Business Goa August 2021

AUGUST 2021

VOL 7 ISSUE 8 PANAJI GOA

GOA’S ONLY BUSINESS MAGAZINE

RNI No.: GOAENG/2015/59955

POSTAL LICENSE No.: G-2/RNP/Monthly/Goa-19/2021-23

www.businessgoa.in

INDUSTRY DOSSIER

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...

The ninth edition of Goa’s only business awards was celebrated in style and grandeur with 23 awardees taking a bow

NEWS VIEWS ARTICLES INTERVIEWS PROFILES FOCUS ANALYSIS OPINIONS EVENTS FEATURES

CONTENTS

14

Cover Story 14

The 9th edition of the Business Goa Awards was celebrated in splendour with 23 awardees being honoured in a glittering ceremony that felicitated excellence in business and public service

Focus Goa / Tourism 26

As the second wave subsides and Goa opens up for tourism, stakeholders and organisations put forth their views to the Government

Global Goa 28

28

34

Vimson Group and Newlab’s Prospect Mining Studio to explore new possibilities in mining

30

44

Enterprise 30

43

Dhruv Rajani highlights his venture Imperial Wealth Services and the financial products offered by them

Goan Brand 32

Global to Local is a well thought out social entrepreneurship venture by Asha Arondekar to support women and their livelihoods

36

61

Interview 34

Nitin Kunkolienker President, Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT), explains how combining scale with a design-centric approach for technology manufacturing can open up many opportunities for India

Lady Power 40

56

40

32

Dr. Vrinda Borker speaks on her rise from a lecturer to become principal of Dhempe College of Arts and Science

Professional Dossier 43

Pradip Kakodkar speaks on his role as a Chartered Accountant and leading various other social initiatives

Bon Appétit 56

Newly opened at Caranzalem, Padaria Prazeres offers some classy European specialties, all in a cozy little café

COLUMNS

46 Corporate Citizen

51 The Reluctant Entrepreneur

47 Industry Viewpoint

52 Love for Business

48 Startup Strategy

54 Balance Sheet

Daniel Albuquerque explains three different cases of public good mediation by panchayats, which acts as a mediator and arbitrator

Manguirish Pai Raiker speaks on the role of MSMEs in helping revive the economy of India

D S Prashant and Tarun K highlight the startup ecosystem and the different aspects a startup should focus on

50 Beyond Classroom

Dr. Pradeep Salgaonkar speaks on the various ways by which companies collect data from their customers

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Blaise Costabir draws a parallel between his two passions - cycling and running a business

Swapnil Kamat and Arunima Kamat list out ways to create a well rounded life for oneself

Samit Moye explains the different ways in which companies can manage their finances during a crisis

08 Editorial 10 Corpo Scan 36 New Launch 38 Campus 39 BookShelf 42 Marketing 44 Event 58 Goa Buzz 62 Newsmakers 62 BG Quiz

Shree Mahalakshmi Damodar Prasanna

EDITORIAL

Market your business relentlessly AUGUST 2021 Publisher & Editor Harshvardhan Bhatkuly Co-Publisher & Group Head Urvija Bhatkuly Business Head Annalise Gouveia Chief Reporter Sybil Rodrigues Distribution Mayur Santinezkar Contributors in this Issue Arunima Kamat Blaise Costabir D S Prashant Daniel Albuquerque Manguirish Pai Raiker Dr Pradeep Salgaonkar Samit Moye Swapnil Kamat Tarun K PRESENTED BY

Editorial, Advertising & Administrative Office

Business Goa

409, Citicentre, EDC Patto Plaza, Panaji, 403001 Goa India Tel.: 0832-2437822 Email: businessgoa.media@gmail.com Unsolicited material may not be returned. The opinions in columns and other stories expressed in Business Goa Industry Dossier are not necessarily that of the publishers and the Publisher/Editor shall not be held liable for any inaccuracy or otherwise.

While great care is being taken to ensure accuracy of information, the publishers are not responsible for omissions or incorrect information. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publishers.

When the cows have gone home; and you are left to reflect on what keeps you in business, you will cut through all the faff and zero in on one thing – your customer. Unless you are Cyrus Poonawala, chances are that you are in some way or the other working on a plan to gain new customers of trying new ideas to make your existing customers spend more with your business. If not, you should be.

Hailing from the advertising business, I am instinctively tuned in to put the customer before everyone else. After years of perfecting the pitch to entice and ensnare customers, one learns that you cannot sell a bad product to the customer more than once. Therefore, the onus of delivering quality always remains with the seller. History has shown us that there is precious little that can replace a quality product, service or idea – with or without advertising.

In fact, word-of-mouth marketing efforts are believed to result in 5 times more sales than paid marketing efforts. It is also a back of the envelope figure that customers are 90% more likely to trust and buy a brand recommended to them by a friend.

The exact reverse applies for a bad product or service. With social media in the equation, botching up on quality would ensure that your chances to stay in business remain slim.

Your customer referral strategy can today work wonders for your business, what with the habit of Googling your brand for reviews being a fairly normal practice among customers nowadays.

One has to ensure that your business gets referrals pretty much during the ‘happy time zone’ when your customer feels excited with the product or service that s/he has purchased from your business. This vote of confidence can easily be relayed across your social media platforms in a bid to build your brand and cash in on happy customer experiences.

Of course, it is not surprising that many businesses have mushroomed now which

Harshvardhan Bhatkuly

provide you with fake reviews about your business and there are likes and follows that they purchase for your social media handles.

But then, to make this a sustainable effort, there is no substitute to the real deal – quality and nothing less.

Canny customers know when your service receives real reviews. This is where word-ofmouth referrals work best, especially when prospective customers ask their friends about your business or even seek comments on messaging groups. An honest feedback that talks good about the quality of your product or service can lead a customer to your doorstep.

With the dulling of the economy induced by the pandemic, businesses have to measure every rupee that they spend on marketing. In the good old days it was famously uttered by John Wanamaker, a successful US retail store merchant and marketing wizard: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Sadly, this luxury is no more an option available for most marketers, today.

Like in all financial crises, the advertising spend gets slashed first and cash is conserved to run the business. I have always found this logic absurd for the simple reason that advertising would spur on prospective buyers rather than keep your business in the dark – especially in times of an economic challenge.

Like the legendary Henry Ford once said: “Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.”

It is in the interest of every entrepreneur, today more than ever before, to put in practice all forms of marketing and mass communication to sell your wares. Be it word of mouth or through paid advertising. The product or service has to be seen and heard off before they fly off the shelves. Needless to mention that sellers must ensure that their products or service will walk the talk when the customer comes calling

Printed, published and owned by Harshvardhan V. Bhatkuly and printed at Elegant Offset Printers, D2-31, Tivim Industrial Estate, Karaswada, Mapusa Goa 403526 and published at 409, Citicentre, EDC Patto Plaza, Panaji, Goa 403001. Editor: Harshvardhan V. Bhatkuly

08 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

CORPO SCAN

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Two shipping firms to start container feeder service at MPT Two shipping firms have shown interest in operating container feeder services at the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT). A new container feeder service operated

by Shreyas Shipping and Logistics is expected to start connecting MPT with Mundra Port, the largest private port of India, located on the north shores of the Gulf of Kutch.

Another container vessel operated by MSC Agency (India) has sought a tentative berthing slot at MPT, which will connect Goa with Colombo and Tuticorin.

MV OEL Colombo, which

is operated by MSC Agency (India) has approached MPT for a berthing slot with about 90 containers to be offloaded and around 70 containers to be shipped out.

MPT announced substantial discounts for any new feeder operator with additional discounts for container vessels for three months for the seafood export season.

MPT has also waived off berthing charges for the first port of call of any feeder service which prompted MSC Agency (India) to show interest in operating its own vessel for import and export of containers

GOA ASSEMBLY PASSES MINING CORP BILL, EVEN AS THE OPPOSITION WALKS OUT The Goa Legislative Assembly, it its recent Monsoon Session, passed the Goa Mineral Development Corporation Bill, 2021, for the formation of a state-run corporation “to carry out mining operations in an orderly, scientific and ecological sustainable manner” in a bid to restart the industry that has been halted since 2018 when the Supreme Court cancelled the renewals of 88 mining leases.

The Bill was passed without any discussion amidst a walkout by the opposition parties.

“We were not allowed to put forth our views and discuss issues of importance to Goa. We did not wish to be part of this illegal act and hence, walked out of the House,” Goa Forward Party MLA of Fatorda Vijai Sardesai said.

The Mining Corporation, according to the Bill, will be headed by the Chief Minister as the ex-officio chairperson and will have on board secretaries of mines, finance and environment as its members.

The Mining Corporation will be empowered to obtain mining leases/grants and prospect licenses, etc. under

the Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act, 1957, and carry out all mining operations.

In the case that ensued, the Supreme Court noted that Goa’s mining leases had expired and directed that fresh licenses be granted. The order was upheld in 2018 when the Apex Court cancelled all the leases that were renewed by the State Government and reiterated its earlier stance of granting fresh licenses.

The State Government had filed a review petition but it was dismissed recently.

Goa’s legacy mining leaseholders continue to claim rights to the leases that were initially granted as perpetual concessions by the Portuguese colonial administration.

Goa Foundation, an environmental NGO whose petitions resulted in the closure of Goa’s mining industry, in 2018 had suggested that setting up the corporation could be

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Sunburn ends tie-up with club franchise

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the closure of Sunburn Beach Club that started its operation in November last year at Vagator after the first wave of the pandemic had slackened.

Sunburn announced its formal exit from the franchise deal it had signed with a brand for its club.

During the eight months of the brand license, the

club was operational for less than seven days as during the rest of the license period; it remained closed under government order.

After several months of waiting, Sunburn finally exited the franchise deal through a notice dated July 21, 2021 said the press note.

It will, however, continue its franchise deal with its partner in other cities

S V Naik, former Goa Civil Services Officer, appointed liquidator for Madgaum Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd. Arvind Khutkar, Registrar of Societies, issued an order appointing S V Naik, retired Goa Civil Services Officer, as a liquidator for the Madgaum Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd, Margao.

The bank’s license was cancelled by the Reserve Bank of India by an order dated July 27, following which, it stopped functioning with effect from the close of business on July 29. Naik has been directed to complete the liquidation proceedings under the Goa Co-operative Societies Act at the earliest.

Further, the appointment

the quickest route to restart mining activity and bring relief to mining workers and truck operators who have been out of work since then

“We were not allowed to put forth our views and discuss issues of importance to Goa. We did not wish to be part of this illegal act and hence, walked out of the House” VIJAI SARDESAI

MLA, Goa Forward Party

order said that the major claims are expected to be settled within 2-3 months.

With the cancellation of the banking license and commencement of liquidation proceedings, the process of paying the 56,600 depositors of the former bank will commence as per the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) Act. On liquidation, every depositor will be entitled to receive deposit insurance claim amount of his/her deposits up to a monetary ceiling of `5 lakh from the DICGC

CORPO SCAN

@businessgoamagazine

CHIEF MINISTER PITCHES FOR SKILL EDUCATION WHILE POINTING TO 50% JOBLESS GRADUATES Chief Minister Goan students. “If Pramod Sawant, we don’t provide while pointing out skills to them when that at least 50% they graduate, they of students remain will not benefit. unemployed upon Over the past completing their couple of years, graduation, made a several graduates strong pitch for skill have passed out based education. from our colleges, He said that Pramod Sawant but we have to ask the New Educational Policy ourselves whether we are (NEP) would be implemented producing quality graduates in Goa from the next and how many of these academic year. are working towards their Sawant stated that skill futures.” education is the future for Further, he stated that Goa

is the best State in India as far as creation of infrastructure for the education sector and human resources is concerned, while proposing that innovative courses should be offered by various colleges in the State.

He also mentioned that Goa is the only State to offer grants-in-aid and infrastructure grants right from the pre-primary to the higher education level, and assured that vacant teachers’ posts would be filled within two to three months

Goa Chamber seeks reduction of VAT on natural gas from 12.5% to 3% Goa Chamber of the considerable Commerce and difference between Industry (GCCI) VAT levied in has written to Chief Goa and in Minister Pramod neighbouring Sawant asking for states will put Goa’s value-added tax industrial units at (VAT) on piped a disadvantage. It natural (PNG) for has also called for industrial use be the inclusion of Ralph de Sousa natural gas under reduced from 12.5% to 3%. the goods and services tax GCCI President Ralph de (GST) regime.

Sousa stated that the rate of The Goa State Pollution VAT on natural gas in Goa Control Board (GSPCB) is more than four times that said that the use of petcoke levied in Maharashtra, and and furnace oil would be double the rate of other states discontinued from December such as Gujarat and Haryana.

31st.

Further, GCCI said that GSPCB has recommended

compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) as both LNG and CNG are taxed under VAT. GCCI President further added that the manufacturing sector using PNG as a fuel, is primarily affected, as the inclusion under GST made it possible for them to claim the benefit of the amount of GST paid as input tax credit, and thus the GST cost was neutral. Since there is no VAT credit available on PNG, it would have a cascading effect on the final cost to consumers as well as make the products less competitive against those from other states

FLOOD CAUSES MAJOR DAMAGE IN GOA

Goa was hit by its worst floods since 1982, due to incessant rains in the third and fourth week of July. Water eventually receded from most areas amid spells of moderate to heavy rain in some parts on 23rd July.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said 4,000-5,000 houses had been affected by the flooding.

The government’s assessment showed major damage to over 1,200 houses in nine of Goa’s 12 talukas.

Sattari and Bicholim in North Goa and Dharbandora

in South Goa appeared to be the worst-hit. But later, the damage assessment showed that Ponda in South Goa was also among the worst-affected talukas. More than 500 homes were damaged with about 190 people evacuated to safety.

Chief Minister Sawant, who visited villages in Dharbandora, said: “About 100-150 houses (in Dharbandora) were submerged, almost everyone moved to the hilly parts. Our minister (PWD) Deepak Pauskar made arrangements and they were rescued and

12 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

moved to safety. Many houses were under water, some right up to the roof, and people have suffered huge losses.” He said that the government will extend financial assistance to affected people.

In Sattari taluka – where 21 villages were affected by floods – a bridge collapsed in Paikul after Mhadei river waters rose alarmingly.

Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar visited the historic Safa Masjid in Ponda after a wall of the 16thcentury mosque collapsed following unrelenting rain.

Draft ODP for Vasco to be challenged in Court

Goa Foundation has agreed to challenge in court the draft Outline Development Plan (ODP) 2030 for the Vasco planning area prepared by the Mormugao Planning and Development Authority (MPDA).

Goa Foundation director, Claude Alvares has assured help to stakeholders of Mormugao taluka which comes under the Vasco planning area.

The Chicalim BioCrusaders had invited Goa Foundation as well as other similar organisations and individuals who have raised various issues with the MPDA on the Draft ODP for a meeting.

Alvares was briefed by the participants on the ongoing ODP process and the illegalities observed in the Draft ODP 2030 prepared by the MPDA. Issues like change of zone of the Chicalim Khazan, private forested areas, agriculture tenanted lands, no development zones were discussed in the meeting. It was unanimously decided to challenge the entire ODP exercise in the court with the assistance of Goa Foundation.

Further, Alvares requested the Chicalim Panchayat village development committee member Edwin Mascarenhas to prepare a chronology of the issues involved.

Cyril Fernandes, convenor of Chicalim BioCrusaders has been given the responsibility of identifying the organisations and individuals who will be party to the petition “I have instructed the Archeological Survey of India to expedite the strengthening work. For now, only a support (structure) will be erected along the damaged wall. After the rains the restoration work will begin,” Kavlekar said www.businessgoa.in

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COVER STORY

CELEBRATING GOA’S BUSINESS ACHIEVERS

The 9th edition of Business Goa Awards for Corporate Excellence was celebrated in splendour with 23 awardees being honoured in a glittering ceremony that felicitated excellence in business and public service

H

DFC presents Business Goa Awards 2021 was held on 1st August 2021 in a glittering yet subdued function at the Marriott, Miramar, in view of the pandemic protocols.

Organising an event of this scale, in the shadow of Covid-19 was not a cakewalk, yet Business Goa went ahead and presented a business awards function that Goa could be proud of: The Business Goa Awards for Corporate Excellence – an awards ceremony

honouring all those who have significantly contributed to Goa’s vibrant economic development.

The past one and a half year has seen businesses crumble and fall victim to the pandemic, which swept the ground beneath our feet.

Goa being the smallest state, suffered at every turn, yet the common man along with the business fraternity rose up like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes and managed to innovate and adapt themselves to the changing

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circumstances.

Although held on a smaller scale as compared to past editions, the who’s who of the business world in Goa made their presence felt and said that the event helped uplift spirits and boost their morale.

The keynote speaker for the evening was Sanjay Kirloskar, Chairman of Kirloskar Brothers Pvt. Ltd, who delivered his speech remotely, which was played on screen.

The Awards were spread

across various categories spanning across sectors, scale and size of businesses. These categories range diversely to cover sectors like hospitality, real estate, manufacturing, MSMEs and startups.

