E-Week, Asia’s largest entrepreneurship event is back! (20th – 27th February 2016)

National Entrepreneurship Network [NEN] organizes the

9^thE-Week, 2016

~ The Entrepreneurship Week India is Asia’s largest campaign to build public support for entrepreneurship ~

~ Entrepreneurship led activities across campuses over a week will cover30 cities, 5000 events and 7,00,000 participants ~

~The theme of E-Week 2016,“Innovative Ideas for a Better World”aims at enhancing the entrepreneur-friendly environment in India and making it more vibrant  ~

Mumbai, 01 February, 2016: National Entrepreneurship Network [NEN]today announced the roadmap forE-Week 2016, a popular entrepreneurship event in the country amongst a massive students gathering across the country covering 18 states and 30 cities.E-Week, an annual event driven by NEN the flagship initiative of Wadhwani Foundation has created ripples across the country and this year aims over 700,000 participants to participate. The Eweek culminates in four grand finales at four regions, North, South, East& West.

The theme of this E-Week 2016 “Innovative Ideas for a Better World” has focused on encouraging educators and students to become ‘innovation catalysts’ by making deep investments in ideas and innovations that guarantee market success. NEN E-Week is focused to build public awareness and support for entrepreneurship. The initiative further encourages public attention on today's biggest opportunities and persuades participants to reflect on their role as leaders and innovators. The campaign will see active involvement of many organizations that support entrepreneurship - corporate entities; industry captains, experts, non-profits, and faculty leaders to inspire, encourage, and guide students.

“E-Week is a National Entrepreneurship Network [NEN] initiative in its 9^th year now. It is designed to encourage educators and students to become innovation catalysts by making deep investments in ideas and innovations that guarantee market success. With a slew of ‘Startup India’ measures recently announced, we feel that it is the right time to intensify our efforts in encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs to partner with industries that can propel their innovation labs. Our programs have inspired many students to start their own ventures immediately after graduation. We are now planning to expand these programs to over 3000 colleges in the coming years, in partnership with the Government”, says Sashi Chimala, Executive Vice President, National Entrepreneurship Network [NEN], Wadhwani Foundation. 

The E-Week regional qualifiers this year will be held across all zones- North [Jaipur], Central [Indore], South [Bangalore] and East [Calcutta]. Students with the most compelling stories stand a chance to share their stories during the regional rounds and win prizes. Institutes wishing to register can log in athttp://eweek.hostedindia.com/

Participating Institutes will be eligible for 3 categories of awards:

1.      E-WEEK PREMIER AWARDS

·         High Impact Institute Award:Displaying exemplary determination and dedication in running high decibel programmes that result in creation of more start-ups

·         Campus Company Award: Identifying and rewarding some of the best campus companies across India

2.       E-WEEK INNOVATION AWARDS

·         Institute Innovation Award:Recognizing efforts of an institute for encouraging its students to come up with innovative solutions to local challenges 

·         School Innovation Award: Rewarding aschool team which has developed innovative project/ideas as a solution to existing problems

3.       E-WEEK SPECIAL AWARDS: Forinstitutes who are committed to promote entrepreneurship and organize various impactful programs and activities on campus throughout the year in addition to organizing impactful thematic events during E-week. 

·         E-Week Champion Award: Overall excellence and leadership in direct creation of quality ventures

This campaign platform is primarily created to recognize and promote creativity where innovative ideas can be proposed, shared and disseminated. This will be a national register of innovations which helps any individual to accentuate his/her remarkable innovations and convert them into viable business opportunities. It will also help these remarkable innovations reach a larger audience, who could take advantage and replicate the benefits of their respective communities.

With the ever growing entrepreneurship ecosystem in India catalysed by National Entrepreneurship Network and India Govt., E-Week India has become a much sought after annual event among the students and entrepreneurs community. It is India’s largest awareness campaign to build public support for entrepreneurship.

The activities include competitions, expositions, educational movie screenings, leadership and motivation talks with successful entrepreneurs, panel discussions, business plan and skill building workshops, business and tech bazaars, awareness campaigns and much more.

The entrepreneur ecosystem in India has come a long way. Despite the challenges and limitations, India’s entrepreneurs have started making a big impact on the global scene. Imagine what could happen if we pull out all the stops and create an entrepreneur-friendly environment in India. The next big Microsoft or Google will will definitely emerge from the innovation labs of an Indian campus.

