Business Goa July 2020

july 2020

VOL 6 ISSUE 7 panaji goa

RNI No.: goaeng/2015/59955

goa’s only business magazine

Postal license no.: G-2/RNP/Monthly/Goa-19/2018-20

www.businessgoa.in

industry dossier

The uncertainty brought in by COVID-19 has made business leadership an important aspect of the entrepreneurial narrative

YEARS ANNIVERSARY

AMBAR TIMBLO ATUL PAI KANE BLAISE COSTABIR DEAN MENEZES DEEPAK BANDEKAR KIRIT MAGANLAL MANOJ CACULO PALLAVI DEMPO PRAKASH PEREIRA RICARDO DE SOUZA SHEKHAR SARDESSAI SUSHANT TARI VIJAY THOMAS VIVEK MENDONSA

alccofine dr rahul kakodkar ryan costa oscar de lima pereira goan brand

professional dossier

social index

entrepreneur

News Views Articles Interviews Profiles Focus Analysis Opinions Events Features

contents Cover Story 18

The uncertainty brought in by COVID-19 has made business leadership an important aspect of the entrepreneurial narrative

Focus Goa: Industry 34

Owing to the relentless COVID-19-led fiscal backlash in Goa, the State Government has announced a swerve of reliefs to industry

12

Focus Goa: MSME 36

Said to be the biggest fiscal component of the Rs. 20 lakh crore ‘Atmanirbhar’ package, loans under the GECL scheme are collateral free and the repayments start after a year

Goan Brand 38

ALCON Anil Counto Enterprises has been granted a first license

by BIS on an All India basis for manufacturing ALCCOFINE

Entrepreneur 42

Oscar de Lima Pereira’s business of luxury real estate and his network with the movers and shakers of corporate India

34 38

24 44

Interview 44

30 48 42

Ankita Anand, CEO of the Goa Startup Promotion Cell, speaks about the Startup Policy 2020 and the ecosystem in the State

Professional Dossier 48

A well known liver surgeon, Dr Rahul Kakodkar, feels that his professional competence can be of help to Goa in times of the coronavirus pandemic

Leisure 56

Sumeet & Archana Bhobe, owners of Snip Salons & Spas, talk about social media and staying connected during the pandemic

18 56

54

COLUMNS

Bon Appétit 74

Janhavi Amonkar’s saccharine venture, ‘The Cake Factory Goa’; and Chef Ryan Semelhago’s contemporary Goan cuisine, Zōdo

62 Economic Periscope

68 People Tree

64 Money Matters

70 Beyond Classroom

66 Corporate Citizen

72 Green Goa

67 Uncomplicate Business

73 Mindspace

Dr Satyendra Naik speaks about how the global economy has shaped over time in the midst of wars, depressions and pandemics V B Prabhu Verlekar shares his ideas for managing life in a ‘Covidised’ world for different sections of society Daniel Albuquerque analyses the twodecade-old dispute between the Government of India and the telecom sector Sunil Dias shares tips on how to boost one’s creativity in uncertain time

Kishore M Shah discusses about the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility during COVID-19 Dr. Pradeep Salgaonkar writes about consumer behaviour in times of pandemics and lockdowns Prajal Sakhardande slams the Government approved Mollem project and says that it could spell doom for Goa’s natural heritage Dr Mahesh Pai on psychological injuries, its cascading effect on one’s physical health and seeking professional help

06 Editorial 08 Corpo Scan 12 Anniversary Special 40 Agriculture 46 Campus 46 BookShelf 50 Enterprise 54 Social Index 58 StartUp 59 Biz Bytes 78 Newsmakers 78 BG Quiz 04 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Tough times don't last Hang in there.

We'll get through this.

These are difficult days for us all, but this too shall pass.

Survive now. Thrive later.

editorial A New World Order july 2020 Publisher & Editor Harshvardhan Bhatkuly Co-Publisher & Group Head Urvija Bhatkuly Advisory Board Datta Damodar Naik Ralph de Sousa Rajiv D’Silva Swapnil Kamat Business Head Annalise Gouveia Chief Reporter Sybil Rodrigues Admin & Accounts Ashok Kolvekar Distribution & Logistics Mayur Santinezkar Contributors in this Issue Ameya Nayak Daniel Albuquerque Kishore Shah Dr Mahesh Pai Nadine Monteiro Dr Pradeep Salgaonkar Prajal Sakhardande Dr Satyendra Naik Sunil Dias Swapnil Kamat V B Prabhu Verlekar 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.

The silver lining of the COVID-19 forced lockdown has been the mushrooming of small scale hobbyists, who have turned entrepreneurs. Drying up of revenues and incomes has forced many accomplished professionals to take up new hobbies or harness old interests – and monetise them.

Over the last two to three decades, especially in a post liberalised economy – money and tangible financial returns have been the driving force for many people.

COVID-19 put the brakes on all activities in one fell swoop. Businesses got closed down.

Travel and hospitality came to a grinding halt. Conspicuous consumption – the great force multiplier of our economy – almost came to naught, just as automobile sales.

When the world was busy making plans for a new financial year and first quarter – what with targets allotted and plans rolled out, the havoc that the virus has played on the health and financial well-being of the world has been catastrophic. People ensconced in cosy, high paying jobs have been pink slipped and are staring at an uncertain future. The jobs had provided the security of taking loans to buy the natural trappings of success, nowadays – houses, cars, et al. Thousands of crores have been locked in expansion of businesses and procuring capital goods to grow one’s enterprise. Swanky commercial spaces have been leased out or bought for a high price – all well within the calculated confines of an economy that did not show any signs of slowing down. All that seems to be a mirage now – like a painful, almost surreal, memory of a not so distant past.

Some people who are over leveraged have no place to go to or have little options till the virus is contained. Some industries are looking at a bleak future for at least a few months. Of course, your loans will accrue interest on interest if you do not or cannot service them.

Therefore, any income that is generated from a hobby is a validation of one’s worth

06 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Harshvardhan Bhatkuly in the world. So we have executives turning chefs and professionals sewing masks. Some people have turned to sharing expert advice on business, finance or health, through webinars – albeit for a small fee. Basically people are trying to make a space for themselves in the world by earning some income and keeping their sense of purpose intact.

As a result of this, many players who have been marketing their hobbies are gnawing at the existence of businesses in the mainstream. So food suppliers – many who do it from home, have been impacting the sales of restaurants. The organised sector is not taking it kindly – and they seem to be right in their version of arguments: They are liable for compliances. They are made to procure various licenses and government permissions. They pay commercial taxes and duties. Their essentials like gas and electricity comes at a higher tab. They have to maintain infrastructure and staff. They also have to bear the loss of business and lesser footfalls. On the other hand, the solopreneur has to only upload his slide for the day on Instagram or Whatsapp ... and voila, the phone rings.

From a very primal angle this is not a level playing field. But from another, this is what the VUCA world was supposed to be. We laud the efforts of AirBNB, Uber, Zoom and other such ‘disruptors’ and toast them at business seminars. The coronavirus pandemic has come out of syllabus, but the world was warning you of disruptions that would steal your thunder – not as abruptly as it has been stolen, but surely some day it would come to that. The ‘organised’ folks should stop cribbing. While hobbyists have to also comply with business norms and not take refuge under the cloak of a ‘hobby’. The gap in the level playing field has to narrow.

It’s a new world order out there now.

And my guess is that we are not going to pre COVID days in a hurry

Printed, published and owned by Harshvardhan V. Bhatkuly and printed at Impressions and Published at 409, Citicentre, EDC Patto Plaza, Panaji - Goa 403001. Editor: Harshvardhan V. Bhatkuly

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Corpo Scan

@businessgoa

112th AGM of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry held The 112th AGM of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry was held recently in a scaled down business session with limited physical participation, due to the ongoing pandemic this year.

The main focus of President of GCCI, Manoj Caculo’s speech was on the lockdown, economy, entrepreneurship and environment.

“Despite the State going through a very uncertain economic climate, it was a very active year with respect to the work done by the Chamber. GCCI has responded to practically each and every call received from its members and have helped in sorting out issues by taking them up with the appropriate

Government authorities,” said Caculo. He also appreciated the State leadership under Dr. Pramod Sawant who he said “has done a wonderful job by keeping the infections to almost negligible levels till about a fortnight back.”

With regards to the State economy, Caculo shared his concerns in his comments and stated that Goa is largely dependent on manufacturing, construction, real estate, hospitality and tourism, besides agriculture. “This lockdown has had a very disruptive impact on the national as well as the State economy,” he said.

In this regard, he spoke about the Economic Revival Committee set up by the Chief

Vishwajit Rane says Plasma Therapy treatment of COVID-19 patients soon

Vishwajit Rane

Health Minister, Vishwajit Rane said that the plasma therapy treatment on COVID-19 patients will start in the state, soon. He stated that the state government has already sanctioned the money required to acquire the necessary machine needed for plasma therapy.

He also said that the responsibility of plasma collection from the people who have recovered from COVID-19 has been given to the state run Goa Medical College and Hospital in Bambolim.

Rane added that he had been following the issue of

introducing plasma therapy in the state for the past one month.

Rane clarified that only Goa Medical College and Hospital will be allowed to have plasma therapy treatment in the state.

He explained that there were beds available in the ESI Hospital in Margao and if required, a second such hospital could be set up in the State. He mentioned that the latest methods of treatment were being taken up for COVID-19 patients.

Rane also said that his department has moved a file to the government to explore the possibility of outsourcing some services like food supply to private parties.

He said that this was being done so that the government infrastructure isn’t over burdened by having to look after the COVID care centres, as well. After finding out costs, if a private party is to handle these centres, a decision will be taken, to help in better management of these COVID care centres

08 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Manoj Caculo, President GCCI

Minister. “This Committee has already submitted its report which clearly mentions that all industries in Goa will take at least six months, and tourism at least twelve months, to recover,” he added.

Caculo emphasised that GCCI supports responsible mining and recommends

controlling the greed of a few which caused misery to a large section of the society the last time.

“The business community understands the importance of migrant workforce. To help the Goan youth, the State Government and business community can work together to identify the job opportunities, and if need be, even train the youth in the required skill sets,” he affirmed.

Caculo also expressed the Chamber’s desire for more support to industries from the government and said that the new wave of small entrepreneurs springing from the new normal is a silver lining to the pandemic

Government creating panel of young minds to handle infra projects The government has started the exercise of creating a panel of young professionals, to work as consultants on PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) for infrastructure projects, on contract basis. The PPP cell of the finance department will handle the particular task.

Suresh Shanbhogue, who is in-charge of the PPP cell, said that this cell had been almost defunct for quite a while and is now revived with direction from Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant.

The State is empanelling professionals as consultants on contract basis, as the government has dearth of expertise in the field of tendering, which includes aspects like preparation of Request for Quotation (RFQ), Request for Proposal (RFP), tender documents and related aspects of infrastructural projects taken up under the PPP. Professionals with a postgraduate degree or equivalent in any discipline, having experience of working in PPP infrastructural

projects, with expertise in abovementioned aspects are eligible to apply for empanelment.

The empanelment would be done by following the guidelines of NITI Aayog, which state that the empanelled professionals are required to provide high quality inputs in disciplines like international trade/ finance/ labour/ economics/ industrial economics/ MSME/ social sector and agriculture.

This would require demonstration of proven academic credentials, professional achievements and leadership qualities on the part of the aspirants, the guidelines mentioned, pointing out that the selected professionals may be required to undertake planning and coordinating with concerned ministries and states / Union territories to facilitate necessary convergence, as also may be required to take field visits. Once the empanelment is done, the government will immediately take up infrastructure projects

Corpo Scan

@businessgoa

Spike in COVID cases hits production in manufacturing units The recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the state is not only keeping the local residents on the edge but also affecting the industrial production.

Industrialists said that due to the constant eruption of cases in different locations, they are forced to ask employees to keep away from work and sometimes employees stay at home voluntarily.

Consequently, the production is getting disrupted, they said.

With villages surrounding the industrial estates emerging as hotspots following a surge in the positive cases, several unit owners said that they fear a further disruption in operations in the coming weeks. Sanjay Bhandari,

corporate affairs manager, Nestle-Goa stated that the production does get affected because their company has a policy of keeping employees under quarantine if they are from a locality where there are COVID-19 cases or in the vicinity of cases. He said around 50-odd employees of the company’s Usgao factory and approximately 80 employees from the Bicholim factory have been asked to stay at home as a precautionary measure, with paid leave and are allowed to rejoin work with a medical certificate. He further explained that while the precautionary measure leads to some amount of absenteeism, but it is unavoidable in order to stop

Glenmark Pharma begins COVID-19 related study with patients administered with FabiFlu®

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has announced that it has commenced a Post Marketing Surveillance (PMS) study on FabiFlu® to closely monitor the efficacy and safety of the drug in 1000 patients that are prescribed with the oral antiviral, as part of an open label, multicenter, single arm study. Further, Glenmark has announced a price reduction of 27% for FabiFlu®.

The new MRP is INR 75 per tablet from the earlier INR 103 per tablet. The price reduction has been made possible through benefits gained from higher yields and better scale, as both the API and formulations are made at Glenmark’s facilities in India, the benefits of which are being passed on to patients in the country. Glenmark’s price reduction aims to make FabiFlu® further easily accessible for COVID-19 patients across the country.

Glenmark has effectively developed the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and the formulation for FabiFlu® through its own in-house R&D team

within the country, ensuring self-reliance with regard to long-term production and manufacturing. The API is manufactured at the Gujarat production facility which is USFDA & MHRA–UK approved. The formulation product is manufactured at the facility in Himachal Pradesh, which is also USFDA and MHRA-UK approved.

Glenmark is also conducting another Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of two antivirals drugs ‘Favipiravir’ and ‘Umifenovir’ as a combination therapy in moderate hospitalized adult COVID-19 patients in India.

The combination study which is called the FAITH trial is looking to enrol 158 hospitalized patients of moderate COVID-19 in India. Early treatment with combination therapy will be evaluated for safety and efficacy as it is emerging as an effective approach in shortening duration of virus shedding, facilitating early clinical cure and discharge of patients

10 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

the spread of infection.

Ground level check reveals that companies have stepped up monitoring of employees health to detect the first instance of infection.

Industrial estates in the state provide jobs to lakhs of employees, but companies are fearful of contracting corona virus and grounding the entire production facility.

A lot of the employees in Verna industrial estate travel from Mangor Hill and Zuarinagar. They are stuck in the containment zone and companies are also not encouraging them to join.

With employees asked to stay at home and migrant labour going back, it has resulted in a shortage of workers, said

Damodar Kochkar, president, Goa State Industries Association (GSIA).

According to Kochkar, units in the Verna industrial estate have an elaborate protocol to prevent infection from proliferating.

Blaise Costabir who runs a water tank manufacturing and roto-moulding unit in Verna, is also the chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry-Goa, added that the infection is beyond their control but it is adding to the production constraints faced by the local manufacturing units.

Many units in industrial estates are running with less staff and this has been hampering production

150 manufacturing units exempted from the Factories Act

Around 150 manufacturing units in the state are exempted from the Factories Act, 1948 after the government amended the Act vide the Factories (Goa Amendment) Ordinance, 2020.

Chief Inspector of Factories and Boilers, Vivek Marathe, said that the amendment has raised the threshold limit of workers in a factory. He said that this move will help small and tiny units in the state as they will be spared of approaching the department for registration, renewal of license, inspection, approval of factory plans and other such formalities.

Marathe added that the state previously had about 825 registered factories,

which came down to 675 factories after the amendment ordinance. This month, the government amended the Factories Act by changing the definition of a factory to mean a unit with a minimum of twenty or more workers from the previously ten or more workers.

The definition of factory has also been amended to include a minimum of 40 workers during the preceding 12 months as against 20 previously. The change in the definition of a factory under the Factories Act is on the heels of a series of ease in doing business measures offered to the local industry by the government in the wake of the ongoing crisis

co-publisher’s note a big ‘thank you’ to you all

B

usiness Goa, over the last 11 years, has worked with a single-minded focus – to be ‘the voice of business in Goa.’ The primary strength of the magazine has been to look at merit and effort dispassionately and provide a platform for stories of worthy, home-grown entrepreneurs to be read by an informed reader – like you. One of the insights that makes me personally happy is that our coverage of youngsters and their business ideas; and ladies who venture into business, are well received and appreciated.

Right from the time of the inception of this magazine, we have been focused on the content that we bring to our readers. It takes a lot of efforts from our writers, editors, photographers, freelance journalists and graphic artists to put this magazine together. All that effort feeds on backing from our advertisers, subscribers, people who buy the magazine

from the newsstands – all those who make this exercise a commercially viable venture.

After the lockdown was lifted earlier this May; and we began work on the month’s issue, the value of this goodwill and support from our stakeholders dawned on us. Although it seemed like an uphill task, our supporters have stuck by us in these trying times, and this has bolstered our spirit to put before you a high quality magazine.

An anniversary is a good time to take stock of the year gone by. It also helps you plan for the year ahead. But the pandemic has taught us to live in the now and count our blessings.

I feel like reaching out to all of you and saying a humble ‘thank you’, and wish that you stay with us in this journey focussed on entrepreneurship.

Stay safe. Stay healthy and best wishes.

Urvija Bhatkuly

Co-Publisher, Business Goa

Original stories and wide coverage Business Goa has been publishing quality stories of Goan enterprise for over 11 years. I see a lot of original stories and people who we have seldom heard of being featured, which is a hallmark of the magazine. Kudos!

Pramod Rane

Airsonic Group 12| Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Anniversary Special

YEARS ANNIVERSARY

Well respected magazine

Business Goa, over the years, has earned the reputation of being the most respected and genuine magazine as far as the business community in Goa is concerned. The ‘Business Goa Awards’ has created a niche for itself and is something all Goan entrepreneurs look up to and strive to win. Best wishes to Harsh and the entire team at Business Goa for many more successful years ahead!

Shivanand V Salgaocar VIMSON Group

Focussed on Goan Business

Yeoman service to industry

In its 11 years of publication, Business Goa has done yeoman service to the industry in Goa. It highlights new ventures, accolades the traditional sectors and encourages new enterprises.

The only business magazine of the State, Business Goa is the voice and the platform which promotes, protects and advocates the challenges faced by the industry in Goa. I wish Business Goa many more successful years to come.

Ralph de Sousa

De Souza Group

BG Awards, a worthy platform

Business Goa’s biggest contribution over the years is that it has sustained a very unique Goan flavour in its pages. The magazine is truly supportive of the entrepreneurial well-being of the State.

As a travel and tourism entrepreneur, I feel the magazine’s reach to the stakeholders is important; as this is the only business vertical that is pitching Goa on a global scale of standards.

I wish Business Goa continued success.

You have become the sole voice of Goa’s business. As a regular reader of Business Goa, hearty congratulations on this 11th anniversary. You have done a great job by instituting ‘Business Goa Awards’ in which business people in Goa have been recognised. It has given visibility to the people about the various facets of businesses in Goa. Every year, when I attended the awards, I have come across many different business people – be it from industry, startups and various business verticals.

LPK Waterfront

President, Goa Management Association

Nandan Kudchadkar

Nitin Kunkolienker

www.businessgoa.in

Felicitating Goan Business Achievers I have seen the rise of Business Goa since its inception and have taken a keen interest in its growth. When I was president of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, I saw from close quarters, the dedication of the magazine to focus on Goan business and industry.

Later, my business house, NRB Group was associated with ‘Business Goa Awards’ for six long years; and it was satisfying to have been part of the idea that felicitates business achievers in Goa. I wish Business Goa many more years of success.