The awards saw 23 awardees being recognized for their efforts in the space of business, economy and excellence. The four categories of the Awards – Hospitality & Real Estate, Excellence, Best Companies and Top Honours, honoured some of the best and brightest minds for their

contribution to business and excellence in Goa. The winners in the Hospitality & Real Estate category were Saad Infrastructure (Real Estate Company of the Year), Rajdeep Builders (Real Estate Brand of the Year), L & L Builders (Contribution to Real Estate), Hilton Goa Resort (Luxury Hotel of the Year), Peep Kitchen (Best in Goan Cuisine) and Prashant Kumar (Hospitality Consultant of the Year).

The winners in the Excellence category were Heta Pandit (Preserving Goan Heritage), Mac Vaz (Service to Business), Rotary Club Panaji Riviera (Social Responsibility Award), Verna Industries Association (Business Organisation of the Year), Supriya Rane (Author

Release of the Business Goa Awards Souvenir: L to R: Swapnil Kamat, Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, Samir Lotlikar (Cluster Head, HDFC Bank), Ryan Costa (Cosme Costa Group), Dr Sangam Kurade (Dr. Kurade’s), Prashant Joshi (Goa Hyundai) and Rajesh Dempo (Vision Dempo)

of the Year) and Kishor Naik Gaonkar (Journalism).

The winners in the Best Companies category were Kilowott (IT Company of the Year), Glazetek Systems (Industry of the Year), Como (Style Business of the Year), AR-Mine’s Industries (Make in India Award), Wooden Homes India (Goan Brand), and Spintly (Startup of the Year).

The awardees in the Top Honours category were Nandan Kudchadkar

(Influencer of the Year), Dr Kedar Padte (Professional of the Year), Molbio Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd. (Innovation in Healthcare), Damodar Kochkar (Business Leadership Award) and Narayan R. Bandekar (Lifetime Achievement Award).

HDFC Bank was the presenting sponsor, Fortune Miramar and Tangentia were the associate partners for the Awards. The event was powered by Dr. Kurade’s, Real Group of Companies,

and Vision Dempo. John Distilleries was the beverage partner, TPT Productions was the creative partner, Goa Hyundai was the automobile partner, while My Goa and Savoir Faire were the magazine partner and organizing partner respectively. AdCity was the outdoor partner, Goa Marriott Resort and Spa was the venue partner; and DNA-Goa was the broadband partner. The host for the evening was Founder-CEO of Work Better, Swapnil Kamat

AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 15

COVER STORY / AWARDEES

@businessgoa

Narayan R. Bandekar

Damodar Kochkar

Nandan Kudchadkar

Dr. Kedar Padte

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

INFLUENCER OF THE YEAR

PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR

Narayan Bandekar

Damodar Kochkar

Nandan Kudchadkar

Dr. Kedar Padte

Arman Bankley

Suraj Morajkar

Aditya Desai

Sriram Natarajan

MAKE IN INDIA AWARD

Ar- Mine’s Industries

LUXURY HOTEL OF THE YEAR

Hilton Goa Resort

REAL ESTATE COMPANY OF THE YEAR

Saad Infrastructure

INNOVATION IN HEALTHCARE

Molbio Diagnostics

Rajesh Tarkar

Prashant Kumar

Caesar Fernandes

Caleb Fernandez

REAL ESTATE BRAND OF THE YEAR

HOSPITALITY CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR

GOAN BRAND AWARD

IT COMPANY OF THE YEAR

Rajdeep Builders

Prashant Kumar

16 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

Wooden Homes India

Kilowott

COVER STORY / AWARDEES

business-goa

Rohin Parkar

Pradip da Costa

Supriya Rane

Sandra Fernandes

STARTUP OF THE YEAR

BUSINESS ORGANISATION

WRITER OF THE YEAR

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Amey Naik

Rybeck Pereira

Heta Pandit

Kishor Naik Gaonkar

BEST IN GOAN CUISINE

CONTRIBUTION TO REAL ESTATE

PRESERVING GOA’S HERITAGE

JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

Peep Kitchen

L&L Builders

Heta Pandit

Kishor Naik Gaonkar

Spintly

Verna Industries Association

Supriya Rane

Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera

Mac Vaz

Mark Figueiredo and Vishwesh Kamat

Shruti Tiwari and Pallav Ojha

SERVICE TO BUSINESS

INDUSTRY OF THE YEAR

STYLE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

Mac Vaz

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Glazetek Systems

COMO

COVER STORY / KEYNOTE

Resilience: Way Forward for Industry

Sanjay Kirloskar delivers his keynote address via video conferencing at the Business Goa Awards 2021

Sanjay Kirloskar, Chairman of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd. and Immediate Past President, All India Management Association, while congratulating the awardees, spoke on the resilience of entrepreneurs in the face of the pandemic

T

he keynote address for the Awards was delivered remotely and played on the screen. The keynote speaker, Sanjay Kirloskar is a stalwart of the Indian business space, under whose leadership, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd. have grown to be the largest manufacturers of pumps and valves in India and one of the largest in the world by market cap. Having earned his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Sanjay returned home, to not only make his mark in the business arena but also to build a legacy. Sanjay, the Immediate Past President of the All India Management Association (AIMA), has also set up the all-women operated and managed manufacturing plant of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd at Coimbatore as a part of a drive to have more women in the core-engineering sector. He is a true industry leader in every sense of the word.

Excerpts from his speech: Good evening ladies and gentlemen. It is a pleasure to be with you and thank you for inviting me to the Business Goa Awards for Corporate Excellence.

It is nice to see a return of the award functions, even if with a sparse attendance in

person. Given the continued threat of the pandemic, it is smarter to continue with mostly online gatherings.

My compliments to Mr Bhatkuly and his associates for celebrating outstanding achievements in many different sectors and identifying role models for the new generation. My congratulations to each of the award winners and I hope that they will continue to set high standards and inspire others to raise theirs.

It is nice to see a local business publication supporting these awards. I am told that it is the only business magazine in Goa and it has been around for 12 years and it has been involved with these awards for the past nine years. My compliments to the magazine for its sustained commitment to promoting business and entrepreneurship in Goa. The past year and half have been extremely challenging for everyone and it has brought home the ephemeral nature of life and business. The pandemic and the disruption have reminded that leaders must infuse resilience into business model, organisation, supply chain and the society itself. I am pleased that the organisers have chosen to focus on resilience as the way forward for industry at this function.

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The key to building resilience is to look beyond cost savings and prioritise business continuity under all conditions. One of the greatest lessons of the covid disruption has been the vulnerability of the ‘just in time’ and global supply chains.

While it is perfect business to seek the lowest cost and the most efficient supplier anywhere in the world, it is not smart business to put all the eggs in one basket.

The covid experience has taught everyone to manage the supply chain risk better by having alternate suppliers nearby and in more than one region and country.

The travel and transportation disruptions have also highlighted the need to diversify one’s markets.

The frequent and sudden lockdowns in different areas must make a business diversify both the customers and the revenue sources. In fact, the companies that quickly repurposed their factories, material and distribution to offer pandemic-appropriate products and services have harvested huge profits during the crisis.

Technology adoption is another big piece of the resilience strategy.

Digitalising and automating are no longer the fancies of hip companies only. These have become the basic

necessities for the existence of business in the new normal.

Whatever be the size or type of a business, there is no future without having a certain minimum online presence, communication and transaction. Of course, this requires not just investment in technology but also in reskilling old employees and finding news ones with digital skills. But, this cost is the cost of staying in business.

Addressing you through this recording may not be the preferable way to be with you, but in the prevailing circumstances, it is the best way. Adoption of technology and a change in mindset has made it possible to overcome the limitations on movement and meeting and getting things done.

As Thomas Alva Edision once said: “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Many businesses have crumbled during the pandemic and some have been wiped out. This is not just the time to bounce back, it is also a time to recreate the building blocks of your businesses. The setbacks and losses may be too huge for some, but the human spirit is an amazing thing and entrepreneurs, by their very nature, are more often than Continued on Page 22 >

COVER STORY/ LEADER SPEAK

S

hrinivas Dempo is the chairperson of Goa’s leading business house, Dempo, whose modernera activity was pioneered by his grandfather, late Vasantrao S Dempo in the year 1941. Shrinivas Dempo was called upon to lead the family business from the year 1998, using his postgraduate management education in Industrial Administration received at Carnegie Mellon University, USA, to give a new direction to the business group. His stewardship has been marked by expansion of existing businesses, benchmarking of products and processes to international standards, introduction of progressive people management systems, enterprise resource planning, corporate sustainability reporting and the deepening of corporate social responsibility. Dempo is currently the senior Vice President of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Excerpts from his speech: “This is the 12th year of Business Goa, my hearty congratulations to Urvija (I say Urvija first, because she is the publisher of the magazine) and my friend Harsh for coming up with such a wonderful product.

Media is a tough business!

When the magazine was launched, I remember telling Harsh, that you are getting into a very very challenging business. There are so many changes, so many new things happening and print media is even more challenging now. Nevertheless, Harsh and Urvija have not only survived they have thrived and have blossomed. One thing I must say is that the only reason they have thrived < Continued from Page 20

not, wired to overcome such challenges.

This awards ceremony is a silver lining in the cloud, as Goa is celebrating its entrepreneurial talent

www.businessgoa.in

“Original content is vital for print media”

Shrinivas Dempo, in his speech, congratulates Business Goa for its twelve years of supporting the business community in the State

Shrinivas Dempo

and blossomed is not because of their advertisers like us, it is because they have unique content.

Today, a media company can only survive because of original content – everything else can be copied. Social media has such an advantage in terms of advance news that they can produce.

Business Goa can only come up with a magazine once a month. I have observed Harsh systematically working towards getting into the social media platform. I receive my Business Goa edition online the day it is released. I must congratulate Harsh and

Urvija for having the vision to do this.

To be very honest, I can say this with a lot of conviction now, when he started, I thought Harsh will not survive for more than two years; because he did not have deep pockets.

I will tell you The Navhind Times lost money for 25 years before it posted profit.

Fortunately, my grandfather started the newspaper for a different purpose and never to make money. Now, that it is profitable, it is another story.

Therefore, I really had my doubts whether Harsh would survive, but hats off to

and its contribution to the society. These entrepreneurs and leaders are being feted for their perseverance and resilience to make a difference to everyone around them.

This awards presentation

is perhaps the best tonic needed to lift the spirit of Goa’s entrepreneurial community.

I congratulate the organiser, Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, former Chairman, Goa Management Association

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him. It is only because he did something unique, he served the business community in Goa. Look at all the startups, it so amazing. Here, there are luminaries of business and startup entrepreneurs, who started from nowhere. Where do they project themselves?

On official forums? Business is criticised more than it is appreciated with comments like, “These are the crony capitalists that had advantage from the government; they take all the money away.”

That is what Harsh is doing so beautifully. From every nook and corner of Goa, from every space and every area, Business Goa is highlighting businesses. I saw some of the new startups and hats off to them. Goa is not a friendly place, it is a very challenging environment, the market is small, the end product you put across to the country, it is not easy to survive on all this, because there are big pockets everywhere and you can’t compete with them. Once again, a job well done both Harsh and Urvija. Now I am confident that they will easily cross 50 years. My best wishes to them always.”

Advice to Business Goa to excel in a post Covid world. What would you like to see Business Goa do?

“I think Business Goa should just keep on innovating, keep on highlighting important issues. Content creation is most important across the economic divide, if you can create your own content and highlight a niche area, Business Goa will always have an advantage.

I think the magazine has started doing it, but it should just keep on doing it and they will thrive” and publisher and editor of Business Goa, on braving covid and putting together this award ceremony.

Thank you, once again, and best wishes www.businessgoa.in

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COVER STORY/ EDITOR’S NOTE HARSHVARDHAN BHATKULY

“As Goa’s only business magazine, we take our quest to be the ‘Voice of Business in Goa’ very seriously” I need not dwell on the challenge thrown to us by the pandemic. Many businesses got wiped out, entrepreneurs have had to tweak their business models, redefine their goals, change the way they did their businesses before. Before the pandemic, we would attend many talks and lectures about VUCA but we thought VUCA at best be ten years later or years into the future, and now it was staring at us in the face, in the form of covid. Everything became uncertain and we were thrown to the mercy of the elements.

However as Goa’s only business magazine, we took our commitment, our quest to be the ‘Voice of Business in Goa’, very seriously. We were the only magazine in Goa who were lucky to see ourselves on the newsstands’ every month throughout this pandemic.

I remember in May last year when the lockdown was just lifted I had a meeting with RajKumar Kamat of BNI, and I was trying to talk to him about the prospects about how things would pan out.

I was unaware of what I was thinking or what I was doing, as everything was such a fog.

All I knew, when I came out of that room, that yes we have to get over this and come out with an issue every month; irrespective of the challenges with regards to cost, talent, people or whether we are going to be read at all because there was a fear of touching pages in the initial stages of the pandemic. But then we braved it all and here I am in front of you. Not all this work has been that of my doing only. I have an extremely strong team which is the

Harshvardhan Bhatkuly

bulwark of support Annalise Gouveia, Sybil Rodrigues, Mayur Santineskar, Ameya Nayak who was with us then, and now Saachi Pai Kane.

They are too strong for any challenge in this world and we have been successful that we took ourselves very seriously and we had to come out with an issue every month. I know it’s a lot of divine grace but it’s also a lot of support from our advertisers, well wishers,

24 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

subscribers and friends, many of whom are in the room tonight. I really owe a debt of gratitude to you all.

Business Goa Awards were first instituted in 2012 at Tito’s. The idea was to recognize felicitate, applaud, appreciate and recognize the talent and change makers among entrepreneurs in Goa. A magazine that was told it has only three months to survive when we started out,

not because we couldn’t afford it, but because there was no business in Goa, as such – over the years, including tonight, we have awarded 236 people – which I think is quite laudable especially when people do not link Goa with entrepreneurship or businesses and leadership.

I must congratulate every awardee over the years, who have kept the Goan flag flying very high

FOCUS GOA / TOURISM

@businessgoamagazine

LIVELIHOODS AT STAKE

As the second wave subsides and Goa opens up for tourism, stakeholders and organisations put forth their views to the Government

B

By SYBIL RODRIGUES

efore covid-19, travel and tourism had become one of the most important sectors in the world economy, accounting for 10 percent of global GDP and more than 320 million jobs worldwide, and in a tourism dependent State like Goa, it has been the mainstay of the economy.

The State will feel the negative impacts of the crisis for much longer than other economies. Contact– intensive services which are key to the tourism and travel sectors are disproportionately affected by the pandemic and will continue to struggle until people feel safe to travel en masse again.

Ralph de Sousa, President of Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) elaborates on the effect of the pandemic, both the first and second waves, on the tourism industry.

“Tourism deals with people and this makes it the most sensitive industry – any dips upheavals or calamities, have a toll on the sensitive tourism industry. Historically, we know that any crises whether international, national or local, tourism is first to be affected and last to recover.

The stress on tourism is felt right down to the common person in the primary sector via the multiplier effect.

Tourism and the supply chain is a partnership of sorts where you swim or sink together.

The players are many, may be in form of hoteliers, tour operators, travel agents, shack owners, water sports operators, taxi drivers, shop owners and many many more. They all get affected if tourism is facing a downturn and this is exactly what is happening in Goa. With half of its population directly or indirectly dependant on tourism, this pandemic

has adversely affected the livelihoods of all of them and across the board, as tourism is shut for last year and a half due to the pandemic.”

Supriya Rane, Executive Director, La Cabana Resort, is of a similar opinion. “Covid-19 has severely impacted the tourism industry globally covering other industries like hospitality, travel agencies, tour operators, taxi operators and others. Both the hospitality and tourism industry in Goa have been impacted because of the covid-19 unprecedented

challenges thus affecting economic growth and revenue. The decision to shutdown public places, hotels, flights and travel was taken to safeguard the health of the people. Many have shut down for good, as they could not sustain. Some have become bankrupt. The global travel industry is down with only domestic travel allowed within certain countries.

However, there is hope now as the tourism season is on and knocking on Goa’s doors.”

Jack Ajit Sukhija, Partner, Panjim Inn and Chairman of GCCI’s Tourism Committee, said that the pandemic was devastating for the majority in the State. “Out of the 4000 odd hotels we have in Goa, only 1400 are open. Service providers, which are an integral part of tourism like taxi drivers, musicians, event organisers, boat cruises, tour operators, and the like, have suffered.”

“The stress on tourism is felt right down to the common person in the primary sector via the multiplier effect. Tourism and the supply chain is a partnership of sorts where you swim or sink together”

Measures for revival of tourism The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has listed various measures that the government and the Centre need to take for the revival of the travel and tourism sector in the State. First and foremost among the suggestions are, introduction of vaccine passports, incentives to boost domestic travel, improvement of the healthcare infrastructure and tax sops.

RALPH DE SOUSA

President, Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry

26 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

Ralph de Sousa is of the opinion that even though tourism needs to be opened to revive the economy, it has to be done carefully, cautiously and in a phased manner. “Human life is more important than economic gains and hence the government has to ensure that first all the locals are vaccinated, those who enter the State come with a vaccination certificate or a covid negative certificate. The protocols like restrictions on crowded parties and events should be implemented strictly. The numbers, as well the working hours, can be restricted if need be to ensure that the areas that lead to infections are properly addressed.

In case of any unfortunate eventuality, the required arrangements at the health centers, district hospitals or GMC and other private hospitals should be in place.

The arrangements and the standards should be of a level that will help curtail, control and cure any infections that might surface. The locals, as well as the tourists, have to be taken care of.”

