Our host, Mark John started the KE GenNow meet at 6.30 pm sharp on the summer evening of 15th March at Hotel Grand Magrath.

Attended by many young entrepreneurs of KE below the age 40 years, this meeting had a vibrant atmosphere and some great conversations with a objective of “Build connects in a casual yet powerful way”

The meeting commenced with a prayer lead by Nishan Pereira, fostering a sense of community and well- being among the young entrepreneurs.

Mark being the interactive host, started the conversation with a simple question! WHY ARE WE HERE TODAY? And KE GenNow being a spontaneous group, flooded the room with their answers.

We are here

·       To build connections with each other

·       To have a sense of belonging in the community

·       To motivate and get motivated

·       To learn something new

are few of the answers that defined the motive behind this wonderful meeting.

Before the room could go silent, Mark was ready with another interactive activity. In no time we were divided into 2 teams facing each other, greeting each other and explaining about our businesses and the core principles we follow on a day-to-day basis. It was amazing to know, how each one of us are following certain principles which makes our businesses unique and different from others.  When some members kept things simple with their business, others made it a point to be persistent, curious and being systematic. When one wanted to be kind, passionate and punctual other preferred being real, loyal and confident. Overall, every point was valuable and important.

As we cheerfully returned to our seats, Deora D’Souza and Alisha Fernandes took on the task of starting the networking session. We were asked to write 2 lies and 1 truth about ourselves and our tablemates were made to guess it. Started as a networking activity, this exercise indeed created a wave of laughter across the hall. Surprising facts about GenNow members made everyone wonder about the talents and skills this group possess.

Next came the activity of creating an elevator pitch for our businesses in an innovative way and presenting it. Alisha gracefully pitched her business to give an example. It was worded so nicely that I personally thought she should have been doing it on an investor show like Shark Tank or our own LaunchPad by KE.

We all started pitching our businesses as innovatively as possible but it was Freeman D’Almeida who stole the show with his humorous and engaging elevator pitch about an accounting firm catering to the residents of Dubai. The cheering applause and once more roars, made him the star of this session and he was unanimously chosen as the winner of the business elevator activity.

It was time for the main talk of the evening “How to Sell without Selling” by Helius D’Souza. Helius introduced himself as a fitness educator and a sales coach. Everyone was impressed when they got to know that he had trained celebrities like Hritik Roshan and his family. Helius took us through his presentation which highlighted PEIQ (Psychological and Emotional Investigative Questioning) and selling techniques.

·       Why should the client come to you?

·       What is selling?

·       What are you doing different that someone else isn’t doing?

These questions did make everyone think and strategize about their business operations. His idea of “ Don’t Sell the Product, Sell the Result” is something that’s going to stay with me forever.

Helius explained the 5 foundations of PEIQs as Tonality, Concern, Curiosity, Power of Pauses and Asking the right questions. His talk was filled with examples that are practical, logical and insightful.

As we thanked Helius for sharing his knowledge with us, our director mentoring Anoop Sequeira gave an insight about the upcoming KE program, Founders’ Fiesta. I was quite surprised to know our member Alan Aranha had attended all the Founders; Fiesta meets of KE. When asked what made him attend all of them, he genuinely answered, “Founders’ Fiesta is what KE is all about. It’s a great learning platform and inspiring to know how somebody started a business, what are the odds and problems they faced and how they overcame those. These learnings can’t be found in any books. It comes with experience and I want to gain that”. I think we can expect a great attendance for the next Founders’ Fiesta session after that inspirational answer by Alan.

Petson Gonsalves delivered the Vote of Thanks before we dispersed for a social networking with our Lead members followed by dinner.

Overall, this GenNow meet provided a valuable platform to connect, share ideas and get inspiration from each other.

Claudius Pereira Clarence Pereira Naveen R D’Souza James Coelho Anoop Sequeira Pramod DSouza Sunil D’sa Leena Lobo Leo Sequeira Alan Aranha Eugene Mathias Kiran DSouza Caroline Pereira KE Admin Neil Rodrigues Elton Joy D’Souza Petson Paul Gonsalves Dr Bryan D Menezes Freeman Prem D Almeida Nishan Marc Pereira

#KEGENNOW #Entrepreneurs #networking