Entrepreneurship 64 Technology 66 AlcoBev

KAFMAR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES LLP Eco-friendly solutions for waste water treatment

Kafmar Environmental Services LLP elaborates on Kessel, a vertical of their company, which focuses on waste water solution products in an eco-friendly manner

Oil and Grease separator Lifting station

By SYBIL RODRIGUES bunds, flood prevention and

Kafmar Environmental land reclamation, building Services LLP is owned walls for fish and shrimp ponds by Caesar Fernandes in as well as wastewater treatment partnership with his wife, ponds, digging trenches for Dizzy. Kafmar offers holistic, oil and gas piping installation practical, cost-effective, and in water bogged and swampy sustainable solutions to the environments, transporting challenges found in water and clearing obstacles at bodies left untouched over landslide and earthquake areas, decades. Kafmar moves building water irrigation bunds towards complimenting at paddy fields and plantations, the environment, adding to wetland constructions, debiodiversity, and improving weeding of ponds, lakes, rivers, water quality. They motivate tributaries, and nallahs. and encourage the business The Fuel Segment consists community and government of mobile diesel deliveries bodies to care for nature and at one’s door step and preensure that it is sustainable fabricated diesel storage tanks. for future generations. They Apart from these three are also involved in various segments, Kafmar provides activities to safeguard mother various amenities to the nature as a part of their social hospitality industry like preresponsibility. fabricated oil and grease

Kafmar offers different separators, pre-fabricated products and services in three and single-phase electricity different segments. The Waste operated bio-sewage treatment Water Management Segment plants and bio-digesters with includes bio digestors/bio- zero maintenance. sewage treatment plants, kitchen Kessel, a German company waste water management, and which deals with waste water fuel separators for car and bike solution products from service centres. plumbing equipment to non-

The Amphibious Excavator returnable lifting stations for and Amphibious Weed toilets and sewage, is another Harvester takes care of land business vertical owned clearing and remediation work by Kafmar Environmental at mining areas, plantations, Services LLP. They have mini and swampy land areas, lifting stations for separate deepening and widening of toilets and different kinds of canals and river ways, building equipment for kitchens. They “We have to address restaurants at large who face this problem. Many are not aware that this product exists in the market and use a cheaper option. The cheaper alternatives have baffle walls and are available in SS and fibre tank which are extremely inconvenient to use and do not give the required results”

Caesar Fernandes

Owner, Kafmar Environmental Services LLP also have drain channels for showers, bathrooms and other sanitary purposes.

One of the products that they are basically focusing on for Goa is oil-grease separators. These oil grease separators separate oil and grease from the waste water that goes out of the sink of the kitchen. As waste water is contaminating most of the small hotels in Goa, they leave it out directly in the soak pit.

So what happens is, in the filtrate this oil blocks all the sides of the soak pit which then starts acting like a tank and starts storing water. This water is not soaked up, which leads to pollution and harms the

Caesar Fernandes

environment in the long run.

In Goa, this process is not monitored properly because the only mandate you need is to have a grease trap. It does not show any measurement, and they do not have any regulatory idea of how it works.

Kessel works under European standards which follows EN1825, regulations for an oil grease trap. This standard specifies requirements on selection of nominal sizes, installation, operation, and maintenance of grease separators.

Unfortunately, India doesn’t have any such regulations so

NEURA-O-GRANDE | RERA REG NO: PRGO12211491

GIRIJA DEMPO | NATHAN MENDES | GLENCY LEGRADA RODRIGUES Young, Gifted and Going Places

As Business Goa turns 13 this month, we highlight youth from around Goa who are making a mark in society with their talent, intelligence and creativity

By CASSANDRA CARVALHO PRIORITIZING MENTAL HEALTH

Girija Dempo Co founder of mental health portal ‘Unorthodox Newsletters’

Afinal year student pursuing her degree in B.Sc Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, Girija Dempo enjoys exploring the science behind the human brain. Besides being a good listener, she also looks for opportunities in territories that are uncharted. The relation between the human brain and emotions coupled with the fact that the mind needs to have control over emotion, is something that hasn’t been researched and explored extensively.

