MUMBAI: The International Advertising Association (IAA) India Chapter played host to 25 leaders from across Indian industry to mentor 720 students at the first ever mentorship programme conducted under the aegis of the IAA Young Turks Forum.
JSW Foundation chairperson Sangita Jindal launched the initiative on 19 September at the Bombay Stock Exchange’s International Convention Hall. Hailing the initiative, Jindal scored the importance of mentorship for young professionals.
Earlier, an interactive session with the theme ‘Engaging with the Audience – Lessons from the Entertainment Industry’ was held with film-maker and Lowe Lintas chairman R Balki and Hollywood director and entertainer Stefan Haves. Theatre personality and author Anish Trivedi moderated the discussion.
“There is no need to panic in the race to achieve things,” advised Balki. He also added, “Chill, it’ll happen. Don’t panic.”
Highlighting the difference between a great juggler and a not-so-great juggler, Haves said, “A great juggler has dropped the balls more and made more mistakes in public.” Underscoring the need to not fight shy and be scared of going in front of people, Stefan said, doing public discourse feeds your own soul and that of people around you.”
HBO south Asia was the presenting partner and Mahindra Special Services Group and NASSCOM were the knowledge partners of the IAA Young Turks Forum.
IAA India Chapter president and IAA development Asia/Pacific region VP Srinivasan K Swamy said, “It was heartening to see so many industry leaders spare their precious time to come and mentor youngsters. I am delighted that so many individuals came forward to avail this opportunity. I am also thankful to both Balki and Stefan Haves for talking about their craft and offering true words of wisdom to the 1000-plus audience.”
“We at HBO encourage and value youth engagement opportunities. Our channels have a significant youth connect and we are delighted to have partnered with IAA for this event which had a particularly interesting mix of an interactive session and mentorship programme,” said HBO south Asia MD Monica Tata.
Mahindra Special Services Group marketing and public relations head Manish Advani added, “This was the third edition of the IAA Young Turks Forum and the fact that we had over a thousand youngsters present speaks a lot for the need to have such events.”