Jack Sukhija says, “One must have taken both the doses of the vaccine or have an ICMR test done at least 48 hours arrival in the State.” In a report submitted to the State government and the Centre, the CII has said that these policy decisions will not only benefit domestic tourism but will also encourage inbound tourism. “The travel and tourism sector can benefit immensely from vaccine passports. India should create a system of vaccine passports to allow fully vaccinated people and those who have recovered from covid-19 in the past 90 days to travel freely without any requirements for testing across India,” CII has said in its report.

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“Service providers, which are an integral part of tourism like taxi drivers, musicians, event organizers, boat cruises, tour operators, and the like, have suffered” JACK AJIT SUKHIJA

Partner, Panjim Inn

Given that India can track all the vaccinated people through the CoWIN or Aarogya Setu app and also verify the vaccination certificates issued in India, all states should come on board to permit seamless travel, said CII. Supriya Rane states that the Government has a crucial role to play in the revival and growth of the tourism industry.

“The tourism industry in Goa thrives on international and domestic travelers. Immediate relief measures by way of reduction of visa fees, relief in GST, giving additional tax holiday to tour operators and travel agents for a specified period to safeguard their interest are some options.

The Tourism Board should have professionals from the industry with a proven record of accomplishment.

Focussed campaign, tourism expo, and online platforms to market Goa within India and overseas can bring in quality tourist, who will add revenue and help restore lost jobs in the industry.”

In terms of incentives, CII has recommended that a tax exemption of `50,000 should be given to all employees who spend three times the amount on hotel accommodation, airfare or tour packages. The other option, would be to

allow a deduction of `1 lakh under Chapter VI of Income Tax Act for travel.

The second wave has done great harm to India and Goa’s image as a safe destination for travelers. The State and the Centre need to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure to inspire confidence among tourists. “The government should announce a timetable, for opening visas and e-visas to allow the international tourists to plan their visits to India. The intervention should be taken up on an urgent basis, so as to not miss the coming winter season of travel,” said CII. CII has also said that oneyear GST exemption to travel and tourism would allow service providers to reduce pricing which in turn would attract international as well as domestic tourists.

“The global travel industry is down, with only domestic travel allowed within certain countries.

However, there is hope now as the tourism season is on and knocking on the doors of Goa” SUPRIYA RANE

Executive Director, La Cabana Resort

Measures to be taken by Stakeholders Along with the Government, stakeholders of the industry

too, need to do their bit in helping revive this sector.

Ralph says that all stakeholders have a role to play in this regard. “They have to ensure that all their staff are fully vaccinated and in case there are any symptoms similar to those in covid infected patients, they should be immediately isolated and tested, so that any chances of contagion is nipped in the bud and treated right at the beginning. The players have to tighten their belts and run their businesses at less than full capacity, thus creating enough space for distancing the guests in common areas and restaurants to minimise any contagion through contact. A few rooms isolated from the main area in your hotel should be kept reserved for the guests who show any Continued on Page 36 >

MICHAEL LOBO SEEKS RELIEF FOR TOURISM INDUSTRY Goa’s Minister of Ports and Solid Waste Management, Michael Lobo sought relief for Goa’s tourism business in paying back their loans and seeking that no account would be declared as a nonperforming asset (NPA) during the ongoing wave of the pandemic.

Lobo, MLA of Calangute, which is the main attraction of Goa’s tourism industry, stated that he had written to the Union Finance Minister and the Prime Minister on behalf of beach shacks and restaurant owners, taxi operators, car and bike rental operators and other tourism businesses; who he said, were not in a position to pay back their installments until their businesses could resume.

“I also have a business and I am getting calls from banks from which I have taken loans. A manager of a bank told me that if I do not pay my loan instalment, it would be declared a NPA. Once it is declared an NPA then the process of recovery is initiated. If a bank manager

Michael Lobo

can call me and inform me that my account will be declared as an NPA, what about the common man?

What about people who live hand-to-mouth and run small businesses? How will they pay installments? This is an issue which is plaguing people in Goa as well as the rest of India,” said Lobo Lobo further said that he would be writing to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister that the RBI should issue a circular to all nationalised banks that no account be declared as an NPA during the second wave of the pandemic.

He also pointed out that from February onwards, the ones most affected were the small businesses, as they have not

been open and were not in a position to pay installments.

Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) had conducted a state-wide survey through a consultant KPMG to understand the impact of the first wave of Covid-19 and lockdown on the Goa Tourism Industry. As per the survey, the overall loss of earnings in the tourism industry during lockdown has been estimated at `2,062 crores.

Potential loss of earning for the 2020-21 season has been pegged at `7,239 crores and the potential job cuts were to the tune of 1.22 lakh (58%).

The second wave is expected to erase a similar amount of value from the industry.

Goa’s tourism sector is a big source of revenue for the State with the industry directly contributing 16.43% towards the state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and also provides employment to nearly 35% of the State’s population that is dependent on the sector, according to official estimates

AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 27

GLOBAL GOA

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Vimson Group and Newlab’s Prospect Mining Studio to explore new possibilities in mining The 12 startups selected to join the Studio will apply sustainable and socially responsible technology solutions to the mining industry

V

imson Group and Newlab’s Prospect Mining Studio announced the 12 companies selected to participate in this year’s cohort, the Studio’s second since its initial launch in 2019. As the mining industry increasingly trends towards embracing green solutions to mitigate its impact on climate and the environment, Prospect Mining Studio enables innovative teams to build, pilot, and scale solutions that drive enhanced sustainability and operational efficiency; bring innovation from adjacent industries that have thus far not been applied to mining; and attract private capital to the industry.

As part of the Studio, the startups will work to define critical gaps in the mining industry, develop prototypes, and pilot their solutions at mining sites in order to solve the industry’s most significant sustainability challenges. The Studio’s focus areas include: reducing operational costs; improving the energy efficiency of ore processing; valorizing tailings and reducing waste; maximizing ore understanding; and enhancing worker safety. The cohort companies will address these focus areas by applying various technology platforms from industrial IoT and artificial intelligence to synthetic biology and alternative, low-carbon energy storage infrastructure.

By employing agile experimentation in real-world environments, Studio pilots will enable teams to de-risk their technologies, gain insights for how to best adapt their solutions to the mining industry, and build momentum for adoption and long-term traction. These pilots will also serve to de-risk Prospect Mining Studio’s member companies’ solutions for other industrial and commercial use-cases beyond the mining industry, demonstrating the value of investing in mining innovation to enable clean energy transitions across industries.

“Through the Prospect Mining Studio, Vimson Group and Newlab are collaborating to shape the future of mining by empowering startups to develop and pilot industry solutions with revolutionary potential,” said Vivek Salgaocar, Director of Vimson Group.

“Amid the growing climate crisis, the future of mining will be increasingly

28 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

defined by a trend towards sustainable practices that enhance efficiencies while reducing its impact on surrounding environments. The newly announced cohort of Prospect Mining Studio companies, which include leading innovators from across industries specialising in sustainability, will help the industry bring that future to fruition.”

In January 2021, Prospect Mining

“Through the Prospect Mining Studio, Vimson Group and Newlab are collaborating to shape the future of mining by empowering startups to develop and pilot industry solutions with revolutionary potential” VIVEK SALGAOCAR Director, Vimson Group

Studio announced a global open call inviting startups from both within and outside the mining industry to apply to join the Studio. Following a diligent review and selection process of more than 75 applicants from 17 countries that included feedback from mining industry leaders, Prospect Mining Studio selected the following companies to participate in its 2021 cohort: Pitcrew AI, SBQuantum, Muon Vision, Electramet, SafeAI, Cemvita Factory, Impulstec GmbH, rad.

Data, Earth Alive Clean Technologies, Broadbit Batteries, Quidnet Energy and Talpasolutions “We are pleased to welcome an incredible slate of innovative companies determined to transform the mining industry,” said Satish Rao, Chief Product Officer at Newlab. “As ESG and energy innovation continue to be major priorities for leading mining companies around the world seeking to combat climate change, Prospect Mining Studio strategically sought out innovative teams spanning disciplines, both from within mining and adjacent sectors, developing technology solutions with the power to make mining more sustainable and efficient. Over the coming months, we will work closely to support the startup teams as they build, iterate and validate their unique solutions.”

Prospect Mining Studio has also recently partnered with CMIC, an organisation working to transform

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mining into a zero-waste industry, to provide Studio companies with opportunities in the global mining industry, particularly in Canada, one of the largest and most forwardthinking mining regions in the world.

This year’s Prospect Mining Studio follows last year’s program, which saw successful product development and innovation support, investment, and partnership cultivation between mining houses and early-stage ventures.

The Vimson Advantage Founded over 70 years ago, Vimson Group is a Goan foremost conglomerate with successful ventures in mining, trading, financial services, and real estate development.

Led by Shivanand V. Salgaocar, Vimson also runs significant philanthropic

transforming natural resources into prosperity for the entire community.

Vimson’s operations consist of an integrated value chain that includes exploration, excavation, ore screening and processing, and multi-modal transportation.

“We are pleased to welcome an incredible slate of innovative companies determined to transform the mining industry” SATISH RAO

Chief Product Officer, Newlab

initiatives in healthcare and sports. Vimson owns and operates one of India’s oldest iron ore mining companies,

Innovation at Newlab Newlab is a community of experts and innovators applying transformative technology to solve the world’s biggest challenges.

Newlab membership and studios bring together entrepreneurs, engineers, inventors and industry leaders to create sustainable solutions and enterprises.

Newlab employs technologies including robotics, AI and material science to transform what matters most – health, environment, media, cities, and infrastructure

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409, Citicentre, Patto Plaza, Panaji Email: businessgoa.media@gmail.com

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ENTERPRISE

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IMPERIAL WEALTH SERVICES

The Financial Wizards

Dhruv Rajani highlights his venture Imperial Wealth Services and the financial products offered by them

D

By SYBIL RODRIGUES

hruv Rajani, the brainchild behind Imperial Wealth Services, did his schooling at Sharada Mandir School, Miramar and went on to complete his higher secondary education from Dempo College of Commerce and Economics.

Dhruv earned his bachelor’s degree in Management Studies from Wilson’s College in Mumbai.

In his final year, he decided to pursue a career in Finance and earned a master’s degree in Finance from the University of Reading, UK. Post his master’s program, he began working with Elara Capital in London as a trader in Indian equities. Once Dhruv came back to Goa, he set up Imperial Wealth Services in the heart of the capital city of Panaji.

Dhruv says that he began trading and investing in the stock market in the first year of his bachelor’s program when in Mumbai. “I along with a group of my friends used to track the stock markets. Mumbai gave us that opportunity to do so and most of our conversations revolved around companies that were doing well and stocks to invest in or not.

We began exchanging ideas and would buy stocks at the beginning of the week and sell them at the end of each week. We gradually moved into serious investing which strengthened my interest in finance and made me think about managing my own family wealth.”

Although Dhruv’s family business is in the field of mining and being the fourth generation in the business, he chose to venture into a different field. Once Dhruv came back from UK, he saw the opportunity to open a

Dhruv Rajani

financial services firm, “I found out that there was a lack of a proper financial advisory services in Goa. Most of the banks were doing it back then, but when it came to dispensing the right kind of financial advice, or offering the right product to their customers, along with the continued service thereafter they were falling short. I saw it as an opportunity and took it up, which led me to starting Imperial Wealth Services.”

IWS is involved in the distribution of mutual funds, alternative investment funds (AIF), portfolio management services (PMS), offshore funds, private equity, startup investments as well as insurance. “We have a separate family office where we manage our own wealth by investing across all asset

30 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

Although his family business is in the field of mining and being the fourth generation in the business, Dhruv Rajani chose to venture into a different field. Once Dhruv came back from UK, he saw the opportunity to open a financial services firm. “I found out that there was a lack of a proper financial advisory services in Goa. There was a gap in the market,” says Dhruv classes and geographical locations.”

“We began with a few

clients initially whose finances we managed to streamline by understanding their needs and offering a more goalbased sort of approach. We currently service over 1000 individual clients, both in India and abroad. Our success and growth has been because of our understanding of the client’s needs which has led them to achieve their longterm financial goals, success and security.”

Dhruv describes his team at IWS as a focused and efficient one. “My brother Harsh assists us and has set up a different branch where we handle our family business firm. Anish Albuquerque our CFO has been with us since we started seven years ago.

We have a branch office in Mumbai, which handles over 100 clients.”

“Our line of work can be quite daunting. There is a lot of liquidity in the market currently, thus advising on where to invest at this current juncture becomes a challenge.

The main issue that one faces is how to deal with volatility and risk in the market.

Hedging risks is something that we always look at and we advise against deploying money in one go. There are certain products like asset allocation products, which takes care of the volatility.

This has worked well for us.”

Actively managing portfolios of their clients has also been a successful financial strategy adopted by IWS. Speaking on investment patterns in Goa, Dhruv says, “Goans love to invest in fixed deposits. In my opinion, if part of that money is allocated properly to equity, given that bank FD rates are at an alltime low, we will see a stronger and stable equity market. This will help people earn a better post-tax return than what

@businessgoa

they would have earned from interests on fixed deposits, which are taxable. Investors need to pay attention to their investments and finances; look at their asset allocations and invest appropriately.

People are busy in their dayto-day lives and work that they tend to neglect the need for proper financial planning or don’t pay attention to their savings.”

Dhruv and his team constantly update themselves on current market and financial developments.

“Besides my active reading and studies, we interact with the biggest and brightest fund managers in the country and understand their perspective of the global and domestic markets and trends. This keeps us well informed on the happenings in the industry and helps us in taking informed investment decisions.

My active

Harsh Rajani, Dhruv Rajani and Anish Albuquerque

participation in the Mumbai Angels Network, HNI family connects, ultra-high net worth communities, family

business owners, family offices and SFO Groups helps in understanding various investment opportunities

available, which we can then offer to our clients. We also have our own research team which is constantly researching about upcoming products and trends in the financial world.”

Regarding his future plans, Dhruv plans to set up a dedicated equity research desk and get into equity trading.

“We want to start equity trading and private equity for our clients and expand our footprint in Mumbai.”

As CEO of IWS, Dhruv concludes with some financial advice to people. “It is better to get into financial planning and investing your money as early as possible in your life.

Paul Samuelson, America’s first Nobel laureate has rightly said, “Investing should be like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. Thus, always remain invested, and make your money work for you”

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GOAN BRAND

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GLOBAL TO LOCAL

Showcasing the best of Local

Global to Local is a well thought out social entrepreneurship venture by Asha Arondekar to support women and their livelihoods in Goa Local pottery and crafts

Powdered masalas

A

By SYBIL RODRIGUES

sha Arondekar, describes herself as a self-made woman who has her fingers in many pies. She comes from a defense background and is a first generation entrepreneur in her family. She started working at the age of nineteen and 27 years later, she has been part of different ventures.

She began her career in the pharmaceutical industry and later switched to wellness, and was responsible for the getting the brand VLCC, to Goa. She also owns ‘Tatva spa’ and has been part of many programs that help uplift women, which includes travelling to remote areas and meeting with the local women and encouraging them to follow their dreams.

Asha elaborates on the idea behind Global to Local.

“Many women in rural areas make excellent homemade

Goan sweets

Homemade vinegar and ghee

items, but it is difficult for them to sell their wares, given that they are homemakers, and it is not possible for them to come to the city every day.

I wanted to provide them a platform where they could put up their offerings for sale and people in cities could reach out to them. Finally, during Covid last year, when my salons and spas were shut, and I was free for six months, that’s when I decided to give shape to my ideas of having a store exclusively for local women to stock their produce.”

The Unique Selling Point of her store is that it’s the only store in Goa, which is selling authentic, Goan produce.

Secondly, all of Asha’s suppliers are women.

“I have made at least 70 plus women independent and all these women are in the age range of 17 to 70.”

Dried fish, dried prawns and other items

32 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

When tourists come to Goa and visit her store, they get to know that Goa is so much more besides, cashews, feni, bebinca, and kokum.

“When people visit our store, we make sure to educate them about each product. Like our Kokum butter, we explain what it is used for, how it is obtained, thus making them appreciate our suppliers and the hard work that they put in.”

Asha’s store has a wide variety of local items. You name it and it is available. “We have products right up from farsans to sweets, local eggs, bakery items, masalas (both for immediate consumption and export), pickles, spice powders, desserts, oils, vinegars, grains, agriculture produce which comes directly from the farms like rice and alsandes (kidney beans). We have kokum and all its by

products, a lot of chutneys and seasonal produce, like pattolyo leaves, tirphal, and akur. People wouldn’t even be aware of such products, but when they visit our store they get to know about such items and are able to savour them.”

Covid is a time where people prefer to eat homecooked food and Asha wanted to give people the idea of authentic, local food. “When fish curry is made, one should know that this is the tirphal that goes in it; this is the solan that goes in it.”

Asha sources her products from all over Goa. Right up from the corner of Pernem to the tip of the Canacona border. “I think it is safe to say that we have a producer in every village of Goa. Name the village and we have somebody there who supplies his or her products to us. The whole of Goa is there in my little store here.”

The store is also associated with a leading nutritionist, Dr Joline Fernandes, with whom they do an episode every fortnight on healthy eating. Asha conducts many workshops by women in her store to promote their talents.