Around the start of the pandemic, in an attempt to be productive, Girija, along with four colleagues from her university, thought about creating ‘Unorthodox Newsletters’ as a platform that is built to guide the understanding of mental health in an informed and educated way. Girija started as an editor, went on to be the head of public relations and is currently one of the co-founders. They pride themselves on their researchbased approach to convey the nuances of mental health with research as evidence.

Unorthodox Newsletters started with the idea that people find themselves feeling like birds caught in a cage within the confines of their own lives. Due to the daily hustle and bustle of their lives, daily routines and social environments, at the workplace, mental health takes a back seat, when it really deserves to ride shotgun. At Unorthodox Newsletters, they believe in prioritising mental health over the rush of everyone’s daily routines, so they aim to develop an understanding of mental health with a research-based approach. An online newsletter, it is widely accessible to everyone around the world. They plan to get onboard professional mentors, who have more experience in the field, such as RCI registered counsellors from India and clinical psychologists from parts of the UK and India. The platform has already entered into collaborations with psychologists and mental health pages via IGTV. Unorthodox Newsletters aims to prioritise mental along with physical health. Girija explained with a relevant example, “When we are sick, our brain involuntarily and instantaneously tells us that we need to go visit a doctor or a physician but when our emotions take a toll on us and our experiences get overwhelming, it doesn’t occur to us that we need to go see a therapist. So the aim is to spread awareness about how equally important creating a mental health routine is”

Girija Dempo

MAKING MUSIC SPEAK

Nathan Mendes aka Tsumyoki Goan artiste

Nathan Mendes, a 21-year old hailing from Margao, has been interested in making music since he was seventeen, but has loved music all his life.

A Xaviers graduate, Nathan, better known by his stage name Tsumyoki, has a fanbase all over India, in London and other international locations. He has been featured on VH1 and performed at shows in Sikkim, Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai and Goa. With more than forty thousand subscribers on YouTube and one lakh monthly streamers on Spotify, Tsumyoki is a signed artist under rapper Divine’s Gully Gang roster.

Music has been a therapeutic form of releasing his emotions; Tsumyoki channels all his emotions into music and states that he doesn’t feel the need for a therapist, since music has been there for him. If his mental health deteriorates, music is his outlet. He doesn’t categorise his music into genres, his content is diverse, ranging from pop and rap to ballads. Tsumyoki is a self-taught pianist, guitarist and ukulele artist. He begins by laying down some chords, and will then hum a melody over those chords. Then come lyrics, after which he proceeds to work on the digital side of things with the chords, add drums, makes a beat, and completes the chorus, hooks and bridges. The founder of Goa Trap Culture, a four-person collective that makes music, Tsumyoki’s lyrics reflect the lifestyle he grew up in, and the many aspects of his Goan heritage. He goes on to elucidate, “I talk about chai because I love chai, and it’s a beautiful part of my life.”

Tsumyoki used to compete in singing competitions till 5th grade, but stopped singing for a while. He struggled gaining support in the early days, as people’s egos got in the way; they simply didn’t want to believe in a kid. Tsumyoki was initially discouraged by the immense amount of hate he received, but then went on to realise “why look at the bad stuff, when there’s so much good coming your way?”.

With support from his mother and sister right from the start, when money and fans started coming in, he gradually gained support from the rest of his family. Speaking on the music industry in

Glency Legrada Rodrigues the state, Tsumyoki says that Goa has always had immense potential in this sector. It is just that the people of Goa are not empowered enough to think that they can achieve the world. With no original shows happening in Goa, there is no audience to see original music grow in the state.

Clubs and fests only stream tracks on the Top 10 charts. Original artists don’t have a platform or organisers. It isn’t the job of the artists to organise their own show. They make beautiful music, and it is the organisers’ duty to book them and promote them, after which

Nathan Mendes aka Tsumyoki they can make a living.

Luckily for Nathan, his parents’ mentality gave him the impetus to make him a hard worker, who doesn’t stop until he achieves something. He has broken the wall for Goan artistes, but doesn’t know when we will see Goan artists truly thriving. Nevertheless, he will continue to pave the way for other Goan artistes, who will proceed to become even bigger than him. Tsumyoki believes that his contribution to the Goan music industry will leave a lasting legacy for future artistes and fans

INTELLIGENCE MADE VISIBLE

Glency Legrada Rodrigues Graphic designer and digital illustrator

Glency Legrada Rodrigues is a 26 year old self taught illustrator and a graphic designer hailing from Chicalim.

