to leather jackets to save one from the Bengaluru cold, to jams, to kulkuls and rose cookies, etc etc, one could see that inquiries and sales were brisk at all the stalls, put up by these member- thanks to this business opportunity created by the BOD of KE.

The BOD led by president Charles Gomes signed off the year wishing a great season of Christmas to all the members. As we recover from an unforgettable 2020 which brought in all those incidents, probably this generation living has never heard of, KE eagerly looks forward to a new dawn of 2021 with a new lease of life and business endeavors for its members and their families, until they meet at the next members meeting in Feb 2021.