Narayan R Bandekar

Chairman & MD, NRB Group

Platform for Goa’s Young Biz Talent

only provide great insights about businesses in Goa but also encourages young talents and entrepreneurs to get noticed by a larger audience.

Knowing Harsh personally, I can mention one thing here, is the amount of efforts that he has put to cover and showcase business in Goa, which is commendable. I wish Business Goa many more glorious years in future.

Aakash Khaunte

Director, ALCON Anil Counto Enterprises

I would like to congratulate Harsh and Business Goa for being the first and only business magazine in the State to complete 11 glorious years.

Business Goa does not

Promoting New and Fresh Ideas

A magazine worth waiting for

Impressive digital presence

Congratulations Harsh and team Business Goa for giving Hearty congratulations to Harsh and team on the 11th Anniversary of Business Goa and for taking it to such great heights. Dissemination of the day to day affairs in the industry through up to date features and articles and of course excellent, print quality, Business Goa has come a long way up.

In this era of the internet and buzzing social media, it’s good to see that Business Goa has carved it’s own niche in the digital world, too. I wish the magazine greater success in the future and hope it keeps engaging passionate business readers as it has been doing with each passing year.

Denzil Xavier

Real Estate Consultant

us a magazine worth waiting for, every month. It’s no easy task what you and your team have achieved, in bringing the best reading material for the last 11 years. I wish you and your team many more successful years ahead and hope in the days to come your magazine will not only be sought after in Goa, but pan India. Wishing you all the very best, from an avid reader.

Dinesh Sinari Parijat Traders

Ankit Prabhudessai

A platform committed for growth

Congratulations to the Business Goa team on their 11th anniversary. Being one of the leading magazines of the trade and commerce world of Goa; Business Goa has helped us with a platform to grow and reach out to those, where our fingers fell short.

We truly believe that ‘Knowledge is Power!’ and in every aspect have felt that Business Goa has been providing us with an insight

of the economy and the ascension of business in the state and we are happy and immensely grateful to learn and attain knowledge of the various facets pertaining to the growth and development of the same.

Having Business Goa walk our path with us through our journey has been an utmost pleasure and privilege.

Copperleaf wishes Harshvardhan Bhatkuly and team Business Goa good luck, health and success through these tough times and in their future endeavours!

Vishwanath and Sachin Pai Bir Copperleaf

Business Goa has always been at the forefront of promoting new and fresh ideas from local talent. I take this opportunity to congratulate the team of Business Goa on their 11th Anniversary and hope that they will continue their efforts to showcase the work of Goans.

Architect

Voice of Business

Everytime I pick up Business Goa, I read about new entrepreneurs from the State.

Doing this for 11 long years takes a lot of dedication, focus and a well rounded view of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Goa. Truly, the magazine is ‘The Voice of Business in Goa’.

Mahesh Pai

Investment Consultant/Business Coach

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 13

Anniversary Special

YEARS ANNIVERSARY

Boon to Goan Entrepreneurs

Hearty congratulations to Harsh, Urvija & team for completing 11 successful years.

Business Goa magazine has been a boon to entrepreneurs like us and different industrial sectors across Goa. Wishing that the magazine grows bigger and better in the years to come.

High professional standards Dear Harsh, All of us at Select Hotels and The Heritage Village Resort Goa offer our hearty congratulations to you and the entire team at Business Goa on achieving this wonderful milestone at your publication.

Over the years, your publication has forged and impressive path attaining widespread recognition and a large readership base.

The professional standards of its creators, its depth, its thoroughness and expressiveness have contributed to its immense popularity. Please accept our best wishes for continued

success and longevity of your absolutely delightful magazine.

Guitry Velho

Heritage Village Resort & Spa, Goa

At the helm of bringing in business news

of Business Goa. Business Goa has always been at the helm of bringing in business news, whether it is about an established business house or a startup to the people of Goa. Dr. Milind Colvalcar’s Fertility Clinic -IVF Angels Goa & Mapusa Clinic wish him and team Business Goa all the best for the future.

Rajesh Dempo

Vision Dempo Group

Bright Star on the Business Horizon Congratulations to Harsh and team on the 11th Anniversary

Dr Tejashree Colvalcar

Dr. Milind Colvalcar’s Fertility Clinic -IVF Angels Goa & Mapusa Clinic

A reader-friendly business magazine

I have been reading Business Goa since its inception and I feel it is a very good magazine for the Goan business ecosystem.

The articles always have some current issues of society and its relevance to Goan businesses.

The articles are published in simple language with minimal use of jargons, which makes it much more reader friendly.

I wish Harsh and team Business Goa the very best always.

Sandeep Verenkar Anant Infomedia

Informative and innovative coverage

independent self-run media venture

Business Goa has indeed been a bright star on the Business Horizon in Goa, elevating itself, every passing year with great content and excellent quality. Many an entrepreneur has been inspired by the excellent motivational coverage of Goa’s business icons in its issues. An excellent catalyst for growth, may you continue to cover and inspire businesses in your many years to come. Here’s conveying my heartiest congratulations to Harsh, Urvija and the team at Business Goa that makes this possible.

Jonathan Fernandes

Horizon Land Developments Pvt Ltd

My heartiest congratulations to Harshvardhan and the entire Business Goa team for completing eleven years as the first and only business magazine in Goa. When I first saw Business Goa, I thought it was an offshoot of a national magazine like Business India; and I was pleasantly surprised to know that it is conceptualised, designed and funded by an entirely Goan team led by Harshvardhan with their own resources. It is indeed a commendable achievement to come out with a high quality business magazine month after month for eleven successive years in a small state like Goa and providing space and motivation to all Goan entrepreneurs.

14 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

I am sure they will continue to serve the business community in Goa with the same zeal and enthusiasm in the years to come and my best wishes to them for scaling new heights in future.

Jaiwant Priolkar

Progen ERP Systems Pvt. Ltd.

It gives us immense pleasure in congratulating Harsh and team Business Goa on achieving this milestone of 11th Anniversary. All these years, with your informative and innovative coverages, you have done some fantastic work in boosting up the business in the state.

We look forward to be treated with your rich publications in the times to come. Wish you all the best!

Yogesh Arora

Deccan Fine Chemicals India Pvt Ltd

anniversary special

YEARS ANNIVERSARY

Eleven blockbuster years of business in goa

Business Goa, Goa’s only business magazine focussed on industry has been successfully outlining the State’s entrepreneurial talent for eleven years and holding tight to its vision of being ‘The Voice of Business in Goa’ In August 2019, Business Goa featured Mangirish Salelkar (CEO) and Uma Talaulikar (COO), UMANG in the Cover Story. Carlos and Cyrus Noronha’s brand ‘Latin Quarter’ was highlighted in the Starting Young section. While US based Goan architect Vinayak Bharne made it to the Professional Dossier pages; ace pastry chef Pooja Dhingra was featured in the Lady Power section.

The September 2019 issue covered VIBRANT GOA in its Cover Story. Wilton Fernandes from Patisserie Victoria was featured in the Goan Brand section while Radharao Gracias, a firebrand lawyer, was featured in the Professional Dossier.

Renowned fashion designer Verma D’Mello was featured in Lady Power; The Awadh House Goa was reviewed in the Bon Appetit section!

Senior pharma industrialist Cezar Menezes was featured in the November 2019 cover story. The glamourous story was the Golden Jubilee edition of the prestigious International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in Goa. A young group of techies, Dev Cluster was the Starting Young story, while Carl de Souza’s ScheMatter, a 3D prototypes venture was in the Enterprise pages. Lady Power feature highlighted Asheen Laljee’s event management firm.

The magnanimous 10th Anniversary Issue highlighted the best representatives of the ten different sections that the magazine has been consistently focusing on since its very beginning, being the Best Cover Stories, Business Leaders, Editor’s Choice, Future List, Power Brands, Business Goa Hall of Fame, Lady Power, Tech Stars, Resto Buzz and Finest Moments!

16 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

The Christmas special December 2019 issue covered the joyfulness of the festive season. Sonia Barbry who hosted the Indo-French Investment Conclave was interviewed; Dr Priyanka Raikar’s Miracle Pediatric Neuro-therapy clinic was featured in the Professional Dossier section.

The New Year issue, January 2020, witnessed the rise of #Shepreneurs where the issue covered the GCCI Women’s Wing hosted event ‘Business Diva’ held to boost the entrepreneurial drive among women.

In addition, Isha Kher, a young gun determined to make access to medicines easier through her app ‘Brizz’ was featured in the Starting Young section; and Alkesh Desai’s getaway venture ‘Porsu’ was spoken of in the Green Business pages.

The February 2020 issue saw Rajesh Dempo’s Vision Group as the Cover Story. Burning state issues such as the mining debacle in Goa highlighted by Prabhakar Timble and Supreme Court’s breather to Goa’s mining firms were spoken of in the Focus Goa section. So also, Advocate Ninad Laud who spoke of the SC judgment allowing iron ore transportation in Goa was interviewed for this issue. Elijah D’Souza & Emmanuel Souza’s ‘on the go’ library ‘Booktique’ was featured in the Starting Young pages.

Post lockdown, the May 2020 issue featured Sriram Natarajan’s Molbio Diagnostics’ as Cover Story.

While the Focus section was about the ‘Ideas for Goa’ platform created to revive the sunken economy, the forced implementation of the ‘work from home’ policy was spoken of in the Trending column.

The June 2020 issue celebrated the 25 year old journey of Shekhar Sardessai’s Kineco Group. The issue featured three Focus stories; one each about industry recovery, revival of tourism and hospitality sectors and MHA guidelines for kickstarting restaurant business in Goa. Goa’s lead COVID warrior Dr Edwin Gomes was interviewed. Dr Vikram Talaulikar, who offered himself to be tested for the vaccine developed to fight COVID was featured in the Professional Dossier pages

by SWAPNIL KAMAT

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ith the coronavirus pandemic past few months have plunged most of us instilling fear among the masses into situations that are devoid of clarity. and countries and businesses around By the end of this article, you will the globe facing an economic slowdown, acquire a better understanding of what YEARS what becomes paramount to ensure it is that makes some leaders stand out ANNIVERSARY organizational and communal strength in even in the face of adversity, and how a time like this, is effective leadership. perhaps you too stand a chance of leading a Becoming an effective leader is a continuous top performing team in the post-pandemic world. process, for no one is a born leader. It requires a If you have noticed one thing during these great deal of introspection, vision, a willingness trying times, it is that exemplary leadership stems to learn and an ability to transform potential into from a place of empathy. Stick to your values reality through sound execution. If you are in a and principles, stay committed to nurturing your leadership position, you want to have the right team, develop a deeper understanding with answers and take the right decisions, but these them, strive for flexibility and take charge. View this pandemic as a challenge to evolve and set an example for others.

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www.goldygroup.in

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Competence & Credibility

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n a crisis economy, people will look up to their leaders for guidance, which is why being competent is crucial for anyone in a leadership position. Your behaviour, skills and proactive efforts will be assessed before concluding whether you, as a leader, deserve the respect that your position demands. Be sure to instill confidence, provide your team with credible information and hope in these unsettling times. If you are unable to prove your credibility, then your team will lose trust in you for they won’t see a figure worthy of being guided by. You must step up and put in continuous efforts to

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ompetence and credibility are two wheels for success.

Credibility comes in play on a consistent display of competence. One must bear in mind that credibility is not about talking and is never built overnight. It has to be proven over a period of time and displayed consistently. It’s only then that your word has value and as a business leader, your influence can grow.

Of late, I have been visiting old clients to seek

prove yourself and earn their trust and respect.

This is how you can breeze through this pandemic: • Make feedback a two-way street. Ask for feedback and try to introspect on how you can become better at leading your team. Nurture an environment in which your employees feel that they can share their views with you.

• Assign tasks and create exciting opportunities for your team to learn and grow whilst keeping their strengths in mind. Make sure they enjoy what they’re doing and aren’t becoming robotic.

Prove Yourself Consistently

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here is a big difference in being a boss and being a leader.

A competent leader knows his subject well; and takes the trouble to understand the nuances of his business, organisation or goal.

With competence comes a sense of guiding and that is the road to true leadership.

Credibility is an aspect of leadership when you take the entire team along – in the right spirit – on a journey to discover the true potential 20 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

A leader is only as good as his team

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• Sign up for online courses that will help you become a more competent leader. Pick up one of the many leadership bestsellers and start reading, because becoming a good leader is a process and cannot be achieved overnight.

• Demonstrate behaviour that you want to see in your team. Your attitude and actions are observed whether or not you know, so always be conscious that you’re being looked up to.

• Stay true to your word because people appreciate integrity and lose respect if promises aren’t kept

their custom. Very few have refused us business. It is largely because they do not doubt our competence or the ability to deliver on our quality and promise.

We are proud to have proven our credibility with our customers.

Another example is about our tie-up with an international giant in machineries. The Pai Kane Group is known for manufacturing topclass generators. But this customer came to us

for manufacturing wheel loaders ten years ago. After years of consistent delivery and meeting exacting international standards, today our discussion is about manufacturing something that we have never ventured into before.

I believe, we have won the confidence of a company that is used to best practices, by consistently proving our competence

atul pai kane Chairman, Pai Kane Group

of a business idea. Your team should have the confidence that you are going to not just build a business, but also ensure growth of the team and build future leadership. One has to earn credibility by example.

As they say “It is not I, but we.”

A leader is only as good as his team

MANOJ CACULO

Chairman & Managing Director, Caculo Group

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care & connect

veryone is grappling with different personal circumstances right now in isolation. As a leader you must show your team that you care for them. Once you start caring, you will naturally be sensitized and delegate well. Do a virtual townhall where you can talk to your team about what is their driving force or what problems they may be facing with the current work from home situation.

Be empathetic and ask them how they are doing and how you can support them. People are more responsive to those who are genuinely interested in them. Build a rapport with them to find out their strengths and weaknesses and use that information to focus on their development. This will also encourage them to approach you without any hesitation and make you their go-to person.

Employee engagement has to be continuous and regular

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ontrary to popular perception, leadership is hardwork. Leaders who succeed work very hard to fine tune their leadership style; and I think in the new world – especially after Covid, leadership has become more difficult. We at Tangentia have tried hard as a leadership team to push the envelope on employee engagement and thought leadership. Especially with the new

Goodwill is a great asset

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are for the people around you is not just good for leadership – it is the essence of humanity. In these uncertain Covid-19 days, I felt the need to open our bakeries and coffee shops, although the move wasn’t commercially viable – in order to help my staff and villagers to earn some living, as the tourism business is totally shut down. One has to ask oneself the question as to what can I do for society. Try and understand the logic that when society thrives, it is bound to spread the benefits to everyone around. I

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Celebrate their little wins and don’t criticize them if they fail.

Instead, give constructive feedback to help them stand on their feet again. Working remotely means you have to be more conscious and proactive while offering feedback.

Keep it continuous so they know how they are faring. All of this will keep them motivated throughout the pandemic and help foster a healthy and positive work relationship normal of remote work, employee engagement has to be continuous and regular and with our daily ‘Tangentia Talkies,’ we think that we might have found a good solution. As a company, we also decided to start a Business & Technology Quiz in 2017 in Goa, which in our 4th year in 2020 had more than 200 top teams from across India participate with prelims in 6 cities across India. Next year, it will be even bigger. We have realised that creating something, requires long term vision, passion, team engagement and agile incremental delivery

vijay thomas

Founder-CEO, Tangentia Technologies

personally have a strong belief that most people are good – and when you show your care and concern and do good to others, good comes back to you.

I have seen these from close quarters over the last few months, when we tried to meet the daily needs of some people. Their goodwill has been a great force multiplier.

Business is all about people and when you treat people with dignity and care, you are doing the finest thing in life

ricardo de souza Partner, Tito’s Group

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confidence & courage

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t is important you recognize the current situation for what it is – a crisis that requires strong team effort and working together to draw a solution. But this can only be achieved if you have a self-assured, decisive, unfazed and a confident leader at the forefront. This is one quality that distinguishes good leaders from great leaders.

Exude confidence in the team and don’t doubt them. For instance, if an employee is working from home, trust that the work they’re given will be done. You don’t need to ask for an hour-on-hour report. It can be frustrating for the employee and they, in turn, will distrust you for being a micro-manager. Besides no one has ever liked being led by

Surround yourself with high-calibre people

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a spineless leader who crumbles down in demanding situations.

A leader must be able to trust, take risks, ask questions, clear doubts and be inventive and innovative in their approach. This will help your team gain the courage and confidence necessary to cope with the new normal

he exuding of confidence/courage and being confident/ courageous, are not the same thing. Personally, the latter is a pre-requisite for the former’s efficacy.

I have always gained my confidence and courage at work and sometimes in other parts of life by surrounding myself with people smarter and more committed than me. The motivation and exhilaration

through debate, feeding of energy, ideas and emotions gives me the ability to be confident in facing the ever changing syllabus that presents itself every day.

As a business leader, I find my confidence and the courage to hold fast comes from the teams and colleagues I have around me

ambar timblo Managing Director, Fomento Resources

Confidence and courage is 50% of business success

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onfidence and courage are an integral part of business leadership. One has to put all the planning and brainstorming behind making a business decision. But when you take up a stand, you have to be consistent in displaying your confidence in seeing it through. That is when you send the right signals to all your stakeholders – customers, staff, investors, society. I feel courage and confidence would account for 50% of business success.

When we started out, we had no funds to start business. Securing lakhs of rupees worth loans in a pre-liberalised economy was no laughing matter. The confidence of attaining success and the courage to 24 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

overcome any obstacle, has seen our group grow from strength to strength.

When we were in talks to buy the property in Porvorim on which Delfino’s is built, we were pitted against some of Goa’s biggest business entities. We outbid everyone by purchasing the property way beyond its market value. While others looked at the land for its real estate potential, we saw the commercial potential of establishing a top-line retail supermarket there.

I believe the courage behind the decision has worked in our favour

prakash pereira Managing Director, Armacar Group

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commitment

leader displays passion towards work in more ways than one.

They take ownership of tasks in hand, do not crib and never think of taking shortcuts for they might not always be the best way out.

No matter the struggle, they are passionate and know how to deal with adversity. They are known and highly respected for their executional abilities. Any job given to them is considered done in the

No substitute for commitment and hard work

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he quality of leadership largely determines the contours of success of any business enterprise.

Especially in the current times, businesses and business leaders, the world over, are faced with unprecedented challenges that call for innovative thinking, risk-taking and action-oriented approach to sustain their business models.

The path to success is invariably full of challenges that test the mettle of business leaders. It is important

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ommitment is often fraught with roadblocks or excuses to not keep it or break it by not completing a task. Words once spoken or written should be final.

In Hindi/Urdu ‘Zubaan’ meaning unwritten word or spoken word, means a committment not to be broken.

In these Covid times, with constant lock-down, lock-off, it’s very difficult to keep ‘commitments’ to your clients or customers. The worst of which is if you have to pay your suppliers / vendors /manufacturer – by not receiving their calls, one can only aggravate the matter.

At age 21, I joined our family business of ‘Lawrence & Mayo’ Group at our branch office in Pune Camp. I learnt ‘commitment’ when I kept the company’s name and reputation intact and slept overnight at Dehu Road Station on the railway 26 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Commitment works alongside with the Laws of Attraction

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first go. Be this resilient and persistent in your approach as a leader and don’t give up easily. Think of this difficult time as an opportunity to learn, grow and to emerge stronger in the post pandemic world for business leaders to be decisive and set clear goals; inspire, motivate and effectively communicate with all stakeholders; and, in general, lead from the front in pursuit of common goals.

