"Courageous decisions"

"Courageous decisions”
"A true entrepreneur is a doer…he must be able to say confidently ‘I create, I take risk, I live my passion and I am an entrepreneur,’” stated Capt Percy Master, India region president of the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC) at the annual general meeting of their India region held on October 29, 2020 over an electronic platform. Not everyone can become an entrepreneur, he cautioned. "Success stories are results of courageous decisions,” he highlighted. A professional is one who can do his best work (even) when he doesn’t feel like it, Master elaborated. He also emphasized that professionalism is not the label you give yourselves, it is a description you hope that others will apply to you. A note on the proceedings of the meeting was provided to Parsiana by Aspi Antia, chief executive officer. Global WZCC president Edul Davar was present at the virtual meeting, he noted.

From l: Capt Percy Master, Behroze Daruwalla, Vivek Savkur

"We request more young entrepreneurs to avail of the WZCC India – WZOTF (World Zoroastrian Organisation Trust Funds) financial support,” urged Master. Under this scheme, the two bodies jointly provide seed money for Zoroastrian start up business ventures (see "Fulfilling a long-felt need,” Parsiana, April 7, 2019). On the cards are interviews with professionals of all age groups, to be published in community periodicals. "The purpose of this is to encourage youth to learn from experiences of entrepreneurs/professionals to succeed in their ventures… The best way to succeed is to learn from others’ experience. We expect this initiative, to be taken up in 2021, to be very successful,” Master told Parsiana.
Keynote speaker for the evening Vivek Savkur, founder, past president and current executive officer of British Columbia-India Business Network spoke about the possibilities of potential trade between Canada and India in the areas of life sciences, bio pharmaceuticals, tourism, mining, natural gas. "More than 10,000 technology companies are looking for opportunities to work in India,” he said. Savkur was introduced to WZCC by life member Jamshed Mistry and was introduced to the audience of the meeting by Shernaz Siganporia, honorary secretary of the Bangalore chapter.
Head of chancery - consulate general of India to Canada, Manish Grover, spoke of specific opportunities for trade and commerce between Canada and India. Investors like the Canadian Pension Fund and Brookfield want to ramp up their investments in India in the areas of infrastructure, logistics, renewable energy, real estate and start-ups, he stated. We are just an email or a phone call away from those who want to avail of these opportunities, Grover reassured the audience.
Chapter reports were presented by Bombay chapter chairman Tehemton Dalal, Poona chapter by Tehmasp Bharucha, and Bangalore chapter chairman Air Chief Marshall (retd) Fali Major while Villie Daruwalla, vice chair of the women’s wing of Bombay chapter detailed their activities. Youth director Rashna Sanjana gave an account of the Bombay chapter’s youth wing. Highlights of each region were earlier included in Master’s opening remarks. The meeting ended with closing comments by India board member Viraf Deboo who reiterated the contribution of the India chapters. As in previous years, Behroze Daruwalla, honorary secretary of the India region and chairperson of the global Women’s Entrepreneurs Wing hosted the meeting and oversaw the proceedings.
Senior citizen and harmonica player Coomi Kasad regaled the audience with English and Hindi music. The chat box was full of compliments paid to her, noted Antia. Sanjana offered a vote of thanks.