After all the speakers have left the stage it’s time head away and relax. Well yes and no... NASSCOM is as much about the networking value it brings as for the high quality speakers and informative debates. So it wasn’t until 9pm that the Xansa team managed to even leave the stand, there was so much interest in who we are, what we do, or how we’ve changed.
The message that we’re now 5,000 strong in India really has been a talking point by many who have known Xansa for some time and see this as a milestone. Alistair’s earlier talk, and especially his responses to questions, were the cause of a number of people to drop by the stand. One came with an offer of another speaking assignment in March. (I’m on 10% commission for that, Alistair.)
But the night is only getting started even at 9pm. The chefs are waiting to cook to order the excellent Indian and Thai cuisine. And what would Indian networking be without a free bar. I met up with some old contacts, like Nick Ashby, an Investor from Malaysia who comes every year to seek out new targets.
He told me an amusing story about when HSBC had just changed their name and found there was a rival in KL with a remarkably similar logo. Not a rival bank: this HSBC was a restaurant called Hot and Spicy Bengali Cuisine. After refusing to budge on the name, the bank’s employees seemed to have taken the restaurant to heart and can be found there most evenings.
Later on I chatted to Som Mittal, a past chairman of NASSCOM, who is SVP of HP in Asia Pacific. Som is one of the key people at the heart of the Indian software industry and it was a treat to listen to his views on the philosophical points brought out so eloquently by Nobel laureate, Amartha Sen, noting the importance of giving back to the community and keeping a sense of proportion. We’ll hear more on this theme on Friday.
That was it, time to sleep ready for another day.
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