Indus Entrepreneurs Toronto Association (TiE)
This year has been one full of important milestones for TiE Toronto. For the first time in our history, our regular member base has exceeded 300 aspiring entrepreneurs; in addition we now have 52 outstanding, active Charter Members in our chapter. In addition, we increased our annual sponsors from two to four by welcoming Gowlings and Empire Life, in addition to RBC and Excalibur, and hope to increase this further this year.
We also elected three new Board members, who have brought new ideas, insights and energy to the Board. Asheet Mathur, Amit Monga and Priya Patil have already played a significant role in chairing committees for Mentoring, India Initiatives and Programming, respectively. Sunil Selby continues in his role as Chair of Charter Membership, Anju Virmani is aDirector, and Suresh Madan continues as Vice President and Chair of TiEQuest.
Programming is the core activity for our Chapter, and we have four streams of events that we host on an ongoing basis:
1. Entrepreneurial success stories and presentations on business building for general members.
2. Mentorship workshops.
3. Doing Business in India breakfast series, in partnership with the Consulate General of India.
4. TiEQuest
This past year we hosted 27 events, and are planning to hold a total of 32 events from now till June 2009.
In June 2008, we had the distinct pleasure of having a private meeting with India?s Minister for Science and Technology, Hon. Kapil Sibal. He was very knowledgeable about TiE, and offered his support to further the cause of innovation and entrepreneurship. He has also accepted our invitation to be a keynote speaker for the TiEQuest 2009 Gala Awards Dinner, in April 2009. What he asked from us is that we facilitate the creation of six joint ventures between Canadian and Indian organizations before the Gala Dinner.
Started by former Board member Ram Ramkumar in 2006, Asheet Mathur has launched the Mentoring Program for 2008-2009, as of last month. Asheet has spent much time in discussing the process that Ram had initiated, and ways in which to further improve this activity. This year, we will have monthly mentoring workshops, where Charter Members have the opportunity to mentor start ups, on an ongoing basis. The first mentoring workshop of this year was on November 5, 2008, where two companies and five Charter Members participated. Both companies have given us very positive feedback about the benefits of participating.
Mentoring is a core activity of TiE Toronto, and I would like to encourage all Charter Members to contact Asheet Mathur to become a mentor.
The Doing Business in India breakfast series, an initiative that was launched with the former Indian Consul General to Toronto, Mr. Satish Mehta, has become a very popular venue to understand more about how to do business in India. Since the launch of this series in September 2007, over 175 people have attended these breakfasts, and 15 companies, including some of Canada?s leading venture capital and law firms, and SMEs have now commenced doing serious business in India.
Under the leadership of Suresh Madan, TiEQuest 2008 reached even greater heights. Last year?s launch event featured an inspiring keynote address by veteran entrepreneur and a founder of TiE, Desh Deshpande. Not only did Desh deliver his vision of what makes an entrepreneur successful, but also met with the winning team in Boston to mentor them. Equally inspiring was our keynote speaker for the TiEQuest Gala dinner in April, Bob Geras. Over 40 years, Bob has invested in over 400 companies! He shared the characteristics that he has observed which help make entrepreneurs successful. In addition to mentoring the finalist companies, he was so impressed with one of them, that he made a commitment to invest $50,000 in the venture. Over 200 entrepreneurs entered the competition, and Liquid Fibre Technologies won first place.
We were also privileged to receive a $24,000 sponsorship from the Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (now the Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services). There are now 10 companies that have moved forward, after participating in TiEQuest. CertoLabs, the winner of TiEQuest 2006 have also now won the Canadian Invention of the Year Award.
TiEQuest 2009 was launched on November 21, 2008 in partnership with the Impact Entrepreneurial Group. Impact was founded in 2004 at the University of Waterloo, and has now become the premier entrepreneurial organization for post-secondary students in Canada. We launched TiEQuest 2009 to an audience of 800 students, and also sponsored the TiE Toronto Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award at their convention, which was awarded to Jennifer Corriero of Taking IT Global. In addition, Text Search by Meaning, a runner-up at TiEQuest 2008, was awarded the Technology Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Impact. We then had a very successful launch reception on November 26, 2008 featuring keynote addresses by the Hon. Harinder Takhar, Minister of Small Business and Entrepreneurship and Mrs. Preeti Saran, the new Indian Consul General to Toronto. They both pledged their ongoing support to TiEQuest and TiE Toronto, citing the significant role that TiE Toronto plays in promoting innovation and stronger business ties between Canada and India.
The most important milestone for TiE Toronto this year has been the hiring of Heather MacDonald as our first full-time paid Executive Director. After an extensive search, where 23 highly qualified professionals were vetted, Heather was hired because of her strong entrepreneurial background, and deep understanding of what entrepreneurs need to become successful. Please feel free to reach out to Heather by email, phone or at any events, for any assistance as a member of TiE Toronto.
I also had the honour of being nominated by the Board of TiE Toronto for election to the Board of TiE Global. Although my bid was
unsuccessful, I was privileged to have been nominated, and to represent Canada. No Canadian has, to date, served on the Board of Trustees of TiE Global.
Although the transition from a primarily volunteer run organization, to one where we have a full-time Executive Director has been challenging, we are in the process of implementing systems that we believe will be important for our future growth. We have been very engaged in creating a full calendar of events for our members. Since September 2008 we have hosted five events, and I am pleased to attach our calendar of events through June 2009.
As we continue to strive to further professionalize our organization, I would, as do all Board members, welcome your feedback in how we can serve you and our mandate in promoting entrepreneurship to an even greater level. As well, we would encourage your active participation in all of TiE Toronto?s events, and to assist in the mentoring workshops and TiEQuest. I look forward to meeting you at our upcoming events.
