Young entrepreneurs converge in Mumbai for Commonwealth-Asia summit

Young Indians, which is an integral part of the Confederation of Indian Industry will host the first summit of the Commonwealth Asia Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs in Mumbai between the 13-15 December 2012.

The Commonwealth-Asia Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAAYE / www.caaye.com), formed in November 2011 is a joint initiative of the Commonwealth Youth Programme-Asia Centre and Young Indians.

“CAAYE functions as a ‘network of networks’ of young entrepreneurs from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Brunei and Maldives and the organizations that support them. The Alliance has a mandate to continually promote the cause of young entrepreneurs in the respective countries. We convene each year and in advance of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting & relevant Commonwealth Ministerial forums to provide a platform to present a united voice of young entrepreneurs.” said Dr Rahul Mirchandani, Founder President, CAAYE and Past National Chairman, Young Indians

“In addition to advocating a more conducive youth entrepreneurship policy from Member governments, CAAYE also has a host of regional, bilateral and country specific activities to mentor youth into entrepreneurship. One example is our ‘Pipeline Partnership’ with the International Labour Organisation’s Youth Employment Network (YEN) for e-Coaching and Mentorship of young entrepreneurs using the YEN Marketplace platform which connects mentors with world class coaches with business plans, funding options and pitching their business ideas.

“Other programmes include Blue Ocean Dialogues Innovation workshops, Ideas Labs, Young Entrepreneur Awards, Entrepreneurship Curriculum revamp for Universities, and the like.” said Dr Mirchandani

CAAYE is highly respected within the Commonwealth Secretariat as a ‘best practice Alliance’ that within a short span of nine months since formation has succeeded in bringing together like minded organisations in the region to promote entrepreneurship as the key growth engine in Asia using a united, constructive and collective voice.

Dr Mirchandani said that he was excited to see the summit shape up and the enthusiastic participation of young entrepreneurs from all the member countries of the alliance. “The format of the summit is very unique with several opportunities for us to explore B2B opportunities within the Region, see excellence in action during the field visits to 6 diverse sectors and listen, learn and be inspired at the capstone event (Inaugural on the evening of 14 December 2012 and concurrent sessions on 15 December 2012) which will include a galaxy of speakers from government, industry, youth enterprises and the bureaucracy on topics including Education & Skills Development, Bank CEO, Breaking Trade Barriers and Building an Entrepreneur Ecosystem similar entrepreneurship enablers etc”, he explained.

When asked about the objective of the Summit, he said “One of the key outcomes of the Summit is to develop and present a Communiqué which will contain a set of constructive policy recommendations that young entrepreneurs wish to suggest to member governments to take in order to improve the youth entrepreneurship ecosystem. These collective voices will form a crisp and constructive set of recommendations developed using a working group that will work on the sidelines of the Summit and the final Communiqué will be handed over to the Commonwealth Secretariat at the Valedictory session on 15th December. Every delegate will be involved in this process starting a month prior to the event and will have their share of voice in this document.”

Some of the prominent names of speakers in the summit include

Ms Katherine Ellis, Director-Youth Affairs, Commonwealth Secretariat (London),

Ms Nita Chowdhury IAS, Secretary – Department of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India,

Mr R Gopalakrishnan, Director, Tata Sons Limited & Vice Chairman, Tata Chemicals Limited,

Mr Ashish Chauhan, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, BSE Ltd,

Mr Alex Mitchell, Director, Young Brits Network, UK,

Dr Naushad Forbes, Director, Forbes Marshall,

Mr Dinesh Awasathi, Director, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India,

Mr Paulius Kuncinas, Regional Editor – Asia, Oxford Business Group, London,

M V Tanksale, Chairman & Managing Director, Central Bank of India,

Mr Luca Donelli, Executive –Euros S.r.I – a part of the Donelli Group & G20 YEA Sherpa of the Italian Delegation of Confindustria YE,

Mr Sasha Mirchandani, Founder & Managing Director, Kae Capital,

Mr Shaffi Matther, Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister, Government of Kerala,

Mr Maheshwar Rao, Commissioner for Industrial Development & Director of Industries and Commerce, Government of Karnataka and

Dr Wilfried Aulbur, Managing Partner, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (P) Limited