The 6th CEOs Share a Smile Lunch fund raiser was held for the very first time in the garden city at the poolside of the ITC Windsor- Bengaluru on Saturday, September 04, 2010.

The morning started out being cloudy and showed signs of possible rain, the sun was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly at 11.45am just as the first CEO Chefs started to arrive, the golden rays of the sun touched the waters of the pool and slowly spread over the brightly decorated tables, each of which had a large bowl of white roses.

Our sponsors for the day were Kingfisher Airlines, CRI Events, ITC- Windsor Bengaluru, Bacardi Martini India and SABmiller India (Foster’s beer).

The CEO Chefs were punctual and were greeted on arrival by Prema who introduced them to each other. Our Chefs then set about donning their aprons and chefs hats, ready to put their culinary skills to the test. Armed with Bacardi cocktails and chilled Foster’s beer our Celebrity Chefs threw caution to the winds and got down to some serious cooking.

By 1pm hectic activity was seen at all food counters. Each of the CEOs were seen trying to entice the guests with their cooking. The guests enjoying the cocktails and chilled beer walked from counter to counter to check out the delicious food that was being cooked.

Gopichand Kattragadda, Sen General Manager, GE and Rekha Menon, Executive Director, Accenture ensured that the health conscious guests started their meal with a choice of Greek Salad or Caesar’s Salad with Smoked Salmon.

As we moved to the South Indian section Parvathy Omanakuttan, Genesis Foundation’s Good Will Ambassador (Miss India 2008 & 2^nd runner up Miss World 2008) was seen putting together a spicy chicken, Mirapakai Kodi. Her partner Paolo Lanzarotti, Managing Director, SABmiller India was making an innovative Chapa Vepdu (grilled fish with spices) cooked with a dash of Foster’s beer his own innovation. The dish was so popular that many of the guests suggested the ITC Windsor may like to include this variation to the Chapa Vepdu on their menu.

The live band kept everyone entertained whilst the sun continued to shine. Bacardi cocktails and the chilled Foster’s beer kept in huge bowls of ice were doing the rounds.

At the continental section Rajesh Rao, CEO, Dhruva Interactive, who by the way loves cooking , was busy making Spaghetti Bolognaise. Kanwaljit Singh, Managing Director, Helion Ventures admitted that he never realized how much he enjoyed cooking. His Andaman Prawns & Bell Pepper Brochettes were being picked up as fast as he could get them plated.

Sajai Singh, Partner, J Sagar Associates and Sandhya Vasudevan, Managing Director, Thompson Reuters were looking extremely engrossed in their work at the Indian section. Their Pomegrate Chops and Paneer Khurchan took care of the guest’s veg and non-veg requirements.

The Oriental section had Himanshu Kohli, Founder & Partner, Client Associates cooking the broth required for the very popular Khao Suey; he made sure that all the 7 garnishes were added with each serving. B J Arun, Founder & Chairman, California Digital was effortlessly making an Oriental grill which was served with a choice of 3 sauces.

Madhu Atre, President & Managing Director, Applied Materials India and Giridhar G V, CEO, Ernst & Young assigned to the Dessert section, thought they had it easy earlier in the afternoon. Suddenly they found a long queue in front of their Dessert counter, as most everyone wanted Crepe Suzette flambéed with Bacardi which was a hot favorite.

The afternoon soon came to an end with Chef Parvathy giving away the lucky dip prizes from our support sponsors; 3M, Sennheiser, PepsiCo India, Taco Bell, SABmiller and lunch vouchers and wines from the ITC-Windsor- Bengaluru. For a job well done, Bacardi Martini presented a gift to all our courageous CEOs.

The funds raised from this event will go towards the treatment of the 4 children identified by Genesis Foundation who are in need of surgery. The children are Vinod (scoliosis), Naitik (thalassemia), Ansh (cancer) and Sumit (heart). Click here  for details of the children. 

Our special thanks to Anil Chadha, General Manager, ITC Windsor Hotel and his team for the excellent arrangements and cuisine at this fund raiser.

Click to see more pictures  and  media coverage of this event.