Above all, I believe that commitment to the cherished institutional goals is the key ingredient to success. Whether in business or in any other facet of our lives, there is truly no substitute for commitment, dedication, and hard work that is driven by a sense of purpose

pallavi dempo

Director, Dempo Industries Pvt Ltd

bench, past midnight after meeting a deadline.

Landmark Education, the world’s largest off-campus education in India, teaches you how to keep ‘commitments’ in a 3-day program.

Some people are prone to lies, delays, excuses and they have got used to being that way. Commitment and the Law of Attraction are parallels which work side by side.

In business, you have to keep your promises, come what may.

To keep commitments is easy, don’t say or promise anything that you cannot do. Use Post-It notes, ‘To-Do’ lists, alarms on mobiles to make them happen. Finish the most difficult, unpleasant task right in beginning with high energy and determination to complete it

Dr. vivek mendonsa

Group Director, Marketing, Lawrence & Mayo

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credit

e’ve all been witness to instances where a wrong person is credited for the work done or a leader basks in glory for something not done by them at all.

That stings hard, doesn’t it?

A good leader on the contrary will never let that happen and keeps

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no bias in mind. They will never hog the limelight and know that recognition and appreciation go a long way in boosting an individual’s morale and commitment towards work. As a leader, keep track of your team, even if your entire workforce is now working remotely. If you

Build a culture of mutual respect

see behaviour that needs to be rewarded, don’t wait.

Give your team the necessary recognition for the work accomplished. This also helps to raise the bar, motivate the team and encourages others to follow suit

augments the human capital of your business.

Once a culture of an organisation is established, it is easy for team members to follow the principles – and ensure that your corporate vision doesn’t suffer from any infirmities.

In a creative business that I own, every person from top down is part of the process of the business – be it the creative aspect of film making, post production or something more organisational like administration.

Leadership is very much about people management

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haring credit is all about showing appreciation. It’s a great feeling, when clients who use our postproduction facilities, are generous in sharing credit with us. It is only natural for us to show the same courtesy to every member of our team.

I personally believe that it is about creating a culture in your organisation – the display of good values, courtesy and basic good manners are what

deepak bandekar

Founder-CEO, Big Banner Entertainment & Media LLP

Every member of your team should feel a sense of ownership

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run a creative business where every aspect is about team work.

Although the idea originates from one person, its actual value gets realised only when it is executed as per its vision. Transformation of that idea into reality is a process, where effective communication is vital. It is a point where you have to make the entire team a part of that idea.

Over the years, we have built a solid reputation for having a team that can execute large scale, complicated, time-bound projects. The handling and transforming an idea into reality is a constant struggle – and this is

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possible only when every member of the team feels ownership about the idea and thereby his commitment to execution gets accentuated.

Everyone part of the job can perform to their best ability when they know that their place in the organisation is valued. That nobody will take from them the credit that is due to them. I am proud to say that people who have worked in our organisation have a certain reputation in the market for the sheer power of our team work

sushant tari

Managing Director, TPT Productions Pvt Ltd

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cool, calm & collected

ncertain times increase feelings of anxiety and stress. As a leader, you have your own share of worries that keep you up at night.

But what can differentiate you from the rest is a calm, collected and level-headed approach. When people fear uncertain times, they

rely on you as a leader to project that sense of calmness amidst the mayhem.

What can you do?

• Never let the tension trickle down to the team.

• Work like a sponge and absorb as

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much stress as you can and then go down to getting the team to take the right amount of pressure to work responsibly and efficiently.

• Since taking any decision in the fit of a moment isn’t the best policy, rationalise everything before pronouncing any decision

Instill Confidence.

Do not show panic

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dean menezes

Managing Director, CMM Pvt Ltd

The buck stops with you

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t some level, leadership is a position of isolation.

The buck stops with you. As a business leader, one has to assimilate into one’s subconscious mind that failure is part of the game called success. Panic often sets in when you are not ready for failure. As an entrepreneur, I have been reporting to my investors and a few times I have had the unpleasant task

to report that a particular project that we have been working on has failed. So far as your processes are transparent and you have given it your all, nothing can shake you off. Your ability to own failures is essential to remain cool and composed in your business. And I have often witnessed that you can navigate a crisis if you can stay calm

shekhar sardessai

Managing Director, Kineco Group

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hy in business alone, in every part of our life we need to be cool, calm and collected so that we can look at the issues at hand in a dispassionate way.

By being outside rather than inside the problem at hand, we can get a wider view of issues at stake to make an informed choice.

There are more than enough studies to demonstrate that you are

more likely to take rash decisions when excited or angry than when you are calm and composed.

Our colleagues also look to us and they can observe the subtle clues that we emit to discern if we are in control. Being in control will give them a sense that we are confident and aware.

A leader needs to instill confidence in his colleagues rather than transfer his panic to them

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check

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o be an effective leader in a crisis, it is important to keep everything under check. Ensure your team dynamics are in decent shape by laying down a well-organized plan of action, set achievable targets and work out deadlines so that assignments get done within a stipulated timeframe, without much

handholding.

There also needs to be accountability, so even if there are too many departments involved, there is still a single decision-maker.

If intervention is required, make it seamless and give constructive feedback so as to get the team back on track. If you think the

Managing People is Key

Apart from real estate and rental costs, the biggest cost to our trade are carrying costs, or inventory holding costs. This means we need to control inventory and remain as lean and just-in-time as possible. In Goa, that is not possible since the supply chain is highly fractured and we are totally dependent on sourcing from outside the state.

This puts additional stress on us on inventory and supply chain logistics which is what we have learnt over a period of time. Frankly, we still have a long way to go in mastering this

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anaging people is the key.

People then manage stores. We believe very strongly that if we believe in our associates and treat them well, they will in turn treat their work and their customers well. This is the key to what one sees as seamless and efficient workings across our stores. Our people are respected both internally and externally and that I think adds value to their work culture. I should say we are truly blessed to have them all working their elbows around our wheel of success!

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eeping all aspects of your business in check is an utopian dream. Very often time demands which area you are going to focus on.

You may wish to take control of every aspect of work, but then prioritizing is important as your business grows.

Sometimes you have to hand over control of a particular aspect to someone else, knowing well that you could do the job better. But this is how you build teams and develop competencies in the junior rank and file.

Only experience and age allows you to take an overview of the entire business cycle.

During the on-going coronavirus crisis, the focus for us has shifted from

32 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

results are not as expected, then look at the situation from a fresh perspective and reorient. Analyse what went wrong and where and try and synergise with the team. Give them a pep talk and get things going rather than dwelling on what went wrong

kirit maganlal

Managing Director, Magsons Group

Prioritizing is important as your business grows

production to sales and deliveries.

You wouldn’t want inventory to lie idle. Also with a lesser work force, you have to get the optimum output from your factory. Also other functions of finance and receivables have taken precedence over aspects like business development.

The other big change is video conferencing. We developed a new product with the designers sitting at three different locations. This was unheard of before, but today is the new normal

blaise costabir

Managing Director, GMI Zarhak Moulders Pvt Ltd

focus goa / industry

@businessgoamagazine

State Government gives nod to 12-hour shifts in factories facing labour scarcity

Owing to the relentless COVID-19-led fiscal backlash in Goa, the State Government has announced a swerve of reliefs to trade and industry stakeholders with a view to facilitate quick recovery from the pandemic

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By ameya nayak

onsidering the fact that the State is presently battling it out with the COVID-19 pandemic, causing severe economic tribulations, Chief Minister, Dr. Pramod Sawant addressed the media through a web conference wherein he announced a range of steps taken by the State including an affirmative nod to a 12hour work shift for factories in order to cope with the shortage of labourers; followed by an extension of period for renewal of licenses and permits of all construction, town and country planning, excise, transport and other related activities. Elaborating upon his statement in relation to the 12-hour work shift, Dr. Sawant

“Extending construction licenses expiring between March and June 2020 to October 2020 is a welcome step and the real estate sector appreciates the Government’s action.

We expect that they will automatically take the next step in streamlining the licensing process” Nilesh Salkar President, CREDAI Goa

Dr. Pramod Sawant has announced a range of steps taken by the State including a nod to a 12-hour work shift for factories in order to cope with the shortage of labourers; followed by an extension of period for renewal of licenses and permits of all construction, town and country planning, excise, transport and other related activities stated that this measure has been implemented with an objective to provide assistance to factories that have to deal with labour scarcity due to the current lockdownled restrictions. The Chief Minister has also clarified that this confirmatory action has been allowed for the initial period up to 31st July 2020.

Dr. Sawant further spoke of the State’s participation and support towards the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ initiative, as a result of which, the State Government introduced a self certification scheme sustaining factories and boilers in Goa. “According to the guidelines of this scheme, the factories encompassed therein shall be inspected once every five years instead of annually, with

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prior intimation”, he said.

In furtherance of the same, the State Government has also extended the validity of factory licenses for a further period of one year with deferment of payment of license fees without levying interest. As far as the Excise aspect is concerned, Dr. Sawant stated that the last date for renewal of excise related licenses has been extended from 31st March 2020 to 30th June 2020 without having to pay the required penalties. Additionally, the Chief Minister stated that all construction licenses and permits issued by the Panchayats and municipal bodies approaching expiry between 1st March 2020 and 30th June 2020 have been deemed to be extended up to 31st October 2020 without payment of supplementary fees.

Commenting upon the technical and development facet, Dr. Sawant said that all the technical clearances and development related permits which are due for expiry between the period of 1st March 2020 and 30th June 2020 have been deemed to be extended up to 31st October 2020, again without any payment of additional

charges or fees. With regards to the annual installment payable towards land lease premium for the financial year 2020-21 to the GIDC, the Chief Minister mentioned that the same stands deferred

“A nod to the 12hour shift is not really significant, since those currently doing 12 hour shifts; continue to do so, in any case. Those having work load could do it without these orders, by simply paying overtime.

The problem most industry and trade stakeholders are facing is lack of work and work orders” Sanjeev Trivedi

MD, Infiniti Modules Pvt. Ltd

@businessgoa

and can be paid in an equated mode over a period of three years to follow. The validity of factory licenses has further been extended for a period of one year allowing deferment of payment of license fees without interest.

More importantly, Dr. Sawant also shed light upon how the current State Government strategizes to issue an ordinance to amend the Factories Act, 1948 wherein the existing threshold limit on the number of workers for the purpose of applicability of the Factories Act will be elevated from 10 workers to 20 workers for factories aided by power and from 20 workers to 40 workers for factories not aided by power, thereby expressing that about 160 odd factories are going to be vastly benefitted by this step taken by the State.

Earlier, a similar ordinance was passed amending the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 in order to unwind the registration of establishments, contractors that employed 20 to 50 workers as contract laborers in the previous year.

Similarly, the State Government has also promulgated an ordinance amending the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Commenting on this, Parag Joshi, former President, Goa State Industries Association says, “While the Goa Government’s initiative of promulgating an ordinance amending Industrial Disputes Act is welcome to the extent of relaxing requirement of obtaining prior permission for closure, retrenchment and lay off to all industrial establishments having up to 300 workmen instead of 100 workmen as it stood before the ordinance, is most welcome. The initiative of bringing in a time limit of 1 year for raising an industrial dispute is also welcome.

However, the dilemma is that the amendment has revised

the retrenchment and closure compensation from existing 15 days to 45 days!”

Joshi, further elucidated upon the downside of the said ordinance, stated that, those small industrial establishments employing more than 50 and up to 100 workmen, who were otherwise not required to take prior permission of the Government even under existing law as stood before promulgation of ordinance will now be required to pay revised compensation of 45 days wages per completed year of service, which may probably not be affordable.

Secondly, many of those industrial establishments, employing over 100 but up to 300 workmen were otherwise negotiating a deal for paying compensation up to 30 days wages and entering into agreements with workmen and unions for VRS purposes to avoid taking prior permission for retrenchment or closure as per their capacity to pay.

Although, these industrial establishments are now, not required to take permission for retrenchment or closure, they have to statutorily require paying compensation at 45 days wages, not withstanding whether it is affordable or otherwise.

Thirdly, the workmen and unions were earlier aware that they are statutorily entitled to compensation of 15 days wages and therefore keeping that as a base, they would demand reasonable compensation benefits.

However, now the unions will keep the base rate of compensation at 45 days and start demanding extra compensation over and above the already statutorily hiked compensation, making it difficult for arriving at a settlement point easily. In their case, now it will be more difficult for them to opt for retrenchment or closure.

Finally, although the State Government has made it easy

to compound the offences under the Act, price to be paid for such compounding will be sky-scraping.

The extensive range of actions announced by the State also comprise of the One Time Settlement Scheme, covering all tax related legislations for the assessment period up to the year ending on 31st March 2016 in case of undisputed assessment; and for the assessment period up to the year ending on 30th June 2017, in case of disputed settlement. Further, 100 percent of the interest and penalty stands waived off in case of undisputed dues and 50 percent of arrears of tax, interest and/or penalty stands waived off in case of disputed dues. The said scheme shall be valid up till 23rd November, 2020.

Moreover, the Chief Minister affirmed that all those who have taken loans from credit societies are going to be granted moratorium for a period of 3 months on payment of EMI for the duration from April 2020 to June 2020 while further adding that the late payment appendage has been waived off with respect to payment of electricity bills issued with due dates of payment between 24th March 2020 and 30th June 2020 provided, the said payments are duly made by 15th July 2020. This also encompasses a moratorium on payment of set charges given to all commercial and industrial consumers for bills raised during the period between 24th March 2020 and 30th June 2020 which can be availed, if so preferred. The said charges that have been deferred will be systematically recovered by means of an equated method over the next three bills raised subsequently after 30th June 2020.

Agreeing that the current situation is catastrophic and calamitous, Dr. Sawant stated that all works that were in progress between the period of 25th March 2020 and 30th

“The initiative of promulgating an ordinance amending Industrial Disputes Act is welcome to the extent of relaxing requirement of obtaining prior permission for closure, retrenchment and lay off to all industrial establishments having up to 300 workmen instead of 100 workmen, as it stood before the ordinance. So also, is the initiative of bringing in a time limit of 1 year for raising an industrial dispute. However, the dilemma is that, the amendment has revised the retrenchment and closure compensation from existing 15 days to 45 days” Parag Joshi

Former President, GSIA

June 2020, which are currently on hold, will have to be considered as ‘Force Majeure’ for the purpose of estimating the date of completion of the said projects.

All said and done, while the State machinery is trying its best to instill normalcy and provide maximum relief to victims of the pandemic-led crisis, what comes to happen of it, is going to have to go through the test of time!

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 35

focus goa / MSMEs

@businessgoa

MSMEs receive stimulus package

Said to be the biggest fiscal component of the Rs. 20 lakh crore ‘Atmanirbhar’ package, loans under the GECL scheme are collateral free and the repayments start after a year

I

By sybil rodrigues

n view of the COVID-19 situation prevailing in the country, banks in the State revealed that a total of Rs 66 crore of loans have been disbursed so far to local micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) under the Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) scheme of the Centre, as part of the economic package for businesses.

The information was shared at the state-level bankers committee meeting (SLBC) attended by heads of public and private sector banks, urban cooperative banks, and officials from the RBI, NABARD and the state government. Bankers at the SLBC agreed to actively seek out MSMEs in the state in need of funds and extend credit to them.

As per statistics furnished at the meeting, banks have sanctioned Rs. 223.02 crore under the GECL scheme out of which 29 per cent was disbursed. Further 3590

“The funds are given to MSMEs as working capital.

Though MSMEs had very little money with them, the banks, at the beginning of April, had deducted interest, as per their statute, on the loans which were taken by them”

Manguirish Pai Raiker ASSOCHAM, National Chairman of MSMEs

MSME units in the state till date benefitted from the scheme.

MSMEs have been assigned a key role by the government at the national level in the strategy to revive the economy for their ability to generate employment. The Centre has asked all banks to actively seek out MSME borrowers and help them to recover from the liquidity squeeze caused by the ongoing pandemic crisis.

Manguirish Pai Raiker, ASSOCHAM’s National Chairman of MSMEs, shares a small background of the MSMEs and why a loan is required to tide over these crucial times. “Before the lockdown came into force, things were just about fine and the situation was not absolutely hunky dory.

When operations came to a sudden standstill, whatever was produced for customers was still lying the yards. Inventories which were purchased by the entrepreneurs, envisaging future orders in hand, had their money were tied up in production or in existing inventories. All MSMEs do not have funds in hand as far as reserves are concerned, unlike large industries that have money in their kitty.”

Pai Raiker adds that after the lockdown was partially lifted there was no take-off, as not all companies had commenced operations. He also says that one can’t stand still and life has to move on.

Much as recovery is slow, it is not sufficient to meet the needs so as to pay off their liabilities.

Pai Raiker then explains the role of the GECL scheme.

“The funds are given to MSMEs as working capital.

Though MSMEs had very little money with them, the banks, at the beginning of April, had deducted interest,

36 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

as per their statute, on the loans which were taken by them. Plus staff salaries had to be paid and all statutory payments like electricity bill, water bill and GST had to be taken care of.” This GECL will allow MSMEs to kick start their operations and allow them to tide over a difficult period. He says the ones who are struggling to stay afloat are the ones who require this loan.

Pai Raiker adds that MSMEs have to utilize the loans for the purpose it is given for. “MSMEs can get back on their feet pretty fast given that they have less baggage with them. Things can be done with limited resources and the output will be far greater than big industries.”

He also points out that the current slogan is ‘Vocal for Local’ which people should whole heartedly support.

However, banks in Goa have managed to identify 0613 local units as eligible of which loans were disbursed to 33 per cent of eligible borrowers. Moreover only a handful of banks in the State are offering the scheme with SBI, HDFC Bank, Syndicate Bank, Bank of Baroda and South-India bank being the top lenders.

Atul Naik, Past President of Goa State Industries Association and Founder CEO of Precitech Components weighs in on the loan under the GECL scheme. “The GECL scheme is extremely welcome and is a timely help to the MSME sector. With the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in total lock down across the country including Goa, industry particularly MSMEs were stressed in all respects with a huge majority facing a mountain of problems including loss of market and working capital shortages, particularly stoppage of

“It is expected that the loan under GECL scheme, at a much reduced rate of interest, usually not available to the MSME sector, will help bring down financial costs for this sector and provide much needed support” Atul Naik

Founder-CEO, Precitech Components

payments by customers and mounting operational costs even during lock down.” He further mentions that the GECL will help mitigate the financial crunch of the MSMEs to some extent with immediate infusion of the much needed funds.”

“It is expected that the loan under GECL scheme, at a much reduced rate of interest, usually not available to the MSME sector, will help bring down financial costs for this sector besides providing much needed support and funds to meet expenses during lock down and restart operations post lock down”, he adds.

Satish Shinde, co-founder, Astra Metal Systems Ltd, says that “The loan is a big help to the industry especially to those who really require the finances. Much as everyone has taken the loan because the money is available, one shouldn’t forget that it comes along with an interest, much as it is comparatively lower to what banks normally charge.”

According to him, the facility

www.businessgoa.in

“The loan is a big help to the industry especially to those who really require the finances”

Satish Shinde

Co-founder, Astra Metal Systems Ltd

has really helped the industry which is slowly getting back on its feet post the lockdown.

Shinde further adds that it is collateral free which makes it a debt-free loan from a security perspective.

Shinde also adds that there are two ways that this loan can be utilized by the MSMEs making use of this facility.

“For companies that have cash flow issues and require the money immediately in

order to pay salaries and other obligations, they can partly utilize it towards that shortfall on a cash flow basis.

