March - 2001 - issue > Cover Feature

Club members, restricted to 40, meet every first and third Wednesday for breakfast at the ITC Hotel Kakatiya Sheraton - Hyderabad's five-star hotel - to be updated on the latest happenings in the New Economy and benefit from the lessons of the Old Economy.

Networking In The 21st Century
Who is behind this club and what is its vision? In May 2000, the idea sprouted in the mind of Ashutosh Yadav, CEO of I2DC Ventures Ltd., an incubation company based in Hyderabad. He decided to start a club that would provide executive networking opportunities for high tech companies entering the 21st century.


“Our vision is very simple,” he says. “It is to foster New Age businesses and promote business growth for each member through mutual support, quality networking and qualified business referrals in a spirit of fairness and integrity.” Yadav is a former head of Indian operations for SeraNova Technologies and Intelligroup, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITIG).
“The club also undertakes the responsibility to promote ethics in life as its way of contributing back to the society,” says B. Shanker, chairman of PKL, a company involved in bottling and distributing liquid petroleum gas. Shanker is one of the main promoters of the club, along with Yadav.


The membership of the exclusive club is an interesting mix of entrepreneurs and professionals, from experienced gray-haired businessmen to fresh-faced pure technology startup CEOs and managing directors. From its initial 10 members, the club's membership has increased to more than 35 today, and the success of the club has inspired the establishment of similar clubs in Pune and Visakhapantam, the port city of Andhra Pradesh.


The first “8 O'Clock Club” in Pune was launched three months ago by Vikram Modak, former Intel country head and Kostab Gadgil. The club in Visakhapatanam is slated to start this month.


The club believes that “entrepreneurs are made, not born,” says R.K. Mehta, CEO of M2 Technologies, another key founder of the club. “We are planning to expand our activities effectively,” says Yadav. However, the club strictly limits membership to 40 execs. Participation in the club's proceedings is by invitation only, and full membership is granted only after a candidate attends at least three meetings.


The high point of each breakfast meeting is a lecture by an industry expert. But the club is thinking of inviting well-known industrialists, not as speakers, but as special guests whom members can meet and network with.
Since its founding last May, professionals from various walks of life have attended club meetings. People from government, the public sector, and private sector firms in India and overseas have all shared their thoughts on new concepts and technologies globally.


For its annual meeting, the Hyderabad club is inviting Azim Hasham Premji, chairman of Wipro Technologies (NYSE: WIT), to deliver a lecture.


Although the charter of the club is to provide a forum to share personal experiences with new-age technologies and businesses, to hear updates on government tech policies, and to learn about R&D, its most important function is to provide fellowship and networking opportunities to members.