TiE SoCal’s first in-person event offers blockchain, crypto, NFT primer

Bani Mukherjee-

The Indus Entrepreneurs Southern California chapter (TiE SoCal) launched the 2022-23 TiE Committee and programs with a primer on Blockchain, Crypto, NFT and Metaverse in Cerritos Feb 26.

TiE’s first in-person event this year was kickstarted with networking and a scrumptious dinner at the Sheraton Cerritos.

Jerry Heikens, the executive director, spoke about the 2022-23 TiE Committee and programs and the importance of fostering entrepreneurship globally.

Congressional certificates for outstanding contribution and dedication from Congresswoman Linda Sanchez and Congresswoman Young Kim were awarded to Navneet Chugh, Shankar Ram, Ashish Saboo and Anshuman Sinha.

Ali Sajjad Taj, councilmember, City of Artesia, graced the event and emphasized TIE’s promotion of startups, professional networking and growth, and women’s empowerment.

Saboo, TiE SoCal president 2022-23, welcomed the guests and emphasized the need to foster entrepreneurship globally by networking, incubating ideas, mentoring, educating and investing.

TiE is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year. The TiE SoCal board 2022-23 includes Chugh, Shankar Ram, Venkat Tadanki, Smita Bagla, Sinha and Vijay Kotrappa.

TiE SoCal programs and initiatives include The TiE Charter Members, TiE SIGs, TiE SoCal Angels, TiE Knowledge Series, TiE SoCal Labs, TiE Women, TiE Philanthropy, TiE Business Showers and The TiE Investor Summit.

The TIE Charter Members is an invitation-only program for business owners, entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders dedicated to mentoring rising entrepreneurs and giving back to the community. Worldwide, there are 3,500 charter members who support local TiE chapters and startup ecosystems.

TiE SoCal is also emphasizing on supporting women’s initiatives by launching the Global Pitch Competition 2022 (for women) and TiE SoCal Women Fund. Monisha Coelho and Brenda McCabe are co-chairs for TiE SoCal Women.

TiE has also made some upgrades to its website by improving the Events calendar, adding jobs/internships postings, and including the TiE SoCal Mentor Connect.

TiE also focuses on a proper work-life balance with fun events, entertainment, philanthropy and ‘business showers’ to celebrate new businesses.

The speakers of the evening on Blockchain, Crypto, NFT, and Metaverse were Arabian Prince, Barbara Beckham and Shrina Kurani.

Beckham is managing director at Trailyn VC, CTO at Trailyn Ventures, host at Female VC Lab Podcast and a board member and speaker. She mentors companies globally and is on the board of CryptoKidsCamp. She discussed the impact of blockchain on the music industry and also discussed NFTs and Metaverse.

Arabian Prince aka Kim Renard Nazel, rapper, DJ and founding member of the hip-hop group NWA, is also founder-CEO at iNov8 Next Open Labs, founder-CEO at GGGOAT, co-founder at Covitech.us, president at LAFTC Robotics Competition, and President at Gametime Brownies. He emphasized the importance of Metaverse and its impact on music royalties and the music industry. He also discussed the future of technologies and provided his keynote on Metaverse, NFT, cryptocurrency and emphasized the changes to health care and decentralization.

Shrina Kurani is an engineer turned sustainability scientist, entrepreneur and congressional candidate from California’s 42^nd district. She is designing technologies to work for people and the planet. “I’m an engineer turned sustainability scientist, scraping the world to build solutions,” she said.

Kurani is the first federal candidate to do an NFT drop as part of the campaign for Congress.

Younger members were involved and participated actively in the discussions on Blockchain, Crypto, NFT and Metaverse. One of the speakers, Arnav Bhardia, a third-grader, started his NFT in January and spoke of the importance of NFT.