But primarily people should use it intelligently, especially where the debts or costs are higher and based on that the amount should be put to use. Secondly, people should not simply avail of the loan because it is available. There are many companies that do not require funding and this loan would only be adding the burden to existing debts.

If one can get rid of their existing debts by paying off the principle which has been deferred by three months, it makes sense for a business house to make use of this loan.”

Jayesh Raikar, Director, Goldy Finepacks Pvt Ltd, shares his opinion on the loan “We have already availed of this loan facility. It is definitely beneficial for the MSMEs. He also adds that MSMEs with a higher rating will secure a loan with better rate of interest.

This is an emergency situation wherein the government is trying to help us out. Our company was able to avail this loan within a week. There was not much documentation required which worked to our advantage,” Jayesh opines that the interest rate could have been better as the loans that they have availed of in the past, from the same institutions were given at a much lower rate of interest.

He adds that this loan is an emergency loan and the reason it is given is to increase one’s credit line. “It is purely for one’s liquidity and the crunch which was faced due to the COVID situation. In our case, there was an expansion project which we were able to continue with thanks to this loan. If there are higher interest loans which MSMEs have availed of, it can be eased with this loan itself.

The month-old GECL scheme is reportedly gaining traction across India. About Rs 33,000 crore worth of loans

“The scheme is definitely beneficial for the MSMEs – those with a higher rating will secure a loan with better rate of interest”

Jayesh Raikar

Director, Goldy Finepacks Pvt Ltd

have been disbursed under the scheme as of now. Loans under GECL are collateral free and the repayment starts after a year.

The scheme is the biggest component of the Rs 20 lakh crore ‘Atmanirbhar’ package announced by the Finance Minister, in order to help industries tide over the COVID crisis

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REAL DRINKS july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 37

goan brand

@businessgoamagazine

Bureau of Indian Standards grants first licence to ALCON for two innovative products With their commitment to create and deliver superior products and services, ALCON Anil Counto Enterprises has been granted a first license by BIS on an All India basis for manufacturing ALCCOFINE

A

By sybil rodrigues

LCON, Anil Counto Enterprises, boasts 5 major business verticals – construction, hospitality, manufacturing, trading and infrastructure / logistics.

Alcon has been a pioneer in the construction business in Goa with a track record of successfully completing large number of projects since inception. Their expertise in construction, developing exclusive properties, has given them the competitive edge in building residential and commercial spaces, hotels and resorts.

Their success in the construction field led to joint ventures with ACC Limited and Ambuja Cement. The first resulted in a clinker grinding and cement packing unit at Surla, with a capacity of 500 TPD. The second venture was a first in Goa - the production of Ready Mixed Concrete.

They have two plants each in North and South Goa. The third venture with Ambuja Cement Limited produces Microfine products for Concrete sustainability and durability.

They then went ahead in setting up a full-fledged modern research facility in Kundaim, Goa. It was inaugurated in 2018 along with the Green Building Centre. GBC encompasses all components of an

“We are proud to inform, that our company Counto Microfine Products Pvt Ltd, has the honour to receive the first licence in India of Microfine Cement and Microfine Cement additive manufacturing from the Bureau of Indian Standards” Anil Counto

Chairman, ALCON Anil Counto Enterprises

Anil Counto

ecosystem, developing applications utilizing industrial waste/by-products and also collaborating with educational institutions like IIT Goa, IIT Mumbai, Goa College of Engineering to provide a platform to students to develop a practical industrial outlook.

BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards), is the national standard body of India established under the BIS Act, 2016 for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. BIS has

been providing traceable and tangible benefits to the national economy in a number of ways – providing safe reliable quality goods,

Infra Cable Stayed Rail Over Bridge, Nagpur

Infra Kochi Metro Rail Elevated Section 38 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

mitigating health hazards to consumers, promoting exports and imports substitutes, control over proliferation of varieties etc. through standardization, certification and testing.

BIS has granted first license on the All India basis for manufacturing “Microfine Ordinary Portland cement and ultrafine ground granulated blast furnace slag. The standards for above products are IS 16993:2018 and IS 16715:2018, respectively, which have been published, recently. The licenses for above products have been granted to M/s Counto Microfine Pvt Ltd, Pissurlem Industrial Estate, Goa. Grant of licenses for these products will ensure the availability of certified goods to the common consumers, which bring with them

High Rise Nathani Heights - Mumbai

quality and efficiency along with reliability.

The products were researched, developed and patented by AlcolabIndia LLP, a group company of ALCON. They are manufactured under the brand name Alccofine.

Anil Counto says, “At Alcon, we are proud to inform, that our company Counto Microfine Products Pvt Ltd, has the honour to receive the first licence in India of Microfine Cement and Microfine Cement additive manufacturing from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

It is really a vindication of our belief to innovate and make a green niche product from an industrial by-product considered as an environmental hazard.

We worked hard in our labs in Goa to conceive and make these products, patent them and produce them at our company at Pissurlem Industrial estate.

It took a lot of time and relentless efforts from our team to reach this stage where these products have become one of the world’s best choice for critical construction activities under the brand name Alccofine.

This BIS certification and licence, strengthens our resolve to innovate more such products at our R&D centre which is also a DSIR approved facility.

It makes us feel proud that we did this innovation in Goa and opened a new avenue of research in Microfine and Nano domain.”

Alccofine 1203 is a patented product being added in small doses in any of the concrete to achieve early strength as well as final strength with enhanced durability parameters and can be used with any type of cement (PPC, OPC, and PSC).

Alccofine 1203 is a perfect choice for high performance high strength concrete for Durable RCC structures due to its unique composition and particle size distribution.

Alccofine 1100 is a series of micro cement products which are used in unique critical applications like Soil Stabilisation, curtain/ permeation grouting of dams, fissured rock grouting, injection grouting for cracks etc. This range of products provides solutions for durability and strength due to the controlled quality parameters to get best results.

ALCCOFINE 1203/1100 is a portfolio of products which is a part of many prestigious and critically engineered projects under extreme conditions, with design life of 100 years and more. Almost all Metro Rail projects in India, Mumbai Trans harbour projects, various NHAI Bridges, numerous CPWD projects, Critical Tunnels for rail/road under extreme conditions, High Rise Structures, Refinery projects, Marine structures, Caverns, Precast Industries, structures in aggressive environments etc. have used Alccofine.

The product has increasing demand in international market, as well.

ALCCOFINE 1203/1100 is a portfolio of products which is a part of many prestigious and critically engineered projects under extreme conditions, with design life of 100 years and more The product is a perfect example of an Industrial byproduct being converted into a usable, unique product by research in India. This Green product is patented and now finds extensive use in critical civil engineering structures of all kinds. Atal Setu on river Mandovi, and the new bridge under construction over

Zuari river are also using this product.

This Green product is patented and now finds extensive use in critical civil engineering structures of all kinds. Atal Setu on river Mandovi, and the new bridge under construction over Zuari river are also using this product

Infra Chennai Metro Rail july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 39

agriculture

@businessgoa

Chicalim Youth take up Farming

Rev. Fr. Dr. Bolmax Pereira leads the youth of St Francis Xavier Church, Chicalim, to join farm workers in their annual activity of farming

B

By sybil rodrigues

orn as Bolmax Fidelis Pereira, in Quepem, he was one amongst 5 siblings.

His decision to become a priest was instilled in him by his mother. Fr Bolmax joined the Saligao seminary from standard 8 in 1989 and then went on to complete his HSSCE from St Xavier’s Higher Secondary School, Mapusa. He has graduated in BSc in Botany from St Xaviers College, Mapusa, Philosophy and Theology at Rachol Seminary and was ordained Priest in 2004. He also has an MSc in Ecology and Environment from SikkimManipal University, under his belt and finally did his PhD in Botany at Jodhpur National University, Jodhpur, 2017.

Currently he is Assistant Professor of Botany at St. Joseph Vaz College, Cortalim and Parish Priest of St Francis Xavier Church, Chicalim.

Fr Bolmax says that he came up with the idea of getting the youth to work in the fields as they are the future of Goa. “Atmanirbhar and the ‘Revival of Agriculture’ are the trending terms today and I needed to connect these two.

There couldn’t have been a better idea than ‘Youth (back) in the Fields’.

When he suggested the idea to the people of the village, it was during the ongoing pandemic and

the neighbouring Mangor Hill was already declared a containment zone. “So naturally we got a mixed response. Some were active online supporting the cause and some of them dared to defy the COVID scare to ‘dirty’ their hands in ‘amchi mati’. The local owners of the field, along with a few neighbours and the members of the St Francis Xavier Parish Youth of Chicalim came forward to take part in this activity.”

Fr. Bolmax elaborates about the highlights of the day when the farming activity was conducted. “There were regular farmers (the owner’s family) and some first timers (youth). The youth learnt and experienced the actual process and joys of farming whereas the regular farmers who were heading

The most striking highlight of this activity was the discovery of ‘child farmer’, Kaden Fernandes who tilled most of the field spread out to 10,000 sq. mts by professionally operating the power tiller. Kaden is just 12 years old, a class seven student in Regina Mundi High School

40 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

into disappointment and demotivation due to shortage of labour, thanks to mass exit of migrant or guest labour, got the much needed support from these young, emerging farmers. The most striking highlight of this activity was the discovery of ‘child farmer’, Kaden Fernandes who tilled most of the field spread out to 10,000 sq. mts by professionally operating the power tiller. Kaden is just 12 years old, a class seven student in Regina Mundi High School, in the village where most of the kids study.

The lad valiantly and expertly tilled the power machine and completed the entire exercise over the 10,000 sq. mts paddy field, solo.” Moreover, this activity publicised over various social media handles, turned out to be a trigger to many other farmers in other villages as well to venture back to the fields.

Fr Bolmax then goes on to speak about the support and encouragement received from the villagers. “The support of the villagers was tremendous, although not all could venture into the fields on that day. Many owners of the fields, which were left fallow for many years, agreed and resolved to revive their fields, if youth are ready to work with them. Eventually the Chicalim Youth Farmers

Club came into existence. The parents of the willing youth were kind enough to send their sons and daughters to go out and get working in these agricultural fields. Many villagers appreciated the youth once they got to know about the activity.”

Currently, the Chicalim Youth Framers club has around 30 members. The revival of fallow fields in Chicalim is its primary goal with the secondary goal being, to present agriculture as viable economic industry.

It will be mentored by traditional farmers and informed members of civil society in collaboration with St. Francis Xavier Church, Chicalim. Fr Bolmax stresses on the importance of farming, agricultural activities and its future in Goa. “The land is fertile and blessed, so by itself holds a great scope for farming and agricultural activities.

The COVID pandemic has taught us to be self sufficient as far as agricultural products is concerned. We have also seen that the young brigade is willing to get back to agriculture, a principle backbone of Goa’s economy once upon a time. This, coupled with Government schemes for an agriculture boost, surely promises a bright future for agricultural activities in our ‘Mannkulem

12-year-old Kaden Fernandes tilling the field

Goem’. Thanks to this activity by Fr. Bolmax, a few educational institutes are on the way to taking the same route. St Joseph Vaz College, Cortalim has acquired a field belonging to Cortalim Church and has resumed farming in collaboration with the ‘Fabrica’ of the Church, whose Parish priests are Fr. Pio Almeida and Fr. Mariano Dias. The students and staff of the college will venture into fields for transplanting paddy on 22nd of July after completing their exams. As an extracurricular activity, it will cultivate a love for agriculture amongst the Science graduates passing out from St Joseph Vaz College, managed by the St Joseph Vaz Educational Society.

Fr. Bolmax concludes with a message to the people and most importantly the youth, with respect to agricultural

“The support of the villagers was tremendous, although not all could venture into the fields on that day. Many owners of the fields, which were left fallow for many years, agreed and resolved to revive their fields, if youth are ready to work with them” Fr Bolmax pereira

activities in the State. “Let’s get back to our roots – that’s where our identity and security lies. As our child prodigy, Kaden said, “Hi amchi mati mhunnche bhangar” (this soil of ours is gold). Let’s extract a lot of gold in our fields and backyards. Our youth will get academically sound and agriculturally skilled – you need not leave the state for greener pastures anymore, as the pasture is here. People stop

disregarding or degrading the dignity of the farmers. It is they (We) who produce to feed your stomachs.

“Xetkamtea tum mahan!

Zoddun ghe tuzo man” (Farmers you are great. Earn your respect), signs off Fr Bolmax with a hope that more youngsters will take up to farming in the wake of the coronoavirus pandemic; with many other occupations being locked-down

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 41

entrepreneur

@businessgoa

Luxury Real Estate with a Touch of Class

Oscar de Lima Pereira is an entrepreneur who brings value to the table with high quality luxury real estate projects and the ability to network with the movers and shakers of corporate India

E

By sybil rodrigues

quiknox is a leading real estate developer having various lifestyle home projects at different prime locations in the State.

Founded in 2004, the company utilises their land banks to create luxury homes involving the best developers and international architects providing world class architecture. The motto of the company has and will always be ‘Quality and Customer Satisfaction.’

The Managing Director of Equiknox Group, Oscar de Lima Pereira, who until recently headed the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation, Goa speaks about starting Equiknox. “Equiknox was founded in 2004 with our first joint development of 75000 sq ft with Commonwealth Developers in South Goa. This was a premium villa project ahead of its days.

Till date we have jointly developed 1 million sq feet.”

Speaking about the ongoing projects that he currently has on the drawing board, Oscar states that they have ongoing joint development projects in Nerul, along with a few others in the pipeline. “A select lifestyle homes project designed by Mustafa Eisa in Siolim, a hospitality venture to be operated by a world class manager in Nerul, a vintage hospitality venture in the Latin quarters of Fontainhas besides a few others.”

Contempo by Equiknox, Siolim

42 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

“Being a founding member of EO Goa, we have managed to unite a select group of like-minded entrepreneurs to form a strong bond of business and friendship. EO Global has provided us an exposure that has transformed our very origin of work practices at work and home” Oscar de Lima Pereira Founder, Equiknox Group

Equiknox also owns an investment company presently invested in several startups including Zappfresh, one of India’s biggest online meat delivery portals for consumers in India.

Oscar also explains the special aspects of his projects. “Right from 2004 we have partnered with CD Homes, Surya

Samudra, Vison Dempo, Sun Estates, etc who have shared a common vision of innovative world class architecture. The USP of the Equiknox Group is owning land in prime locations with views reflecting the ‘Goan mood’ and ethos.

He goes on to speak about his early professional life and his transition into a

www.businessgoa.in

developer of fine repute. “The green logo, our brand identity, reflects our work at sea and land. We also own Nautilus Shipping as shipping agents/ship management associates. We were one of the first to tap the joint development model to capitalise on our land bank. Having partnered with developers like Sun Estates defined our level of quality and client base.”

Oscar’s term as President of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation, Goa was lauded for the quality events and various movers and shakers that he brought to the State. He speaks about his experience as a founding member of EO Goa. “Being a founding member for EO Goa, we have managed to unite a select group of likeminded entrepreneurs to form a strong bond of business and friendship.

EO Global has given us an exposure that has transformed our very origin of work practices at work and home. As president, I have hosted several learning events with corporate bigwigs like Dr. Velumani, Daniel Marcos, Bollywood star Boman Irani, among others. We have also held virtual sessions with the likes of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Virat Kohli, during the

Oscar with EO Goa members at the talk by Bollywood star Boman Irani

As president of EO Goa, Oscar has hosted several learning events with corporate bigwigs like Dr. Velumani, Daniel Marcos, Bollywood star Boman Irani, among others. EO Goa also hosted virtual sessions with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Virat Kohli, during lockdown lockdown. We also hosted and exclusive ‘EO Lounge’ at Sunburn and many other platforms.”

Oscar’s management style at Equiknox has transited from being a family office to a professionally run company. Turning ideas into reality is what excites him the most, he says.

Oscar speaks about Goa recovering from the havoc caused in the State due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “By default I see a boom in realty and its affiliated products in the short term. We will have to boost the hospitality side incorporating all the changes Covid19 has brought with it in the long term”

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 43

interview

@businessgoamagazine

ankita anand

“The 2020 Policy will create a path for startups to scale up and speed up”

Ankita Anand is a 2015 batch IAS Officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram & Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre and currently holds the position of Director, Department of Information & Technology, Govt. of Goa and is also the CEO of the Goa Startup Promotion Cell. She spoke to Business Goa about the startup ecosystem in the State

What are the numbers of startups in the space? What are the broad areas of their operations?

Presently, We have 88 startups certified by Startup Promotion Cell, Government of Goa. So our reach and information is limited to these startups. We believe there are many more startups in Goa and we urge them to register with us and join Goa Startup Policy/Program and apply for the relevant startup schemes.

Primarily the Goa Certified Startups are ventures which are technology driven and tech enabled with diverse mix of sectors from consumer tech and internet commerce, edutech to SaaS, AI, ML, IoT, healthtech and medicare. A significant number of startups are in the eco-friendly products/solutions and social enterprise, as well. A pleasing fact is that about 20% of Goa State Certified Startups are founded by women entrepreneurs. We were informed by DPIIT, Startup India that this percentage of women founders is more than any other Indian state. This fact was well exhibited during the Microsoft ‘Highway to 100 Unicorn’ event held on 6-8 March when Goa did the first Founder Boot Camp.

Microsoft announced that out of the 60+ winners of “Microsoft Emerge X” across all Indian states, only 1 startup is founded by women and I am extremely proud that the startup is from Goa. We are glad to let you know that this startup is a beneficiary of Goa Startup Policy Seed Capital Grant, as well.

How do you rate the startup ecosystem in the state?

Startup India has rated Goa as ‘Emerging State.” Startup India, DPIIT does an annual

Ankita Anand

ranking and rating across different parameters of all Indian States’ Startup Ecosystem. So the Emerging State is a befitting rating and depicts the on ground facts, as well. Goa State is an ‘Emerging Destination’ not just for startups but for the startup ecosystem stakeholders and enablers like incubators, investors, vendors, educators, entrepreneurs and innovators. Our study shows that all startup hubs pass through broadly different life cycle phases: 1. Local Activation 2.

Regional/ National Integration 3.

Ecosystem Expansion 4.

Global Connectedness With over 80+ startups, 100+ mentors, 10+ co-working spaces / incubators and 50+ events, boot camps over last 3 years, we have undertaken steps around local activation in Goa. Recently, we integrated Goa Startup Portal with the Startup India Portal as a major step towards regional/national integration.

Goa is also designated destination for Global VC Summit of Startup India.

Goa was also the first state to support startups with financial incentives post

44 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Covid-19 pandemic. With Goa State Startup Policy 2.0, Goa will embark on the next life cycle phase and we have set an ambitious plan to attempt leapfrogging across the Startup Hubs Life Cycle Phases.

What global benchmarks would you like to be compared with?

Global startup hubs have developed due to the convergence of technology, talent and tolerant culture.

Global, Asian and even Indian startups have grown in the last decade in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, NCR to became startup hubs due to the return of the diaspora in that region and a migrant friendly culture.

This confluence of returning diaspora has brought global expertise, experience and technology to the region and immigration friendly, tolerant culture has built and harnessed the local talent further. Take any region – Silicon Valley, London Fintech, or even closer home in India – these were the main driving factors. Once this people movement gathered steam, the government of

these regions augmented this movement into building a startup ecosystem with policy, program, partnership and platform.

What are the biggest challenges that startups in Goa are up against?

For startups to speed up and scale up, they require customers and/or investors.

