Indian Newslink Dec 1, 2016 Digital Edition

26
Viewlink \ Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards Special 2016
DECEMBER 1, 2016
The English Fortnightly (Since November 1999)
Issue 359 | December 1, 2016
Let a million
businesses blossom
The Ninth Annual Indian Newslink Indian Business
Awards Presentation Ceremony held on Monday,
November 28, 2016 at the Sky City Convention Centre in
Auckland was in many ways a trend-setter.
The event, which had the good fortune of the presence of political,
corporate, business and community leaders, brought to
the fore one indisputable factor – that the Indian business community
has matured to participate in every sector of the New
Zealand economy and that Indian investors and entrepreneurs
are wealth creators.
The list of winners may not be entrants in the country’s Who
is Who directory.
Emerging champions
That itself is a great thing, for our Business Awards are about
exploring new organisations that are partners in economic progress;
those making a hitherto quiet statement of their propensity
to invest; propensity to employ and propensity to foster
economic wellbeing.
Unique in its extent and format, the Awards Scheme has encouraged
small, medium and large companies owned, managed,
and franchised by people of Indian origin to compete in various
categories.
While the annual Awards Ceremony is celebrated as one of
the most important events in the social and business calendar
of New Zealand, this newspaper continues to consider innovative
initiatives and progressive programmes.
Companies of Indian origin are coming of age in New Zealand.
It is time they put in place robust business plans, smart strategies
and corporate governance that conform to international
standards. It is also time they competed globally and reap the
rewards of success.
The Lecture
While these Awards projects exist as a part of our duty towards
the country and the resident communities, we felt the
need to encourage New Zealanders in general and those in public
and corporate entities in particular to appreciate and practice
tenets of Accountability, Transparency and Integrity as an integral
part of Good Governance. These are in fact enshrined in the
life and works of Rt Hon Sir Anand Satyanand.
Thus was born the Indian Newslink Sir Anand Satyanand
Lecture in July 2011 as a non-political and non-commercial
Project intended to bring the best of the intellect available to
speak at the annual event. We are hopeful that it would grow
and progress as an Institution that befits the name with which it
is associated.
Publications have since long come out of the confines of the
media industry, reaching out to the larger section of the community.
It is therefore not uncommon for newspapers to be involved
in social and community welfare programmes, promote
cultural shows and participate in activities that touch the core
of the society.
Growing brands
Your favourite newspaper achieved a significant milestone in
2003 when it launched the annual Indian Newslink Fast Find
Business Directory. Known for its compact, user-friendly and indexed
format, the publication is considered to be a useful and
valuable companion at both home and office.
The Indian Newslink Indian Sports Awards were launched in
2012 to recognise and reward achievers of Indian origin in New
Zealand in various sports categories. The Awards Programme
has expanded to include many other categories.
Our Salutations
As these products flourish as Indian Newslink brands, we
would like to raise a toast to all those who have been a part of
these during their formative years, those who came and went
in later years, those who form the current team and those who
continue to support these in one form or the other.
From editors, reporters and stringers and thumbnail artists,
layout personnel and production experts to marketing executives,
distributors, sponsors, advertisers, readers and well-wishers,
we say, “These brands have become successful because of
your encouragement and patronage. We salute you!”
Indian Newslink is published by Indian Newslink Limited from its offices located at Level
1, Number 166, Harris Road, East Tamaki, Auckland 2013 and printed at Horton Media
Limited, Auckland. All material appearing here and on our web editions are the copyright
of Indian Newslink and reproduction in full or part in any medium is prohibited. Indian
Newslink and its management and staff do not accept any responsibility for the claims
made in advertisements.
Managing Director & Publisher: Jacob Mannothra
Editor & General Manager: Venkat Raman
Production Manager: Mahes Perera
Phone: (09) 5336377 Email: info@indiannewslink.co.nz
Websites: www.indiannewslink.co.nz; www.inliba.com; www.inlisa.com
Our Guest of Honour reading the Seventeenth Anniversary of Indian Newslink at the Awards Ceremony
The right to succeed is no prerogative of the abled
Gautam Lewis at the Ninth Annual Indian
Newslink Indian Business Awards
Gautam Lewis
It makes me very proud
to attend this important
Business Awards Ceremony
and witness the best
businesses and business
professionals of Indian
origin in New Zealand being
honoured for their success
and contribution to the New
Zealand economy.
