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A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT  of the CBFW-NEN Fellowship and the Women Mean Business Conference held in Mumbai. SONA RAMANI

In its second year, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and National Entrepreneurship Network Fellowship Programme celebrated the spirit of young vibrant students who are leading India’s entrepreneurial revolution from the front lines. The programme brought together dynamic young women, fostered a peer network, and provided access to skills-development workshops.

Women’s power

Women constitute half the human capital in our country, and more than half its customer base. Organisations can no longer afford to exclude women in the boardrooms; their aptitude and perspectiveareessential to succeed in today’s extremely competitive business environment. The CBFW-NEN Fellowship programme’s overarching goal is to equip and enable India’s young women to capitalise on today’s vast opportunities.“Women Mean Business” Conference conducted at the Hyatt Regency on December 8 in Mumbai radiated with the power of women. NEN consultants Siva Kumar and Vishnu Priya who have been associated with us in building our E-Cell from Day 1 recommended me for the Fellowship award to the Management of our college.

Upon receiving nomination from the college, the recommendation was forwarded to the NEN Trust at Bangalore.After a short-listing on considering the resumes and our achievements as an E-Leader, we were called for a telephone interview by Ms.Shubha Narayanan, Manager NEN Communications and the coordinator for the CBFW conference. I was lucky to be among the 10 E-leaders from India chosen for the CBFW-NEN Fellowship after a thorough selection process. All set and very thrilled about the Fellowship and attending the conference where we will be meeting vibrant entrepreneurs, I was counting the days.

On the 7th of December 2010, I was picked up from home by our Chaperon Mrs.Sujaya Rao and taken to the airport to board our flight to Mumbai to attend the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women- Women Mean Business Conference. We reached Mumbai and were taken to The Mirage for a networking dinner organised by the NEN Trust. During the dinner, we got a chance to interact with other participants and also with the NEN team. We were briefed on what we are to expect for the next day during the conference Then, After the dinner, we checked in to our rooms at the Regent, where we stayed for the night.

The next day we had an early start, as early as 6:30 am. After breakfast at The Regent, we were escorted to We attended a conference at the Hyatt Regency. Next was the rehearsal for the felicitation and after thatWe met a large group of successful entrepreneurs from various domains and countries. Before the inauguration ceremony, we had a panel discussion on the topic “Growing businesses by using ICT”. Cherie Blair awarded the fellowships to us. The profiles of the fellows were read to the audience consisting of 400 + entrepreneurs . We felt like celebrities at the conference with the audience coming over to congratulate us and take photographs with us.

Learning from the masters

We had one-on-one interactions with Laura Parkin, the founder of NEN, where we spoke about entrepreneur skills. In the session with Cherie Blair, she asked us what we had so far done in our lives for the benefit of society and also shared her experiences at No.10, Downing Street, London.

We had another long conversation with Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, founder of Biocon, on how she built the company and how she overcame difficulties to reach her position. We were privileged to interact with Shailesh Rao, the Managing Director, Google India and Media & Platforms, Asia Pacific, on google applications and cloud computing. We had a very lively interaction with Sunita Maheshwari, Pedi Cardiologist and Chief Dreamer, Telrad Solutions, Bangalore, who inspired us with new ideas. They were all so dynamic and inspiring and the interactions helped us to learn a lot… After the conference, we had a photo shoot session, prior to which we were dropped back at the airport for our return to Chennai.The Conference and the fellowship was indeed a very memorable occasion for me, which would not have been possible without the undue support extended by National Entrepreneurship Network and the Management, staff and students of Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai.

Sona is a student at Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai.

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