For more information contact Miecckey Bharrucha [miecckey.bharrucha@genesis-foundation.net]

The evening started on a perfect note with a duet ‘Zubi Dubi Zubi Dubi’ performed by Shireesh Joshi, Director Marketing, Airtel accompanied by his wife Priti Joshi. “Music has been an integral part of who I am”, says Niren Chaudhary CEO, Yum Restaurants India. He gave a wonderful performance with ‘Knocking on heavens door’ and ‘Wonderwall’. Gopal Sarma, MD, Feedback Ventures, sang a toe tapping medley with ‘Forever Young’ by Bob Dylan, ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘Stumblin’ In’ by Smokie. Suresh Bhojwani, CMD, Bright Bros Ltd. says “Music is important to me. You cannot work all the time. You have to have a multi-dimensional personality.” Not only did Suresh give a beautiful rendition of ‘The Wonder of you’ by Elvis and ‘I can’t stop looking at you, You’re Just Too Good to Be True’, but also kept the guests thoroughly entertained with a few impromptu numbers. Dinesh Mirchandani, President India, Boyden Global Executive Search, performed magic with ‘American Pie’ by Don MacLean and ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond. And everybody had a marvelous time listening to Vikash Gupta, CEO, Opera Wines, sing ‘Ek Din Bik Jayega Maati Ke Mol’ by Mukesh and ‘Again and again and again’. In the beautiful voice of Geetu Verma, Head of innovation, PepsiCo India, we heard ‘Babuji Dheere Chalna’ by Geeta Dutt and the ever popular ‘Lipstick on your collar’ by Connie Francis. Ramesh Iyer, MD Financial Services, Mahindra & Mahindra, in his fantastic voice, sang ‘ Suhani Chandni Ratein Hame Sone Nahin Deyti’ by the legendary bollywood singer Mukesh and ‘Poochcho Na Kaise Maine Rain Bitayi’ by Manna Dey. And last but not the least  Ashwin Deo, Fmr CEO, South Asia Breweries India gave a fabulous performance with Begum Farida Khannum’s ‘Aaj jane ki zid na karo’ and ‘My Way’ by Frank Sinatra.  After which the floor was open to all the guests who wished to sing.

MakeMyTrip.com supported the evening by providing their band ‘The Trippers’. Throughout the evening an entertaining live performance by the band kept the mood going. Some of the CEOs were supported by Dominique on the keyboard while some strummed their own guitars.

At the end of the performance the guests at the fundraiser chose a winner through a secret ballot. The winner Ashwin Deo with his chosen partner for the evening, Genesis Foundation’s Goodwill Ambassador Parvathy Omanakuttan (Miss India 2008,runner up Miss World 2008) were served a specially crafted gourmet supper. It was an evening of great entertainment with cocktails, a live band and great food.

There were a host of lucky dip prizes sponsored by corporates supporting the event such as Reebok, PepsiCo India, Sennheiser, Client Associates, Park Hotel, Canon, Hotel Crowne Plaza Today, Kingfisher, Opera Wines and Levo. There was also a silent auction for limited Edition Grey Goose Martini glasses studded with Swarovski crystals.

The event is an ongoing effort by Genesis Foundation to facilitate critical medical care for abandoned and less privileged children.This fundraiser will support the treatment of and help save the lives of 9 special children who have cancer, require heart surgeries, bone marrow transplants for thalassemia and complex surgeries to deal with extreme deformities. To read more about the children click here.

To see more pictures of the event click here  and for media coverage click here

Genesis Foundation brings to you an exciting new event ‘CEOs Sing for their Supper’ – a fundraiser with a difference – to save the lives of  9 critically ill children who are orphans or from lesser privileged families.
 
The details of the event are given below.
Event: CEOs Sing for their Supper
Date: Saturday, July 24, 2010
Venue: Crowne Plaza Today, Gurgaon
Time: 7pm cocktails onwards

CEOs participating are:
Niren Chaudhary, CEO, Yum Restaurants
Geetu Verma, Executive Director, PepsiCo
Gopal Sarma, MD, Feedback Ventures
Vikash Gupta, CEO, Opera Wines
Shireesh Joshi, Director Marketing, Airtel
And all the way from Mumbai…..
Dinesh Mirchandani, President India, Boyden Global Executive Search
Ramesh Iyer, MD Financial Services, Mahindra & Mahindra
Ashwin Deo, Fmr CEO,  South Asia Breweries
Suresh Bhojwani, CMD, Bright Brothers Ltd.

The guests will judge their performance and the winner will select a partner to join him/her in a grand Supper. Genesis Foundation’s Goodwill Ambassador, Parvathy Omanakuttan, Miss India 2008 will compere the event. Cocktails with live band and a dance floor promises an evening full of entertainment.