And to find these two, is a very challenging proposition for startups in Goa. Due to limited industries andcompanies in Goa, (especially the startups who are in B2B space) one of the biggest challenges is to find clients, new clients.

Startups require clients whom they can sell more and sell at good profits, as well. Some of the Goa startups have geographically expanded due to this startups in B2C products and innovative consumer apps require huge capital. These are investment heavy ventures and hence require patience capital as well.

HNIs, returning diaspora, local businessmen and industrialists, etc who turn angel investors, do support startups by not providing just money in terms of capital, but experience capital along with funding. I believe that local investors who actively invest is something that is missing in Goa. Startups here struggle to raise angel investment locally.

Other softer challenges are akin to any regional startup ecosystem – to grow/turbo charge they require a regional poster startup or a role model/ ideal to follow. Another missing element is an active mentor network. A mentor serves as a guide/adviser/ philosopher and friend to entrepreneurs and startups.

We have taken note of these challenges and through our

@businessgoa

new startup policy and programs and we will aim to address these challenges and remove some of the bottlenecks.

Recently a sum of Rs 92.98 lakh funds was disbursed to IT startups in the State? Which startups were the beneficiaries of this and what was the selection process?

We have a very transparent process for applying to the 14 schemes under Goa Startup Policy 2017. Our schemes range from seed capital grants to reimbursement of expenses for startups.

We even have schemes for incubators and skill development institutes. All operational guidelines for these schemes are published on Startup Goa website www.startup.goa.gov.in All incentive applications are taken online on this portal and a startup has to submit all documents as per guidelines online. For Seed Capital Grant, a startup has to present before a panel of experts which includes industry professional, startup ecosystem enablers from academia, incubators and investors. These startups get approved and selected by this panel of experts. This gets further presented and approved by

The 5 Pillars for the Goa Startup Policy 2020 are: 1. Institutional Support 2.

Access to Finance 3. Access to Talent 4. Education and Skill Development 5.

Thought Leadership a High Powered Committee. This High Powered Committee is chaired by the Chief Minister and comprises the IT Minister, Secretary IT and experienced industrialists, renowned business persons and an industry professional. Till now, about 20 startups and 1 skill training institute have received direct financial incentives. This list is on the Startup Goa portal. About 25% of the startups registered with us have benefitted so far, we believe even this percentage of startup beneficiaries vis a vis certified startups will be among the highest compared to other Indian states certified startups.

The Startup Policy for the State is on the anvil.

Could you share some broad contours of the same? What would the policy aim to achieve?

With our experience of Startup Policy

2017 implementation, relevant inputs from Goa Certified Startups and Goa startup ecosystem enablers and stakeholders, was sought. A policy is being drafted, most importantly, keeping in mind the unprecedented times. These are the 5 Pillars for the Goa Startup Policy 2020 – 1. Institutional Support 2. Access to Finance 3. Access to Talent 4. Education and Skill Development 5.

Thought Leadership. We have begun inter-departmental consultation and discussion with other States and DPIIT Startup India on the Goa Startup Policy 2020. Our main objectives of the new Startup Policy is to remove bottlenecks, challenges for startups and create a path for startups to scale up, speed up. We want Goa to emerge as one of the Top 25 destination for startups to start, operate and be successful. In the pre-Covid World, the startup growth was in metros and Tier 1 cities, to some extent. Globally too, this was the trend. In the post covid world, we envisage an emergence of ‘The Rise of the Rest’ in the startup world. Our aim is that with the new Startup Policy, Goa will emerge as ‘The Best of the Rest’ Startup Destination

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 45

Campus

bookshelf

VMSIIHE and Turismo de Portugal offer students from hospitality institutes an opportunity of a two-week online programme

As part of the existing knowledge exchange programme between India and Portugal, students from across hospitality institutes now have the opportunity to engage and participate in a 2-week online programme initiated by V. M. Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education (VMSIIHE) in collaboration with Turismo de Portugal (TBC).

Five leading hospitality institutes based in Lisbon, Setubal, Coimbra, Algarve and Douro-Lamego have curated the online course.

Scheduled to be held from 29th June to 10th July, the courses will be held over two hours each day and will cover a wide range of subjects ranging from gastronomy and wine pairing to demonstration of recipes unique to the regions to sessions on understanding the nature of food ingredients from the Mediterranean regions, more closely. Virtual tours of wineries, oyster farms and the neighborhoods of Lisbon and Coimbra are included in the course.

V. M. Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education (VMSIIHE) had recently renewed and extended the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Turismo de Portugal during the visit of the President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, while on a state visit to India. The MoU was signed by Prof. Irfan Mirza, Director/Principal of VMSIIHE and Louis Araujo Head of Turismo de Portugal (TBC), in the presence of the President of Portugal

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Chief Minister of Goa, Dr. Pramod Sawant, Dipti D. Salgaocar, Vice President Corporate Communication V. M. Salgaocar Corporation and Ajit M. Gude, Director, V M Salgaocar Corporation at a function held in February this year.

Held from Monday to Friday for two consecutive weeks, participants will have the opportunity to interact with professors from Portugal during demonstrations and classes.

The course will be conducted in English and is free for students of hospitality.

Prior registration is required for which interested participants can reach out to V. M. Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education (VMSIIHE).

In one of the sessions, a professor from Coimbra will take students through the journey of grapes from the vineyard to the wine cellar and demonstrate some of the more popular cocktails in the region. The session on oyster breeding, opening techniques, conservation and a lesson on pairing oysters with wine being conducted by the Escola Setubal, is another interesting class.

Professor Irfan Mirza, Director/Principal, V.M Salgaocar Institute of International Hospitality Education said, “The lockdown has been hard on students. This opportunity which arises from our existing alliance between our institute and Turismo de Portugal will offer students of hospitality, a peek into

46 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

@businessgoa

Writer & Publisher: JONATHAN SEQUEIRA

Life Lessons From When I Was In A Rock Band

A guide on wading through workplace gigs Being at work is one thing but being able to R.O.C.K. is a different ball game!

As a former rock musician, Jonathan Sequeira connects how similar being on stage performing in front of an audience is to working in a regular corporate or office setting. Every day work place scenes such as joining a new place or starting a new project, fitting in, arguments, frustrations and conflicts, being motivated, adapting to change, are so similar to the varied experiences of performing in a rock band!

Whether you are fresh out of college, moving onto a new project or having a change of career late in your life, this book makes you question your impact in giving it your all to whatever you do!

When you join a new place, you tend to like certain things; then there are other things that make you want to quit; your first successful project gets you laurels that make you want to stay with the company forever; you have arguments at work that make you want to plot revenge (half the time, those arguments happen in your head); you work long hours not knowing when to stop; or how to and the list goes on!

This book uses the analogy between being in a rock band and an everyday workplace because this former rockerwriter finds it so similar!

It is a guide to help you understand how demanding

a work environment can be, how to adapt to it and understand that both work and play are intertwined in the fabric of life. The book and the R.O.C.K. Principles mentioned in it are open to those about to take up their first jobs,those thinking of leaving behind a frustrating job for a change of destiny, those who have had a lifelong career and where everyone else thinks that it’s time to leave the building, but you know you are just getting started.

Jonathan Sequeira is the Co-founder of Yomorebi Hospitality Consulting LLP, a Hospitality Solutions and Leadership Development firm. Jonathan now coaches and develops people across a spectrum of fields from hospitality, corporate, colleges, entertainment and the armed forces. He speaks at various organizations on topics of self-development and positivity

the culinary intricacies and culture existing in regions in Portugal without having to travel to the country in these circumstances. We are opening the doors to students from other hospitality institutes who can avail of this opportunity without having to pay a fee.”

The existing MoU focuses on a shared vision,

to encourage and develop the training and qualification of personnel working in the field of tourism, as well as to offer internship and placement opportunities to successful students. The two countries will continue to work together in the fields of research, training, teaching-learning methods and other aspects in the near future

www.businessgoa.in

An Extraordinary Life

A Biography of Manohar Parrikar Writers: Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar Publisher: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

T

he past two decades has seen the country take great interest in the political exploits of Manohar Parrikar and the way he led his party, the BJP, to victory in Goa. Right from the time he was a MLA in the Opposition to his rise as Defence Minister, this book written by Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar covers the life of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life.

Sadguru Patil, a journalist for the last 23 years, has worked for three different Marathi language newspapers as a political journalist. He was a Chief Reporter of daily Gomantak for 8 years.

Presently he is the Bureau Chief of the Lokmat, Goa. He has also written and published a Marathi biography of Parrikar in May 2019.

Patil’s association with the late Chief Minister goes back to 1994. “Since 1996, I have been covering Parrikar. While working as journalist, I have seen him as the MLA of Panaji,

From the time he was a MLA in the Opposition to his rise as Defence Minister, this book covers the life of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life Leader of Opposition, a fiery BJP leader, Chief Minister and Defence Minister of India. I interviewed him more than 20 times. Sometimes I travelled with him in his car within Goa. I covered business of all assembly sessions from 1997 till date and Parrikar was at the centre of majority of sessions, which I covered through my writings extensively” he says.

In order to take the life of Parrikar to readers across India and the globe, Sadguru and his co-author Mayabhushan Nagvekar, came together to write Parrikar’s biography after his death, and the manuscript was accepted by Penguin Publishing House.

Speaking on Parrikar, Patil says, “After Dayanand Bandodkar, the first Chief Minister of Goa, Parrikar was the next most popular Chief Minister in Goa. His life is full of insights which can inspire the new generation as these very characteristics are what

Sadguru Patil

prompted us to write a book on him. Patil then touches upon the contents of the book. “The book highlights Parrikar’s student life in Goa and in IIT, Mumbai. It also speaks about his childhood days, his family life, his personal life, full political career and his contribution to the RSS in Goa. The book also mentions his food habits, his working style and small snippets about his life. The famous surgical strike during his tenure as the Defence Minister is mentioned, as well. The many political adjustments which Parrikar was forced to make while playing the game of politics, also makes an appearance in the book.”

In order to put the book together, Patil got his information from different sources, some of them being Parrikar’s sisters, his sons, his brothers, his IIT colleagues, RSS functionaries like Ratnakar Lele, Subhash Velingkar, his childhood friend Sanjay Walawalkar, BJP leaders in Goa, and workers in the political field. The former Advocate General of Goa, Atmaram Nadkarni, Dr Shekhar Salkar and his LIC agent Pradip Joshi, were a big source of information. Patil and his co-author Nagvenkar did research for six months and spoke to hundreds of people. But due to the Coronavirus and the sudden

lockdown imposed in India, it was not possible to release the book in April, as originally planned.

Nagvenkar is a senior journalist with vast experience in the field. He has worked for 3 English language dailies in Goa. He has also covered politics extensively and knew Parrikar for the past 21 years.

His by lines have appeared in Tehelka, Hindustan Times, The Asian Age, Associated Press, BBC, Firstpost, The Guardian, Daily Pioneer, Deccan Herald, Himal, Scroll, etc, over the last 20-odd years. Nagvenkar is presently working as the Goan correspondent of the Indo Asian News Service. He speaks about the book that he has co-authored with Patil. “It was a biography which was waiting to be written. I was not willing to wait. The book spells out interesting and significant facets of the life of Goa’s tallest politician ever.

Tallest in terms of tangible achievement in one’s political career, Parrikar served as the Defence Minister of India.

No other Goan politician could even make it to the Union cabinet as fullfledged minister. The book begins with the last year of Parrikar’s life, leading to his death and then in subsequent chapters follows his life chronologically.”

Nagvekar speaks highly of his co-author Sadguru Patil.

“As co-authors, we had our roles worked out. Sadguru has done an absolutely fabulous job – even though it was backbreaking – at collecting the exhaustive data for the book. Most information related to Parrikar and the circumstances which played out around him was collected

by Patil through detailed interviews. We would meet regularly to work out and finalise a framework, after which my chore, the writing, began.”

The book was digitally launched by Penguin Random House from Mumbai and is available at all leading book stores and e-com apps

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 47

Professional dossier

@businessgoamagazine

State of the science treatment for liver, biliary tract and pancreatic disorders

A well known liver surgeon, Dr Rahul Kakodkar, feels that his professional competence can be of help to Goa in times of the coronavirus pandemic By sybil rodrigues

Early life, childhood & schooling I was born in Panjim to Suryakant (SK) Kakodkar, an advocate who eventually went on to become Goa’s first designated senior advocate and Savita Kakodkar.

I studied in Sharada Mandir, Miramar until the third standard after which I transferred to People’s High School, Fontainhas until completion of my SSCE. I represented my school in cricket (under-14), table-tennis (under-15), basketball (under-14) and in quiz, elocution and debating competitions.

After achieving a state merit list position (top 50) in SSCE, I enrolled for XI and XII Std in Science stream at Dhempe College, Miramar. I secured a state merit list position (top 15) in HSSCE science examination, as well.

What made you choose medicine?

I was more interested in numbers and words during my entire schooling and although I scored well in biology, it did not count among my favourite subjects.

My late father, before he switched to becoming a lawyer, as well a couple of his brothers, worked in the pharmaceutical industry and through interacting with them, unbeknownst to me, a seed was sown in some subconscious part of my impressionable mind that medicine as a profession would allow you to touch the lives of people on a daily basis without the limitations of job hours, retirement age or a controlling hierarchy in the workplace (some of those views may have since changed).

When the opportunity presented itself to choose between joining MBBS at Goa Medical College or any of the other professional graduation courses that were open to me I guess the seed sown in subconscious took over the conscious, and the decision was made.

How were the early years in the profession?

A professional career in medicine really begins when you have completed your MBBS course and have to do a mandatory one-year internship before becoming a registered medical professional.

Internship is a time where you get a chance to rotate through all departments, interact with patients and participate in their diagnosis, treatment and even in procedures under supervision.

Fortunately, having been among the 48 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Dr Rahul Kakodkar

toppers and recipient of Gold Medal at MBBS examination, I was almost assured of pursuing a post-graduate degree of my choosing after completion of my internship.

The year of internship also helped develop working relationships with nurses, ancillary healthcare workers and laid the foundation of working as a team that is almost mandatory in my current area of specialisation.

The experience of rotating through all departments also made me narrow my choice to a post-graduate course in a surgical discipline because it would allow me to do more than diagnose and prescribe medicines by getting to the root cause of the problem and possibly eliminating it.

How did you zone in on your specialisation?

What aspects of your specialisation appealed to you?

During my internship I was drawn to a surgical field of specialisation as it would allow me to take a crack at the root cause of the problem and possibly eliminate it. I had to choose between orthopaedic surgery and general surgery since both post-graduate courses were open to me.

I chose general surgery because it would train me to perform procedures on nearly the entire human body while orthopaedics would limit me to only the musculoskeletal system. Hence I took up post-graduate Master of Surgery in General Surgery at Goa Medical College

with then Prof. Dr. Vasco D’Silva as my guide.

At the time I was training in Department of General Surgery at Goa Medical College, apart from Neurosurgery, there were no subspecialty departments operational.

Although we were trying our best to do justice to all patients, in my opinion, the management of patients with diseases of the liver and pancreas and those with liver cirrhosis in particular, left something to be desired. This need of patients motivated me to specialise in the field of liver and pancreas surgery which was available at only a couple of institutes across the country and the competition was cut throat. I had the privilege of becoming the first person from Goa to be selected for a post-doctoral course (DNB) in Surgical Gastroenterology (Equivalent to MCh Surgical Gastroenterology) under the guidance of Prof Samiran Nundy, who is a living legend in that field, at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

At that time, liver transplantation started there in a big way and I was fortunate to receive training and experience in that highly specialised surgery, as well.

Highlights of stints in various hospitals I have had the privilege of working at many prominent hospitals across the country.

I was fortunate to be invited to join the faculty at the department of surgical gastroenterology at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital immediately upon receiving my post-doctoral qualifications. The department was a powerhouse of liver, pancreas and gastrointestinal surgery – both in clinical work, academics and publication of papers in national and international journals. I was involved in the training of post-doctoral students, fellows as well as a co-guide for PhD in Gastrointestinal Surgery.

Following that, I worked as senior consultant and associate director at Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine at Medanta-the Medicity, Gurugram.

I have had the privilege of being part of some pioneering work in liver transplantation in India including first liver transplant for acute liver failure, first combined liver kidney transplant, first split cadaver liver transplant, first swap liver transplant, first liver transplant

@businessgoa

chain, first domino liver transplant, first dual-lobe living donor liver transplant and early series of ABO incompatible liver transplantation.

I have also had the honour of being associated as Senior Consultant / Lead Surgeon with other institutions across the country including Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai; Jupiter Hospital, Thane; Continental Hospital, Hyderabad; Fortis Hospital, Mumbai and Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital, Mumbai.

I continue to be a visiting surgeon for liver transplantation at Shalby Hospital Group, Ahmedabad and Inamdar Hospital, Pune, among others.

Cases that remain etched in memory Every case is unique in it is own way and those that remain etched in memory are the ones that either was a sweet experience or a bitter one. In my line of work that often deals with very sick patients, not all battles can be won despite best efforts.

Suffice to say the most memorable and rewarding cases are the patients who we succeed in helping claw back from the very brink and go on to live long and fulfilling lives and contribute to society.

Thankfully, I have more than a fair share

of such memorable and rewarding cases to cherish.

What made you come back to Goa and what is your focus currently?

Over the last nearly 10 years and more in particular since 2015, I have been regularly visiting Goa to conduct clinics, perform complex surgeries and participate in awareness programs with regards to liver disease, liver transplantation and organ donation. Returning to Goa was always on the cards for me once the right platform was available to deliver the much needed services to patients from Goa where liver disease and cirrhosis is quite prevalent and there is a rising trend in cancers of the colon, rectum, liver, pancreas and bile duct.

My decision to return was accelerated due to the Coronavirus pandemic and how it impacted Mumbai where I was living and working. The lockdown and the policy to convert hospitals to COVID hospitals have worked to the disadvantage of my patients who are predominantly non-COVID and quite a few who came from Goa for treatment.

I felt it was time for a Goan liver and pancreas surgeon to respond to this

clarion call and bring the benefit of my training and experience to patients within Goa. Developing a multidisciplinary team and centre of excellence that can offer all possible treatments for gastrointestinal, liver, biliary and pancreatic diseases as well as liver transplantation within the state of Goa will be my focus.

As an accomplished surgeon, do share your success mantra with youngsters I have always believed that true progress only begins outside our comfort zones and it is the fears that we avoid facing that become our limits in life and that is the counsel I would share with my junior collleagues.

What are the plans that keep you excited?

I feel that if you are passionate about what you are doing, you do not need anything extra to keep you excited and motivated.

I am fortunate to be working in a field that I am passionate about and this is what has kept me going through sleepless nights and helped me weather adversities and reverses while keeping me grounded in success. “Success is moving from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm,� said Winston Churchill

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 49

enterprise

On the 10th Anniversary of Goa’s largest business networking organisation, Business Goa congratulates the

stars of

NIKHIL SHAH / CROWN ELECTRONICS

Revolutionizing Power Solutions since 1983

A pioneer in the field of power conditioning and power back-up talks about their services and how they’re affected by the COVID-19 pandemic

By nadine monteiro

access to sheds etc. The trade does not require more than 150-250 square meters of shed, which is currently not available to them.

The COVID-19 Challenge While speaking about the challenges that he is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nikhil mentions that during the initial stages of the lockdown, the company had some minor setbacks in terms of payment recoveries, financial obligations, shortage of manpower, material management, and sourcing.

Now, all these factors have been streamlined and with some restructuring in their business models, they have arrived at the new normal workable model of business.