For Women’s Day this year, she had a week long exhibition showcasing two different women and their

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products, every day.

The response to her store and its products have been excellent, so far. Most of her clients are tourists while the rest are locals and given the fact that she is active on social media, people come from different parts of Goa and India to visit her store.

“The feedback has been so good, especially from tourists, as many who have taken the products from here, have called up, placed their orders with us and I have shipped it to their states. I would like to add that we have been very fortunate to collaborate with the Goa Biodiversity Board to develop products for this project called Govan, with all these women from selfhelp groups. We have got all the products and we will be launching these products in a week’s time and we are the retail partners for these

“Vocal for Local is the vision of our Prime Minister; and our Chief Minister’s vision of ‘Swayampoorna Goa’ – we all can definitely be a part of this” ASHA ARONDEKAR Founder, Global to Local

products.”

Asha describes her store as a place ‘of Goans, by Goans and for Goans’ as well as nonGoans who love Goa and all it has to offer, in terms of local produce.

As far as her future plans are concerned Asha says that her roadmap includes having a store in the coastal belt of North Goa. “I’d like to open a store in the South too and one at the airport coming up

at Mopa. We have clients like the Taj Group where they buy from us in bulk, which they make into hampers and keep in their rooms for their guests, in order to display the products of Goa. We are looking at all the starred hotels and resorts in Goa to give all their visitors a little bit of Goa.” Asha concludes with a message to aspiring business people, as far as going local

is concerned. “Vocal for Local is the vision of our Prime Minister and our Chief Minister’s vision of ‘Swayampoorna Goa’ and we all can definitely be a part of this.

Especially during this pandemic, where many of us have a lot of time on our hands, we need to come up with different kinds of businesses involving local people and products. Inspite of all its setbacks, it has been a very motivating period for us, where a lot of research has been done in different areas and people have come up with different ideas and innovations.

If you really want to do something, there are people who are eager to reach out and be a part of this. You only have to get motivated and have a little fire in your belly to start it and it gets going”

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INTERVIEW

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NITIN KUNKOLIENKER

“India is on its way to become an electronics manufacturing hub in the next five years”

Nitin Kunkolienker, President, Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT), explains how combining scale with a design-centric approach can open up many opportunities for India in electronics manufacturing

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o reduce imports and make India a manufacturing powerhouse in electronics and information and communications technology (ICT) products, the Government of India has floated the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. After the India-China border conflict last year, many Indian electronic goods manufacturers have raised the issue of delay in supply of components and parts from China, which have hurt their businesses. According to Nitin Kunkolienker, President, MAIT (Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology), which is the apex body representing India’s electronics and ICT sector, putting hurdles in raw material sourcing by China presents a chance for India to create an alternate supply chain network.

Nitin says, “We have been pursuing the Union Government with our demands and largely, the government has been responsive to our considerations. Earlier, the government was giving duty protection schemes like higher tariff, duty arbitrage, etc. However, this government came out with a radically different approach with Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile industry (for which MAIT has worked closely with the government). PLI is the first scheme that talks about scale and exports led growth.”

When this policy was about to be launched, Covid 19 struck, which led to a demand for smart phones and gadgets, given that education and corporations moved online and the healthcare sector felt the need for sophisticated

Nitin Kunkolienker

IT devices. This caused a disruption in the supply chain. When the industry resumed plant operations after the first nationwide lockdown, the India-China border issue erupted, which again affected the supply chain severely. While demand was picking up, the issue of supply still posed a problem.

At present, the industry is working towards making business processes smooth.

The government has also extended the PLI schemes to other segments in electronics (telecom products, networking devices, medical electronics, IT hardware, etc) and other sectors. “Our endeavour this year would be to make these schemes successful and prove to the world that India can be a good destination for producing electronic goods. India has the potential to become a manufacturing hub in the next five years,” Nitin adds.

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“Our endeavour this year would be to make these schemes successful and prove to the world that India can be a good destination for producing electronic goods. India has the potential to become a manufacturing hub in the next five years” An excerpt of an interview with Nitin Kunkolienker.

Why is creating an electronic hardware design ecosystem important for India?

One needs to understand that with the advent of Industry 4.0, there is hardly any scope in assembly led growth. India can become an economic powerhouse, if the manufacturing sector grows.

The electronic industry

has the potential to propel growth of the manufacturing sector manifold because of its multiplier effect on other sectors and the economy. The import of electronics is now second in the import basket, after oil. If the trend continues, electronics can surpass oil imports in the future. We have been lobbying with the Union Government to have a robust Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector. India has to play a volume game for giving a push to ESDM sector and that will only happen by exportled growth. For exports to increase, India also needs a strong logistics infrastructure, which includes shipping line, ports, port connectivity with manufacturing hubs in the country, etc. We are not a strong player as of now. If we want to make our exports competitive, then designled manufacturing can give India a good name in the global electronic market. Lots of emerging technologies and products need a design ecosystem. India has the potential as we have ITcentric brains that have helped the country to become a global software hub. We must capitalise on electronic hardware design and I am happy to say that some of the top multi-nationals have started taking interest in creating a design ecosystem in the country. For example, one of the leading global majors is talking about starting 1000 IT hardware startups in India.

Hardware ecosystem is in the nascent stage. PLI scheme can add scale to hardware manufacturing; and if you club it with a design-centric approach; it will give us plenty of opportunities for manufacturing electronic

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products. As supply chains for those products start moving from other regions to India or new supplier base starts building in the country, it will give a big boost to the electronic hardware ecosystem. If this happens, then India can be a global leader in designing electronic components, PCBs, semiconductor chips, etc. Existing local demand, coupled with exports, can change the prospects of some of the sectors. The PLI scheme has come out at an appropriate time. It will create a good demand for electronic hardware ecosystem and many more players will come and support with enough funds being available. The future for electronic engineers in the country looks very bright.

How can we develop an ecosystem for electronic component manufacturing?

From 2000 to 2012, India went for an inverted duty regime, which affected the growth of manufacturing sector. This encouraged imports of finished products instead of manufacturing them in the country, thus affecting the component supplier base in India. We moved regressively away from component production, while other players like Taiwan took advantage of the situation by adopting progressive policies and took a good lead in component manufacturing.

To succeed in the component game, we need economies of scale and the PLI scheme is offering this. Two things are in our advantage today – first, the changed global trade order and the PLI scheme.

The pandemic has made big companies realise the need to have an alternative supply source to China. As they adopt a plus one strategy for China, India – along with other countries – stand to gain, as these companies would also like their supplies to move

to a new destination. This presents an opportunity for Indian component suppliers to tie-up with big companies to fulfill their needs. PLI is a demand aggregation policy – it will help you to consolidate demand. It will work wonders, if there is a right collaboration between the Centre and the States.

The government should also push for ‘Source from India’ policy. We have been requesting the government to have component hubs in the country, which can increase manufacturing efficiency.

A global shortage of chips is affecting the production of electronic devices and parts.

How is India coping with the situation?

There are three reasons for the shortage: 1) rising global chip demand; 2) disruption in supply chain due to the pandemic; and 3) a changed political order. When India came out with the PLI, one could see that China was not supplying components with ease and Indian manufacturers were facing difficulties in procuring components. China’s policy has been to encourage finished goods exports and control the component supply chain. In the past, India’s duty arbitrage policy encouraged companies to import semi knocked down/completely knocked down (CKD/SKD) units, which benefited China.

Now, the Government of India is more alert to the situation.

This has not gone down well with China, thus creating hurdles in component supply for manufacturers in India.

The time has come for Indians to look beyond China and tie up with suppliers from other countries.

of getting the order. Shortage, coupled with rising prices, was a major concern and, some believe it is being done deliberately from the supply chain side. A couple of months back the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, had raised this issue with China. If China is putting hurdles in raw material sourcing, then it is a big opportunity for India to create an alternate supply chain network.

What are the emerging trends that the world will witness, in the aftermath of the pandemic?

Post the pandemic, there will be a new global order.

Healthcare, biomedical and education will have a major impact on the electronics market. Automobiles, along with emerging electric vehicles, will be in big demand. Storage power and renewable sector is another area, which will see a rise

in usage of electronics. All sectors are undergoing drastic changes, generating big demands and ICT will be the game changer for India.

What is the outlook for the ICT and the electronics hardware industry in India?

If the hardware design ecosystem catches up, India can lead the world in electronics very soon.

We must aim to become a global leader as far emerging electronic products are concerned. I think that is where India is heading to and the world is looking at India.

We need to ensure that our academic system is tuned to develop this industry.

Research oriented education in electronics should be the focus in universities Disclaimer & Courtesy: This interview was conducted on 4th August 2021 by Rakesh Rao for IPFonline.com

Is rising material prices a cause of concern? Has MAIT raised this with the government?

Lot of contracts were signed based on the raw material prices prevailing at the time

Nitin Kunkolienker is President of MAIT for the third term. He was President of Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry from 2001-2009.

AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 35

NEW LAUNCH

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JOHN DISTILLERIES

Premium blended whisky, Roulette John Distilleries launches Roulette Premium Whisky in the Indian alco-bev premium IMFL segment

akers of Original Choice, one of the largest selling whisky brands in the world, and of the internationally acclaimed Paul John Indian Single Malts, John Distilleries has now ventured into the premium IMFL segment with Roulette Premium Whisky.

Bottled at 42.8% ABV, Roulette whisky is a blended whisky of high quality Indian grain matured in exbourbon casks, and a balanced blend of peated and unpeated malt spirit to enhance the drinking experience of consumers seeking premium and

memorable experiences.

With rich fruity aromas, deep flavours of vibrant fruit, hints of smoke and a lingering creamy finish, Roulette whisky is now available in Goa in 750ml and 180ml, and will soon be available across Telangana, Maharashtra,

Haryana and Karnataka, as well. “We wanted to introduce a whisky that was a true game-changer, to the popular premium blended whisky segment in India. Roulette whisky is completely different from other whiskies in its segment, and offers flavours that are unheard unseen and untasted in this category,” says Paul P John, Chairman, John Distilleries.

Established in 1996, under the guidance of Paul P John, John Distilleries grew to be a leading spirit company in less than a decade, not just in India but also across the globe. With a dedicated team of nearly 2000 employees working across 10 manufacturing units spread over seven states across India, John Distilleries has a strong portfolio of brands in various liquor categories including whiskies, brandy, and wines.

The flagship brand of the company is ‘Original Choice’, one of the top selling brands in India’s popular whisky segment and one of the top 10 selling whiskies in the world with sales exceeding 11 million cases a year.

Other brands owned by the company include Mont Castle and Roulette brandy, Big Banyan, Ampersand and L’angoor wines, and the globally renowned, award winning Paul John Single Malts

< Continued from Page 27

respond to the changes in business processes and operating hours. “Providing discounts to suppliers on supplies, rent while offering guests different options for cancellation to retain customers in the long term.

Use this time to train your employees, try new ideas and look for new opportunities.”

While flexible policy solutions are needed to

enable the tourism economy to live alongside the virus, in the short to medium term, it is important to look beyond this and take steps to learn from the crisis, which has revealed gaps in government and industry preparedness and response capacity. Coordinated action across governments at all levels and the private sector is essential.

The crisis is an opportunity

to rethink tourism for the future. Tourism is at crossroads and the measures put in place today will shape the tourism of tomorrow.

Governments need to consider the long term implications of the crisis, while capitalising on certain aspects inorder to build a stronger, more sustainable and resilient tourism economy

Bottled at 42.8% ABV, Roulette whisky is a blended whisky of high quality Indian grain matured in exbourbon casks, and a balanced blend of peated and unpeated malt spirit to enhance the drinking experience of consumers seeking premium and memorable experiences

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symptoms of covid. This will help to isolate potential infected guests from the others staying at the hotel.

All information, help lines to reach the health authorities at the earliest should be kept ready at the receptions of all the hotels and other tourism related organisations.”

Supriya says that one should be prepared to quickly

36 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

CAMPUS

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DCT’S DHEMPE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE INAUGURATES VASANTRAO DEMPO DIAMOND JUBILEE LECTURE SERIES

P. S. Sreedharan Pillai, Hon’ble Governor of Goa; Shrinivas Dempo, Chairman, Dempo Group of Companies and Dempo Charities Trust; Prof. Dr. Vrinda Borker, Principal, Dempe College of Arts and Science. (Right) Governor Pillai unveiling the logo in the presence of Shrinivas Dempo and Prof. Dr. Vrinda Borker

Dhempe College of Arts and Science inaugurated the Vasantrao Dempo Diamond Jubilee Lecture Series: ‘Where Ideas Converge’, on 10 August 2021, in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of DCT’s Dhempe College of Arts and Science.

The program was graced by the presence of Goa Governor, P. S. Sreedharan Pillai, who delivered the inaugural lecture to kick-start the lecture Series.

Principal of the College Prof. Dr. Vrinda Borker addressed the gathering at the start of the function, and highlighted the way DCT’s Dhempe College of Arts and Science were, and still are, pioneers for Goan education who focus on a comprehensive approach to education.

The Principal’s address was followed by an address by the Chairman of Dempo Group of Companies and Dempo Charities Trust, Shrinivas Dempo. He eulogised the founding visionaries of the Dempo Charities Trust whose main goal was to make quality education accessible to the Goan population in the very first college established after Goa’s Liberation. He also commended the College for continuing to make quality resources available to the student community.

The 60th year - Diamond Jubilee Logo was unveiled by Governor Pillai; and Mandar Naik was felicitated for designing the logo.

The Governor delivered the keynote lecture on the theme: ‘Re-thinking the Indian Education System’ in

light of India’s New Education Policy. The Governor began his speech by quoting Swami Vivekananda who said that education is the manifestation of perfection. Governor Pillai highlighted the fundamental importance of education in the integrated development of every individual, and urged educators to adopt a holistic approach towards the same.

He expressed his enthusiasm at the NEP’s emphasis on quality education in the mother tongue as it will strengthen every Indian’s connection to their roots.

He further stated that New Education Policy needs to aim at harnessing the potential of the demographic between the ages of 18-35. This age group is a huge percentage of the Indian population, and its potential should be directed

towards technological advancements and moral development, which can transform India.

Other dignitaries who graced the occasion were Vice Chancellor of Goa University, Prof. Varun Sahni; Trustees of the Dempo Charities Trust, Pallavi Dempo; and Yatish Dempo; the Director of Higher Education, Prasad Lolayekar; Officiating Registrar of Goa University, Prof. Dr Radhika Nayak; and Administrator of Dempo Charities Trust, Rajesh Bhatikar.

The ceremony was livestreamed on YouTube, and saw a virtual viewership of over 500 people. The inaugural lecture was followed by a virtual prize distribution ceremony where meritorious students of the College were conferred awards

V M Salgaocar College of Law enters into MoU with Mediator Academy, UK The idea of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) has become acceptable as a mode of settlement of disputes in recent times.

The main methods of dispute resolution include negotiation, mediation, arbitration and conciliation.

Among these, mediation and negotiation plays a vital role in dispute settlement.

To create awareness and to make the interested people adopt and apply these methods in dispute resolution, V M Salgaocar College of Law, Miramar, has

entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mediator Academy, London, United Kingdom to encourage the interested persons to get training to apply, use and settle the matters outside of

38 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

Courts.

In this regard, VMSCL is starting a Mediation Certificate Course in association with the Mediator Academy, London.

On successful completion of

the course, participants will receive a Mediator Academy Block chain certificate, which will certify that they have achieved a foundation Level Certificate course in commercial mediation, designed as per the Bar Council of India (BCI) curriculum.

This certificate course will provide the necessary foundation in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude necessary for specialization in mediation skills and techniques www.businessgoa.in

BOOKSHELF

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AUTHOR: PROF (DR) VENKATESH NAGA D | PUBLISHER: SAGE PUBLICATIONS PVT. LTD

Winning with Employees Winning with Employees has been authored covering all facets of employee life cycle with organisations. The book has overall 9 chapters and the first chapter introduces the readers to the digital world, digital organisations and digital work places.

The second chapter titled ‘Managing Employee in Digital Era’ explains in detail the nuances around managing people in a digital era.

The third chapter ‘Experience Levered Organisations’ explains in detail as to how ‘Experience’ works as a competitive strategy and differentiator for organisations, both externally and internally.

The fourth chapter ‘Acquiring talent with Positive CX’ deals with the quality of

hiring process. It discusses about digital transformations that hiring processes are undergoing along with the expectations of various stakeholders involved in the hiring process.

The fifth chapter titled ‘Nurturing EX with Performance & Rewards Management’ covers the entire canvas on generational shift in organisations resulting in paradigm change in processes lined to performance and rewards management.

The sixth chapter titled ‘Strategizing & Executing LX of Employees’ starts with a discussion on evolution of learning systems in organizations – and then introduces the readers to 5 factors of digital learning.

The seventh chapter ‘EX and Employer Branding’ starts with an introduction to need an importance in contemporary period and then stresses on the need for organisations to track and measure the EB across digital platforms.

The eighth chapter is

titled ‘Ex of Gig Employees’, starts with a discussion on the advent of a gig-economy and the driving forces behind it.

The readers then get insights in key aspects like social security benefits.

The ninth and last chapter titled ‘EX Analytics – Tracking & Measuring EX Indicators’, covers topics like need for measuring EX, framework for EX analytics, touch of EX and tracking mechanism.