A fun evening to raise funds to save the lives of 9 special children who have cancer, require heart surgeries, bone marrow transplants for thalassemia and complex surgeries to deal with extreme deformities. Click here for details of children

Support our cause: Over 100 people have bought a place at the table. You can buy a table for Rs.90,000 OR buy a a seat for Rs. 10,000 each. OR click here to DONATE 

Genesis Foundation is covered under 80G of the Income Tax Act of 1961 (50% of donations made are exempt from Income Tax)

For more information and booking seats contact Dolly Malvai 
email: dolly.malvai@genesis-foundation.net   Mob: 9811268189

Aadi Sharma at CEO Chefs Share A Smile Lunch 2010

After a dismal week of foggy days, finally the sun shone brightly on Saturday, January 16, 2010 when we held our fifth CEO Chefs Share-a-Smile lunch fund-raiser at Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon. The venue was the Petal Garden which looked radiant in the sunshine. The blue and white theme colour of ‘Grey Goose’ was everywhere on the tables and the umbrellas and the red flowers on every table added cheer to the event.

Our main sponsor for the event was Bacardi Martini India Ltd. Their ‘Grey Goose’ brand has always been associated with supporting social causes at local and international levels. They were happy to be associated with the Genesis-Foundation for this unique event again and went out of their way to make the event a huge success. Our second sponsor T and T Motors India displayed their swanky latest E-350 Model Mercedes for all to admire and aspire for.

Dragging themselves from their busy schedules, eight leading CEO’s arrived on time, each with a big smile and lots of good cheer. They were welcomed by volunteers of Genesis Foundation who helped them don their aprons and chef hats and were then introduced to their hotel counterparts and their work stations. By then Bacardi had set up a wonderful bar with invigorating cocktails, breezer’s and whatever could enthrall the soul and the spirit. Our donor guests who had contributed towards buying seats at the event were also welcomed and were suitably taken care of to set the mood for the afternoon.

Genesis Foundation Founder/Trustee Prema Sagar

We were all now set to start the event. Magandeep Singh, India’s first French-certified Sommelier, our chief MC engaged the audience and Dominique’s band played foot tapping music of the 70’s. Our CEO Chefs were taking their job seriously and tickled everyone’s palettes with a variety of delicacies. The Indian station had Parvathy Omanakuttan participated whole heartedly as a chef for this event and gathered many admirers around her station while making Meen Varuval and Jehangir Pocha , Managing Director, INX News competed with Paneer Chettinad. At the Continental corner Deepak Mukarji, Country Head, Corp Affairs-Shell India made Enchiladas and Chetan Seth, CMD, Chemon Group thoroughly enjoyed himself tossing Italian Pasta. Manoj Gopalakrishna, MD, Becton Dickenson and Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO, Makemytrip.com had people eating out of their hands for Mushroom and Spinach Wantons and Salt& Pepper Calamari at the Chinese corner. The Thai counter had Arun Seth, Chairman, British Telecom and Niren Chaudhary, Managing Director, Yum Restaurant offering Satays and Pad Thai Noodles. Besides all this delectable food the Dessert counter were tossing out Crepe Suzette Flambe’s with Grey Goose, Guava Tiramisu and Chocolate Éclairs and many other mouth watering sweets.

Genesis Foundation Goodwill Ambassador Parvathy Omanakuttan

Twelve-year old Aadi Sharma, our Junior Ambassador who demonstrated his power of oratory spoke about the critically ill children that Genesis Foundation helps and specifically those who would benefit from the money raised from this event. Haran Kumar, a photographer par excellence, was busy cataloging the event capturing stunning moments that will keep these moments alive (click here to see them). Media love covering this event and despite the long trek to Gurgaon they found it worthwhile (click here to see the coverage)

MC Magan with the assistance of Ajit Sahgal, Chairman of the Genesis Foundation advisory board called out the names of the Lucky Dip winners. We are ever so grateful for all the gifts that were donated by our co-sponsors PepsiCo, Sony Ericsson, Gallery One, Three Sixty Degrees, Reebok, Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon, Redd Hot Café, Canon, Jet Airways, CRI Events and Bacardi Martini India Ltd.

In particular, Genesis Foundation is extremely appreciative of all the support extended by Shaun Langdon, General Manager and Area General Manager-NCR, Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon. The success of the event goes to Executive Chef Vikas Oswal and the wonderful team that worked quietly behind the scene to make this a great success. A very special thanks to all those who bought seats at the table – Client Associates, Bacardi, Genesis Burson-Marsteller, Jyoti Sagar, Nipun Sahni, Merrill Lynch, Rita Duggal, Saurav Srivastava, Vimal Mahendru, Vinay Jha, Malti Nehru and many other individuals – helped Genesis Foundation to raise the required funds. We could not have done it without your help. Have a great 2010. See more photos of the event here.