Power today is the backbone of every trade, industry, and household, and this makes Nikhil confident that their business will continue to grow; especially with novel health infrastructure being planned and in these times of increased demand for work from home and digitization of offices and factories, the demand will certainly continue to grow.

The BNI Edge Being a service centric industry – satisfied customers / clients and continuous referrals have been their major attributes for success.

The referral generation organization, BNI, has proven to be their most effective marketing arm.

Nikhil Shah, the owner of Crown Electronics has been a member for more than 7 years and is convinced that BNI not just helps develop and create a trusted network but also provides ample opportunities for growth and learning and up-gradation of relevant business and entrepreneurial skills. Especially in these COVID times, Nikhil Shah feels that BNI and referrals will play a very important role for most businesses.

The Future of Business With the rampant spread of the pandemic, Nikhil advises each one to ensure their own safety and to continue following safety measures and guidelines – face masks, sanitizers, cleanliness and social distancing needs, to be inculcated into a habit.

The lockdown has provided ample time to introspect and debunked many myths and helped us all reset our priorities. Nikhil is positive that, just like all earlier pandemics that mankind has faced, this too shall pass soon; and with focus on infrastructure up-gradation and policy changes being implemented, India is set to make strong strides towards being the world’s biggest and strongest economy

C

rown Electronics is a solution provider for power conditioning and power backup systems.

They deal with the complete range of UPS systems, inverters, servo controlled voltage stabilizers, isolation transformers and industrial batteries.

Starting the Enterprise Nikhil Shah, while speaking about his venture, says that Crown Electronics is one of the pioneers in the field of power conditioning and backup systems in Goa; and has been providing its services since 1983. They deal with premium associated brands such as Exide, Microtek, PowerZone, Krykard and Crown.

The product range includes backup solutions for machines and production lines for factories, IT infrastructure of Educational and Financial Institutes, BPOs, Banks, lifts, escalators, solutions for voltage fluctuations faced by shacks, coastal hotels and resorts; and special batteries for battery operated material handling equipment, electric vehicles, golf carts, cleaning/sanitation equipment, etc.

The company prides itself on its assured quality, reliability, and environmentally friendly practice of power generation.

Crown provides unique and reliable, high-quality services that include all the stages involved in planning, installing, and up keeping of backup solutions and power conditioning systems. Crown is one of the few companies geared to identifying your needs and providing you with efficient, justifiable and lowcost solutions.

Nikhil Shah

Taking a close look at the then prevalent power supply conditions and demand from factories, hotels, institutes, construction industry, and even domestic houses and offices, Crown has, over the years, streamlined and focused their operations to provide lasting and reliable power solutions.

Being technically qualified with necessary service infrastructure, strongly backed by the companies they have been patronizing and ensuring products from the best brands in the country – this has made Crown Electronics Goa’s premier ‘power solutions company.’

Like every successful business, Crown has also struggled with challenges, more so in terms of logistics and availability of skilled manpower. One of the challenges Crown wishes to address soon is the setup of electronic estates in the industrial zones, so they get

50 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

enterprise

On the 10th Anniversary of Goa’s largest business networking organisation, Business Goa congratulates the

stars of

SANDEEP & SONAL DOSHY / DOSHY’S LIVING CONCEPTS

Bringing Interior Furnishings to Life

Sandeep & Sonal Doshy leave no stone unturned to ensure that every vision of a dream space is turned into reality

A

By ameya nayak

bout 35 years ago, Sandeep joined his grandfather, Chhaganlal Doshy’s textile business at the Margao textile market with an objective to take the business further and elevate its prosperity.

His father, Amrutlal Doshy introduced leather, foam, plastic and related materials with an extensive range of varieties and was thus called the pioneer in the field of plastic trade in Goa. As on date, Amrutlal Doshy has gone a long way ahead by becoming the major supplier of ‘Silpaulin Tarpaulins’ for roof tops, shade covers, balcony blinds and raincoats.

Starting his Enterprise As years passed by, and competition came in, Sandeep, along with his wife Sonal, decided to venture into a relatively new area of business pertaining to home and office space furnishing.

It is evident that every person who wishes to enter a new home or working space would like to have nothing but the best when it comes to interiors and décor for effective ambience. It is this visualization of the people that Sandeep tries to turn into an actuality! Elaborating on how it all started, Sandeep says, “My wife Sonal, an interior designer, can suggest curtains to match the interiors in various colourful combinations.

Besides curtains, we can also provide matching sheers, blinds, bed sheets, linens, awnings, rugs and so on which turns out to be a one shop solution for all furnishing needs. I also have the business acumen and the spirit of always looking forward to novel ideas in the market, as a result of which we launched ‘Doshy’s Living

concepts additionally suggest excellent tailors and fitters who can stitch complicated designs and install the same at great heights and ceilings, as well. Living Concepts’ curtains adorn many hotels, restaurants and high-networth individual bungalows, and also supply fire retardant fabrics for added safety.

Sandeep Doshy

Concepts’ in 2004 at Pajifond, Margao.”

Doshy’s Living Concepts has exclusive collections of various fabrics from silk, polyester, cotton, linen, jute and many more from India’s leading brands namely D’décor, KC Décor, Pure, J & Y and many more, to suit various client tastes.

The collection is updated regularly keeping in mind the global fashions trends.

Moreover, they also provide décor akin to what one sees on screen in various movies and glossy magazines.

That aside, they also offer good choice of window blinds including remote controlled blinds, Roman, roller, honeycomb, monsoon blinds (end to end) including quilts and mattresses; the floor being decorated with centre pipes and rugs. Further, 3D curtains, florescent, vibrant, geometric, abstract curtains and sheets with cozy cushions and comfortable sofas complete the whole look.

Living Concepts also has theme based curtains, kitchen designs, Christmas & bead designs alongside awnings

52 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

“We are adding smiles and touching people’s life which is our strategy and we are sure to roar after the present lockdown ends. Remember, beautification does not cost a fortune at Doshy’s Living Concepts, which turns your dreams into reality!”

Sandeep Doshy

and canopies. Moreover, customized print curtains can be manufactured as well What began as a process of fulfilling dreams for people with modest incomes, has now become a full fledged brand. People flaunt with pride, the label of Living Concepts. With a recent extension of a new showroom just across the street in Pajifond, Margao, Living Concepts has added medium ranged brand collections, thus fulfilling the needs of the small & medium income brackets as well. Living

The BNI Edge Speaking of his association with BNI over the past 6 years, Sandeep believes that BNI has helped him in getting referral based business and as a result, his BNI colleagues have also become part of his clientele now. BNI has helped in spreading the brand name by word of mouth, particularly in North Goa. The COVID-19 Challenge Considering that the world is currently going through difficult times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandeep says that just like any other businessman, his business is also facing crisis. However, all necessary precautions ranging from face masks, gloves and sanitizers have been put in place. The store has a large front facing floor area. This makes it easier for customers to walk into their store without being anxious about safety and shop with ease.

The Future of Business Commenting upon the way ahead for Living Concepts, Sandeep says, “We are adding smiles and touching people’s life which is our strategy and we are sure to roar after the present lockdown ends.

Remember, beautification does not cost a fortune at Doshy’s Living Concepts which turns your dreams into reality!”

Social index

@businessgoa

ryan cosme costa / president, rotary club panaji riviera

“Rotary Opens Infinite Opportunities” The newly installed president of Rotary Club Panaji Riviera speaks about the Club’s plans for the year ahead

be installed at Rugnashray, Bambolim, through the hard work of Immediate Past President Rtn. Yogish Kulkarni and his team in the field of breast and cervical cancer detection.

2. Participation in the literacy mission of Rotary India by helping children from rural areas to get online for their classes, so that no child needs to miss out on his or her education just because their parents cannot afford the tools for the virtual classes.

3. Addressing environmental concerns and helping in the ‘Water Mission’ of Rotary India.

4. Growing local economies by helping in improving the skill sets of school and high school dropouts in the field of technical education and vocational courses. This will be the need of the hour as we stare at rising unemployment in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic.

5. Improving the engagement and bonding between the members of our Club through innovative fellowships.

While we do align our club focus areas with the focus areas of Rotary International, we do have a few projects which are different.

I became the Club Service Director.

The next year, I took charge as the Club Secretary where I really got to know the ins and outs of Rotary. This was followed by a year of being the President-Elect.

Which brings me to 1st July 2020 when I took over the reigns as Club President of this prestigious club, Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera. I am today the 17th President of this club which was chartered on 16th June 2004.

Tell us about the pet project of the Club, the Home for Jawans?

One such project which is very close to our hearts is the construction of the Jawan’s Home at Salvador do Mundo on land owned by the Sainik Welfare Board. This project was conceptualised during the tenure of Past President Rtn. Amit Palekar. We are in the process of obtaining the final clearance for the same from Government of Goa. Once we get this, it will take us approximately 4 to 6 months to procure all construction clearances and then we immediately start with the construction of the home.

This home has been planned for Retired Defence Veterans who are abandoned by their families or who are unable to look after themselves. We would like to give back to our brave veterans something in return for their valour while defending and safeguarding our borders.

What is the focus area of your club for this Rotary year?

The focus areas of our club for this year are: 1. Cancer detection and prevention by means of putting into use the wonderful equipment that is about to

How have the various sub-committees planned their respective focus areas?

We have 5 Avenues of Service – Club Service, Vocational Service, Community Service, International Service and Youth or New Generation Service. Each of

Ryan Costa

Congratulations on taking over as president of Rotary Club Panaji Riviera.

How has your journey in the Club been leading up to the leadership position?

I joined Rotary on 11th September 2014 on the invitation of my college friend Rtn. Siddharth Zantye. I had just moved residence to Caranzalem from Mapusa and Rotary was a means for me to get to know people in Panaji.

As I got to know the members of the club and settled in, I was entrusted with the job of Sergeant of Arms for the Club.

In the next year. I was inducted into the Board of Directors as Community Service Director. It was during this year where the desire to serve the community was enkindled in me. The following year.

54 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

www.businessgoa.in

these are headed by a set of very competent Directors who decide on the projects to be conducted within their Avenue of Service. We also have Chairpersons for various committees which help in the overall functioning of the club and the delivery of our services. While I do ultimately lead the entire team of Directors & Chairpersons, this is a total team work and effort. I have had many meetings with the entire team over the last 2 months or so to chalk out the programs for the year; though this time, almost all of these meetings have been held in the online space – all this while being ably helped by the Club Secretary Rtn. Tanvi Sawant and Club Treasurer Rtn. Prasad Pawar.

This year, having started on a sombre note due to the Covid 19 pandemic, what measures has the Cub taken in its drive to support society in times of the pandemic?

Our Club took a very proactive approach when the first lockdown took effect.

Under the able leadership of the outgoing President Rtn. Yogish and his team, we reached out to approximately 5000 odd migrant labourers and poor Goan families and provided them dry rations.

We also reached out to a few orphanages and old aged care institutes.

Our Club has worked on a Global Grant project of a value of Rs. 75 lakhs. We will be providing certain essential equipment to the Directorate of Health Services like 1 ventilator, RNA Extractor and PCR Analyser etc. This will go a long way in helping to fight this pandemic. All these equipments are expected to be handed over and installed in the next month.

Recently, our Club donated a clothes dryer to the Candolim Health Centre as they were facing difficulty in drying all the staff overalls after being washed.

We will also be looking to provide automated sanitizer

of the Club to society over the years?

Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera, over the past 16 years, has been serving humanity in the sincerest way possible; and while doing so, has created a niche for itself through certain significant, signature and permanent Installation ceremony of Rotary Club Panaji Riviera for the year 2020-21 projects.

L to R: Prasad Pawar, Tanvi Sawant, Ryan Costa, Yogish Kulkarni, Sairaj Dhond and Dr Rohan Fonseca The Ananta dispensers at various PHCs in twist, ‘Rotary Opens Infinite Physiotherapy Centre is an the next few weeks along with Opportunities’. We have taken initiative by Bandekar Charity a month’s supply of sanitizer the theme into the realm of Foundation and Rotary liquid. the infinite. We are living in Club of Panaji Riviera, in a world beset by problems Vasco da Gama. This Centre What does your leadership such as lack of access to water, was inaugurated under the team bring to the table in sanitation, essential health able leadership of our Past terms of their professional services, basic electricity in President Rtn. Madhavi expertise and how do they plan some parts of our country Bandekar Shetye and is to put that into play in rotary and the world, environmental currently one of Riviera’s service for this year? issues and so many more, permanent projects. The gift Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera which give us Rotarians the of solar lighting to Bulanjury has members from diverse opportunity to come forth, a remote village in Gambia, professions and many of them brainstorm, develop and thus Africa was a significant are leaders in their business discover solutions to these international project by Past or profession in Goa. The very problems. Each problem President Rtn. Siddharth leadership team comprises can be viewed in multiple Zantye. The bright yellow members as diverse as doctors, ways as an opportunity for us helmets given 4 years ago to engineers to financial wizards. to come forth and serve the motorcycle pilots around Goa Each of these members bring community. Thus, the theme embellished with the Rotary their core competencies to the for this year ‘Rotary Opens Wheel and safety slogans was table and this is what helps us Opportunities’ allows us the a project by Past President to solve any problem which opportunity to apply, to put Rtn. Raja Melvani. may beset the community by into action, the basic motto of Whether we are donating seeking inputs from each of Rotary which is Service above books to school-children or these members.

Self. conducting a blood donation Our members are also camp or a cataract detection well networked in their What legacy projects do you camp, even as we evolve to professional fields and it takes wish to carry forward? keep up with the changing just a phone call to garner the Conducting of cataract times and community issues, best advice required to solve detection camps followed up the essence of who we are any problem placed before with free cataract surgeries and what makes a Rotarian us. Each member is a ‘Cog in through our partner Bhagwati doesn’t change. We are still the Wheel’ which keeps the Trust, Menstrual Hygiene based on a classification Rotary Wheel moving ahead programs for adolescents in principle, because diversity is to find solutions for problems schools, the transformation our strength. We still treasure faced by the community. of rural schools into ‘Happy The Four-Way Test perched Schools’ are some of the legacy on our office tables, because Please explain your vision in projects that we will continue high ethical standards in our perspective for the Rotary this year, too. Some of these professions don’t ever go out theme for the year... will need to be kept on hold of style.

‘Rotary Opens Opportunities’ until the Covid-19 pandemic ‘Service Above Self ’ is the is the theme for this year is under control. But we will central motto around which coined by RI President Rtn. try to modify the delivery Rotary has been built. That is Holger Knaack. The theme mechanisms of the others so the main reason why each one has three doors in a semi open that we can implement the of us joined Rotary in the first position signifying the theme solutions that have been fineplace. May we, in this year, of opening opportunities. tuned over the years.

‘Open the Doors to Infinite We, as a Club, have Opportunities’ for each one of given the theme a positive What has been the contribution us and the society at large july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 55

Leisure

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Sumeet & Archana Bhobe

The Lockdown Laughter Challenge

Where the COVID pandemic-induced lockdown has forced people to practice social distancing, Sumeet & Archana Bhobe, owners of Snip Salons & Spas, speak about embracing social media, staying connected and positivity

I

By ameya nayak

t is true, that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made it obligatory for one and all to confine themselves to the four walls of their homes and follow quarantine norms. Nonetheless, in such times, where one is bound to be overcome by lethargy and boredom, the ever so accessible social media platforms and its usage has worked like a blessing in disguise when it comes to keeping in touch with family and friends across the globe, sharing memorable images of good times, posting recipes of one’s favourite dishes and basically, passing one’s time! Moreover, research studies conducted during the lockdown has proved that the use of social media platforms during these times has surged, where the average amount of time spent on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media apps has elevated over 60%!

Speaking about the role that social media plays in their lives, Sumeet says “social media sadly, plays a very small role in my life.

When Facebook was in all rage, like everyone else, I would also post what I

have eaten, where I hang out and what I have acquired, on a regular basis. However, at one point, the pressure to post started mounting to an extent that I withdrew from the site, thus deleting the app!

However, when I recently browsed through my Facebook feed, I realized how toxic Facebook has become. It is full of nasty fights and arguments over trivial issues, mostly politics and I am glad that I am not a slave to this poison-ivy circus!” while Archana says “I primarily use Facebook for information on my areas

56 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

of interest, more specifically groups dedicated to dogs, fashion and art. I like to browse Instagram for a couple of hours because it’s a more sophisticated platform and is focused on visuals. Also, it’s like an online magazine for me, customized according to my personal taste.”

Sumeet further says that having access to social media has, in some little way, helped him pass his time during the lockdown as he tends to be bored easily as a result of which he switches between social media (mostly Instagram) to reading books to watching movies to writing once in a while.

Commenting upon the social media apps that they have been personally using, Sumeet says “I joined Instagram in 2016 and I like this platform very much as it is focused on sharing positive imagery rather than engaging in unnecessary rants and baseless

Archana and Sumeet Bhobe

arguments. Like everyone else, I too have posted a few pictures on Instagram that are candid snapshots of my life. Surprisingly, I also recently discovered a video sharing app, thanks to my wife Archana in March this year and although I was a very reluctant participant in her videos, I quickly got a hang of the game and then created my own account and started creating my own content.”

When asked about the kind of response they have received for their content from their viewers for their funny videos, Sumeet and Archana quip, “Well, by going by the number of likes and comments, many people seem to find our videos very entertaining. We think it is the irreverence and lightheartedness of the content we create, that appeals to our viewers. If we don’t post for a few days we’d get many messages to upload new content. Honestly, we are quite amused with all the positive feedback.”

Ever since the lockdown, Sumeet and Archana have found social media platforms to be of massive significance, especially when it comes to tackling their boredom and passing their time fruitfully while engaging in the creation of rib-tickling content and allowing their viewers and followers a laugh or two!

Finally, speaking about the suggestions they would like to give their viewers and people in general so as to using social media during these lockdown times, they say, ”Get in touch with your creative side. Paint, cook, write, read or do anything that stimulates the right side of your brain! Just sit back and enjoy the new ‘normal’.

The planet is taking a break and so should you!”

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startups

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Venture Catalysts expands its network to Goa

The venture capital fund is on a hunt to find the next promising startup from India’s potential Silicon Valley, Goa

V

enture Catalysts, India’s leading integrated incubator, has partnered with rajkumar kamat to expand its footprint in the Goa region.

Venture Catalysts provides a combination of capital, mentoring and network thereby contributing actively to the growth and the success of the investee companies.

Crunch Base has recognised Venture Catalysts as the“7th Most Active Angel & Seed Investor in the World” for 2019.

The online launch of the Goa chapter was held recently. The idea of the launch is aligned with the incubator’s efforts to raise the levels of innovation and foster entrepreneurship in the country, especially those beyond Mumbai and Delhi.

Venture Catalysts is present in 30+ cities in India & 5 countries worldwide including UAE, UK, Singapore, HK & USA. Venture Catalysts’ digital launch kicked off with a panel discussion on “Angels and Start-ups: Creating Wealth and Value” by its founder Dr

Apoorva Ranjan Sharma and Rajkumar Kamat

Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, angel investor and mentor, Revathy Ashok, an angel investor.

Talking about the importance of launching in more cities during the COVID19 crisis, Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, said, “Difficult times calls for innovative solutions and measures. Some of the most valuable companies and Unicorns were born during economic depressions and pandemics. We at Venture Catalysts are always scouting for innovative and scalable startups and we feel this is the right time to tap such startups. Our overall objective

is to provide a much-needed fillip to the fledgling start-up ecosystem and provide the budding entrepreneurs with the right mix of guidance, mentorship, and access to funds.”