For more details on E-Week,  please visit http://eweek.nenonline.org/

About Wadhwani Foundation:

Wadhwani Foundation’s primary mission is accelerating economic development in emerging economies through large-scale job creation. Five Initiatives driving innovation, entrepreneurship and skill development cater to this mission. The Foundation is present in India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Malaysia, and has plans to expand to other countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America.

National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) inspires, educates and supports student entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs for creating high-value jobs.

Skills Development Network (SDN) provides vocational training support to educational and training institutes, and employers for entry-level mid-skill jobs through a video based online platform.

Opportunity Network for Disabled (OND) mainstreams the educated disabled into sustainable high quality corporate jobs through a business value proposition.

Research and Innovation Network (RIN) aims to create a world-class innovation ecosystem in India with the goal of propelling India towards the top ten innovative nations in the world.

Policy Research Centre provides data driven research inputs for informed policy action towards accelerating economic growth. The initiative has also established a chair in U.S-India policy at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Purplehed encourages youth to ‘Burn Like the Sun’, by paying a tribute to Late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

‘Burn like the Sun’, the music video portrays educating and empowering people to break external and internal shackles which stop them to progress.

Mumbai, 1^st Feb, 2016: Purplehed production house launches their incredible music video‘Burn Like the Sun’ on Purplehed VEVO Channel on YouTube - http://youtu.be/qLhHJa2o_TQand aims to contribute in the vision of Late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. The team has proactively contributed their efforts to lighten up the never extinguishing flame through this inspiring video.

Ashutosh Upadhyay, known by his stage name Purplehed is the founder of Purplehed Productions. Purplehed has penned soulful lyrics for ‘Burn like the Sun’. Besides being the Songwriter/Singer, Purplehed also plays a lead character in the video. Talking about his inspiration behind the video he said, “Dr. Kalam has always inspired all of us with his teachings. He was a man with pure heart and soul. Film making is a responsibility towards the society and especially towards the youth. The idea behind establishing this record label is to explore diverse music and dance art forms with the aim to inspire people.”

The music video is directed and edited by Jackson Garg, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur , who has also edited Purplehed’s first music video “Feel the passion” Jackson has worked on various trailers of Bollywood movies such as I-Shankar’s Film, Lunchbox, Titli, Ugly, Dolly ki Doli  to name a few. He has also edited for the popular YouTube channels The Viral Fever, Video Daddy and many more. He has also dabbled with acting in few advertisements. 

Purplehed, a production house comprising of young artists hailing from IIT and NIT have come up with their creative rendition of acknowledging Late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. The breathtaking music video is inspired by the teachings of Late Dr. Kalam and his vision for India. The former president always preferred to call himself a teacher and one of the key visions he had was to see educated India. ‘Burn like the Sun’, the music video portrays educating and empowering people to break external and internal shackles which stop them to progress.

Anurag Upadhyay, Co- founder, Purplehed, has beautifully choreographed the act alongwith the modern contemporary dancer Krupa Shah. In the past, she has given credit acclaimed performances in renowned theatres like NCPA (Mumbai) and Sri Ram Centre, Delhi. Anurag and Krupa are playing the imaginary lead characters in the video.  Expressing his enthusiasm about the video Anurag said, “Choreographing this lovely piece was an extreme pleasure. This video intends to play a small part in igniting the spirit of knowledge in the youth and hopefully inspire them towards the nation’s cause. In my opinion, everybody deserves to get basic education. Education is the first step towards development of the country”.

About Purplehed: Purplehed was founded by two brothers Ashutosh Upadhyay, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and Anurag Upadhyay an alumnus of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Warangal. They both have always been passionate about performing arts in the areas of music and dance. The journey of these brothers with Purplehed has been all about leveraging their entrepreneurship and team building skills to set up a venture out of their art. Purplehed is a platform that bridges the gap between Directors and Artists, allowing the right people to find the right roles.

