Third Sector Partners recently held its maiden convention to celebrate the success of its programme, “Katalyst”, which helps girls from economically challenged backgrounds through structured mentoring, personality grooming and financial intermediation.

The convention was a success with over hundred Katalyst students in attendance, sporting bright yellow signature t-shirts. The highlight of the convention was an interactive panel discussion on the theme “Windows of Opportunity”, moderated by Unmesh Brahme, Yale World Fellow with panellists chief guest, IGP Goa, Ms Sundari Nanda; Mayor of Panaji, Ms Caroline Po, fashion designer, Wendell Rodericks, managing director, DigiLink, Mr Nitin Kunkolienkar, Ms Vaishali Joshi of Vivus, Managing Director of Genopharma, Dr Pramod D Salgaocar and Chairperson Goa Balbhavan, Ms Vijayadevi Rane.
The convention comprised of diverse personality-confidence building activities and day two kicked off with Sunit Mehra, managing director, Hunt Partners and chief mentor, Katalyst introducing his vision for Katalyst.
Executive Director and Third Sector Partners, Pari Jhaveri  highlighted the rationale and need for growing grassroots talent in the community with specific focus on the girl child, thus contributing to the movement for creating an inclusive society and workforce.
Chief Guest, Ms Sundari Nanda related her experiences and cautioned Katalysts on pitfalls that can be easily avoided during the struggle to become an effective leader. She spoke about her youth counselling initiative Nav Chetna and the manner in which the online platform creates a solution for youth seeking advice on a number of matters.
Wendell Rodericks in his inimitable style regaled the audience with an inspirational presentation “Follow your Dream” where he emphasised the need to be internationally accepted and how one must seize opportunities and not lose focus and always be proud and draw from one’s roots, culture and ethnicity to reach the pinnacle of success.
Ms Vijayadevi Rane underlined the need for giving back to society and ensuring commitment to ideals with determination and focus to achieve goals. Ms Vaishali Joshi highlighted through her own life story how dedication and a holistic perspective is an important stepping stone for success in the varied career opportunities that are available today. She also stressed the role of family and the need to balance career and family demands to lead a fulfilling life.
It was very stirring to hear the Mayor of Panaji, Ms Caroline Po outline the details of her thumping victory in getting elected as the Mayor of Panaji through demonstration of courage, grit, passion and sincerity, in the face of stiff competitions from other powerful male candidates.
Dr Pramod Salgaoncar in a motivating speech made every Katalyst think and question the traditional patriarchal roles of men in the Indian society. She stressed upon the need to empower men to be supportive of women to help them in realising their full creativity and potential. She also mentioned that it is imperative to recognise and rectify one’s mistake at any point in one’s life to become successful.
Nitin Kunkolienkar shared his inspirational journey as a successful entrepreneur and helped Katalysts understand the value of passionate pursuit of career and life goals.
The Katalyst students spoke on their experiences and journey in evolving from ill-informed youth in difficult situations to confident super-achievers and the manner in which Katalyst programme helped them achieve their dreams, giving them a sense of security and hope.
The panel discussion was focused in covering pertinent issues raised by Katalysts. The opinions voiced by successful luminaries helped increase confidence of Katalysts and developed an understanding of what it takes to break the glass ceiling. Panellists also provided various strategies that can be used to increase opportunities for the advancement of women in management.
Program manager, Katalyst, Mahalakshmi Parthasarathy gave the vote of thanks marking the close of the event.
The Katalyst Goa convention was indeed an inspiring occasion for girl students who are enthusiastically pursuing their progression towards successful, self-assured women who would don leadership roles in their chosen domains and chip away at the myths regarding employability of women in top managerial positions. The convention served to reinforce practical steps that will help girl students in their flight towards economic emancipation.