The book is written in a reader friendly way and is useful for students, academicians and practitioners. Practitioners especially get execution insights along with conceptual inputs.

The book is available globally in electronic (Amazon) as well as in print edition

AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 39

LADY POWER

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DR. VRINDA BORKER

“It is important for teachers to widen their academic horizons” Dr. Vrinda Borker speaks on her rise from a lecturer to become principal of Dhempe College of Arts and Science

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By SYBIL RODRIGUES

r Vrinda Borker studied at Bal Bharati Vidya Mandir, Ribandar and later at the Institute of Instruction, Panaji. She pursued her higher secondary and graduation in Chemistry from Dhempe College of Arts, Science, and M.Sc. in Physical Chemistry from CPIR (Centre for PostGraduation and Research, Panaji) Bombay University.

While teaching at Dhempe College of Arts and Science, she completed her research at CPIR under Prof. V. N. Kamat Dalal as her guide and Prof.

K. S .Rane as a co-guide; Dr Vrinda was awarded the Ph. D. degree in 1991.

Her pursuit of a research degree opened new vistas of experience and interaction with renowned institutions and eminent scientists in Mumbai. Since instrumentation facilities and literature required for research were limited in Goa then, she spent most of her vacations at IIT Bombay, Bhabha Atomic research Centre (BARC) and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) to avail facilities of their instrumentation centre and library. During this span, Dr Vrinda attended lectures delivered by experienced professors, interacted with researchers from these institutes.

Her teachers fascinated Dr Vrinda when in primary school. “My best teachers from primary to college impressed me a lot. I love to be in company of youngsters for their positive thoughts and spirit of undertaking challenges. I consider that the role of a teacher is not only teaching the syllabus but also to motivate and shape the next generation,” she adds, which led to teaching as a choice of profession.

After completing her M.Sc, she joined Dhempe College as a lecturer, in the Department of Chemistry, in 1983. She was promoted as a reader in 1997 and later as professor in 2012. “With my interaction with BARC, IIT, I invited reputed scientists to conduct workshops and conferences for the faculty and students of Goa. I cofounded the ‘Chromophore Club’ in the Department of Chemistry with a view to enhance the subject knowledge of students, as well as their quizzing and presentation skills. Industry visits and guest lectures were conducted for their overall development. Some of my students presented their project work under my guidance and won prizes at state level seminars and quizzes. I firmly believe that as academicians we need to connect very strongly with the society and make every effort to ensure that our students emerge as environmentally conscious, socially responsible, ethically and morally strong citizens.

Therefore, I conducted outreach programs in adopted village Penha De Franca.”

Dr Vrinda strongly believes that good education should pave the way for

40 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

good employment. For this purpose, she has fostered a close association with the pharmaceutical industry in a bid to understand the industry perspective on the relevance of the curriculum, practical skills imparted by the curriculum, and the skillgaps among students from the perspective of the industry.

“During 2003 to 2016, I conducted one year joboriented Postgraduate Course in Industrial and Analytical Techniques, accredited by Goa Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (GPMA).

The course comprised of lectures by technocrats and on job training. Almost all students were placed in industries.”

This initiative of hers led to a felicitation by the GPMA at the hands of then Chief Minister Digamber Kamat.

After becoming Principal, retrofitting of the college building was done, a highend instrumentation centre was set up and the college launched the M.Sc. (Analytical Chemistry) in 2018, a programme supported by the GPMA. The college conducted around 59 skill enhancement courses after upgrading them to 2 credit courses during the last five years. Dr. Vrinda has convened national and

international conferences and after the pandemic, all online, along with 2 international symposiums, 5 national conferences, 5 national webinars and 40 state level workshops/seminars.

“I have fostered closer interaction with scientists from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, and facilitated their lecture series in Goa for the benefit of students of colleges, higher secondary schools and schools.”

Dr Vrinda was also successful in garnering full financial support under the Sakura Science Plan, Japan, for the visit of the faculty and students to Toyo University and Meijo University, Japan.

“With these Universities we conducted international symposiums and during the pandemic, online symposiums were conducted, inviting, Prof Akira Yoshino, a Nobel laureate in Chemistry from Japan as well as scientists from USA, Portugal, Nepal and Bangladesh.”

Dr Vrinda has actively contributed to Dhempe College in various capacities as a member of various committees, organised events, industry visits, guest lectures, workshops and seminars, collaborated with institutes of international repute as well as designed and conducted value addition courses.

All this, led to her rise from a professor to a principal.

“I guided one of the junior teachers in the department for doctorate research and two for M. Phil dissertation.

The work has been published in peer reviewed impact factor journals and presented at national and international conferences, and has received best presentation awards at national and international

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conferences. In 2015 as NAAC coordinator, I competently dealt with the requirement of documentation for Self Study Report (SSR) and the college was re-accredited with grade A. It gave me confidence to apply for the post of Principal.

The Academic Performance Index (API) requirement for the post was met due to my continuous research work and other commitments. The management showed full confidence in me and offered the post of Principal in 2017.”

Dhempe College of Arts and Science is celebrating sixty years of its foundation this year. Dr Vrinda has plans for this event. “We wish to commemorate the efforts taken by the visionaries and philanthropists in providing higher education by organising the ‘Vasantrao Dempo Lecture Series’ inviting eminent personalities in the field of academics,

research, industries and politics, due to the pandemic in virtual mode and later in offline mode. Governor of Goa, P. S. Sreedharan Pillai, delivered the first lecture of the series.

Each department of the College has planned a national or international webinar/conference during the year.”

Over the years, there were plenty of people who inspired Dr Vrinda. “My interaction with scientists and researchers of international repute during my formative years, as lecturer helped me evolve as a researcher as well as a teacher.

Their commitment to work, their work ethic and their spirit of inquiry reinforced my belief that a teacher never ceases to learn. Interactions with technocrats also helped in developing time bound commitments.

The success of my

initiatives is due to the support of management and all the principals and collaboration of colleagues. Prof. K. S. Rane has been the beacon in my path of research. My research students Rajashri, Sneha and Manisha and my T.Y. B.Sc. project students sincerely worked and contributed in research findings. Work is enjoyment in our college because of active participation of all colleagues.

My family also supported me while undertaking research and administrative responsibilities.”

With regards to the road ahead and future plans, Dr Vrinda says, “Assessing the need to make quick headway in implementation of New Education Policy, upskilling of teachers is required.

The College will undertake training faculty to develop the curriculum. Recognising their research, administrative,

organising skills and hobbies tasks will be allotted and supported. Transformational NEP will replace redundant learning, memorising and present examination system by recognising the latent talent of students in cultural, sports, literature, research and subjects, mould them, support them to develop their hidden talent.”

Dr Vrinda concludes with a message to aspiring teachers. “I believe that it is important for teachers to widen their academic horizons as knowledge is never static. For this purpose, it is important for teachers to understand the advances that are taking place in the field of education at the national and international level.

Development of next generation is in the hands of teachers, so they should instill values in them along with academics”

AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 41

MARKETING

Take the Paper out of Paperwork Global digital transformation company, Tangentia creates an impact with its latest campaign lauded at Business Goa Awards

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angentia, a leading global digital locations during the award function, the transformation company recently activation generated a buzz amongst the launched their newest campaign – audience in attendance and on social ‘Take the Paper out of Paperwork’ at media. the prestigious Business Goa Awards 2021. Tangentia was an “Adopting associate partner of the agile digital Business Goa Awards which solutions is honoured leading Goan not only an business professionals for their opportunity to outstanding achievements.

Conceptualised by scale higher Dranding Consulting, a but make an branding and marketing impact that firm, the first phase of the matters” campaign saw the launch of VIJAY THOMAS innovative leave-behinds in Founder-CEO, Tangentia the form of origami paper cranes which were created from used invoices and purchase orders. Those who opened the cranes were surprised with a hardhitting and powerful message urging businesses to do away with tedious paper processes and use automation to soar one’s business. Placed at strategic 42 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

www.businessgoa.in

As the business world navigates the challenges brought on by the pandemic, digital transformation is at the forefront of revolutionising this new normal. The campaign was conceptualised to address the needs of today’s business world and highlights the importance of automating for better business opportunities over using monotonous and outdated paper processes. The use of automation in business operations reduces the use of paperwork processes, thus saving time, money and resources, while increasing productivity, growth and ROI’s.

Vijay Thomas, CEO & Founder of Tangentia said “To make an impact using digital transformation, businesses need to take the risk and innovate for their future. Adopting agile digital solutions will not only give them the opportunity to scale higher but make an impact that matters.”

The ‘Take the Paper out of Paperwork’ campaign ties two key visual elements – Paper Origami and Animals. The thought process behind choosing paper was that paper processes are time-consuming, and by replacing these processes with automation, the results are considerably faster and superior. Origami is a Japanese art of innovatively folding paper to make decorative figures. The campaign focuses on paper animals because their previous campaign ‘Aim for Impact’, celebrated the wonders of the animal kingdom. It celebrated the animal’s natural instincts to – survive, adapt, thrive and transform.

Instincts that are relevant to the modern business world.

Ashley Nathan, Director of Marketing for Tangentia said “While retaining the essence of the previous campaign – Aim for Impact, the new campaign asks customers to take the Paper out of Paperwork processes and use technology to innovate for impactful and measurable results.”

“The ‘Take the Paper out of Paperwork’ campaign was conceptualised to reflect Tangentia’s vision and their aim to help clients digitally transform from obsolete processes for better business outcomes. The use of origami builds great engagement both online and offline”, says Floyd Tavares, cofounder, Dranding Consulting.

Tangentia has an experience of over 17 years of delivering agile digital transformation solutions to a diverse global clientele. The company assists their clients in transforming and making an impact in their business by bridging the most challenging technology gaps

PROFESSIONAL DOSSIER

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Kakodkar speaks on his role as a Chartered Balancing Books and Life Pradip Accountant and leading various other social initiatives

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By SYBIL RODRIGUES

radip Kakodkar, a practicing fellow chartered accountant, educationist, inspiring orator, motivating leader, sportsman, theatre artist, and a social activist, is a multifaceted personality and has many interests to his credit.

Pradip is Chairman of the Goa branch of Western India Regional Council of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is also Chairman of Management Committee of Kakodkar’s The New Educational Institute, Curchorem, one of Goa’s oldest and premier schools. He is also Board member of Goa State Biodiversity Board, Ministry of Environment, Government of Goa. Pradip has served as President of Alumni Association of Government College Quepem, and treasurer of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal. He has served as President of Rotary Club of Curchorem-Sanvordem for 2013-14; and has been awarded by Rotary district for his exceptional leadership.

Pradip has also been a visiting faculty at Government College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Quepem and has served as faculty for Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Goa branch for general management and orientation courses.

Pradip did his primary schooling from the government primary school at Bansai, secondary schooling from Kakodkar’s The New Educational Institute, Curchorem, higher secondary education at Guardian Angel Higher Secondary; and commerce graduation from Government College, Quepem.

Later, he pursued his professional degree from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), and is currently practicing for the last seventeen years.

Pradip says that every profession has its own gestation period. “I was lucky enough to settle smoothly in my practice”. Pradip’s line of work is more into internal audits, apart from regular practice of auditing and taxation. He has completed certification courses in Forensic Accounting and Fraud Detection, Information System Audit Bank Concurrent Audit and GST. “I always prefer adding a human touch to my profession by doing lot of handholding which also helps in developing a friendly relationship with my clients. I have seen a lot of businesses grow over the years and this gives me job satisfaction.” Hundreds of commerce graduates, especially from

Pradip Kakodkar

rural areas have availed training at his office at Curchorem.

Pradip, as Chairman of the Goa branch of the Western India Regional Council of the ICAI, speaks on his plans for the Goa chapter especially during these uncertain times. “I believe in not limiting challenges but challenging the limits. We have taken advantage of the Covid situation by conducting many virtual programs and every month we have at least three to four different programs for our students as well as members. We are planning to associate with Goa University to introduce skillbased programs for students. Goa has the second highest rate of unemployment in the country and we cannot just be mute spectators to this situation. We had a meeting with Goa University and Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry to explore education and for training our students as per industry requirements – to make them more employable. We have decided to come and work together, closely monitor the situation and be part of the solution to this huge problem.

Western India Regional Council of ICAI has developed a course which will help the youth towards more gainful employment”.

“We also had a meeting with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and NRI Commissioner Adv. Narendra Savaikar, where we spoke about making and marketing Goa as an investment

and service oriented hub globally. We thank the Chief Minister for inviting suggestions from Goa branch of ICAI. We are proud that our suggestion of implementing accrual based double entry system in local bodies was accepted

by Goa Government.”

Pradip considers himself very lucky to be surrounded by a supportive family and friends. “My father is my idol; whatever I am today I owe it to him. Thanks to the love and affection of my parents, family and friends for being a great support always. My wife, Dr. Pradnya, who is a physician, has also been a great source of strength and motivation for me in all my endeavours.” He is blessed with daughter Radha and son Om. Pradip and his wife, Dr. Pradnya were a part of the core team where they could set up a Step-up Covid care centre in Quepem, in just 3 days’ time with overwhelming public support. This centre had all the hospital amenities along with oxygen supply. This initiative helped to reduce the load on the tertiary Covid District Hospital.”

Pradip is a social activist and has successfully led many social movements right from his college days. He is a regular blood donor and believes that his little effort can help save a life. He loves to play badminton and makes it a part of his daily routine. Acting is his passion. He has been awarded for his performance in a one act play ‘Daddy’ by Ravindra Bhavan, Curchorem.

Regarding his role as educationist, Pradip says “Our education system needs a revamp and has to focus more on practical and lifestyle skills. Inspite of rural background and challenges, students of our school have always excelled academically and have topped Goa Board several times. Motivating students and helping them excel is one of my passion and I would love to put all my efforts there.”

He credits the human touch in professionalism as the mantra for his success and concludes with a message for aspiring Chartered Accountants. “If you have the commitment and integrity, which are the most important qualities to have, along with focus and dedication, one need not worry about success.

Success will automatically follow you.

Be good to people without expectations.

Don’t do anything with the thought of getting something in return but instead do something that will help society and you will be blessed manifold” AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 43

EVENT

@businessgoa

Industries vent their grievances at GSIA’S AGM

Goa State Industries Association’s AGM saw a resolution passed authorising legal recourse against industry related institutions, to protect the interest of its members

Damodar Kochkar, President of GSIA along with managing committee members of Goa State Industries Association

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oa State Industries Association (GSIA) held its Annual General Meeting recently, at Panjim Convention Centre. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the AGM was held physically as well as on Zoom platform. The physical presence at the AGM was restricted to maximum 100 persons following all Covid protocol.

Preceding the AGM, the newly elected members of the Executive Committee met and unanimously elected Damodar Kochkar as the President of GSIA for a second term, for 2021-2023. All the members praised Kochkar for the selfless work done by him during his tenure in 20192021 in the interest of the industries in Goa. Kochkar has been a very active member on some Boards and various committees of the Government of Goa. He has been recently conferred with the ‘Business Leadership Award’ by Business Goa magazine.

GSIA’s AGM was attended by heads of various industry bodies such as GCCI, CII, Presidents of Industrial Estate Associations and other prominent industrialists from the State.

The deliberations at the meeting showed that the industries are agitated mainly

with the working of Goa-IDC and Factories and Boilers for their insensitive attitude towards the problems faced by the industries in Goa. Many industries complained that Goa-IDC has failed as a regulatory body for the development of industries in Goa; and that there is unreasonable delay in approvals, forcing entrepreneurs to make several trips to Goa-IDC office to seek approvals and other administrative work.

To add to the woes of the industries, Goa-IDC, in the last Board Meeting held in July, moved an Agenda item to increase the lease rent of the industrial units, which was strongly opposed

by GSIA. When the Central Government, Central Agencies and other State Governments are coming out with schemes and measures to support the MSMEs during this difficult period of Covid-19 pandemic, GoaIDC has shown that it is insensitive to the plight of the industries.

It was discussed at the meeting that the Inspectorate of Factories and Boilers is another department, which is fleecing industries with their exorbitant fees. Instead of supporting industries during this critical period of the

44 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

pandemic, they have recently notified annual fees with an increase of 21% to 36%.

Several complaints have been received from industries that Factories and Boilers is asking for various audits such as ventilation audit, illumination audit, health audit etc., where the consultants on the panel, who are from outside the State, charge exorbitant fees of around 1.5 to 2 lakhs while the audit work takes hardly 3 to 4 hours.

As Goa-IDC and Inspectorate of Factories and Boilers, Government, of Goa, have failed to adhere to the scope and objective laid down under the relevant legislations; and have defeated the spirit of the said enactments, as well as brought down the morale of the industry and its members in doing business in Goa; the following resolution was passed at the AGM authorizing the Executive Committee to take legal recourse as required and as available under the law.

Resolution: “Resolved that the Executive Committee be empowered, subject to the bye-laws of the Association, in taking the following steps to redress the grievances and to protect the interests of the members of the Goa

State Industries Association against the malpractices and anti-industry actions of the Goa Industrial Development Corporation, Inspectorate of Factories and Boilers, Government of Goa and any other institution related to the industries: i. Take all such legal recourse as required and that are available with the Association under law in order to ensure transparency, fair play and ease of doing business in Goa; ii.