A BBA graduate, Glency is that person you’d find busy doodling things on her notebook or any material if found with a pen. Things that interest her are doodling, animating, learning new ways of illustrating and the sky (clouds). Anime and manga aroused her interest in digital illustrations.

Out of the numerous things that she considers inspirational, people, music and stories stir her pot of creativity. Well adept in Procreate and the Adobe suite, her passion for digital design began back in 2020, the first lockdown when everyone was at home. It kind of gave her more time to concentrate on illustrations and animation. This led to deciding on making her own Instagram page and exhibiting it to the world. Doing that has given her a lot of opportunities like working with different clients and numerous commissions.

This was something to look forward to, as it became a real stress buster from staying home. Glency’s future plans include continuing to learn more about this field like motion graphics, various ways and styles of illustrations, and maybe create merchandise from her original designs. She also intends to try out the NFT market

JOSHUA SILVEIRA DIRECTOR, INDIA OPERATIONS, FRONTLINE MANAGED SERVICES “WE WANT GOAN YOUTH TO GET GREAT JOBS IN GOA”

Frontline Managed Services, one of the world’s largest providers of managed services, has commenced operations in Goa after growing to over 200 employees in the last 3 years and increasing recruitment in the state. Business Goa catches up with Joshua Silveira, Director, India Operations who speaks on their core philosophy, recruitment process and the future of managed services in India

What is Frontline Managed Services all about? Frontline Managed Services® is a global provider of administrative, financial and IT managed services for legal and professional services firms. Driven by specialised technology, we innovate the service delivery model and offer scalable solutions that improve revenue, profitability and firm wide efficiencies for firms of all sizes.

What is the core philosophy of Frontline Managed Services? With state-of-the-art technology platforms, years of expertise development and offices around the world, we share ownership of our clients’ legal operations, helping them achieve above market profitability and performance. This positions firms for financial growth, including increased profitability and decrease of capital expenditures.

What are the various services offered by you? We provide services to legal firms in the US on the financial and IT side. eBillers, eBilling Accounts Specialists, Bill Reviewers, NOC Engineers, Project Engineers, SQL DBAs, and a number of IT specialists.

You have branches in USA and the UK. What made the company set up an office in Goa? USA, UK and Canada are great to help us handle and manage our clients as it gives our clients a feeling of proximity, but the idea to setup an office in Goa came about when our CEO, Seelin Naidoo met up with an associate of his who ran a company in Goa, and asked him about the synergy and possibility of opening an

Joshua Silveira

arm here in Goa. It seemed lucrative, but was still an early concept to adopt, so we started out as a joint venture and then realised it was something we could grow. Goa is primed with talent and communication skills that are at par with the clients in the US. That is when we ventured to setting up an independent company here and it has proved to be nothing but growth since then.

Elaborate on your employee profile We look for smart individuals in accounting and IT. We hire various levels of experience ranging from recent graduates to senior level. Our main focus is to ensure that these individuals are trainable, even if they are freshers, and have grasping power with a positive attitude.

What can you tell us about your strategic partners? In India, as mentioned, we do not have a sales team, as this is handled by our Western branches, but we have strategic partnerships with legal and recruiting firms that have helped us expand and grow our base here in India. Our recruiting agencies have been our most strategic partners as without them we would not have been where we are. For us it was only a process of trial and error to find the perfect combination of recruiters in different cities to help us out with our growth.

How is Frontline Managed Services addressing the changing legal landscape? The drastic change in the legal landscape, especially in the US, has actually helped us use the innovation which is promoted by our leaders. Over the pandemic and with the growth in security and technology, legal firms have also moved to hybrid model. Our company has adapted with them to ensure that we provide the best-inclass service to help each of our clients catapult their business. A lot of questions raised by legal firms are that they do not have the bandwidth to adapt, and so Frontline has jumped in to help their entire organisation adapt to the changing landscape by providing virtual IT, security and financial services to clients.