It was a beautiful morning.Genesis Foundation’s fourth CEO Share-a-Smile fund-raiser lunch held at the Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon. The Petal Garden of the hotel was beautifully decorated with blue umbrellas and table covers carrying the theme colour of Grey Goose, the world’s best tasting vodka.

The event was supported by Bacardi Martini India Ltd. Their Grey Goose brand has always been associated with supporting social causes at local and international levels. Bacardi was proud to be associated with this unique event where the leading industry captains have taken the mantle of becoming chefs for a day to raise funds for a worthy cause.

Twelve CEOs donned the chef’s hat, Share-a-Smile apron and displayed their culinary skills which were relished by over 100 guests who bought seats at the event.

Once the CEO Chefs had been fortified with Grey Goose cocktails and chilled beer from Carlsberg, our other bar sponsor, they were ready to undertake the task at hand. The food offered was available in the following sections.

Salad Section: Ines Schmid, Assistant Vice President, Credit Suisse who had especially come down for the event from Zurich competed with Ashwani Singla, CEO, Genesis Burson-Marsteller as to who could tempt the guests more with Caesar Salad or Vietnamese Shrimp Salad.

Kebeb Korner: Master Chefs, Kaushik Dutta, Partner, PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Himanshu Kohli, Founder Partner, Client Associates served the crowd delicious Sarson-ke-Chicken-Tikka and Kalimirch Paneer Tikka.

Curry Club: Two chefs who took their job very seriously were Som Mittal, President, Nasscom and Keshav Gaur, CEO, Fidelity enticed guests with Hyderabadi Achari Gosht and Paneer Corn Bhujjia.

Truly Asian: Krishan Dhawan, MD, Oracle and Paul de Voijs, MD, Volvo created delicious Chicken Teppanyaki & Shittake Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce.

The European Counter saw Sanjeev Mohanty, MD, Benetton and Gautham Mukkavilli, MD, Frito Lay serving grilled Norwegian Salmon and Penne Pomodoro.

By now all the guests were over-whelmed with the superb cuisines offered but, as they say, the best comes last.

Sweet Tooth had Chefs Sheila Singla, Principal & Founder, Chrysalis HRD and Rahul Sen, CEO, Alchemy Infrastructure Agency dishing out Crepe Suzettes liberally doused with Grey Goose, Grand Marnier, chocolate syrup and dollops of cream. Here the lines stretched as our guests were thrilled to watch the performance.

Domnique and his band got some of our guests tapping their feet and dancing to the popular numbers. Then Nanni Singh MC took over the mike to call out the lucky dip winners. The gifts were sponsored by Reebok, Opera Wines, Gallery One, Canon, NGC, Motorola, Boeing, Lufthansa, Boeing, Indigo, Adidas and Sports Boulevard to name a few.

Genesis Foundation is extremely appreciative of the support extended by Shaun Langdon, General Manager, Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon and his team. It was a pleasure to have Executive Chef Jai at Crowne Plaza work closely with all the CEO Chefs to ensure that they were able to deliver the superb gourmet meal enjoyed by all. Look forward to seeing you in 2009.

New Delhi. February 17, 2007

Genesis Foundation’s eagerly-awaited annual fundraiser event, “CEOs Share-a-Smile’ took place on February 17, 2007 at the Nandiya Garden, ITC Maurya Sheraton, New Delhi.

Reflecting our motto of ‘Sharing a Smile’, the Genesis Foundation’s third CEO lunch provided the opportunity to sample some unique creations while supporting a vital and worthy cause. The event, as you are all aware, is part of our ongoing endeavor to build a corpus fund, in order to be able to aid treatments for a larger number of children each year.

Of late many of our young patients are those suffering from cardiac deficiencies, so we were delighted to receive a proposal from Max Healthcare offering Rs. four lakhs of financial support for children with cardiac problems.

Hot pink garden umbrellas and pink head gear for all staff announced the presence of our main sponsor – Hutchinson Essar Telecom. Our Silver Sponsor was Motorola. And in a developing tradition, the ITC Welcomgroup opened their doors to us for the third consecutive year. Among the other sponsorships in kind were Bacardi-Martini, UB Group, Canon, Reebok, Moet- Hennessy and Benetton.

Our Star CEO Chefs Werner Heesen, Lufthansa and Gary Bennett, Max New York Life can both be described as gourmets who are passionate about cooking. The list also included Sita Raina, Brand Theatre, Andrew Horne, Xerox India, Anil Shrikhande, Boeing International, Sheila Singla, Chrysalis HRD, Amit Bhatia, WNS Knowledge Services, Subrat Padhi, Hutchison Essar and Dan Sandhu, Vertex India

The Barcardi-sponsored cocktail making added to the excitement. As always, Ashwani excelled in motivating the crowd to open their wallets. And both Sita and Sheila helped increase the bidding by offering a peck on the cheek to the highest bidders, bringing in Rs. 35,000.

