Prism of Possibilities - Inspiring talk by leaders at ICAI annual conference
Wilson Saldanha
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
Eminent leaders from various walks of life inspired the audience at "Prism of Possibilities"- an International Conference organised by the Kuwait Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India(ICAI) at Radisson Blu Hotel Kuwait on December 3rd.
Renowned speakers from India who are experts in their field, including the Kargil War veteran Capt. Akhilesh Saxena, Mr. S. V. Nathan (Partner and Chief Talent Officer at Deloitte India), Founder of Goonj & Raman Magsaysay award winner Mr Anshu Gupta, CEO of Kotak Investment Advisors Lakshmi Iyer and Spokesperson for Mumbai Dabbawalas Ritesh Andre, shared their success stories and the unique ways of how they converted possibilities to opportunities at the conference.
Earlier, ICAI Kuwait Chapter Chairperson CA. Sriram Gopalakrishnan welcomed the audience. Chief guest Smita Patil- Charge' d' affaires, Indian Embassy officially inaugurated the conference. ICAI Vice President CA. Aniket Sunil Talati and ICAI President CA. (Dr.) Debashis Mitra addressed the audience virtually.
Partner and Chief Talent Officer at Deloitte India S. V. Nathan's talk about "Future (with) options". He appreciated Kuwait for its discipline and generosity. He spoke about how to become an outstanding professional and moreover a human being, how an idea can change life, changes in technology etc. He focused on how the technology changed from files to laptop and working in office to work from home/anywhere. He along with CA. Sriram Gopalakrishnan released book "The Heart of Work" written by him.
Anshu Gupta, the Founder of Goonj, spoke on topic "Dignity, not charity". He insisted on paying back to the society in return of the benefits we got from government which is from the taxes of common man. His charity work started after realizing that the people in some part of India are not dying due to cold but due to lack of warm cloths. He explained how the cloths change the look of a person and about the exchange of money and skills. He said we should not forget that it's a blessing that we are alive after Covid-19 as everyone has lost someone. He said that the charity is not paying back but it is giving back to society what we got.
Lakshmi Iyer of Kotak Investment spoke on "India - a land of opportunity". She spoke about inflation surged across the globe, recession, foreign investments, surging exports in India, GDP growth, investing in stock markets etc. She asked to keep faith in India's growth and invest in India.
The Kargil War veteran caption Akhilesh Saxena with the topic "Arise, Awake and Ascend" inspired the audience with his journey in Indian Army. He said to see the opportunity, one must have dream and passion for the same. He related the teamwork to the journey of a soldier and facing difficulties in war field.
Ritesh Andre's talk on "Think about the box" mesmerized the audience. He explained how the Mumbai Dabbawalas collect the Tiffin at 9am and deliver to offices before 1 pm and return the empty boxes before 6 pm. There are total 5000 Dabbawalas in Mumbai who delivers 2 lakh Tiffin's in time without any private vehicles or technology with 1 in 6 million missing Tiffin which can't be achieved by any delivery companies. All the Tiffin's are identified by their own coding system which was explained in detail during session.
A panel discussion on the practical aspects of start-up universe were also held during the conference where start-up leaders from Kuwait participated. The panel discussion was moderated by CA. Sunny Bhatia - CFO Kuwait Projects Holding Company (Panel moderator) along with Abdullah Al Ajmi (Co-Founder of Hesabe), Divanshu Jain (Founder of KATCH), Jamal Al Humoud (Founder and CEO of Journey) and Ali Abdul Hassan (Co-Founder & CEO of TAP). They shared their views on start up of new business and challenges faced to run the same. They also spoke about the growth of new businesses and online businesses during and after Covid-19.
The CA's who have completed 25 years of their professional journey and the students from Kuwait who completed CA were honored with mementos by CA. Sriram Gopalakrishnan. All the guest speakers, media personals and dance artists were felicitated with mementos. As a part of Indian Cultural Presentation, Kinkini Ensemble under the guidance of Karnataka Kalashri. Guru. Rangashree classical dance 'Bharatham' was presented by Srivibha, Gayathri Devi and Vidhyavathi.
Vote of Thanks was rendered by CA. Rabin Gonsalves, Vice Chairperson, ICAI Kuwait Chapter. Raffle draws were conducted to keep the excitement in audience. The program was well compered by Kuwait's one of the top MC's Lloyd D'Souza. The well arranged program came to an end with grand buffet dinner.
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