Your company has been voted as ‘a great place to work’ at by your employees. What sets you apart from other organisations? I believe that a lot of companies are adopting an employee centric approach to their company cultures, and we have taken a similar approach. The nuance here is understanding the generation that we have as employees. This plays a major role. Leadership, in most cases, are looked on as older more experienced individuals who think of the concept of motivating employees either only through financial benefits, or vouchers. We tried to take into consideration the perspectives of Gen Z and Gen Y, to ensure that they have fun as well, even if this meant investing in a game room or recreational space. If they are looking to get married, their families as well are taken care off through

Launch of Frontline’s Porvorim facility

David Buergle (COO)

insurance and benefits, and if they aren’t then at least they have a feeling of independence that in case anything does happen, the company has taken care of them. This entails a lot of research on new products in the insurance industry and frequent touch points with employees to ensure that they have an area not only to work, but also an area to come and socialize in the way that they feel comfortable. Productivity is obviously a byproduct of these engagements.

Who are on the executive team of Frontline Managed Services and what strengths do they bring to the table? Our executive team in the US comprises of the Seelin Naidoo (CEO), David Buergler (COO), Frank Ziller (CIO), Craig Friedl (President), Gulam Zade (CLO), Mike Ferdman (SVP, Managed Financial Services) and Matt Bares (SVP, Operations). This team comes with a plethora of experiences and direction without whom the company would not be where it is today. Their combined perspective and guidance with setting up multiple types of businesses in multiple countries has helped the team in India to build a global experience for our employees. The vision to have the global company under a single cultural umbrella is what drives and motivates the employees here to grow exponentially.

Frontline has won many awards since 2018 onwards. Elaborate on

Seelin Naidoo (CEO)

the same. We have won multiple awards pre 2018 as well, but yes, the most recent ones are Channel Futures MSP 501 and 500 respectively in 2018, 2021 and 2022, awarded to high performing Managed Services Providers in the US. We made it to the top 100 vertical market MSPs. In 2019, we won the ‘Legal Times’ best, followed by ILTA’s distinguished peer awards. Seelin Naidoo made it to the top 10 ‘most inspiring CEOs to watch out for’ in 2020 and ‘Best CEO’ in the managed services space in India in 2022. We were named Arctic Wolf partner of the year 2021 and LegalWeek year for leaders in tech law. Not to mention our biggest accolade this year which is our GPTW certification.

What can you tell us about your community outreach programmes? Being three years in the market, our largest community outreach program has been targeted towards the youth of Goa to ensure that they have a place in Goa and do not have to go outside the State to find a great job. We have written to multiple colleges and have delivered talks and sessions for students in this regard. Sponsoring events to support entrepreneurship in Goa has also been something that we are aim to do.

Interestingly, we have also primarily targeted Goan firms to help setup business or handle recruiting or smaller architectural firms to build our physical infrastructure so that we can grow in Goa and help others grow as well.

What is the interview process like at Frontline Managed Services? How long does it take to get hired from start to the finish? It depends on the role that we are hiring for. Just like every leader in the company, our hiring process adapts and changes to what the market provides.

Hiring pre, during and post pandemic there have been massive shifts in processes on how we hire candidates. Currently, the financial side hiring can take from five days (candidate intro to rolling out the offer) to 20 days. On the IT side it takes a little longer which can go up to even 30 days.

The process involves the HR round, a technical round that can be a test or virtual interview and a final manager round which ends with an offer or rejection.

What training does Frontline Managed Services offer its employees? On the financial side we don’t really expect someone to know about the financial processes followed in the US, so every employee goes through extensive training before hitting the floor for production. On the IT side as well there are a number of documentations and videos that are presented to individuals to complete their training.

Not to mention that the company has a Frontline Managed Services University program for all employees where they can take certification courses that are sponsored by the company. This doesn’t just help them with their current job but helps them to move upwards by upgrading their skill sets.

We do pride ourselves on moving employees internally to management positions, rather than hiring from outside. This helps build their careers and long term job satisfaction.

