Sania Mirza, Pullela Gopichand to attend Global Entrepreneurship Summit
Hyderabad: Deepika Padukone, embroiled in the controversy surrounding her soon-to-be-released film Padmavati, and cricketer M.S. Dhoni, have officially confirmed that they will not be present at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Principal Secretary and IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan told this newspaper that Deepika Padukone and M.S. Dhoni were invited by the GES organisers (the Telangana government is one of the event holders), but that their respective offices have informed that due to other assignments, the two will not be attending the GES.
However, tennis star Sania Mirza and badminton ace Gopichand will be attending. Former Indian captain M.S. Dhoni is not part of the cricket squad playing against Sri Lanka on November 28 in Nagpur, but he will still not be attending the summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, who has her own clothing line, are the big names that will be attending the November 28-30 summit, whose theme is ‘Women First, Prosperity for All’. The final list of speakers is expected to be released shortly. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will speak at the inaugural session on November 28. There will be 53 sessions in total over three days.
“Minister K.T. Rama Rao will speak in the panel discussion on November 29. One of the names is yet to be confirmed. The panel will have Ms Trump, Ms Cherie Blair (noted lawyer but better known as the wife of the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair) and Ms Chanda Kochhar (MD and CEO of ICICI Bank). The panel discussion will be on the theme of the event. The Telangana state government will also announce the launch of Rs 100 crore ‘T-Fund’ for start-ups,” Mr Ranjan said. Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to have closed-door talks with some of the delegates, including John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, and Canadian businessman Prem Watsa. About 300 investors and venture capitalists are expected to take part in the event where they can interact with 1,200 budding entrepreneurs.