VCATs is on mission to educate youngsters to become entrepreneurs and help in creating more Unicorns out of India. The incubator’s role will also involve in creating awareness among businesses and investors about the importance of startup as an asset class.

Goa parter of the alliance, Rajkumar Kamat, who is promoter of EP Kamat Group, Executive Director of

BNI & President of Vibrant Goa Foundation added, “The Government of Goa is driven to making the state one of the most preferred startup destinations in India and Asia at large. By powering entrepreneurship through its Startup Policy, Goa aims to encourage early-stage ventures to succeed. We propose to support these intentions of the government by taking a substantial step forward in this endeavour.

Nestled in close proximity to both rural and urban attractions, Goa’s startups enjoy a unique mix of business and leisure. Scoring high on work-life harmony, Goa is unmatched when it comes to culture, weather, infrastructure and quality of life. However, Goa lacks proper venture capital ecosystem and VCATs has an immense opportunity to fill that void. It is a great opportunity for us to be able to work with Venture Catalysts that has mentored companies such as Beardo, Fynd, Oyo during their early stage”

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Mail this form along with payment to BUSINESS GOA 409, Citicentre, EDC Patto Plaza, Panaji 403001 Goa INDIA Tel.: 91-832-2437822 Email: businessgoa.media@gmail.com 58 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Biz bytes

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Industry and ideators back ‘Parivartan Karo Na’ contest Amidst the COVID-19 led lockdown, the GDP Foundation along with local startups, Demerg Systems, Internship Station and Goa Bylane conducted the ‘Parivartan Karo Na’ contest.

This contest aimed at encouraging Goan locals to come forward and think of simple and advanced solutions that could aid the State in bouncing back from the pandemic led crisis.

The contest that took off on April 14th, invited solutions from participants in five major areas – medical combat readiness, socioeconomic and cultural ecosystem restoration, envision new forms of operations, smart disaster management system and reinvention of the economy.

The contest received participation from over 125 people who registered in less than three weeks time.

The contestants happened to be businessmen, principals of educational institutions, consultants, students and NGOs. Inspired by the innovative and novel ideas suggested by the participants, the contest organizers took the decision to compile these ideas in the form of a book titled ‘Making of Parivartan Karo Na’ and was launched on June 6th by Manoj Caculo, president, Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

The GDP Foundation is a trust promoted by Kishore M Shah, director, Ideaz Unlimited; Ameya Salatry, Legal minds LLP; Sandesh Prabhukhanolkar, Chartered Accountant, KPT & Associates LLP; and Parag Veluskar, a HR professional.

Speaking about the creation of the contest, Shah spoke about how the COVID-19 led lockdown and Janata curfew constrained them to remain indoors with clear instructions to maintain social distance and strict rules of hygiene and sanitization.

Shah further added

Release of the book: Kishore M Shah, Manoj Caculo, Ralph de Sousa, Ameya Salatry, Ramakant S Kamat and others

“No thought process was triggered. Digital India did not get into action. We, the Trustees of GDP Foundation were restless. Instead of coming forward and thinking of new ways to restart the machinery, our brain was occupied with finding means to stock everyday essentials.

However, everything seemed to be more supply chain management-centric but we adapted to this lifestyle, soon enough. This was the real concern. We, at GDPF felt the need to make people think of ways to break free from this hedonic adapation and that is how the ‘Parivartan Karo Na’ contest was born!”

The judges panel for the contest comprised of 14 experts. The following were declared as Hi-Potential entries.

Challenge 1: Medical Combat Readiness Dr. Neena Panandikar, Principal, Don Bosco College of Engineering, Goa (Cash Award) Amit Santra, Chief Design Engineer, Powerland Agro Tractor Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. Goa (Cash Award) Ryan Vaz, Infinyt3D, Goa (Prototype Funding)

form of Operations Krupashri Koli, Team Focusa – DBCE Students, Goa (Cash Award) Challenge 4: Smart Disaster Management Team Vinish Desai, Architect/ Sculptor, Pune (Cash Award) Sushant Tapkir, Adventure Expert, Pune (Cash Award) Dr. Nandkumar Sawant and Team, Principal, Chowgule College, Goa (Cash Award) Challenge 5: Revive- RestoreReinvent the Goan / Indian/ World Economy

Dr. Parashram Patil, Agricultural Economist, APEDA, New Delhi. (Cash Award) Savved Khandke, Optismart, MSME, Goa (Cash Award) Additionally, the awardees also received industry / investor / Government liasoning and mentorship from the esteemed ‘Parivartan Panel’. The liason is all set to be initiated on August 1st, 2020 however, preparatory orientation would be conducted for the successful entries prior to the liasoning process

Challenge 2 : Socio-EcoCultural Restoration Mayuri Bhate, Mitsuko Trust, Goa (Seed Funding) Parag Jumde, Pick My Cart, Goa (Cash Award) Harish Usgaonker, Letcetera Agritech, Goa (Cash Award) Dr. Sachin Tendulkar and Team, Shramik App, Goa (Prototype Funding) Challenge 3: Envisaging new july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 59

Biz bytes

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CII Yi-Goa facilitates online teaching in colleges

With online learning becoming a necessity due to the ongoing COVID-19, CII Young Indians (Yi) Goa chapter in association with the Roshini Social Schooling Programme distributed free licenses for MS Office 365 to aided colleges in the state.

The tools available under MS Office will help the faculty and students of these colleges in its transition to online teaching and learning as remote learning has become necessary due to COVID 19 and as per UGC guidelines.

Since most of the students belong to first generation users of these tools and other

Anirudh Dempo, Prasad Lolayekar, Jayesh Raikar, Rohit Zantye and others

computer equipment, it will help to lessen the financial burden on these parents.

There are also a large number of students of these colleges

who belong to rural areas and will be benefited through this scheme.

Anirudh Dempo, chair, Yi Goa chapter presented

the Microsoft 365 licences to Prasad Lolayekar, Director of Higher Education Govt of Goa, which in turn would be allotted to all government colleges in Goa including 6500 students and all faculties of the colleges.

“This initiative will offer the colleges a comprehensive learning platform. Yi Goa will handhold and train students and faculty in adopting the technology,” said Anirudh Dempo.

Other industrialists like Jayesh Raikar of Goldy Finepacks Pvt Ltd and Rohit Zantye of the cashewnut major were also present

Flycatcher among global top-5 waste management technology firms Flycatcher Technologies, has been ranked among the world’s five top waste management startups, which are making a difference in today’s smart cities, by a global start-up scouting outfit StartUs Insights.

Based in Goa and Gujarat, Flycatcher Technologies’ waste management tech could well be the answer to some of the challenges posed to the hospitality and other sectors – which has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic – vis a vis maximisation of existing resources in order to cut down on operational costs.

The cutting-edge engineering technology adopted by Flycatcher Technologies has been in action in several waste management projects in Goa and Maharashtra over the last few years, before it caught the eye of StartUs Insights.

StartUs Insights is a global firm headquartered in Austria.

They specialise in the early identification of emerging startups, technologies, and business models. The reputed organisation delivers actionable innovation intelligence-driven by big data and artificial intelligence.

StartUs Insights analysed 327 waste management

Flycatcher Te c h n o l o g i e s provides endto-end solutions related to waste management, through its highly advanced bio-digesters.

The bio-digesters feed off wetwaste to generate

startups across the globe, before finalising ShareWaste, Flycatcher Technologies, Gringgo, Impact Bioenergy and Recycling Perks as the five exciting firms to look out for.

“Zero waste systems offer domestic and commercial decomposter systems that handle waste transforming it into a soil amendment or/ and a renewable source of energy. This kind of systems, work with almost all types of common waste. Flycatcher Technologies provide a sealed microprocessor-controlled waste management system with an integrated feed station for homes and small companies, that convert the trash into energy in the form of biogas and organic fertilisers,” says StartUs Insights of Flycatcher Technologies.

60 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Richard Dias

both bio-gas as well as a natural fertiliser.

“The public and private sector in the country is looking to cut overhead costs to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. This technology can assist the public sector and businesses to rationally reduce their fuel-related costs in a big way,” says Richard Dias, Founder and VP, Flycatcher Technologies.

The unique aspect of the technology is that there is no residue left behind after the treatment. The material which is used to build Flycatcher Technologies’ digesters itself is recyclable, too.

Flycatcher Technologies offer two digesters namely ‘The Rhino Digester’, which is an automated microprocessor-controlled system, which is equipped with an integrated crusher and can be installed on a terrace or a compound. The Rhino can treat from 20 kgs to 5000 kgs of kitchen waste per day to produce organic fertiliser as well as biogas.

The other model is the ‘Amazing Dedko Digester’, which can treat 2 kgs waste per day and the bio-gas it generates can save up to 30 per cent in LPG costs.

“We offer a wide range of experience and high-quality technical skills which results in products that are one-ofa-kind and reliable. Each product has over 250 unique parts that are chosen for their quality and ability to be recycled after the operational life of the product. Anything that we put out has a positive impact on the ecology,” Dias adds www.businessgoa.in

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 59

Economic periscope / DR Satyendra naik

Global Economy in Perspective: Then, Now and Ahead The economist speaks about how the global economy has shaped over the years and the transformation it has undergone in the midst of wars, depressions and pandemics

O

ver a period of the last 90 years, the size, character, structure, functioning and dynamics of the global economy has undergone a dramatic transformation. While the post-war period was characterized by faster and widespread industrialisation of the global economy supported by the Keynesian economic policy, it also witnessed the independence of the economies colonized in the pre-war period and their effort to pursue economic policies to develop their economies. This period of growth was punctuated by the oil crisis of 1974-79 which caused a new problem called ‘stagflation’. By the beginning of 1980s stagflation was overcome with the launch of a new economic philosophy of globalization. It brought about a massive global economic transformation through record investments by the developed countries into the less developed emerging market economies and record growth in world trade. The speed of globalization was halted by the financial crisis in 2008 which slid the global economy into the worst recession since 1930s. Policy reaction to the crisis was quick, unprecedented, novel and forceful. The rare combination of record Keynesian fiscal deficit and ultra-dovish unconventional monetary policy that revived the global economy by 2010.

Although the fiscal deficit reverted to the normal level and Quantitative Easing by the Federal Reserve and other central banks reversed, the interest rates continued to be at near zero levels.

Great Depression 1930s The Great Depression of 1930s has been historically the worst economic crisis suffered by the global economy. Triggered by the great stock market crash in 1929 in America and compounded by the large negative wealth effect followed by the banking crisis caused by the chain of failures of banks that led to a massive demand contraction in the economy.

Restrictive and beggar-thy-neighbor trade policies caught the nations in the vicious circle and intensified the problem.

The doctrine of balanced budget, monetary system under gold standard and conventional central banking were an anachronism in the wake of this new economic calamity.

tailspin under the impact of this oil crisis and experienced the first major global economic recession since the Great Depression of 1930.

The Keynesian Revolution: Saving the World from Economic Depression The global economy was in search of a new policy framework guided by fresh perspective on the functioning and dynamics of an economy. At this juncture, Cambridge economist, John Maynard Keynes emerged as the messiah to save the capitalistic economies by his novel ‘General Theory’ contrasting the earlier classical economics. The central doctrine of the General Theory was that the momentum of an economy is guided by the size and growth of the aggregate demand in the economy comprising the private consumption and investment demand, and net government expenditure. Policy prescription that followed from this was that during deep economic depression when private consumption and investment demand fails to respond to monetary policy of low interest rate, the government has to pump and prime the economy through massive expenditure through deficit financing by abandoning the doctrine of balanced budget. After its first prescription in 1930s, deficit financing became a standard cure for depression and recessions.

Roaring Industrial Growth of 1950s-60s The 1950s and 60s marked the era of unprecedented roaring economic growth in global economic history fuelled by cheap energy source and supply, the crude oil, supported by fiscal deficits and cheap money policies. This phase of sustained industrial growth was abruptly interrupted by the action of oil exporting nations to form a cartel, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and raising the crude oil price from $3 per barrel to $12 in 1974 and to $39 in 1979. The global economy went into a

The writer runs Spectrafin. He has more than 30 years’ experience in finance and banking. Email: nsatyen@gmail.com 62 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Oil Crisis of 1970s Oil crisis gave rise to a new economic problem called ‘stagflation’. Thirteenfold rise in crude oil prices raised the cost structure in all economies resulting in cost-push inflation, while at the same time sliding the aggregate demand in all oil importing nations and blowing the winds of recessionary pressure in their economies. The economic crisis of second half of 1970s could not be resolved by the traditional monetary and fiscal policies, and demanded a structural reform in the functioning of the global economy.

1980s: Enter Globalization The philosophy of globalization was born out of this quagmire. It was imperative to have a new policy and action in three areas of the economy. Lesser government involvement and intervention with economic liberalization, removal of government regulations, and privatization of government enterprises to allow free market mechanism to function efficiently in the economy.

Removal of tariff and other restrictions on foreign trade and investment for promoting free global trade and investments.

Ensuring adequate financing mechanism to support higher global trade and investments.

Smith-Ricardo-Keynes (SRK) Combo Theoretical underpinning of policy of globalization was derived from the ideas and theories of three great economists. Adam Smith, for advocacy of free markets, removal of government regulations in business and minimal government. David Ricardo, for promotion of free trade based his principle of comparative cost advantage.

And John Maynard Keynes’ theory of deficit financing in international context for creating a financing channel for higher global trade and investments with US dollar and US Treasury bills playing a predominant role. Globalization was Smith-Ricardo-Keynes (SRK) theories in combo.

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3W Policy Also known as the 3W (Washington-World BankWall Street) policy for the initiative these institutions and agencies took to formulate and implement the policy of globalization. In the early 1980s Ronald Reagan in America and Margaret Thatcher in Britain took the lead in pursing these policies that were supported by the World Bank and investment bankers in the Wall Street.

The globalization channeled massive dollar investments from the developed world into the emerging market economies, and later promoted exports from the latter economies to the former, thereby raising the rates of economic growth in both the economies. The US Treasury bills constituted the primary source of funding globalization.

2008: Global Financial Crisis* The global economy witnessed the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression with the break out of the financial crisis in 2008. Triggered in America due to the sub-prime debt repayment defaults leading to the collapse of a trillion dollar + market for subprime mortgage securities; it inflicted heavy financial casualties and huge losses due to its sheer large size on the mortgage and commercial banks and financial institutions. The losses due to defaults of borrowers were also compounded by the losses also in derivatives positions in several novel instruments like credit default swaps in the market by banks, financial institutions and insurance companies. It also affected the global banking system due to its involvement in the market as well as the chain reaction from the cross lending. The crash in the stock market, and fall in consumer spending and business investment globally caused an unusual largest fall in global GDP for the first

John Maynard Keynes

John Maynard Keynes emerged as the messiah to save the capitalistic economies by his novel ‘General Theory’ contrasting the earlier classical economics. The central doctrine of the General Theory was that the momentum of an economy is guided by the size and growth of the aggregate demand in the economy comprising the private consumption and investment demand, and net government expenditure

US-China Trade War For years, since the beginning of globalization, China followed the trade practices in violation of fair trade, trademarks, and intellectual property rights, without abiding by the principle of reciprocity. In 2018, President of the United States, Donald Trump took a stern action against imports from China by imposing tariffs and non-tariff barriers and forcing China to extend fair treatment to imports from the US. This prolonged trade war has led to ongoing trade negotiations that are yet to see any significant tangible results.

Economic Repercussions of Corona The most bizarre, unexpected and challenging problem which has hit the global population and economy has been Covid-19. Since March, this year, the virus

has spread from country to country across the globe, on a scale unprecedented and unimaginable level to be beyond the control of WHO as well as medically most advanced nations. It has brought a devastating impact on the global economy, which has been left behind in economic terms, by at least a year, with some irrecuperable losses. Although nations are fighting on medical grounds and setting social behaviour norms, the normalcy will only return when the vaccine is found and Covid-19 is eradicated like small pox or polio. Restoration of local, regional and cross-country mobility of people and goods will only re-establish normalcy in economic activities, employment and growth *Refer Author’s Book The Global Financial Crisis: Genesis, Policy Response and Road Ahead, Springer

time since 1930s.

Era of Cheap Money Policy reaction to the financial crisis marked a new era in monetary policy.

Unconventional approach to monetary policy with Quantitative Easing (QE, involving the Federal Reserve buying the Govt. and other securities in the market to inject liquidity in the financial system) and near zero interest rates making borrowing cheaper was intended to promote borrowing for consumption and investment spending and thereby recycle the growth momentum at a higher pace. Both these measures helped in reviving the economy. Although QEs are reversed the sub-zero interest have become a new normal in monetary situation across the developed world. july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 63

MONEY MATTERS / V B Prabhu Verlekar

Managing in a Covidised World The writer shares his ideas for managing life in a ‘Covidised’ world for different sections of society

T

he impact of the lockdown due to the corona pandemic has been devastating for all sectors of the economy, as also on social life. With disruption of business enterprises and huge job losses resulting in the migration of workers to their home states, the virus has posed an unprecedented challenge to humanity.

There is uncertainty, anxiety and fear all around. So far, there has not been any solution for the treatment of Covid-19 and the disrupted economy will take time to recover.

The following are some ideas which come to my mind for managing life in a ‘covidised’ world for different sections of society.

• Rather than living in fear and anxiety and locking oneself in the home, accept it as a normal part of your day to day life and move ahead confidently to face your routine work by taking all the necessary precautions of hygiene, mask, hand gloves, and physical distancing. Instead of attending to endless negative discussions on TV news channels and social media, build your immunity by enhancing your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual strength through health exercises, yogasanas, dhyan, pranayam, meditation, breathing techniques, good positive reading and thoughts, compassion and caring. I have been doing this regularly for the past many years and I don’t remember when I had a cold, fever or any illness.

• To cover the Covid risk of sickness, have a mediclaim health insurance policy to meet prohibitive hospital expenses and for risk of death, a term life insurance policy which is available at very low cost to protect your family in case of your demise. Ensure that all investments and bank accounts are either in joint names or with nominations. Execute a Will to leave your estate to your spouse and children as per your wish.

• If you are an investor in stocks or mutual funds, do not sell under panic.

The stock market is bound to bounce back once the economy revives. In fact, you should invest more when the market is down under a systematic investment plan.

• If you are an employee of Central or State Government, Government aided educational institutions, Government Corporation or Banks with a secured pensionable or safe job; or successful

So far there has not been any solution for the treatment of Covid-19 and the disrupted economy will take time to recover doctor, chartered accountant, lawyer or any professional; high net-worth individual with regular income flow; you should freely and liberally spend money on all good things of life – food, clothing, household goods, entertainment, travel, vehicles. This will inject more money in the economy and increase demand for goods and services with higher purchasing power, generating production and employment with the upper cyclical effect leading to the revival of the economy. Your spending will be a great service to the nation.

• However, those with the uncertainty of jobs, or shaky businesses should conserve cash by minimizing their needs and spending on bare essentials. At the same time, one should look to having an additional source of income using one’s skills, competence, and enterprise.

• In the present time of crisis, employees, if they don’t wish to be retrenched, should not be critical and fault-finders of their employers. They should willingly accept restructured pay package, should not dodge work and find ways and means to improve competence to contribute to the business of the employer and work in team spirit which will make them indispensable.

• Those who are out of a job should learn practical skills and competence useful to the businesses and record in their CVs. Then try to look for a new opening by using every possible contact

and other networks without hesitation on full time basis. During free time, engage in any activity of your choice, exercise, and pursue hobbies to keep the mind away from negative thoughts.