What according to you is the future of managed services in India? It seems like we have just started. Crossing our 3 year operational mark in May, we are now concentrating on scaling the business and streamlining our processes and have come a long way. We are hiring specialists in roles to ensure smooth operations and build our departments. We are experimenting on opening up departments depending on the type of skills available in India. Our Hyderabad arm is also beginning to pick up steam and expand, which helps us to hire for more IT related jobs.

What are your future plans? I have always been about building companies and I plan on continuing to assist Frontline Managed Services-India in its growth and to ensure that the company functions smoothly and efficiently. Building this company up from scratch has been a pleasure and I intend to see it grow and provide more vacancies in Goa

TOURISM TECH Incubating Ideas and Propelling Growth

Forum for Innovation Incubation Research and Entrepreneurship (FiiRE) speaks on providing support to startups which will reshape the tourism industry while providing value to travellers and suppliers

Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries, and the economies of many countries are driven by their tourism sector. It is also a wide-ranging industry, including hospitality, transportation, travel facilitation and information (e.g., tour operators, travel agents, tourist information centres), and attractions and entertainment like heritage sites and theme, national, and wildlife parks.

Many tourism businesses struggled to keep pace with changing consumer expectations post the pandemic. In particular, many tourism SMEs were not able to integrate new digital capabilities in the way that larger businesses have, mainly due to low levels of digitisation.

As tourism-related businesses reopen and recalibrate their offerings, it is equally important to innovate, with technology offerings that provide value to travellers and efficiencies to suppliers.

As an incubation centre, FiiRE (Forum for Innovation Incubation Research and Entrepreneurship) has been providing support to startups with innovations that will reshape tourism for travellers as well as the environment. FiiRE aims to contribute to the global objective of making tourism a thriving, flourishing industry once again.

“Having accelerated 14 TourismTech startups, our role is to make these startups investable in the future. One such startup, that was a part of FiiRE’s first Goa Tourism Accelerator Cohort, have, has recently raised $400,000. havLife is a fitness app which encourages the walking behaviour by counting the steps and rewarding people with gift vouchers. Currently the app is available in India and Indonesia. It encourages people to live healthy lifestyles through a gamified wellness model that includes a rewardbased system, thus promoting wellness”, says Thejus Joseph, COO, FiiRE.

FiiRE Goa has also forged new partnership deals to further strengthen the brand, widen its reach and make an impact in new markets. QuestionPro is one such collaboration. QuestionPro is a prominent supplier of online survey software that enables users to produce the insights they need to make better business decisions. QuestionPro has more than 2.5 million users in 40 countries. By bridging the gap between gathering data and reviewing information, this strategic research partnership (FiiREQuestionPro) would give FiiRE Goa the chance to comprehend the tourism business on a very precise basis and make strategic decisions based on the survey results.

Social Entrepreneurship

Competition (S.E.C.) in tourism, where FiiRE is a competition partner. This is the first worldwide competition focusing on social innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism and hospitality. By giving social entrepreneurs from around the world access to expertise and international visibility, the competition aims to empower entrepreneurs and communities in travel destinations, accelerate their growth and give them market access.

FiiRE (Forum for Innovation Incubation Research and Entrepreneurship), has partnered up with the Social Entrepreneurship Competition in Tourism to hold the fourth edition of the competition in 2022. The competition hopes to generate innovative ideas for the worldwide travel and tourism sector.

The partnership between FiiRE and the Social Entrepreneurship Competition in Tourism aims to strengthen the objectives established to boost tourism in Goa and around the world. With many new businesses bringing cutting-edge concepts to promote sustainable tourism in their area, the primary focus of this competition will be on sustainable tourism.

“It is of prime importance for FiiRE to be visible on a global stage – thus helping us

impact the tourism industry in a big way. The Social Entrepreneurship Competition in Tourism will raise FiiRE Goa’s global visibility, enticing entrepreneurs from around the world to be take advantage of the knowledge, market access, mentorship and funding opportunities under the TourismTech acceleration programs at FiiREGoa” adds Thejus Joseph.

Likewise, FiiRE has partnered with HiG Sports, a Mumbai-based B2B consultancy firm that promotes innovation in the sports, fitness, leisure, and recreation industries. The goal of HiG sports is to serve as a bridge to encourage the exchange of new ideas and methods between India and the rest of the world.