The day came to a close with the lucky draw dip and two pleasant surprises. First, the ALP Batch 4 handed over the whooping 1,40,000 that they had collected for the foundation. And upon departure, Moet Hennessy presented all present with a bottle of their wonderful wine.

The event generated an amazing 14.05 lakhs and was covered by NDTV, Aaj Tak and CNBC. With each year that passes we look to increasing our corpus fund, our target being 50 lakhs in the first five years. Here I would like to borrow the Nike sign off line, Just Do It and we will with the support of all our well wishers.

Mumbai. December 17, 2005

Greatly encourages by the success of our inaugural event in Delhi earlier this year, we decided to hold a similar on in Mumbai. Anil Malik, General Manager, ITC Grand Central was most helpful in encouraging and supporting our endeavour. Ten CEOs, assisted by Chefs from the hotel, cooked for about 100 people who bought seats at the table and helped us raise a good some to treat more children.

The venue was at the beautiful Terrace Garden of the hotel. The food canopies, bows on the white covered chairs and the flower arrangements were all in red, the theme for the day.

It was a nice sunny day and our brave CEO chefs this time were:
Khursheed Lam, Manager India & S East Asia, Qantas
Sunil Mehta, Country Head & CEO AIG
Sunil Lulla, CEO, Times Global Broadcasting
Sanjay Luthra, MD, Mattel Toys
Rajat Jain, MD, Walt Disney,
Harit Nagpal, Operations Director, Hutchison Max Telecom
Manish Kejriwal, MD, Temasek Holdings Advisors India
Venkat Mallik, MD, Level UP Network India.

The very first to arrive was Sunil who looked snazzy and his blue Hawaiian shirt raring to go. Sunil’s specialty for the day was Farmer’s Eggs, which his wife Vinodini confirmed he was acclaimed for in their home kitchen, this turned out to be a hot favourite. Additionally he took on cooking the good old Fish & Chips.

Our Master of Ceremonies was Salil Acharya, the hot sitcom star of Kavyanjali, Kasauti and host on the B4U channel’s new gaming show GameMax. Salil kept the CEO Chefs on their toes and the crowd rocking. By 1.30pm all the chefs had donned their Share-a-Smile aprons, chef’s hats and were busy cooking.

The guests moved from stall to stall to check out the cuisine enjoying Moet Hennessy’’s red as well as the white wines, Terrazas Alto Chardonnay and Terrazas Alto Malbec. The hard-core beer drinkers enjoyed guzzling the chilled Foster’s beer straight from the bottle.

With a live band in the background and the audience shouting encouragement the Yard-long beer drinking competition got off to a great start. The volunteers had to consume 2.5 bottles of Foster’s beer filled in the long glass without lowering the level of the tall glass till it was over. Six successful candidates earned the Foundation a handsome sum courtesy Foster’s India. Chris White, Vice President, IntlMarketing, Mattel, Inc. and Rajiv Sahay, MD, Haden International Group volunteered to be the first two candidates.

Khursheed and Sunil at the Chinese pavilion served a delicious Gong Bao Shi Shu and Hei Jiao Jee Pian, while Harit and Manish focused on Tandoori fare of Sikampuri Kebabs (Harit’s personal recipe) and Pudina Paneer Tikka. At the other end not to be outdone Rajat and Sanjay had the crowd queuing up for their Sabz Miloni and Murg Korma. Venkat having a penchant for Italian food served a delicious Fettuccini Pesto.

Foster’s supplied their smart straw hats, which were auctioned together with the last pieces of the popular bekti fish filet from Sunil’s counter. Ashwin Deo auctioned several songs that went towards the treatment of children.

After much drinking and enjoyment of the wonderful cuisine came the finale when the lucky dip prizes were distributed. The lucky winners received gift vouchers from Reebok, laser printer by Xerox, Pixma Printer by Canon, Benq scanner, hamper by Oriflame and dinner voucher from ITC.

We owe grateful thanks to our sponsors: ITC Hotels, Moet Hennessy, Foster’s India and many others. Many thanks also to those who bought places at the table – a number of individuals and organisations such as Novartis India, Hutchison Max and J Sagar Associates, Mumbai.

The event was covered by NDTV Profit who focused the camera on the CEO Chefs getting each of them to say a few words on their reason for being there and their inputs for the food preparation. The coverage was shown at prime time on their channel on December 19, 2005.