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11/ 9/ 12

Young Ent r epr eneur s Pi ck up Tr i cks f r om Peer s

Publication: The Economic Times Mumbai;Date: Nov 9, 2012;Section: Career & Business;Page: 10

FRIENDS CIRCLE
Young Entrepreneurs Pick up Tricks from Peers Entrepreneurs Organisation bridges the generation gap in mentoring and allows for experiential learning on business, personal and family life issues
RICA BHATTACHARYYA MUMBAI

Once a month, 33-year-old entrepreneur Anant Kanoi has the benefit of directly learning from his peers experiences. Kanoi belongs to a group of young entrepreneurs called Entrepreneurs Organisation (EO) that is trying to bridge the generation gap in mentoring. Some of the India chapters of this global network of entrepreneurs have built a mentoring platform that provides an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning for greater business success and a more enriched personal life. While the concept of mentoring has traditionally meant the old mentoring the young, this platform, called Forum within the EO, has created a group where young leaders mentor other young leaders on business, personal or family life in confidentiality. Its like a personal board of directors that can help address issues in business or family life through discussion and experience sharing with like-minded peers who have relevant experiences, says Kanoi, who heads pigment intermediaries manufacturing firm Bhabani Pigments. Kanoi finds this platform useful in networking and shaping his lifes goals. EO, which has about 9,000 people in more than 40 countries, provides an ecosystem for entrepreneurs to build on each others experience. Among other things, its India chapters serve as a mentoring platform for young entrepreneurs. Members of the EO get access to a wide variety of tailor-made benefits for entrepreneurs on how to grow their businesses and lead an organisation. The Forum is a confidential group of eight to 10 CEOS or founders of established businesses who meet each month in a scheduled, structured and moderated meeting. Each person in the Forum is trained by a certified trainer. The average age of each of the Forum members is 35. The cornerstones of the Forum are confidentiality and a non-judgemental approach. The Forum gives me an opportunity to leverage on the experience of sharing to delegate responsibilities better and motivate people in my organisation better, says Kanoi. Having a closed group of people you can be open with helps sort out several issues and gives the right perspective, says Aditya Burman, head of Oncquest Laboratories, who is a member of EO, New Delhi. The peer-to-peer mentoring, he adds, leads to a lot of bonding and confidence-building. While the traditional mentoring concept, where the mentor is older than the mentee, has its obvious advantage of drawing from wisdom and long-term experience, on the flip side it might leave a gap due to a generational difference. Mentoring help under the Forum helps bridge this gap. Earlier, when I would go for mentoring to a person who had been running a company for 15 years, the exchange would not be at the same level due to the age difference. However, if you have someone from the peer group acting as a mentor, it can be much more useful as the wavelength would be similar, says 37-year-old Shamit Khemka, managing director and founder of software development and IT services Synapse Communications. Khemka says he joined EO without too many expectations but within a month, received hand-holding from within the group. Every time I have an issue whether in family, business or my personal life I can expect guidance from people of my age group within the EO, he says. Another uniqueness of this mentoring platform is that it is done purely on the basis of experience-sharing. We share experiences under Gestalt (a German word that refers to a concept of wholeness) and there is no judgement. There is no opinionation. Its vastly different from the mentorship experiences Ive had where one is obliged to listen and act on advice, says Khemka. However, not undermining the value of age and experience, the New Delhi chapter of EO is currently looking at launching a
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11/ 9/ 12

Young Ent r epr eneur s Pi ck up Tr i cks f r om Peer s

structured mentoring system, where an EO member will be mentored by a senior entrepreneur. It will be a year or two-year long relationship between two entrepreneurs from non-competing backgrounds, says Hameet Sawhney, president, EO, New Delhi. For instance, a pharmaceutical manufacturing sector entrepreneur could be mentored by someone from auto manufacturing. Whether a good mix of old and new, or just a shared peer experience, this group of entrepreneurs have redefined the boundaries of a mentor-mentee relationship. rica.bhattacharyya@timesgroup.com

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