Vizag resellers go for first official election

Visakha Infotech Dealers Welfare Association (VIDWA), the city's local IT association for the channel partners, is going for its first ever election in mid-July, since its formation in 1996. With this formal election, VIDWA promises to become a powerful body representing the issues and concerns of the local resellers in Visakhapatnam. "Visakhapatnam is a growing market and the resellers base is also increasing considerably every year. When the group is becoming larger, we need a powerful association to guide and play a crucial role in the interest of the resellers and business," explained Anand Narla, the present President of VIDWA and MD of Pioneer Marketing Corporation, one of the leading resellers in the market.

VIDWA, formed in 1996, had been electing officio members (key members or governing members) only by nomination all these years and this is the first official election happening next month. Presently, the association has 60 members on its rolls and one of the main agenda for this year would be increasing the membership base. "We want to bring more resellers into the organization and make it a stronger community to represent with government, vendors and other concerned authorities," said
Narla.

The association plans to retain all its earlier posts of President, VP, Secretary, Joint Secretary and Treasurer, and will conduct election for all these key posts. "The key members will have a definite role to play and in the coming years, we will be more aggressive and focused," he said. Besides the key posts, the association will continue to have five executive members. "We also have a six-member election committee who is presently working on the forthcoming elections," he explained.

The association gears up to play a major role in educating the channels about their responsibilities in terms of maintaining sales tax record, service to the customers and dealing with principal companies. "If we are more organized and perfect, we can avoid many issues and the association can extend support only when the channels are more co-operative. The association will definitely protect the interest of resellers at any time," assured
Narla.

The association plans to conduct regular meetings after this election and according to the President, "So far, we met only on need-based and issue-based. But, hereafter, we resolve to meet regularly, at least once in a month, more on a get-together basis. However, every quarter, we will have a formal meeting discussing the issues affecting the business and will try to identify solutions for it."

The association is collecting Rs 2,500 as one-time membership fee and Rs 1,000 as annual fee.

The present key members of the association include Anand Narla, President; KV Suresh Kumar, VP; Ajith Banthia, Secretary; Sunil Chopra, Joint Secretary; and Megaraj, Treasurer.

S Gopikrishna