Take such remedial measures including but not limiting filing plaints/suits/ petitions before the regulatory and judicial forums to curb the irregularities and malpractices in the various institutions related to industrial sector and to bring about rationalisation and professional working thereat; iii. Incur such expenditure required for formalising such legal actions; and iv. Take any other steps, ancillary or otherwise purporting the intended actions to bring remedial measures in the interest of the members of this Association; v.

Authorize the Office Bearers of the Association to do all such acts and deeds as may be required to give effect to the aforesaid Resolution” www.businessgoa.in

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Nyaya Panchayat: Village Level ADR Mechanism

The author explains three different cases of public good mediation by panchayats, which acts as a mediator, arbitrator or negotiator

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he Constitutional Provision, Article 39 A: The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. The article was inserted by the Constitution (Fortysecond Amendment, 1976.)

Introduction Nyaya Panchayat: India’s village level alternative dispute resolution mechanism. This will be the title for the next three episodes. The present one is about the ‘Panchayat Level Mediation Concerning Public Good’, the second is about ‘Village Level Arbitration, and the final one is ‘On Lok Adalat’. In the earlier submission, on alternative and dispute resolution the readers have come across cited literature on the history of this subject where it was mentioned that the institution of village panchayats had developed the system of alternative dispute resolution through arbitration, mediation and negotiation. The origins of the panchayat, the council of the five, a village governance mechanism by the elders of the village, as claimed by the historians is as old as second millennium BCE. Irrespective of the age and the rulers, various regulatory and legal statutes, this system has sustained itself as the model of local self-governance. For our purpose, in matters of disputes, it acts as the arbitrator, mediator or negotiator and as you shall see more.

Three Cases of Public Good Mediation by Panchayat Case I: Neen Village Panchayat, Himachal Pradesh (See Business Line, 10 August 2019): A tourist resort in Shimla district dumped its garbage in the jurisdiction of Neen panchayat. Irked by this unsavoury act, the sarpanch, Asha, convened the meeting of her panch members which decided to impose a fine on the offender with an amount under its powers and also contemplated on a police action.

She also made it a point to meet the resort administrators. As a result, the resort management not only admitted its

mistake but also offered cooperation and monetary contribution for the upkeep of the village. Sarita Brara who filed this report observed that this village of 380 families nestled among the tall pine trees is of enchanting beauty. It makes a living out of growing corn and vegetables in terraced fields. The garbage dump was very offensive indeed. However, in Asha the sarpanch who is academically well educated as well as had pursued her education in community service, people have found a very wise leader. She is also able to steer well other problems of the village and solve conflicts with her very persuasive and intermediating skills. Although she had to fine the resort, she had won the hearts of the resort management to co-operate and contribute to the village.

Case II: Ghatgara Village, Madhya Pradesh (See, thebetterindia.com, 12 October 2020). The site of the village women of India, rising in the early hours of the morning and trudging a long way to a water source and back home again with precariously balanced water pots on their heads is now a common image depicting pitiable plight of the poor. Maya Mausriya, in her thirties, a metric pass, took up the challenge and contested the panchayat election on the plank that she will resolve the endless water issue. Postelection, she was able to sway the elected panchas to make her the first woman sarpanch. Easier promised than done. To begin with, the work began on digging of a couple wells. Yet, safe and continued water supply was a dream. Countless times walking eight kilometres to the tehsil office and back and talking with the authorities consumed her productive time. Finally, after a year, the efforts bore result. Today, the villages associated with the panchayat not only enjoy piped water and a public water supply tank but also conduct water testing, training in protection of community water sources such as ponds and tanks and maintenance of hygiene. For the sake of the public good, the relationship between two government bodies such as a panchayat and the tehsil is never to be taken for granted. Himanshu Nitnaware was the author of this story.

Case III: Wari Panchayat, Bihar (See,

The columnist is a writer with Oxford University Press and a published author. Email: albuquerque.daniel@gmail.com 46 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

Hindustan Times, 16 June 2017): Anil Kumar Ojha writes this exceptional story from a state that is notorious for crime, depravation and economic backwardness. The family land dispute is 60 years old. The current generation cousins Ram Kumar, 79 and his two cousins Sharan Kumar and Mohan Kumar (names are changed) are fighting for their legacy. The past has a history full of fights, police cases, court cases and enduring family strife. One day, one of them approached the local sarpanch, Pushpanali Singh. She was able to persuade all the three of them for a meet.

She listened carefully and during the conversation, eventually the disputing parties came to the realisation as to how over the two generations the families have not only estranged themselves but have lost immense amount of money and succeeded in accumulating the burden of family hatred. The end result of this mediation was a) agreement to withdraw all court cases and the police complaints, b) amicable identification and distribution and acceptance of the new land. The sarpanch has been able to solve scores of civil and criminal disputes through mediation bringing relief to the public.

Analysis A mediator is a peace-maker between two disputing parties. However, peace making is not a watertight division of processes; it could entail characteristics of arbitration, negotiation and conciliation and more.

The basic principle in mediation is to recognise the basic goodness of humans.

Having done this, the leader is able to approach the disputants individually and collectively. A dialogue develops, doubt is replaced by trust, and not surprisingly the solutions emerge from the disputants themselves. It is a simple human approach to solve difficult problems arising out of strained human relationship. No amount of learned structured, pigeonholed solutions, legal enforcements can replace it. This is exactly the road taken by the three women leaders in the above narrated cases for the sake of the public good. There is a reason why women leaders have been chosen to illustrate the alternative dispute settlement through mediation. The women leaders are gifted with intuitive perspectives which appeal

INDUSTRY VIEWPOINT / MANGUIRISH PAI RAIKER

Role of MSMEs in Reviving the Economy

The writer speaks on the role of MSMEs in helping revive India’s struggling economy

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SMEs have a great role to play in reviving the economy. It has the capacity and ability to bounce back. I am sure that the next-gen entrepreneurs will stand up to the challenge and be winners.

We are all coming out of the covid crisis, having faced two waves; which have totally crippled the working pattern and the economy is downhill. The waves came like thunderbolts which nobody was prepared for. Initially the lockdown and then the curfew putting conditions on the operations of the businesses, made working difficult for the MSME units. Closure of malls, supercentres, non operations of the hospitality and hotels drained the orders of MSME sector putting them in jeopardy. Some of the units had to either close down or change their product line. Most of them capitalised by changing over to health related products or components and managed to stay afloat.

During this difficult time, inspite of hardships faced by them, this sector has worked diligently to meet the demands especially from the health sector. There were problems of raw material sourcing, logistic difficulties, labour shortages besides maintaining stringent SOPs related to COVID management. Inspite of this, MSMEs rose to the occasion and showed its inherent resilient nature to overcome the difficulties and came out trumps. Not all could manage this. Some, sadly, perished in the process.

It is now time for this sector to plan for the future and gear up to face the challenges. This is the time to go for new innovative products and processes.

We can make ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ by producing products and services required in the country. This will help restrict imports. Currently, more than three thousand products are imported from neighbouring countries, which can be easily manufactured in our own country.

There are lots of opportunities waiting for our entrepreneurs, which they should

identify and take benefit. Government has eased the registration processes, banks have come out with easy funding options, markets are opening, and all in all, the time is suitable for taking a leap forward.

During the pandemic, when we were compelled to remain behind closed doors, realisation hit us hard regarding the importance of food. It was thanks to the farmers that we could get our feed.

At the same time the importance of food processing industry also come to the fore.

In fact many ventured into the readyto-use food production. Packaging also played a very important part as it helped to maintain freshness and safeguard hygiene. It is said that necessities bring out opportunities. There were lots of opportunities even during the pandemic, which some businesses capitalised on.

There were plenty of issues in carrying out regular business and as such many thought of time related business opportunities and also succeeded. The adaptability to change is the biggest asset. Need based quick thinking and getting on with it is another thing. One of the most important attribute is self confidence. Now as the second wave is receding, it is time to put the right foot forward and clinch the winning post.

Revival is definitely there, but we need to be part of it. The service sector has always been India’s key sector. India is way ahead in this area with innovation, information technology and with young and energetic trained and skilled workforce. We can again have a headstart in this sector.

There is another area where we can take the lead; with the help of our demographic profile. There are lots of sectors which require to be manned in various parts of the world. Due to the devastation caused by the pandemic all over the world, there has been a dearth of trained manpower to look after the infrastructure, utility services and even key areas of operations. It is time to get into action and put your managerial skills to work and utilise the young energetic skilled workforce and look out for these global opportunities.

The future of manufacturing will definitely be in India. The Government has big plans for it and has already planned import substitute zones for setting up industries to cater to the local as well as global needs. They have even incentivised innovative and key products manufacturing companies. Various agencies are foraying into the Indian markets to source their requirements.

MSMEs can form manufacturing clusters of similar products with total quality management and rigid cost control to be globally acceptable and competitive. It is time we take this initiative and be the supplier to the world. We have to take up the challenge to meet the needs of the country as well as meet global demands.

We take up import substitute product manufacturing, meet the quality, be cost effective and show our prowess to the world. This will enable us to progress and also take our country up the ladder of development and help achieve a 5$ trillion economy

The author is an industrialist and Chairman of the MSME Council of ASSOCHAM. He is former president of Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Email: rsaawni@gmail.com

to the goodness in the nature of human beings. Ladies appeal to the disputants with their agreeable behaviour that good life is bigger and better than the disputes.

So it begins well and most certainly will end well.

Conclusion: Simple human relationships, as is the experience, begin with a smile that grows into trust and friendship, and is the key to avoid problems arising out of human friction and strife. In other words, the need of our times lies in wisdom leadership. Imagine such a world

– no conflicts, no courts, and no wars – lead by wisdom. Gautama Buddha rightly said, ‘Mediation brings wisdom, lack of mediation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads you to wisdom’ AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 47

STARTUP STRATEGY / D S PRASHANT AND TARUN K

Corporate-Startup partnership in a covidized world

The writers highlights the startup ecosystem and the different aspects that a startup should focus on

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nce a startup, Apple ($2,024B), Microsoft ($1752B), Amazon ($1534B), Alphabet ($1374B), Facebook ($794B), Tencent ($748B), Alibaba ($617B), and Tesla ($615B); are now market leaders and virtually monopolistic players in their respective industries.

Startup gets a chance to enter/disrupt a market usually when there is a gap in intelligence of the product or service provided by existing companies.

Zomato, Cred, Upstox, Dream 11, PharmEasy, Phone Pe are similar companies that have proven to become household names in a shorter period of time breaking all the previous trends across the globe. By 1955, the average Fortune 500 organisation age was almost 60 years. By 2017, the average Fortune 500 organisation age is less than 20 years. The average half-life of a business competency has dropped from 30 years in 1984, to 5 years in 2014, and is expected to drop further. Time taken to reach 50Mn active users is drastically reducing – 50 years for telephone, 22 years for television, 3 years for Facebook, and 19 days for Pokémon.

The speed at which data and technology is impacting businesses is clearly giving a hint on the importance of tech inclusion and data reliance.

The Indian startup ecosystem is the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the World with value creation of USD 315Bn. India’s ten most valuable unicorns are worth more than 100 billion dollars, and have 58 unicorns with an estimated value of 180Bn in value. 150+ funded startups are based out of emerging startup hubs and the Indian startup ecosystem is expected to have 150+ unicorns and is expected to generate USD 10 trillion economy by 2025.

Global Indian brands like Reliance, Tata, Mahindra, and many more are already collaborating with startups and incubation hubs, thus helping them grow exponentially in a very short period. The startup usually brings out the intelligence to take on rivalry or substitute products, and big players match the requirements and the Go-to-market, to build a working industry disruptor.

What Startups Focus on: Social Impact is one of the prime aspects of a startup’s growth journey. Delivery

fleet Zomato and Swiggy employ over 300K-500K delivery executives between them. Ola Cab generates livelihood for 1.5M drivers across 250 cities. Meesho has enabled 10 million entrepreneurs (mostly women), to create their own professional identity and grow their businesses.

Marketplace: Most of the successful startups have started from a garage setup and built their network of vendors/ suppliers over a span of time. Startups help create value for big companies to small businesses in the long run. The startups initially create a value addition product/ service as their business model and grow the brand into a trustable name. Once a marketplace of paying clients is built for a particular industry, they extend the opportunities to other companies, which make it a huge marketplace opportunity.

Online businesses like Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato made it easier for other businesses to reach and sell to targeted clients.

Startup Trends in the Covidized World: During the initial covid days, data handling e-commerce startups like Amazon, Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart, Myntra etc., played a huge role in helping companies survive and deliver their services. Social distancing and series of lockdowns has transitioned sporting and other outdoor activities to the digital realm. As per the report by 3one4 capital, India will go from data poor to data rich nation by 2025! The entertainment industry has already started with the trend transformation, with content consumption increasing exponentially through Covid19. Report shows that

Airtel-2021 data consumption per subscriber was 16.4 GB per month with 336M Subscribers and Jio-2021 data consumption per Subscriber was 13.7 GB per month with 325M subscribers.

Another industry, which has boomed during Covid times, is the e-grocery and e-commerce category. With systems in place to support verticalised brands, meet increasing quality and variety demands, newer companies are venturing into the grocery e-commerce sector since the pandemic has started. With data optimisation and clean mobility options now a reality, incumbents see value in building various products and services to onboard, support, monitor, and fulfill the supply channel. FiiRE Startups like Sabka Mandi, Custom Elements, and Network Trade Partners, already provide retail, e-commerce, and affiliate sales channels for products like FMCG, fashion, and generic products to be sold respectively, in a data driven manner.

The education sector saw huge disruption with ed-tech companies providing convenient education delivery tools and systems for supplementary education like out of school/extracurricular certification, training platforms, digital education tools, tutoring test preparation, and skill enablers. Home-bred startups like Asier, Codewell, and Webfills have built a reputation for themselves in Goa by providing ed-tech products and services like robotics for all age groups, learning management systems for institutes, and teaching coding via gamification for audience from school level respectively.

Trend with Corporate Brands during

D S Prashant is the CEO of Forum for Innovation Incubation Research and Entrepreneurship. Email: prashant@fiire.org.in; Tarun K is founder, Ulavan Agritech Services Pvt.Ltd 48 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

business-goa

COVID: The McKinsey report found that over 90% of respondents of the corporations believed that the pandemic would change the way they do business over the next five years, but only 21% felt they were equipped to actually deliver that change.

Strategic partnership between startups and corporations based on their interests, and mutually benefiting parameters is a great way forward to integrate kickstarting innovation, which is the need of the hour! This relationship helps primarily in validating the potential of the innovation built on a smaller scale by the startups, within a controlled environment. Secondly, it gives the mutual interest of scaling the innovation, enabling better business opportunities.

Many corporations have established their startup scouting acceleration programmes, have collaborated with incubators to identify early stage innovative ideas, and are investing and betting on them. They find it easier to collaborate outside the corporate framework as the mindset of the startup is leaner, agile and short of red-tapism which can help the turnaround time for implementing and experimenting with new ideas. Corporates have also developed skunk works at incubators with a similar outlook to broker lasting change.

Corporate Innovation and Venturing: According to a survey on corporate innovation by the Boston Consulting

proven strategies for improving corporate performance, and has worked for brands like IKEA, Amazon, defence, Reliance, etc.

Ginsberg and Guth who stressed that corporate entrepreneurship encompasses two major phenomena proposed a broad definition of corporate venturing: - New venture creation within existing organisations - The transformation of organisations through strategic renewal While the specific aspects of corporate entrepreneurship vary from organization to organisation, four common aspects are indicated with an equation: L = I + O + Cr + Ch, Where, (L=level of entrepreneurship, I=innovation, O=ownership, Cr=creativity, and Ch=change)

The Indian startup ecosystem is the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world with value creation of USD 315Bn. India’s ten most valuable unicorns are worth more than 100 billion dollars, India, currently, has 59 unicorns with an estimated value of 180Bn Group, which drew responses from about 3000 global executives, innovation is at or near the top of the company’s agenda, 43 percent of the respondents, considering it one of their three most important strategic priorities and 23 percent considering it their top priority. While innovation is highly valued as the driver of most organisations, few organisations are able to successfully implement the innovation and be sustainable, due to uncertainty in change management.

Internal corporate venturing occurs when the new process or new business is created within the company’s organisational domain and resources.

External corporate venturing involves strategic investments outside the company’s organisational domain. Joint corporate venturing is a form of external corporate venturing that involves a co-investment with another parent organisation to create a new organisation, with both parent organisations continuing to exist. Corporate venturing is one of the

Corporate Entrepreneurship: Need of the Hour: To start and operate a new business, even under a corporate umbrella includes considerable risks and effort to overcome the inertia of creating something new of value to the brand, consumer market, and the founders.

However, with corporations having an existing go-to-market and brand recognition, only the product worthiness has to be validated and aligned with the market. When placed under a confined environment, like a technology business incubator, chances of success are higher with corporate mentoring, financing, and go-to-market support

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BEYOND CLASSROOM / DR. PRADEEP SALGAONKAR

Customer Data: The New Business Fuel

The writer speaks on the various ways companies collect data from their customers; and its importance in helping improve the marketing strategy of a company

I

magine one fine morning you receive a phone call from an unknown number and the person on the other side is trying to sell you an online meeting platform. One would wonder, I never used this app nor ever tried to register with this particular app, then how do the marketing people of this company have my contact and other details, such as the broad job profile that I am involved with, the meeting platform that I am using currently and so forth. The answer lies in data mining and analytics done by these companies on a daily basis to do targeted advertising and marketing. This sort of sales calls or targeted advertising could happen with any products or services for which the marketers find the person that they are calling as a potential lead based on all the data that they have about this person.