The collaboration between FiiRE and HiG Sports will support and unite recent developments for startups in the fields of sports media, fan engagement, sports infrastructure, human performance (fitness and wellness), gaming – esports, and leisure and recreation.

As FiiRE prepares for the second State Tourism Cohort, what remains at the forefront, while selecting startups for acceleration, is their ability to revolutionise the way the world experiences tourism.

While FiiRE continues its strategic focus on TourismTech acceleration and support, they are also extensively enabling the overall startup ecosystem. As an approved incubator for disbursement of the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme, in its most recent run of disbursals, FiiRE has funded three companies: Trishulavel Eshan (Li-Circle) Pvt. Ltd., Aumnatic Systems Pvt. Ltd., and A2WedTech Pvt. Ltd. - with a total funding of `10 million.

Trishulavel Eshan (Li-Circle)

Pvt. Ltd. focuses on recycling Lithium-ion batteries that have reached the end of their useful lives. Their model aims to strengthen the global advanced battery storage raw material supply chain, develop the circular economy around scrap batteries, and ultimately extract metals that can be used in the Li-ion cell manufacturing process.

Aumnatic Systems Pvt. Ltd.

is focused on designing and manufacturing electronics for toys in India, in order to make India more self-reliant towards electronic toys.

A2WedTech Pvt. Ltd. on the other hand provides a platform for customers to view their favourite destinations, plan venues, set their budget and to ultimately plan their destination wedding online. All three startups, having fulfilled the eligibility criteria, received their Start Up India Seed Fund Scheme funding in June-July, 2022, setting them on a path of growth and expansion

Continued From Page 54 This explains the principle or the working of the oil-grease Eco-friendly solutions separator. for waste water Caesar Fernandes says, “We treatment have to address restaurants at large who face this problem. people tend to go with low Many are not aware that this quality grease traps which product exists in the market do not function for extended and use a cheaper option. The periods. Kessel oil grease cheaper alternatives have baffle separators are made from walls and are available in SS and polyethylene material hence fibre tank which are extremely they are not sticky, easy to clean inconvenient to use and does and works on the principle not give the required results.” of gravity. There are only two Further, they mention companies in the world that that the Pollution Control have a single chamber oil grease Board is doing a great job in trap, one is Arco, and the other creating awareness amongst is Kessel. All the other brands or the hospitality industry about all the other grease traps have these separators, but much something called ‘Baffle Walls’; seriousness is needed from it is a system of many different restaurant owners in the state. chambers. Kessel works on the At Kafmar, the team gravity principle and being a comprises of Caesar, his wife single unit, there is no partition Dizzy and Saurabh Kumar. in it, which traps the oil grease Regarding their future on top, and then the waste water plans, Kafmar intends to continues to flow out. spread awareness on water

Therefore the water that contamination, work towards goes out of the soak pit is only pollution free water bodies, the water without any impurities commence river/sea dredging and oil. This oil can be skimmed services, and offer varied types out later and disposed separately of amphibious machinery and so the ground is not polluted. facilities in Goa “It is of prime importance for FiiRE to be visible on a global stage – thus helping us impact the tourism industry in a big way”

Thejus Joseph

COO, FiiRE, Goa

BIG BANYAN WINE A Sip of Delight

Big Banyan offers the rare experience of witnessing the magical creation of exotic fine wines

Pour. Swirl. Sniff. Savour the wonderful notes that your glass of Big Banyan wine has to hum to you. Enjoy the tale of our terroir, the ‘land’ of our origin. Catch whispers of the ‘lore’ of our grand old neighbour, the 100 year old Big Banyan tree and how it inspired the birth of our vineyard. Feel our ‘love’ for creating a versatile selection of wines.

Big Banyan is more than just wine. It is an immersive experience into our land, lore, and love for winemaking. The wines are crafted from the plumpest grapes handpicked from their vineyards in Bengaluru, or sourced from select Indian vineyards. These grapes are then brought over to their winery in Bengaluru. The Big Banyan Italian vintner, Lucio Matricardi, oversees the process every step of the way, including extracting the wine from the grapes. As a testament to their skill and passion, Big Banyan has a selection of exquisite Indian wines specially made for the local palette