The Young Indians (Yi) Howrah chapter held the first of its sessions on learning and entrepreneurship, titled ‘Tigers of Bengal’ at Ecospace, Rajarhat on September 4. Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman of the Ambuja Neotia Group helmed the session and capped it off with an interactive talk with the Yi Howrah members. Yi is a wing of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with 56 chapters in India, bringing together upcoming and young Indian entrepreneurs who share the common goal of contributing towards making a better society as responsible, purposeful denizens.
Neotia talked about an optimistic picture of the future of business in West Bengal. “We have great endowment of human capital and are already doing well in education, IT, health and tourism. Of course, there is always scope for growth but we must look forward in a positive light,” he said. As the session rolled on, Neotia put forth interesting anecdotes from his experience in the corporate sector so far and shared insights from his personal progress and growth as a businessman. He highlighted the importance of perseverance for one’s passion and maintaining the right approach to situations in business scenarios. “There are always risks to be assumed in business but despite the hard times, I believe that you must stick to your guns and results will follow. There is a chain effect. If you are passionate about what you do, the work will be good and if the work is good, chances are that it will be a financially viable project,” he explained. And along this journey, family is very important to keep one’s feet on the ground, Neotia added.
Members of Young Indians, Howrah presented Neotia with a souvenir Sourced by the correspondent
Neotia also mentioned some of his core values that he abides by and reckons to be prerequisites for success. “You must evaluate your own mental make-up to know whether you are an executive or an entrepreneur. This will help you play to your strength. There is always a conflict between the heart and the head. Never negate the head but allow the heart to decide,” he said. Blending his personal insights with vistas and wisdom to be successful in one’s business/entrepreneurial ventures, Neotia took the Yi Howrah Chapter members through an enriching talk, enthralling them all the more with the opportunity to interact with him. The members posed many questions to him, ranging from who his role models are to his favourite actor, his opinion on family, who was his first boss, how he tasted his first success and many more. Neotia took up the questions patiently and answered them one by one. The session rounded off well as an exchange of ideas and thoughts on business and its prospects in the state.
“It was a great learning for the team members of Yi Howrah to get to meet a personality of his stature, we hope to have many more such inspiring interactions during the ‘Tigers of Bengal’ series,” said Yi Howrah chapter chair, Gaurav Bajaj.