Siddharth Mahadevan lends his voice for Gemini Arabians anthem

Gemini Arabians ready to conquer the pitch with new anthem

Siddharth Mahadevan, son of musical prodigy Shankar Mahadevan, lends his vocals to the upbeat lyrics by Tanishq Nabar and composer Deepak Dev for the peppy anthem titled Maar Maar 

Dubai, February 01, 2016: Gemini Arabians – the team participating in the ongoing Masters Champions League featuring cricketing legends such as Virender Sehwag, Saqlain Mushtaq, Kumar Sangakkara, Kyle Mills, Shivnarine Chanderpaul together, has officially launched its team anthem.

The anthem exuberates the team’s ethos and slogan “Play for Passion” with a Hinglish lyrical medley and fresh and energetic music. Gemini Arabians prides itself as a team cut out of the fabric of this country and it is evident through the larger than life composition of the song.

Written by Tanishq Nabar, famed for penning down lyrics of songs for Hindi movies like Tanu Weds Manu and the popular song from Student of the Year “Ishq wala love”, the anthem’s lyrics explore the players’ intention to win and their fans’ enthusiasm. Composer Deepak Dev, famous for his involvement in many hits in the Malayalam cinema scene, including Chronic Bachelor and Udayananu Tharam has composed the music to perfectly fit the team’s passion towards the game. While Siddharth Mahadevan is continuing to prove that true talent doesn’t fall far from the family tree, by lending his voice to Maar Maar with his imitable easy going yet strong voice.  

Mr. Nalin Khaitan, CEO of Khaitan Holdings and owner of the Gemini Arabians, states, ‘’we couldn’t be more thrilled with our anthem. The combined efforts of Siddarth Mahadeven, Deepak Dev and Tanishq Nabar has created a score that perfectly emulates our love for cricket and the team’s energy to play and win MCL.  We wanted to give our supporters a catchy chant and an energy filled song and I am sure Maar Maar will catch on.’’

Remarkably, Gemini Arabians anthem was thought of and brainstormed through the instant messaging application “WhatsApp”. Sitting in three different parts of India, bound by their passion to create beautiful music, Siddharth, Deepak and Tanishq combined the use of modern technology and a synergetic musical approach to capture the passion and emotion that surrounds the Gemini Arabians and cricket culture as a whole. Deepak and Tanishq met only through each other’s WhatsApp profile pictures while Siddharth had met the composer over a decade ago.

Link to listen to Maar Maar:

 https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=528060617355679&id=510912342403840

About Gemini Arabians

Gemini Arabians (“GA”) is a franchise cricket team in the newly formed Masters Champions League (MCL) in the UAE.  MCL is an innovative concept that brings the legends of the game back into action in a T20 format. Close to 250 players who have retired from all formats of international cricket went under the hammer to be part of one of the 6 franchises in MCL. The tournament itself is scheduled to be held from January 28, 2016 to February 13, 2016, in Dubai and Sharjah. Gemini Arabians have been handed the honor of playing the opening game of the tournament. This is the first tournament of its kind in the world where we will witness our hero’s battle it out to be the “Champions among Masters”. The UAE will be the first associate country of the ICC to launch a T20 league of international stature. This tournament has received the stamp of approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC), Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA) and Emirates Cricket Board (ECB). 

The Gemini Arabians franchise is owned by one of UAE’s most reputed conglomerates Khaitan Holdings, guided by Mr IP Khaitan and Mr. Nalin Khaitan. As a locally-owned team, Gemini Arabians looks to capitalize on its home advantage to give fans an all-round experience of cricketing joy.

THE SQUAD

Boasting one of the most exciting lineups of MCL 2016, Gemini Arabians brings you everything you love about the game. The squad features some of the most admired cricketers from as many as 11 cricket-playing nations. The legends who make up the squad are:

• Virender Sehwag

• Richard Levi

• Kumar Sangakkara

• Shivnarine Chanderpaul

• Brad Hodge

• Justin Kemp

• Muttiah Muralitharan

• Saqlain Mustaq

• Kyle Mills

• Graham Onions

• Jacques Rudolph

• Rana Naved ul-Hassan

• Paul Harris

• Ashish Bagai

• Saqib Ali

THE PROMOTERS

The Khaitan Holdings Group is promoted by Mr. IP Khaitan and Mr.Nalin Khaitan. The group’s business interests have been in the field of Heavy and Light Industrial Raw Material, General Trading, Investments, Telecommunications, Retail, Mining and Sports Management. Gemini Arabians is the group’s biggest sports investment yet. However, through Interface Global and Interface Transworld the group has been deeply involved in the country’s cricketing scene. The group was the main sponsor for the UAE national cricket team from 1993-1996, during which they qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996. Since then, the group has actively been involved in the promotion of sports in the UAE over the last two decades. Team Interface, one of the top A division teams in UAE, gives young cricketers the opportunity to play the highest form of cricket in the UAE and also enables the UAE team to pick from a pool of talented upcoming cricketers.

