Sports and athletics have always played a significant role in transforming economies, societies and nations as a whole. Besides enabling sportspersons to stay more physically fit and active than others, sports support an ethos of hard work, discipline, fair play and a never-say-die attitude — key factors for achieving success not only in the arena of sports but in other spheres of life as well. The connection between sports and entrepreneurship is undeniably strong, and also lucrative. Strategy making, innovation, leadership, teamwork and above all, resilience — core qualities or abilities that a sportsman must possess — are the very qualities required in a successful business person. The sports industry is a highly competitive one and successful instances of sports entrepreneurship are abundant, particularly in the era of IPL and team ownerships.
With the objective of inspiring aspiring entrepreneurs through their life stories and to help develop sports as a business proposition, Confederation of Indian Industries Indian Women’s Network, (CII IWN) West Bengal Chapter organised a Meet the Legends Fireside Chat featuring cricketing greats Snehasish Ganguly and Jhulan Goswami on June 17 at The Park. The session was moderated by chairperson of CII IWN and managing director of Easy Note Stationery Shaleni S Biswas. Chairperson of CII IWN West Bengal Chapter Sujata Guin delivered the welcome address. Co-chairperson of CII IWN entrepreneurship panel Rakhee Biswas Gandhi and vice-chairperson CII IWN West Bengal Chapter Smita Chatterji presented the vote of thanks and closing address.
Focusing on the former cricketers’ individual journeys on the cricket pitch and beyond, the chat threw light on various topics including the business aspect of sports (including direct revenues from broadcasters and sponsors, endorsements by players), sports as a career, business ideas in sports and its allied fields, lessons for budding entrepreneurs and how to promote business growth, among others. Jhulan Goswami also spoke on the struggle of women cricketers, gender bias in sports, how to cope with defeat and criticism in a positive way, and opportunities for women in sports and the business of sports in the current era.
In an interactive session afterwards, Ganguly and Goswami responded to the audience’s queries on health and fitness, the role of discipline in achieving goals and the need to relax and recharge to gain optimum benefit from one’s efforts.