In the World Economic Forum held in 2011, one of the theories that emerged was that a consumer’s personal data is going to be a new ‘asset class’ and that it would become one of the most valuable and sought after resources on earth.

And yes, we see that this theory is a reality today; businesses are collecting humongous amounts of consumer personal data on a daily basis and using it for various marketing and targeting purposes.

Consumer Data Collection: Companies collect data through multiple means. Everytime a person logs on to a website, the data is collected. The type of data includes information on user’s IP address, location, search queries, past search details, advertisements those are clicked on, information about likes, dislikes and comments posted etc. They are adept at pulling together all types of data from every nook and corner. All this data is analysed to understand the type of customer that they are dealing with or they are going to target.

Companies mainly adopt three ways to collect data from consumers: first by directly asking customers – feedbacks, chats, interactions suggestions etc., second, by indirectly tracking customers through various means; and third by appending other sources of customer data to their own. Some of the most obvious places for data gathering are from

consumer activity on websites, live chats, social media, or even through consumer phone calls.

Types of Consumer Data: Consumer personal data can be divided into two broad categories – volunteered data and collected data; Volunteered Data: These are the personal details and the content that is created and shared by individuals on various platforms such as social media, websites, blogs, vlogs etc. This could include their data of social media profiles, details of what they consume on the internet, such as what videos they watch, what music and movies they like, what sports they watch, which teams they support, what are their interests etc. These details are easily accessible to marketers and reveal a lot about consumers to the companies, to enable them to target market and practice individual customisation.

Collected Data: Businesses collect humongous data through consumer’s interactions with businesses that is further broken down in four distinct categories; a) Personal Data: This category includes personal details such as demographics, social security numbers, phone number, email id and even secured information like bank details at times. In addition, it also includes non-personal information such as your IP address, location, web browser cookies, and device IDs, which laptops and mobile devices have. b) Behavioural Data: This category includes interactional details with websites and transactional information such as purchase histories, product usage information (i.e. frequency of repeat actions and type of products purchased), and qualitative data (e.g., likes and dislikes, mouse movement information, and preferences for advertisements etc.). c) Attitudinal Data: This data gives information about the consumer’s attitude towards a company and products.

It encompasses metrics on consumer satisfaction, dissatisfaction, inclinations for complaining, product desirability and preferences, purchase criteria etc. d) Engagement Data: This type of data gives information on the level and intensity of consumers being one

with the company and its products. It gives details of how consumers interact with a company’s website, engagement with mobile apps, responses to emails, social media interactions, seriousness with text messages, consumption of advertisements and interactions on customer service routes.

Uses of Consumer Data: Consumer Data provides a better and deeper understanding of the entire market that a company is dealing with. They get a better understanding of the way their consumers behave and consume, how much they consume, when they consume, so on and so forth. The consumer’s overall demographics are defined and they can identify and strategise on the ways in which they can improve the overall consumption experience of their customers. Data makes it easier and more accurate to understand customers’ expectations, desires, what products/ services or product modifications they are looking for or how the customers want the company to treat them and how they would like to interact and engage with the brand. Companies having data about customers are a boon, as they can understand their customers better.

Hence they can tweak their offerings to better fit their customers’ needs, create newer needs, better communicate with target segment, improvise interactions with website to enhance user experience, make the customer spend more time on the website and get engaged with one’s brand, and much more. This certainly improves the overall marketing strategy of the company. Data enables businesses to get into greater personalisation, individual customisation and targeted marketing, thereby meeting consumer expectations. Data also works as a feedback mechanism whereby companies get to know about their advertising effectiveness. Information such as which of the marketing campaigns and promotional communication is liked by customers, which is not liked, what they prefer to see and what they don’t like, will enable companies to devise more innovative and creative advertisements and promotional material for future, and this could be much clearly targeted.

Research Director at Gartner, Huang

The writer is Founder Director, Saldots Academy; corporate trainer and facilitator; past chairman of Goa Management Association. Email: pradeepsalgaonkar@gmail.com 50 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

THE RELUCTANT ENTREPRENEUR / BLAISE COSTABIR

Business and Cycling... it is the same The writer draws a parallel between his two passions – cycling and running a business

E

arly one Sunday morning, I found myself enjoying the rolling verdant hills around Morpilla, South Goa, en route to Cabo de Ram Fort. My mind naturally made a connection between the bicycle and business; after all I was a businessman on a bicycle. As a kid, cycling was a means of transport. I proudly belonged to a group known as the ‘Bicycle Gang’. The Raleigh Racer was stolen and that ended my cycling in 1984. Circa 2019, my better half gifted me a cycle and I joined the, ‘Xaxti Riders’ in July 2019; and that initiated my tryst with cycling again.

EQUIPMENT: Cycling had changed in the intervening years. I could no longer hop on and ride. I needed cycling gear, helmet, lights, special clothing. Earlier, I had a single speed and today, 27 gears!

Initially, it was hard and the single speed felt easier and less complicated, but once one got to the climbs and understood gearing, it was a lot more efficient and made cycling a pleasure. Equipment surely made a difference. It is the same for business; we need the right equipment to enable us to deliver the right quality to our customer. There is no doubt that you can make a machined part on a conventional lathe, but if you have to make many then a CNC machine would be faster, cheaper and offer consistent quality. To meet customer demand where quality cost and delivery matter today, a CNC it will have to be.

DECISION MAKING: Anyone can advise me on how to ride, but the proof of the pudding is in eating. I have to get on and either ride or fall. I am, ‘on my own’.

Every decision taken has consequences, press the front brake hard and I will jackknife over. I have to be, ‘alert’ for possible obstacles while moving at the best speed possible. I have to ‘network’ to seek information on terrain, bike and help

When we think about a business, we see different departments working together to deliver results.

It is the same with cycling

The writer and his wife Clare, enjoy cycling around the Goan countryside

when needed. I have to be, ‘disciplined’ and follow the rules to stay safe, so I can ride another day. In a way cycling teaches me to work better, which makes business sense.

Is business any different? You can hire the best consultants, but at the end of the day it is the decisions that you take that will make or break your company.

Clearly you have to remember, lonely is the head that wears the crown, you are on your own.

FUND MANAGEMENT: Over a long distance, proper breathing plays a big role in ensuring that you are able to keep your heart rate under control and achieve the elevations and speed required to keep going. We can try shallow breaths/ panting and realise you are not going to make it, or we can take proper breaths, two counts in and three counts out, and find out that it helps a lot. This can be likened to funding a business to enable you to make the long haul. Very often in business, we tend to treat suppliers as a source of cheap funds. Yes, it is deceptive because it can turn expensive when in crunch situations your supplier prefers to deliver to better paying customers.

Also because you do not pay in time, you will usually attract a not so good supplier

which again defeats the purpose. Paying your bankers on time is another sure way of staying in the game longer. So it is better to display financial discipline and ensure that you are playing for the long haul.

BALANCED SCORECARD: When we think about a business, we see different departments working together to deliver results. It is the same when cycling. Most feel only legs work but that is not true, eyes have to see obstacles, hands have to manoeuvre, the brain has to decide the course of action which is safe; and your back muscles have to balance. It is perfect coordination that plays a key role in keeping you upright on a cycle.

In business, coordination between departments – marketing, production, finance or personnel will ensure that your business is on an even keel. So, when I cycle, the investment made in cycling pays off, in terms of fitness/immunity, spend less on a doctor, see the beautiful views, meet many people and finally I am actually training myself to be a ‘healthier businessman’. For a business to remain healthy it needs healthy people to run it. So I do hope every businessman will ‘cycle’ or get some form of exercise. Ride on

The columnist is a first-generation entrepreneur whose company manufactures ‘Shakti’ water tanks. Email: blaise@gmizm.com

said, “Customer information has always been central to any CRM strategy, but the growing wealth of information from digital channels – from social media, location and context-sensitive data collected from mobile and the Internet of Things (IoT) – radically expands the scope of the 360-degree customer profile”.

Very rightly said, this type of data

and customer profiling is the new fuel available in abundance to companies.

It is only a matter of appropriate data gathering, analysis and correct inferences drawn from data followed by proactive action taking.

Companies may use consumer data or not, the fact remains that it is the new power and fuel available to all, and minus

that, companies would be left behind, still struggling with the traditional marketing methods of mass customisation and carpet-bombing, which may not suffice in front of targeted marketing followed by smart companies. As such, it is better that companies get smarter and start using the new business fuel ‘customer data’ AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 51

LOVE FOR BUSINESS / SWAPNIL KAMAT AND ARUNIMA KAMAT

Building a Life You Don’t Need to Escape From

The writers list out ways to create a well-rounded life for oneself

I

nstead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin We love to go on holidays.They allow us to explore new places, relax, have fun and most importantly – they give us a break from ‘regular life.’ They give us something to look forward to and help us get through a weary week at work.

If vacations are so great, why did we start with that quote, you might wonder.

Are we saying that we should never go on vacations? Absolutely not. The point of the quote is not whether we should stop vacationing or not. The point is that rather than only enjoying our life while on vacation, holiday, or weekend, we should strive to make our lives the ones we want to be living – every day of the week.

Instead of seeing vacations as your annual opportunity to escape life… craft a life you don’t need to escape from.

Simply put, design a well-rounded life for yourself, one that provides a sense of peace on most days.

So, how do you do it?

Make Relationships a Priority The old adage is true, “There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.”

Strong, healthy and loving relationships bring joy into our lives that cannot be matched by income, title, or career achievements. Therefore, invest in the relationships that bring you happiness, make you feel loved, heard and respected.

Spend time with your loved ones, family and friends and you will notice that your quality of life significantly increases.

This also means that when there are people in your life you do not feel supported by, make you feel bad about yourself, or you simply don’t connect with – try to have less of them in your life.

Work hard but remember that work is not everything If we want to achieve professional success, if we want that big paycheck that brings us closer to a life of comfort and luxury, if we want to be respected – we need to work hard. Good work also gives us a sense of purpose and fulfilment, especially if you find yourself doing something that you truly enjoy. However,

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from” SETH GODIN

we need to constantly remind ourselves that while work is an important aspect of our lives, it’s not the only one. We also need to dedicate time to things like health, family, social events, our hobbies – the various components of life that we deem important.

Be wise about your career choices Potentially the best way to design a life that you do not want escape from is to identify your passion and find a way to pursue it.

This doesn’t mean that your day job has to be your dream career, but perhaps look for ways that your day job can facilitate your dream life and passion. At the very least, your career should allow you to pursue your passion in your free time, and allow you to have happiness outside of work. Going into work should not stress you out either.

Sure, work will not be sunshine 24/7.

However, it should not cause you to lose hair, sacrifice relationships that you care about, or dread your Monday through Friday.

Take planned breaks and holidays Breaks, long-weekends and vacations should not be a hiatus from ‘life’ but simply an extension and a natural part of it. Most companies give their employees a certain number of paid leaves and vacation days. Use them through the year, not just for one big annual break.

Space out your breaks in a way where you get time off every couple of months, whether it is a mini-vacation of 2-3 days,

a long weekend, a big holiday with family (or friends) or just a day off in the middle of the week. Plan all your breaks, at the start of the year.

Guard your time Not every pursuit in life deserves your energy. Be aware of what is truly worth the hours of our one, short, important life. Those who have designed a life they love have not done so by saying yes to every opportunity or invitation that comes their way. They have done so by guarding their time ruthlessly for the things that matter most and by learning to say ‘no’ graciously to the others.

Treat yourself well The foundation of a well-rounded life is keeping your health, both physical and mental, paramount. Look after your body by eating well, getting proper sleep and exercising. Invest in your mental health by allowing yourself ‘me time’, bingewatching a show on Netflix, carving out time for hobbies. Indulge yourself too, occasionally. Treat yourself to a gift, take yourself out for a fancy meal, buy those pair of shoes that you have had your eyes on for a while.

The formula to designing a life you do not feel the need to escape from is actually simple – find out what makes you happy, do more of it. Figure out what makes you unhappy and eliminate it. Remember, if you do not take the effort to thoughtfully design your life and environment, you are always going to find yourself wanting to escape your everyday life

Arunima Kamat heads Learning Research at Work Better; Swapnil Kamat is Founder-CEO of Work Better Email: swapnil@workbetterindia.com 52 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

BALANCE SHEET / SAMIT MOYE

Pandemics and Economics The writer explains the different ways in which companies can manage their finances during a crisis

D

isruption due to covid is everywhere, organisations are experiencing significant operational, financial and liquidity challenges. Most of the Indian companies who never looked at restructuring their financials, as the cash wheels for them were keeping their businesses afloat before the pandemic, have now taken a huge hit since some sectors are badly affected due to the pandemic, which has affected the twirling of money in all the sectors.

Pick any balance sheet, pre-pandemic and ask yourself, aren’t we seeing a potential to restructure and see where all this cash is going when we say the business is profitable? Companies have waited long enough to ignore the backbone of the organisation – yes and that’s ‘Finance Management’. Now, when globally we are affected by the pandemic, many businesses have realised if they had taken an early look into their organisation’s financial health, it would have been easier for them to sustain or manage their business in such a crisis.

During the crisis, most companies took to cutting employee costs, reducing production, cutting back on general and administrative costs and so on; which is a short-term solution for long-term problems.

Companies should map their cash outflow to their cash inflow, to understand who is funding what. Profitable divisions are funding businesses, which are struggling to survive, or the ones that can be revived. Quick and informed decisions to check whether cutting an arm is better than putting the entire body at risk is what is needed while we survive this pandemic.

The top concern right now for many businesses is to manage their cash pressures to ride out the crisis. In doing so, it is important to identify areas that are risks to the going concern and longterm trading ability of the organisation.

As we always say ‘First Things First’, identifying the problem is very important; and here is what companies should start doing.

The finance team led by an experienced CFO should launch a war room.

Most CFOs should start quantifying their companies’ cash on hand as well as any incremental capital that they

can access. Finance leaders will need to forecast cash collections associated with the latest sales projections. With many customers delaying payments; however, some companies may need to double down on collections to remain solvent. CFOs can use various tools or mechanisms – what some would call a ‘spend control tower’– to prioritise payments and impose clear reporting metrics that track liquidity in real-time.

Important points or tips to start with for any company in a war room: 1. Cash is King More businesses fail for lack of cash flow than for lack of profit. The company’s primary finance focus during this period will be on implementing a ‘cash culture’ that is, preserving cash and deploying it dynamically. The CFO must communicate this priority throughout the organisation and help establish incentives to reinforce it so that all departments and business units understand ‘why this matters now’ and what their specific role is in helping optimize cash. The message to both board of directors and investors should focus on the crisis’s actual and projected effects on the company, the actions taken to protect the business, the liquidity situation, and any changes to earlier earnings commitments.

2. Use Scenario Analysis Scenario Analysis is used to estimate changes in the value of a business or cash flow, especially when there are potentially favourable and unfavourable events that could affect the company. Since there is

The writer is a chartered accountant and is partner, Firstpoint Advisors LLP. Email: samit.moye@firstpointllp.com 54 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

heightened uncertainty in this pandemic situation, business and finance should form a strategic team to build on a range of scenarios rather than on individual time-horizon-based frameworks.

The CFO should also articulate clear thresholds or trigger points that suggest what financial actions the company will take and when. Rolling forecasts should incorporate both macroeconomic and company-specific data to identify major areas of EBITDA risk. The CFO will need to track in real-time the effect that cash decisions are having on the company’s ability to ride out the downturn and resume business operations once demand begins to bounce back.

3. Rolling of the Working Capital Cycle In my first point above, I have already emphasised the need for cash management, and this is not possible without managing the working capital.

The CFO should focus on cash conversion cycle, debt/equity ratio, collection of receivables and developing the best payments strategy for your business. The above image on working capital will help you get clarity on working capital.

Talk to your regular suppliers and be honest. If they are not impacted, they might be in a position to help.

Assess the ability of affected suppliers to continue production and supply.

Make contingency plans for alternative supply in the short and medium-term.

Where possible, negotiate for the most favourable credit terms with suppliers and critically evaluate your supplier base to determine if your current agreement

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is still the most favourable for your business. Go through your customer list and see who is most likely to be most affected and when. Understand fully what the impact on revenue would be from reduced sales and the cash flow implications from delayed payments.

Follow up on all debtors as a matter of priority. Make sure your invoice is top of their list. Review your pricing and credit terms; do not assume that your customers are financially healthy. Re-evaluate credit terms with current customers, negotiate the shortest reasonable terms, and carefully review the creditworthiness of each new customer before extending credit. Think about how you can be paid upfront. Now is the time to tighten up your payment terms, not loosen them.

Offer a discount for upfront payment. Try to get payment in stages rather than at the end of a project.

Explore your options around creating some liquidity on your balance sheet through invoice discounting or factoring.

Invoice discounting will enable you to borrow funds using invoices as security while factoring is when a business sells invoices to a third party at a discount to the actual value.