Hosts the Vintage & Classic Car Rally at Hriday ~Sofitel Mumbai BKC celebrates its Fourth Anniversary!

Mumbai, February 1st, 2016: Sofitel Mumbai BKC began its Fifth year of operations, by hosting the Vintage and Classic Car Rally at a celebratory brunch this Sunday. The hotel treated its guests to the nostalgia of the yesteryears as they witnessed about 200 of the best classic and vintage cars from Rolls Royce, Bentley, BMW, Austin, Ford, Chrysler, Packard, Lanchester, Mercedes-Benz, and Cadillac amongst others. Around 60 bikes were seen from the works of Royal Enfield, Triumph, Vespa, Harley Davidson and more.

An association of Sofitel Mumbai BKC and the Vintage & Classic Car Club of India (VCCCI), the rally was flagged off at Horniman Circle, Mumbai and culminated at Hriday in Sofitel Mumbai BKC. The hotel’s spectacular 30,000 sq.ft. outdoor venue Hriday displayed all the luxury and vintage cars, with the grandeur of the post-Victorian era.

Sofitel Mumbai BKC has successfully introduced the city to a unique mélange of French elegance and warm Indian hospitality. Over the four years, the hotel has become a destination of choice for Mumbaikars. The hotel is also a hub for new culinary trends, entertainment and luxury hospitality. From MICE and banquets, fashion shows, theatre, dance and cultural programs to global gastronomy, Sofitel Mumbai BKC has made a mark on each of these parameters. The hotel is ranked third on TripAdvisor, has won several awards including the World Luxury Hotel Awards twice in 2014 and 2015, which makes it a leader amongst its peers.

Commenting on the event, Mr. Biswajit Chakraborty, General Manager, Sofitel Mumbai BKC said “On the occasion of its Fourth Anniversary, Sofitel Mumbai BKC gave its guests an opportunity to experience luxury in its true form. Guests were privy to some of the most beautiful Vintage and Classic cars and bikes from the most valued brands in the automobile industry. We thank our guests for the last four years and promise them unique experiences filled with finesse and style through this year too.”

Sofitel, authentic luxury hotels with a French soul

Sofitel is the elegant answer to a luxury traveler’s quest for the good things in life. Each hotel illustrates an artful blend of local culture and French soul. With an innate sense of new French art de vivre, Sofitel hold themselves to a heightened level of excellence and refinement. Over 120 addresses in 40 countries across the five continents appeals to modern status seekers, who have something special and unique that makes them stand out from the crowd. Each hotel is differentiated by its “cousu-main” service, graceful design, creative and inspired gastronomy in major cities like Paris, London, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Dubai, Bangkok, Shanghai or nestled away in a country landscape in Morocco, Egypt, Thailand, French Polynesia.

Volkswagen achieves 8% increase in monthly sales for January 2016

• 4018 units sold in the month of January 2016
• Volkswagen to showcase 4 new products at the Delhi Motor Show, including – Volkswagen Ameo, Tiguan, Passat GTE and Polo GTI

Mumbai, February 1, 2016: Volkswagen, Europe’s leading carmaker has clocked a growth of 8% in monthly sales, for January 2016, selling 4018 units in January 2016 as compared to 3734 units sold in the corresponding month of the previous year.

Mr. Michael Mayer, Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Starting this year on a positive note, we are very happy to announce an increase in monthly sales for Volkswagen Passenger Cars for January 2016. We attribute this success to a consistent overall performance of our highly popular carlines, the Polo, Vento and Jetta, supported by an encouraging response to the recently launched 21^st Century Beetle. With a pipeline filled with highly anticipated, performance-driven products, we look forward to a successful year ahead.”