Please accept my personal good wishes for a Happy Holiday Season, and much Happiness, Good Health and Peace for New Year?s 2009. We will be hosting a New Year?s celebration on January 31, 2009, so please watch for the invitation.
Programming is the core activity for our Chapter, and we have four streams of events that we host on an ongoing basis:
1. Entrepreneurial success stories and presentations on business building for general members.
2. Mentorship workshops.
3. Doing Business in India breakfast series, in partnership with the Consulate General of India.
4. TiEQuest
This past year we hosted 27 events, and are planning to hold a total of 32 events from now till June 2009.
In June 2008, we had the distinct pleasure of having a private meeting with India?s Minister for Science and Technology, Hon. Kapil Sibal. He was very knowledgeable about TiE, and offered his support to further the cause of innovation and entrepreneurship. He has also accepted our invitation to be a keynote speaker for the TiEQuest 2009 Gala Awards Dinner, in April 2009. What he asked from us is that we facilitate the creation of six joint ventures between Canadian and Indian organizations before the Gala Dinner.Started by former Board member Ram Ramkumar in 2006, Asheet Mathur has launched the Mentoring Program for 2008-2009, as of last month. Asheet has spent much time in discussing the process that Ram had initiated, and ways in which to further improve this activity. This year, we will have monthly mentoring workshops, where Charter Members have the opportunity to mentor start ups, on an ongoing basis. The first mentoring workshop of this year was on November 5, 2008, where two companies and five Charter Members participated. Both companies have given us very positive feedback about the benefits of participating.
Mentoring is a core activity of TiE Toronto, and I would like to encourage all Charter Members to contact Asheet Mathur to become a mentor.
The Doing Business in India breakfast series, an initiative that was launched with the former Indian Consul General to Toronto, Mr. Satish Mehta, has become a very popular venue to understand more about how to do business in India. Since the launch of this series in September 2007, over 175 people have attended these breakfasts, and 15 companies, including some of Canada?s leading venture capital and law firms, and SMEs have now commenced doing serious business in India.
Under the leadership of Suresh Madan, TiEQuest 2008 reached even greater heights. Last year?s launch event featured an inspiring keynote address by veteran entrepreneur and a founder of TiE, Desh Deshpande. Not only did Desh deliver his vision of what makes an entrepreneur successful, but also met with the winning team in Boston to mentor them. Equally inspiring was our keynote speaker for the TiEQuest Gala dinner in April, Bob Geras. Over 40 years, Bob has invested in over 400 companies! He shared the characteristics that he has observed which help make entrepreneurs successful. In addition to mentoring the finalist companies, he was so impressed with one of them, that he made a commitment to invest $50,000 in the venture. Over 200 entrepreneurs entered the competition, and Liquid Fibre Technologies won first place.
We were also privileged to receive a $24,000 sponsorship from the Ministry of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (now the Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services). There are now 10 companies that have moved forward, after participating in TiEQuest. CertoLabs, the winner of TiEQuest 2006 have also now won the Canadian Invention of the Year Award.
TiEQuest 2009 was launched on November 21, 2008 in partnership with the Impact Entrepreneurial Group. Impact was founded in 2004 at the University of Waterloo, and has now become the premier entrepreneurial organization for post-secondary students in Canada. We launched TiEQuest 2009 to an audience of 800 students, and also sponsored the TiE Toronto Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award at their convention, which was awarded to Jennifer Corriero of Taking IT Global. In addition, Text Search by Meaning, a runner-up at TiEQuest 2008, was awarded the Technology Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Impact. We then had a very successful launch reception on November 26, 2008 featuring keynote addresses by the Hon. Harinder Takhar, Minister of Small Business and Entrepreneurship and Mrs. Preeti Saran, the new Indian Consul General to Toronto. They both pledged their ongoing support to TiEQuest and TiE Toronto, citing the significant role that TiE Toronto plays in promoting innovation and stronger business ties between Canada and India.
The most important milestone for TiE Toronto this year has been the hiring of Heather MacDonald as our first full-time paid Executive Director. After an extensive search, where 23 highly qualified professionals were vetted, Heather was hired because of her strong entrepreneurial background, and deep understanding of what entrepreneurs need to become successful. Please feel free to reach out to Heather by email, phone or at any events, for any assistance as a member of TiE Toronto.
I also had the honour of being nominated by the Board of TiE Toronto for election to the Board of TiE Global. Although my bid was
unsuccessful, I was privileged to have been nominated, and to represent Canada. No Canadian has, to date, served on the Board of Trustees of TiE Global.
Although the transition from a primarily volunteer run organization, to one where we have a full-time Executive Director has been challenging, we are in the process of implementing systems that we believe will be important for our future growth. We have been very engaged in creating a full calendar of events for our members. Since September 2008 we have hosted five events, and I am pleased to attach our calendar of events through June 2009.
As we continue to strive to further professionalize our organization, I would, as do all Board members, welcome your feedback in how we can serve you and our mandate in promoting entrepreneurship to an even greater level. As well, we would encourage your active participation in all of TiE Toronto?s events, and to assist in the mentoring workshops and TiEQuest. I look forward to meeting you at our upcoming events.
Please accept my personal good wishes for a Happy Holiday Season, and much Happiness, Good Health and Peace for New Year?s 2009. We will be hosting a New Year?s celebration on January 31, 2009, so please watch for the invitation.
For further information contact:
The Indus Entrepreneurs Toronto Association
Phone: 416-451-7113
Email: hmacdonald@tietoronto.org
http://www.tietoronto.org
The Indus Entrepreneurs Toronto Association
Phone: 416-451-7113
Email: hmacdonald@tietoronto.org
http://www.tietoronto.org
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