Entrepreneurs' Orgn opens its arms to Pune

Many of us have ideas. But not everyone has the risk taking ability, skill or the right motivation and assistance to execute that idea. According to American web developer and businessman, Jack Dorsey, entrepreneurship is all about executing the idea and attracting other people to help you work on it. And while that is true, more often than not, without the right background, infrastructure and support, all the ideas and the risk taken are worth nothing. That’s where groups like Entrepreneurs’ Organisation or (EO), comes into play.

With a dynamic global network of 9,000 business owners in 38 countries, EO is the catalyst that enables entrepreneurs to learn and grow from each other, thereby leading to greater business success and an improved personal life. Initially, it was started as Young Entrepreneurs’ Organisation, but after realising that there is no particular age to start a business, the group decided to change its name to Entrepreneurs’ Organisation. In recent history, India has been one of the fastest growing countries with respect to EO chapters and the number of members. With Mumbai and Delhi being the most prominent of the chapters in India, apart from around 10 other chapters in the country and one in Nepal, the organisation recently launched the Pune Chapter.

Speaking about the Pune chapter, Chapter Launch director for EO South Asia, Shamit Khemka, says, “EO Pune will comprise essentially entrepreneurs or anyone who has a major stake in a business like a shareholder, director or a partner of a company from the region. Over the years, since the late 1980s when it was first started by a group of innovative, like-minded entrepreneurs, EO has been a platform that has helped its members advance their businesses, while also achieving their personal targets and enriching social interactions among peers.”

The Pune Chapter has six core members – Atul Goel, Rohit More, Yogesh Goyal, Sujit Jain, Chetan Wakalkar and Vishal Chordia, who will together look after the workings of the business. Over the next few days the organisation will undertake many enrollment initiatives, to bring in as many budding entrepreneurs as possible.

As per rules, a chapter must have minimum 25 members. Mumbai and Delhi together have about 113 members so far. The Pune chapter is also planning to call three speakers, who are leaders across various fields – technical, industry, and the like to speak to the members about their experience and their journey, over the next six months.

“In the past we have had, businessmen like Vijay Mallya, Richard Branson etc speak to our members in other chapters. In Pune, we are planning to have something similar too. However after six months, once the chapter is properly launched we aim to have one speaker every month,” says Khemka. The first meeting had Canadian motivational speaker and former journalist Amanda Lindhout, who was a hostage in war-torn Somalia for 460 days. Her life altering experience left everyone present there inspired.