4. Focussed Productivity The CFO should actively reallocate resources to businesses with strong existing revenue streams and optimize the company’s use of alternative sales and delivery channels, such as e-commerce.

With much of the world in lockdown and demands falling, it will be necessary for finance leaders to take decisive actions for reducing operating costs, but it will also be critical for CFOs to maintain some flexibility and to balance those reductions against the eventual need to scale operations back up, as the economy recovers.

In the meantime, the CFO and finance team can also bring some rigour to spending management by implementing rapid zero-based budgeting for all discretionary expenditures, such as indirect procurement. Be strategic and do not execute cost-cutting initiatives that could compromise revenue-generating capabilities or that risk diminishing value in the business.

5. Strengthen the Balance Sheet CFOs should use this period of crisis as an opportunity to perform a deep diagnostic on the balance sheet – for instance, refinancing debt; reducing inventory, accounts-payable and accountsreceivable terms; and so on. This sort of balance sheet clean up can extend the company’s financial flexibility while keeping everyone focused on key metrics at a chaotic time. Additionally, CFOs should guide peer executives in a review of major R&D, IT, and capital allocations and use the opportunity to optimize the company’s investment portfolio. Finance leaders will need to quickly shift human and financial resources to higher-yielding projects and the initiatives most valuable to the company’s future. The CFO should provide you with financial intelligence, Financial Matrices (design and monitor KPIs) and actionable insights about business to enable the CEO to take quick and informed decisions.

6. Digitalisation Strategy This is the first economic disruption that requires a large part of the global workforce to perform their duties remotely, making digital collaboration tools necessary to keep the business functioning. However, the finance team’s use of digitization to help the company manage the crisis should not be considered a one-time event. Digital initiatives that once seemed out of reach – from automated closings to real-time forecasts – are now business-critical.

The CFO and finance team should take a leadership position in advocating for the use of digitisation across the organisation, long after the crisis has passed.

The CFO and finance team can codify the solutions that they have developed – the cash war room, rolling forecasts, and collaborative dashboards, for instance; and help scale them throughout the organisation. This active, informed embrace of digitisation will be invaluable for ensuring accurate reporting, informed decision-making, and business continuity in any future crisis.

Automation helps you save time, avoid costly errors, and keep allimportant documents at your fingertips.

This helps transform the finance function that is efficient, accurate, and a department, which does not dread the end of every quarter.

7. Reinforce the Role of Financial Planning and Analysis The FP&A role are no longer limited to management reporting; it also requires lots of business insight so that the top management can formulate an effective strategy. Under crisis conditions, the FP&A team must accelerate its budgeting and forecasting work, providing continually updated business information that the CFO and the finance organisation can then incorporate into an integrated forecast.

The FP&A team should use collaborative tools to monitor and manage key performance indicators; in a crisis period, issues with data latency will not be acceptable and the team’s updates need to become a true rolling forecast, supported by a ‘decision cockpit’. Some finance organizations may lack executives with the skills necessary to elevate the FP&A team into such a role – those with analytics and business backgrounds may be in particularly short supply. The option in such a case could be to outsource your finance activities.

Outsourcing your finance department may help you grow your business. Paying for professional financial services, as needed, allows you to reduce overhead costs and direct funds to more profitable channels. Having financial experts perform various accounting tasks on your behalf ensures that you will not miss deadlines or pay hefty fines.

Additionally, a financial expert makes use of the latest technology to provide you with a comprehensive business analysis that your staff can use to formulate revenue-generating methods.

In sum, outsourcing your finance department is an innovative and costeffective way to ensure that your business attains success.

No one knows how long the pandemic will last, but in time, businesses and daily life will find a new equilibrium. CFOs are key to ensuring that their organisations not only survive the current crisis but also thrive in the next normal

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AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 55

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PADARIA PRAZERES

An European nook in Goa Pão de Deus

Padaria Prazeres offers some classy European specialties, all in a cozy little café

Pasteis de Nata

Palmier

S

By SYBIL RODRIGUES

ituated in the quiet lanes of Caranzalem, is a quaint little café, Padaria Prazeres, started by Ralph Prazeres and his wife, Stacy Gracias.

Ralph and Stacy wanted to bring a piece of Europe to Goa in the form of Padaria Prazeres.

Ralph studied at le Cordon Bleu in London and went on to work at awardwinning restaurants in the city such as St. John’s, Clos Maggiore, and Bao. He has done a stint at the world-famous Noma in Copenhagen, besides working in a few kitchens in Lisbon and around Europe.

Stacy has a background in finance and worked in London with companies like Rothschild & Co., RBS and HSBC. Ralph says, “We wanted to offer people in Goa something that is not readily available. Goa deserved a good bakery, one where they can enjoy both sweet and savoury.”

At Padaria Prazeres, Ralph manages the kitchen while Stacy takes care of the marketing, inventory and accounts, including the entire front office operations.

The interiors have been tastefully designed and has a little bookshelf if one would like to read while eating. There is an outdoor seating space for anyone who would like to sit out and enjoy their coffee while watching the world go by.

Everything at Padaria Prazeres is made in-house. Their menu has both sweet and savoury items. The savoury menu has items like Roast Chicken Sandwich (on ciabatta), Prawn Cocktail Sandwich (on brioche), Tzatziki Sandwich (on brioche), Garlic Cream Cheese Bagels and Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese Bagels. The Roast

56 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

Chicken Sandwich on ciabbata is filling with tender, juicy chunks of chicken on a bed of lettuce and tomato and makes for a filling snack.

The patisserie menu is where one will find all the deliciousness and is the USP of the café. Pasteis de Nata is their most popular item and it’s easy to see why. A crunchy, flaky tart holding gooey custard, dusted with powdered cinnamon and every bite is a treat. The Pão de Deus, which translates to the bread of God, is a traditional Portuguese dessert that is a soft brioche and a topping made with desiccated coconut, and is excellent with a cup of coffee.

Berliners also feature on their menu, which are German doughnuts made of sweet yeast dough, without the central hole, and deep-fried. Padaria Prazeres features two kinds of Berliners on their menu, one with a dark chocolate filling and the other with custard. One bite of this pillowy soft doughy goodness, Stacy Gracias and Ralph Prazeres

sprinkled with powdered cinnamon and icing sugar, has the filling oozing out, leaving the person in raptures of delight.

Another specialty of this place is the Palmier, which is a French creation, made from puff pastry. Puff pastry is made with alternating layers of dough and butter, rolled and folded over to create a number of flaky layers. The pastry is then rolled out, coated with sugar and baked. The Palmier available here is huge, as big as your palm, crunchy, buttery and sweet.

Apart from these items, their patisserie menu also boasts of items like cinnamon sugar doughnuts, glazed doughnuts, madeleines, financiers, carrot cake, banana cake and date and walnut loaf. The boulangerie menu has baguettes, ciabatta, brioche buns, milk chocolate brioche, garlic butter knots, bagels, cheese scones, caramelised onion focaccia and black olive focaccia. Coffee and tea are also available to go along with all the deliciousness available here.

Ralph plans on adding more items to the menu. “I’ll be expanding our menu to more of the European items that are not easily available here. I plan on getting French, Portuguese and Italian classics here and stick to that. We are also thinking of doing brunches which will have the classic eggs benedict, croissants and high teas with finger sandwiches and British scones. All this is in the works.”

The place is a must visit if you have a sweet tooth and perfect for a conversation with a friend or reading a book. They play amazing music too, especially if you’re a fan of 90s variety. With two driven people like Ralph and Stacy at the helm of affairs, Padaria Prazeres is definitely going to be one to reckon with

GOABUZZ

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HDFC Bank presents Business Goa Awards: Night of the Business Stars

On August 1, 2021, the best and brightest minds of Goa’s business were celebrated at the prestigious HDFC Bank presents Business Goa Awards for Corporate Excellence 2021, held at Goa Marriott Resort and Spa. The event saw entrepreneurs; top-notch industrialists as well as emerging business persons get together, following all Covid protocols.

The keynote speaker, Sanjay Kirloskar delivered his speech online. The Chairman of Kirloskar Brothers Pvt. Ltd. called on business people to infuse resilience in their business models while complimenting Business Goa magazine for its sustained commitment in promoting business and entrepreneurship in Goa. Felicitating 23 awardees across four different categories, the evening feted the achievements of Goa’s noted business people; institutions as well as individuals who were honoured for excellence in their respective fields.

Although the event had to maintain restricted attendance due to covid protocols, industry captains complimented the organising team for providing a much needed platform to network and catch up with peers after a year and half of covid-induced hiatus.

Awardees felt that receiving recognition in the backdrop of the pandemic, has reinvigorated their passion for work and business

Samir Lotlikar

Atul Pai Kane

Rohan Khaunte

Shekhar Sardessai

Rajesh Dempo

Dr Sangam Kurade

Meghna and Manoj Caculo

Narayan Bandekar

Urvija and Harshvardhan Bhatkuly

Swapnil Kamat

Dr Tosha Kurade

Rajkumar Kamat

Dr Vivek Mendonsa

Anil Counto

Prashant Joshi

Ralph de Sousa

Aakash Counto

Vikas Jariyal

Atul Jadhav

Sandip Bhandare

58 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

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Cesar Menezes

Pramod Rane

Prakash Kunde

Blaise Costabir

Gaurish Dhond

Pratima Dhond

Dhruv Rajani

Hari Kaul

Goutam Raj

Denzil Xavier

Dinesh Sinari

Dr Suhani Mendonsa

Abhijit Surlacar

Jayesh Raikar

Ajinkya Birwadkar

Rohan Bhandare

Milind Anvekar

Mahesh Pai

Shrinivas Dempo

Ryan Costa

Satbir Prabhu

Rajesh Salgaonkar

Sheetal and Sunil Pai Kane

Gaurabh Quenim

Dr Pradeep Salgaonkar

Raghu Shetiye

Pavan Agni

Samir Borkar

AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 59

GOABUZZ

Ramakant S. Kamat

Shaibal Ghosh

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Nilesh and Pallavi Lawande

Dr Shekhar Shirwaikar

Edward and Dr Astrid Monteiro

Rahul Nadkarni

Jay Mendonsa

Viraj Dhond

Gautam and Karishma Verlekar

Dr Archana and Dr Vinayak Deshpande

Rajesh Kenkre

Sairaj Dhond

Dr Sajal Dhond

Suma Jena

Kanchan Desai

Pallavi Divekar

Yashodhan Divekar

Vartan Mathais

Arjun Divekar

Akshaykumar Kurne

Lester Castelino

Samay Shetti

Manu Nair

Nilesh C Dessai

Annalise Gouveia

Mayur Santineskar

Sybil Rodrigues

Saachi Pai Kane

Meenal Bale

Ameya A Naik

Aliston Dias

60 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

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‘Tales in the Pandemic’ authored by Rehana Rohan 12-year-old student of Rosary High School receives Kamat Timble released The accolades for her literary debut

L to R: Sapna Sardessai, Dr Pramod Salgaocar, Vijayadevi Rane and Rehana Rohan Kamat Timble, at the book release

T

he book Tales in the Pandemic authored by 12-year-old Rehana Rohan Kamat Timble was released recently at Solario, Club Tennis de Gaspar Dias, Miramar.

The book was released at the hands of former Chairperson of Bal Bhavan Vijayadevi Rane and in the presence of former Chairperson of Goa

Women’s Commission, Dr Pramod Salgaocar.

The child author is a student of the Rosary High School, Cujira, Bambolim and is reading in class VII.

The book revolves around the Winley Family and Rehana relates to the youngest member of the family to express the new order which the pandemic has ensured in our day to day lives.

In her remarks Rane praised Rehana for her reflection of the Pandemic and expressed that the pandemic has ensured us to know our family and friends even better while appreciating the stories written by the author.

Dr Salgaocar appreciated the author for her attention to detail which has been reflected in the writing of the stories, so also in the sketches and the overall depictions of the characters in the stories.

Prof. Suchita Timble proposed the vote of thanks.

The book has been published Sapna Sardessai for Printer’s Devil

Shekhar Sardessai

Rajesh Khaunte

Prafulla Naik

Yatish Naik

Arch. Rohan Timble

Suchita Timble

Hanish Timblo

Damodar Ghanekar

Amba Kunkolienkar

Ajit Naik

Daniel Albuquerque

Girish Dessai

Surendra Furtado

Pramod Acharya

Usha Zantye

Rohit Zantye

Neha Zantye

Suvidha Torgal Bakhale

Edwin Menezes

Clement Rodrigues

Arlene Cardozo

AUGUST 2021 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | 61

NEWSMAKERS

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Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai releases the 12th Anniversary issue of Business Goa

The 12th anniversary issue of Business Goa was released at the hands of Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai at Raj Bhavan on July 30, 2021. Publisher-editor of Business Goa, Harshvardhan Bhatkuly handed over a copy of the magazine to the Governor.

The anniversary special issue has focussed on strategy to bounce back in the backdrop of the pandemic, which has been a bane for industry, trade and entrepreneurs.

Opinions on the business bounce back strategy from various industry captains in the State was the cover story feature of this collector’s item. Some of the commentators include senior industrialist Shrinivas Dempo; President of Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Ralph de Sousa; Vice Chairperson of CII Goa Council, Swati Salgaocar, tech entrepreneur Vijay Thomas, legislator Rohan Khaunte, among others. The anniversary issue had columns from CA Rohan Bhandare, Dr Vivek Mendonsa, Shailesh Amonkar, Sunil Dias, Nandini Vaidyanathan and other regular writers, most of which shed light on getting back on track in the aftermath of Covid

Ronak Kamat’s fim ‘Bare’ wins Best Film Award at CICFF

Bare, written and directed by Ronak Kamat, has won the Best Film Award under the ‘Film on Women’ Category, at the 52nd Season of the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival (CICFF).

After an official selection at Toronto Lift Off Film Festival that is ongoing right now, this is the second achievement for Kamat and his team. Bare is a thriller short film that features Suvidha Torgal, Keatan Jadhav, Siddhi Upadhye, Vardhan Kamat and Urvi Ranade in major roles. Over the 30 minutes of its run time, the film meanders in a manner that produces genre moments adhering to that of a thriller, along with touching upon barriers faced by women in today’s society.

In Kamat’s words, “Bare is not only a thriller, it is a film about the limitless strength of women”

Senior Journalist Gurudas Sawal bags Mavalmaratha Award

Goa’s senior journalist Gurudas Sawal was awarded this year’s ‘Mavalmaratha Award’ by the Mumbai Marathi Journalist Association and senior journalist Sadanand Khopkar’s Weekly Mavalmaratha. Sadanand Khopkar requested the Goa Union of Journalist Association (GUJ) to present the award to Sawal. GUJ President Rajtilak Naik and former president Kishor Naik Gaonkar presented the award to the senior Goan journalist at his residence. Sawal has bagged this award in recognition of his work and long service in the field of journalism in Goa. Senior journalists from different states are selected for this award on behalf of the weekly Mavalmaratha each year on its anniversary. This year the honour was bestowed on Goa. Sadanand Khopkar, editor of Weekly Mavalmaratha has congratulated Sawal for this award

Art historian and academic Apurva Kulkarni curates ‘Mandalas for Mollem’

Independent academic, artist, and art historian Apruva Kulkarni curates ‘Mandalas for Mollem’, an interdisciplinary online exhibition

by Altamirra, a Goa based art education initiative, which is all set to open on August 21. Kulkarni, also teaches visual art at the Goa College of Architecture, Altinho. With the Mollem issue heating up, artists from across the State are coming together to protest, express their anguish and educate the masses on the need to safeguard this treasure of Goa. Kulkarni states that he chose the theme of ‘mandala’ because it is such a powerful symbol. The exhibition comprises various mediums be it digital art, illustrations, stop motion animation, short film, sculptures, etc. By hosting this exhibition online, it opens up viewership to more people, given that covid norms restrict the number of visitors to physical galleries says Kulkarni. And while the hope is that justice will prevail and Mollem be saved, Kulkarni states: “Even if the powers to be find a loophole and manage to find a way to go ahead with these projects, we should not go down without a fight”

62 | BUSINESS GOA INDUSTRY DOSSIER | AUGUST 2021

146 1. T V Ravindran is the CEO of which Indian company?

2. In 2014, who succeeded Steve Ballmer to become CEO of Microsoft?

3. Which company was founded by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce?

4. What was the name of the rocket ship that carried Jeff Bezos and others to space?

5. Aakash, the training institute, has been acquired by which startup?

6. ‘Grinding It Out’ is the autobiography of which businessman?

7. In 2018, which company acquired Binani Cement for INR 7,266 cr?

8. Frontline is a fortnightly magazine published by which Indian media group?

9. Safola is a brand of edible oil from which Indian FMCG? 10. Identify this Indian-American investor Answers to BG Quiz 145: 1.Citroen 2.Jamnagar 3.Polo 4.Tumblr 5.MRF 6.Pfizer 7. Vijaya Bank 8. Zippo 9. Ajay Banga Email your answers to businessgoa.media@gmail.com First all correct entry will get 1 year’s subscription to Business Goa

Registered with Registrar of Newspapers of India under RNI No.: GOAENG/2015/59955 Date of Publication: 10th day of every month. Posted on or before 30th day of the month. POSTAL LICENSE No.: G-2/RNP/Monthly/Goa-19/2021-23