Being back here in the
beautiful City of Sails has made
me realise just how special my
first real home in Mission Bay
(Auckland) was after leaving
Mother Teresa’s care.
My life with polio started
when I was a toddler in the
Howrah district of Kolkata,
India aged about 18 months.
Nightmare phase
I survived polio – at a time
and place when one in five
children were dying of the
virus – but unfortunately
because I had caught polio and
was paralysed in my lower
limbs, and because there was
no money, I was rescued by
Mother Teresa and lived with
her in her orphanage, where
I stayed for years until I was
adopted.
Many of the memories I have
of Kolkata and living as an
orphan are a nightmare. It was
a dark, sad, and lonely period.
It is impossible for me to
forget Mother Teresa – Now
Saint Teresa of Kolkata. She
gave me a chance to escape
poverty and live out a different
destiny outside India.
I have had the love of three
mothers. My Birth Mother,
Mother Teresa and my adopted
mother, Patricia.
New beginning
Because of Polio, destiny lead
me to meet Patricia and to a
new life here in Auckland. This
was the first time that I had a
sense of belonging. I started to
learn about families, how to
live in a family, how to make
new friends from completely
different backgrounds.
I left New Zealand after 18
months and moved to London,
where I went to the same school
A section of the audience at the Awards Ceremony
attended by Prince Charles. A
stark contrast for the boy who
was one of India’s poorest.
I went from speaking Bengali
to speaking English with a
strong Kiwi accent. I was
determined to lose my Bengali to
show people that I was a pukka
Kiwi Briton– these are ways to
survive in a new world.
I became a filmmaker, a
photographer and managed
some of the biggest bands in
the world, which included
Auckland’s ‘The D4.’ I also
worked with International NGOs
such as Rotary International,
The World Health Organisation
and UNICEF on global health
security – focusing on Polio
eradication in India.
Crushing poverty
India has shown the world
that there is no such thing as
impossible. Viewed against the
challenges, India’s achievement
is an epic success story, proof
that any country that really
wants to, can eradicate polio.
The World Report on
Disability, produced jointly by
the WHO and the World Bank
suggests that more than a billion
people experience disability.
People with disabilities have
generally poorer health, lower
education achievements, fewer
economic opportunities and
higher rates of poverty.
Those who live in a developing
country are often among the
poorest of the poor. As poverty
leads to disability, disability also
worsens poverty.
I have not allowed my
disability to define who I am or
what I can achieve.
The urge to fly
One of my strongest memories
from the roof of Mother Teresa
orphanage is kite flying and in
looking up at the sky, I also saw
the contrails left by jet planes.
I longed to be on one, to feel
the freedom of flying in the air,
with no post-polio paralysis to
hold me back.
I have always wanted to be a
pilot and I qualified in 2007.
This dream was made real.
During my pilot training days,
I felt alive and felt a sense of
freedom, of being liberated.
I started to have new dreams
and visualise my future where I
wanted to help change people’s
lives, if not try and change the
world.
I therefore set up Freedom
in the Air, a flight-training
academy teaching disabled
people to become commanders
of aeroplanes.
As business leaders, as
humans, we create. And yet, the
greatest inequality in the world
is that between creation and
destruction.
Think of the millions in the
world who do not have basic
health, education, sanitation,
and peace and suffer from
hunger and disease. We are
so, so lucky here. I wonder
how many of us will ever truly
understand and appreciate that.
Service above self
I have a deep understanding
of how important voluntary
organisations, government,
and businesses with corporate
social responsibilities are in the
world today. I have had great
opportunities in my life, and I
believe that my calling in life
is to help others who are less
fortunate and celebrate in the
spirit that the sky is the limit.
I leave you with a quote from
my fellow Bengali and winner
of the Nobel Prize for literature,
Rabindranath Tagore:
“I slept and dreamt that life
was joy. I awoke and saw that
life was service. I acted and
behold, service was joy.”
Gautam Lewis was a guest of
Indian Newslink, flown from
London, United Kingdom to
be the Guest Speaker at the
Sixth Annual Mother Teresa
Interfaith Meeting at St Paul’s
College on Sunday, November
27, 2016 and at the Ninth Annual
Indian Newslink Indian
Business Awards at Sky City
Convention Centre on Monday,
November 28, 2016. The above
speech was at our Business
Awards. Please read related
report in this issue.