Monday
Arriving at our second destination Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, a way more greenish and humid city was waiting for us. On Monday, we started the day with a slightly reduced group, as some were experiencing the “Delhi-Belly”. The rest headed to the first company visit at Accenture – our main partner. Once more, we were very warmly welcomed. Then the Head of HR of Accenture India introduced to us how they are recruiting people. “As an employer, we are all inclusive. That means we do not differentiate people. It is about being a workplace with no stress and let people be themselves.” We also could have a look at their Innovation Lab, that helps to visualise the “art of the possible”. The morning was closed by a short speech on “Digitalisation. Transformation. Innovation.” at Accenture. Afterwards, the lunch was very kindly offered.
In the afternoon, we headed to swissnex India (www.swissnexindia.org). We were introduced to all employees and interns. They have a really nice and open workspace. They explained the structure and work of swissnex in general. Afterwards the intern Victor lined out how the start-up ecosystem of India functions and how swissnex supports Swiss start-ups entering the Indian market. The delegates were participating a lot and a clear interest was shown in asking questions. Finally, Focus India was invited for some coffee and tea in a small networking session with swissnex’s employees.
To close a first successful day, the project team invited the delegation to a surprise apéro in the evening. It was a nice Indian summer night on the rooftop of the hotel as they announced were we will spend the Easter weekend. The excitement was enormous our next stop will be: Kerala!
Tuesday
Day two started off at Swiss Re. The Indians proved their reputation as excellent hosts. The Managing Director of Swiss Re India, Alok Kumar gave us the honour by welcoming us. Afterwards the Vice President, Amit Kalra talked about knowledge imparting and how they keep up with innovation in their company. Swiss Re launched an Accelerator Program called “Swiss Re InsurTech”.
During the coffee break the organiser Chaya invited some German speaking employees to make us feel even more like home. After the break, we continued with a speech on digitalisation at Swiss Re with a special focus on “Information Analysis”, where they clearly lined out that technology driven opportunities are transforming the reinsurance industry. Two of our delegates, Luca and Lars, could change the position and gave a presentation on “Digital Disruption”. Swiss Re was also very generous and invited us for lunch. Afterwards, we changed from business to casual, as we were visiting the Dalit Freedom Network, an NGO that supports outcasted women and children, the so called “Dalits”.
Once reached the Good Shepherd Primary School, we had some time to join classes. It was heart-warming to see those young and motivated children, eager to learn. They were singing and dancing for us. In return, some delegates sang a song to them. They explained to us the importance of education: “It really makes a difference and [education] can transform life.” Then we were introduced to the cast-system of India, especially how Dalits are treated. It was emphasized how this social stratification is related to many more problems they face in the Indian society. In the end, three very brave women told us their story and how they get support from the Network. You could see how they found new hope despite what they went through in life, what left many of us very emotional and in pondering silence. The delegation realised, that their problem seemed very little at that point and that all of us are very privileged to get an education. If you want to get more information about the Dalit Freedom Network and their important work they are doing, please visit their homepage: www.dalitnetwork.org.
Wednesday
After well-deserved sleep the delegates woke up to another interesting day. This time we went to visit Beyond Textiles (www.beyond-textiles.com), a Swiss start-up based in Bangalore. The Co-Founder, Franziska Carnevale, originally from Aargau, built up the business together with her husband Damian. They design and produce home textiles for Swiss customers such as Globus, Interio or Pfister. The couple reported how they finally ended up in India and how passionate they are about their business. Franziska explicated, that the design textiles is based on the moodboards provided by the customers. “We have to be different, we have to stand out from our competitors. You must understand fast what your customer wants! Every season you have to convince them again. We don’t do this for money, we do it because we love it.” For every future entrepreneur within our group it was quite inspiring to listen to Beyond Textiles’ story.
In the afternoon, we had the possibility to experience the life of Bangalore on our own. The majority went to different markets such as the Gandhi Bazar or Commercial Street. It was quite overwhelming finding yourself in a packed street, where besides people and cows also rikshaws and mopeds want to pass. To get finally back to the hotel it was quite challenging to find a rikshaw that took everybody back to the hotel on a reasonable price with no detour.
Time is flying and the first week of Focus India 2017’s onsite seminar is now already over. The delegation is now heading to Kerala for the Easter weekend and you will hear from us next week! Stay tuned!