18th Global Conference of Actuarie

Actuaries’ torchbearers of trust’; should ensure customer centricity – IRDA Chairman 

18^th Global Conference of Actuaries begins; delegates deliberate on building growth
momentum

Mumbai, February 01, 2016: The 18^th Global Conference of Actuaries (GCA) organised by the Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI) was inaugurated with a key note address by Mr. T. S. Vijayan, Chairman IRDA. With the governments across the world introducing reforms to sustain and push growth, the forum provides a platform to discuss the opportunities and challenges that arise due to changing economic and business landscape.

Inaugurating the conference, IRDA Chairman Mr. T.S. Vijayan spoke on how actuarial profession is at the forefront of building the trust in the insurance industry in general and customers in particular.

“We have to get a better deal for the customers. The industry has seen close to rupees 25 lakh crores invested by the customers. This is due to the trust and commitment reposed by the customers in the industry. Trust is not a onetime affair; it has to be renewed every time. Actuaries have a great responsibility to ensure that we remain trusties of the customers through the changes in technology, products as well as regulations,” said Mr. T.S. Vijayan.

Mr. Vijayan also reposed his faith in the Indian insurance industry to grow at a much faster pace than experienced currently.

“The Asian markets have recorded a real growth of 6.5 percent, emerging markets grew at 7.4 percent, and advanced countries grew by 2.9 percent while India could only grow at 1.8 percent in 2014-15. In this year we should be able to make up for the growth and industry need to identify which are the things relevant for capturing customer’s mind and wallet share,” said Mr. T.S. Vijayan.  

Rajesh Dalmia, President of Institute of Actuaries of India, the organizers of the Global Conference of Actuaries, discussed the developments in the Indian actuarial profession and outlined the strategies to ensure the development of the talent pool to support industry’s growth.

“Actuaries as a profession are in great demand, but there is a shortage of about 40,000 actuaries globally while we have around 70,000 working actuaries globally. Our institute’s fellow membership stands at 300, and have close to 35 newly qualified actuaries this year, our aim is to take this number to 100 newly qualified actuaries each year” said Mr. Rajesh Dalmia.

IAI believes that in the changing economic scenario, actuarial services could be utilised in other industries as well.

Dilip Chakraborty, Chairman, 18^th GCA Organizing Group commented: “We are facing shortage of opportunities for student and part qualified actuaries. As more actuaries qualify, we need to go out to non-traditional business such as banking industry, where actuarial expertise is needed, to be able to grow the profession. This will require the support of the Regulators”.

The programme covers four plenary sessions and fifteen concurrent sessions, providing insights into the current Issues related to the actuarial profession & industry. The concurrent sessions cover Life Insurance, General Insurance, Health Insurance, Pension & Employee Benefits, Data Sciences & ERM & Pension.

The GCA is organised annually since 1999 and is a major event attracting stakeholders in the insurance and financial sectors including actuaries and non-actuaries. Since the 13th GCA in Feb, 2011, the event has been launched on the global scale, attracting international audience. Apart from IFoA, UK, Society of Actuaries (SOA), USA and Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), USA are also participating in this event. It may be further noted that Institute has recently agreed on MRA with CAS.

T.S. Vijayan, Chairman, IRDA, India, Dilip Chakraborty, Chair – 18th GCA Organising Group, India,Thomas Mathew, MD & CEO, RGA Services Pvt. Ltd., Rajesh Dalmia, President – Institute of Actuaries of India, Bob Miccolis, Board Chair/ Past President, CAS, US, Allan O’ Bryant, EVP, & Head of Asia RGA, USA and Sanjeeb Kumar VP, IAI India, were some of the eminent panellists who participated in the inaugural session of the 18^th GCA.

Having underscored the message that the actuarial profession is a custodian of customer’s trust, the 18^th GCA is truly a global event having witnessed participation of over 726 delegates from 16 countries.

About: Institute of Actuaries of India is a statutory body established under The Actuaries Act 2006 (35 of 2006) for regulation of profession of Actuaries in India. IAI organises Global Conference of Actuaries (GCA) annually since 1999, with growing participation from key stakeholders in the Insurance and Financial Services Sector across India and the international actuarial community. Delegates from the Institute of Actuaries of UK, USA, South Africa, International Actuarial Associations, IASB, CAS, International Association of Insurance supervisors (IAIS), IRDA and all insurance and reinsurance companies in India will participate in the conference.

Radio Mirchi for Mirchi Music Award jury meet with renowned artist

 

                               Radio Mirchi for Mirchi Music Award