• Ladies and housewives who are good in knitting, embroidery, art-work, cooking, teaching, grooming, music or any other skill should market their skills through online, social media or self-help groups to support the family income.

• Help your friends, relatives, neighbours if they are in distress without their asking. But this should not be at cost of your survival.

• The good lifestyle of the middle and upper class is subsidized through low wages of maids, drivers, and other servants. In western countries, even the rich cannot afford chauffeurs and maids.

Show them dignity and self respect by serving them on the table, food which you eat. Be generous in giving them weekly paid holidays, bonuses on festival occasions, and helping their children for education.

• Be generous in giving tips to service providers whenever services are availed to put a little extra in the hands of those who have meagre salaries.

• Do not bargain when you buy from the street or local vendors. Their earnings are marginal.

• Small and medium business enterprises should find ways and means to cut down their costs, look after

The Columnist is a senior Chartered Accountant and has authored many books on accounting and taxation. Email: verlekar@bsnl.in 64 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

@businessgoa

recovery of dues, increase productivity and efficiency through the use of technology and innovations. Negotiate and restructure salaries and wages of staff till business revives. Do not retrench workers as far as possible since his family is dependent on him. Business enterprises should study the support schemes announced by the government to secure the benefit. Enterprises that have liquidity should pay their suppliers promptly and if possible, give them advance. This will help them to survive and build a strong and long term relationship.

• Support your neighbourhood stores who met your needs during the lockdown period, instead of buying online through e-commerce apps.

• Builders and real estate developers with borrowed funds having unsold inventory should dispose of the stocks with lesser margins or even at a loss to have liquidity and to prevent action by financial institutions.

• Teachers should upgrade their skills with serious self-study for on-line digital teaching through free/paid online courses. Otherwise, they will be irrelevant and will lose self-respect. They should

Remember these are very challenging times for everyone, which is not going to last for long. This should be faced proactively with a solution-oriented attitude and looking for new opportunities learn to be innovative in the presentation to maintain the attention of the students.

• Singers, musicians, dancers and other artists should use the lockdown period to have deep and serious practice of their art with total immersion. Once normalcy is restored, rejuvenated artists will be able to have extraordinary performances.

• Wherever possible, order online through food delivery apps to provide support to restaurant services since they cannot open for regular customers.

• Senior Citizens should empower themselves to manage their affairs from the comfort of home with digital knowledge and skills by using their smartphones. Learn internet banking for

fund transfers and to make payment of utility bills ; use of applications for online ordering of food, medicines, goods, taxi booking; operate email accounts; chat with friends, participate in webinars, conferences, meetings through internet applications like Zoom, Google Meet.

Know about connectivity solutions like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Hotspot. Watch movies, TV programs, listen to music, and lectures on the subject of their choice through YouTube and other applications.

Make a beginning and with practice you will automatically have digital mastery.

The best way to start is seeking guidance from your school-going grandchildren.

This has been my personal experience.

• Religious institutions with cooking facilities should provide meals to the needy in their neighborhood to the extent possible. This is service to living Gods for divine blessings.

Remember these are very challenging times for everyone, which is not going to last for long. This should be faced proactively with a solutionoriented attitude and looking for new opportunities

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corporate citizen / Daniel Albuquerque

Defaulter Telecoms in the Dock The author analyses the two-decade old dispute between the Government of India and players in the telecom sector. The agreed licence fee payment that was converted into Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) was defaulted for all these years over a disagreement of the AGR definition. The Supreme Court is firm that the companies must pay the dues. The author also sheds light on the consequences suffered by the stakeholders

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ere is a case of mammoth default of dues against the Government of India.

It is common knowledge, which has been further corroborated by the Apex Court, that the telecoms are the only industry that is faring well amidst the financial disaster. The mountain of dues, as well as the legal tangles confounding even as the Supreme Court of India that is trying to clear the mess and provide a channel of financial hope to the country reeling under the Covid-19 pandemic. It is as follows: Bharti Airtel owes `35,600 crore; while Vodafone-Idea owes `53,000 crore; Reliance Communication at `21,200 crore; Tata Group to pay `13,800 crore.

To make it short – licence fee, spectrum fee, dues and penalties make it One Lakh Forty Seven Thousand Crores!

On 24 October 2019, the Supreme Court Bench consisting of Justices Arun Mishra, Vineet Saran, S. Ravindra Bhat delivered an important judgment in the suit, Union of India versus Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), the above mentioned defaulting telecoms.

The law states: “The payments made for the grant of a licence under this sub-section shall include such sum attributable to the Universal Service Obligation as may be determined by the Central Government after considering the recommendation made in this behalf by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India established under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997).” Explanation, Section 4 (05) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. The brief consists of a contract between the Department of Telecommunications of (DoT) under Ministry of Communications, Government of India, and the AUSPI. The contracting parties are signatories to clause 19.1 of the Licence Agreement granted by the Government of India to the Telecom Service Providers. The context of this agreement is the National Telecom Policy, 1994; the licences issued were as per Section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885; accordingly an

annual licence fee was payable by the service providers. As these parties found it difficult to honour their obligations, the association negotiated with DoT for a staggered payment called Adjusted Gross Revenue Sharing (AGR). Accordingly, DoT systematized the revenue payable from the gross revenues of the service providers; it included all revenues from both telecoms as well as non-telecom services. Gross revenue would consist of installation charges, late fees, sale proceeds of handsets, related equipment. Further, revenue on account of interest, dividend, value-added services, and supplementary services, access / interconnection charges, roaming charges, revenue from permissible sharing of infrastructure and any other miscellaneous revenue and so on would also be included. The problems were immediate: AUSPI disagreed. It said that the revenue should include only the core operations which are directly arising out of the telecom operations.

After lengthy deliberations of materials presented and the arguments from the petitioner and respondent, the Supreme Court came to the following judgment: “Matter was remitted after giving finding on inclusion of the various heads in the definition of gross revenue.

Even as per the case of licensees they were not validly included in definition, now reprobating that, stand has been taken that they did not form part of revenue which is not permissible. No litigant can be permitted to reap fruits on such inconsistent and untenable stands and litigate for decades in several rounds which is not so uncommon but is disturbing scenario projected in very many cases. We have examined the matter upon merits and then aforesaid conclusion indicates frivolous nature of objections. In the result, the appeals of licensees are dismissed and filed by DoT, are accordingly allowed in view of the findings recorded.”

Having lost the case AUSPI turned again to the Supreme Court for relief. The Court heard the case as on 18 June 2020 and gave the following directive: Come up with a reasonable payment plan; submit the books of account for the past

The columnist is a writer with Oxford University Press and a published author. Email: albuquerque.daniel@gmail.com 66 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

ten years. The Court did not hesitate to reprimand DoT for its dereliction of duty in collecting the dues. If the reports are anything to go by, AUSPI is preparing to go back again and plead for a review.

Briefly, let us consider the repercussions of the above case on the direct and indirect stakeholders in the telecoms: 1. The banks: It is clear that the Supreme Court will not show any leniency; rather it will not only hold the telecoms responsible, but also DoT and other agencies related to the determination and implementation of licence and spectrum fees. Experts are of the view that the telecoms will succumb and declare bankruptcy. Consequently, the concerned public sector banks which are already reeling under NPAs, will be staring at a vacuum of above one lakh crore rupees.

2. Non-Banking Sector/Mutual Funds: This is a very large base of investors of all kinds, especially the members of the public at large. As a consequence of the telecoms, these will be the ultimate sufferers.

3. The Government: Finally, it is the government that is responsible. How is it going to manage the financial conundrum in the present context of extreme recession, survival or revival packages of all and sundry caught up in the pandemic, and above all the boarders of the country being under threat?

4. Digital Economy: Just as India is stepping up its efforts to centre its economic prosperity on telecommunications and define it as digital economy, the enormous loss to the government caused by the telecoms and in real terms to the people of this country would drive the country backwards. Around these telecoms alone, businesses of all sizes and scale have spawned, whether in equipment, services or wireless technologies, etc. This would spell disaster to the related economic activities throughout the length and breadth of the country.

In conclusion, telecoms who would have been the backbone of the future of our country would be the worst

Uncomplicate Business / sunil dias

4 tips to boost Creativity and your Business

The writer shares tips on how to boost one’s creativity in uncertain times

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ven before Covid-19 struck, several disrupters were changing life and work as we knew it. For instance, the accelerated pace of technology disruption and the rise of nationalism. Globalization seemed to be under threat. Covid-19 has multiplied the uncertainty. Uncertain times can be great for some businesses.

And terrible for others.

Some of the biggest innovations and companies have emerged from uncertain periods. For instance, Uber and WhatsApp launched shortly after the 2008 recession. Disney launched in the middle of the Great Depression. The PC game pioneer, Electronic Arts launched during the 1982 recession. The common thread between these winners during uncertainty? Innovation and Creativity.

Most winning companies did something different. Often, drastically different.

How do we define what creativity is?

Creativity is solving problems or creating new stuff in novel and innovative ways.

Uncertain times need new ideas and products. So, getting creative is good for your business. Is being creative as simple as flicking a switch? It isn’t. But it isn’t rocket science either. This article looks at 4 tips to improving creativity.

Tip #1: Be messy Crayons seem to make kids go wild. Give them a pack of crayons and chances are they’ll be colouring everything in sight.

While it may seem so, the kids’ intent isn’t making a mess. Instead, the mess is an outcome of uninhibited curiosity and experimentation. You wouldn’t know how a pink crayon marking would look on a yellow wall without trying, would you? The key to creativity is being uninhibited and curious. And not being afraid to experiment.

Tip #2: Waste time Remember Archimedes? The scientist who reportedly went running naked in the streets. After realizing the Archimedes principle? Where did inspiration strike?

In his bathtub. Many people claim to get inspiration while in the loo. Or while

Creativity is solving problems or creating new stuff in novel and innovative ways. Uncertain times need new ideas and products. So, getting creative is good for your business.

Is being creative as simple as flicking a switch? It isn’t. But it isn’t rocket science either in the shower. The common thread in all these is that you need to be relaxed.

And that relaxation doesn’t come when you’re trying to beat the clock. Instead, it comes when you don’t need to keep gazing at the time. So, mulling over ideas is sometimes the best way to ‘slow-cook’ them. Till everything comes together for your Eureka moment.

As Yuval Harari says in a slightly different context. “You need to experiment with unproductive paths, to explore dead ends, to make space for doubts and boredom, and to allow little seeds of insight to slowly grow and blossom. If you cannot afford to waste time – you will never find the truth.”

Tip #3: Keep questioning Research says that at age 5, children ask 120 questions a day. At 6, it goes down to 60 questions. And at 40, adults ask just 4 questions a day. Creativity needs a ‘beginners mind’. A mind where we know we don’t have all the answers. And we realize that the only way to learn is by asking enough of the right questions.

As the poet Rainer Maria Rilke said, “Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart. And try to love the questions themselves.”

It’s important not to frame questions hastily. And not try to be super-quick in answering them. Often framing the right question is much more difficult than answering it. “Why don’t more people use apps like Skype?” was a question that the WhatsApp founder framed. The answer to the question is the reason why WhatsApp only used your phone number and a sms for sign-up. You see, people kept forgetting their username and password to access Skype. And signing

up for the service was cumbersome. The quick WhatsApp signup was a key reason for its meteoric rise.

Tip #4: Gather experience Steve Jobs once described creativity as connecting the dots. “When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.

That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.

And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences, or they have thought more about their experiences than other people”. He added that “most people don’t have enough dots to connect because they haven’t had many diverse experiences.” You need to keep searching for experiences that enrich. That could be a conversation with an interesting person or reading.

Just make sure that you aren’t looking for experiences only related to your line of business. Diversity of experiences is important. Granted, this takes time.

Yet, the best time to start doing this consciously is now.

Mary Angelou had this to say about creativity- “The important thing is to use it. You can’t use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have.” Think of creativity as a muscle. The more the exercise, the bigger it becomes. And the fuel nourishing the muscle growth is your diverse experiences. Finally, remember that coming up with ideas isn’t enough. If you have ideas but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative

The author runs iv-advisors, a consulting firm helping businesses become bigger and better. Email:sunildias@iv-advisors.com

losers. May be this sector would have no competitors; may be a company or two will come together and monopolize the largest telecom market in the world; or it may be that we will revert back to the

old system where government runs the sector.

In the final analysis, let us hope that telecoms understand their responsibilities towards their customers and the country

in particular. Telecoms will do well to heed the words of the Mahatma, “Breach of promise is no less an act of insolvency than a refusal to pay one’s debt” july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 67

people tree / kishore m shah

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in times of COVID-19 The writer speaks about the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility, exploring its national and international dimensions and ways in which modifying the concept of CSR can reinvigorate the economy in times of COVID-19

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bout a year ago, at Business Goa’s 10th anniversary celebration, the trustees, mentors and members of the advisory board of the magazine provided their valuable insights on its journey. However, the story shared by Datta Damodar Naik impacted me the most! He spoke about the eagle, and how, after a certain age, it flies to a secluded place and reinvents itself through a very painful process, and yet, does not give up! It’s a test of its perseverance which almost culminates into rebirth – a second life for the eagle!

At that point, little did we know that Mr Naik may have anticipated something for all of us or subtly hinted us that soon, all of us will use the anecdote that he shared for our personal and professional reinvention and revival which is also going to be used as a reference to build this article. Everyone speaks of CSR so it is about time the concept of CSR is revisited. What then is CSR? The Global Context There may not be a single universally accepted definition of CSR. Each definition that currently exists underpins the impact that businesses have on society, the community at large and also the societal expectations of them. All the roots of CSR lie in philanthropic activities (such as donations, charity, relief work, etc) of corporations. Globally, the concept of CSR has evolved and presently encompasses all related concepts like the triple bottom line, corporate citizenship, strategic philanthropy, shared value, sustainability and responsibility.

CSR in India The concept of CSR in India is still, by and large at it roots – traditional and largely manifested as a philanthropic event; an activity which needs to be performed but not to be deliberated upon. As a result, there is limited documentation on specific activities related to this concept.

However, what is clearly evident is that, much of this has a national character encapsulated within it; whether it is endowing institutions to actively participate in India’s freedom movement or embedding the idea of trusteeship at the national level.

There is substantial evidence indicating that, CSR in India is

slowly progressing towards the idea of institution building in the areas of education, research, cultural and community development, owing to the influence of globalization and growing awareness and assertiveness amongst the community. The Companies Act, 2013 in Schedule VII, lists out CSR activities, which also partly amended to support COVID 19 relief work, suggests that the community should be the focal point of the concept. On the other hand, by discussing a company’s relationship with its stake holders and integrating CSR into its core operations, the draft rule suggests that CSR needs to go beyond the barriers of the community and philanthropy. It will be interesting to observe the ways in which this will translate into action at the ground level and how the understanding of CSR in times of COVID-19 will transform.

Listed below are a few insights that could facilitate our participation with regards to CSR in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: Revolutionize the core of your CSR CSR in India tends to focus on what is to be done with profits, after they are made. Now, the time has come to factor social and environmental impacts of conducting business. The focus now should be on ‘how’ profits are made.

Bill Gates’ rule of thumb for Business and CSR “Most people overestimate what they can do in next year and underestimate what they can do in next ten years,” says Bill Gates.

The writer is Managing Trustee, GDP Foundation www.gdpideaz.org Email: shahkishorem@gmail.com 68 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

The S-curve (graph above) – as an installation stage leading to the deployment stage which looks like three main phases that could be characterized as a) A slow build up to some kind of critical mass, b) Compounding taking effect and driving exponential growth, c) Ultimately, diminishing returns once some kind of limiting factor (e.g. number of hours in a day we are awake, number of humans beings on Earth, etc.) starts impacting.

Further, if the intersection point is truly somewhere between two and ten years as Gates suggests, those five year strategic planning processes that corporations indulge in, may be applied to Covid-19 times, businesses and CSR as well.

Communities to provide inputs, insights and license to operate The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed all of us to various threats.

There is general deficiency of competency and inspiration at several leadership positions in various institutions and associations. Additionally, there is a sharp growth in the rates of neurotic behaviour that in turn triggers an early onset of mental health problems. We thus, need to understand that there is latent wisdom untapped in communities and if we can create a system, a platform to “hear the unheard”, “see the unseen” and “feel the unfelt” we will be in a position to build vigorous CSR which is a bi-directional process. However, to make this happen, we need to train the communities and

@businessgoa

create platforms for deeper thinking / interactions and not splash superficial and vague aspirations and suggestions, packed as ideas, on social media. Human beings tend to be largely irrational and so, quite often, we are tempted to take the path that demands the least resistance.

Nonetheless, businesses need healthy societies and societies need healthy businesses thereby indicating that it is an interdependent relationship.

Strategic and operational outsourcing of CSR to experts/consultants Minuscule organizations have a competent, dedicated team to strategize and manage CSR. However, traditionally it is handled by the HR department at most organizations, who are otherwise overwhelmed with administrative responsibilities. Therefore, they can hardly contribute towards the cause of CSR. In my study, the generic pattern is that, the HR team is reduced to the role of a gate keeper that follows the directives given by the ‘head office.’ The HR team is also mostly under-staffed which adds to lack of thinking, lack of ground-level research and basically, lack of open

deliberations.

The current scenario is such that industries are struggling to remain afloat. In such a situation, a strategic and purposeful CSR module at the local level can kick-start the revival process.

We have already burnt our fingers, when none of us anticipated the exodus of migrant labour.

This, in turn, has exposed how hollow our welfare and social security schemes are. I can affirm that, it will be wiser to make provisions in the CSR budget to get on-board, local experts in CSR; not because the companies are obliged to take part in CSR as compliance, but to reinvent and revive their business, failing which, we may face existential crisis.

Our daily life is so over dependent on others, even for basic needs, that with COVID-19, even a routine chore looked like a challenge!

Digital India never took off because we are still grappling with network issues, power failures and our linear planning process which fails to factor the compounding impact of several other variables which builds the future.

Thus, the ideas of collective thinking,

diversity, inclusiveness and leadership, which were always topics for casual talk, need to be put to action. The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken and woken us for good. It is an opportunity to reconfigure ourselves, our habits, attitudes, actions, talents and community inclusiveness.

My heartiest congratulations to Business Goa as it completes its 11th year or the first year of its new/next decade.

Business Goa needs to felicitate and reward those who were the first pioneers to think out of the box! With whatever meagre resources, they paved the way forward to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and make possible, a post lock down revival, while also making it successful by finding solutions for both life and livelihood by bringing diverse communities together, providing social platform, facilitating deeper thinking, and not just suggestions which also, in a way, changed the narrative about Goa that it’s not just a ‘susegado’ state and that it has enough bandwidth to revive, reinvent itself, India and the world in times of the COVID pandemic led lockdown… That’s Business@Goa www.businessgoa.in

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 69

Beyond classroom / dr. pradeep salgaonkar

Why Consumers behave the way they do?

The columnist speaks about the rationale behind the way consumers behave especially in extraordinary situations such as pandemics and lockdowns

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arketing teaches us about buyer behaviours and how consumers react in response to certain products or happenings around them and the product life cycles these products follow. For instance, the Fad, Fashion and Style are the three categories of products towards which consumers behave in very different manner.

Fad refers to a craze in the fashion industry that attracts large crowds but fades away quickly. The graph of fad is very sharp. It gets introduced, it sees a very quick rise and then equally fast decline and phasing out from the market.

A classic example of successful fads in business is that of Pet Rocks.

Pet Rock is a collectible toy that was marketed by Gary Dhal, an advertising executive in 1975. Pet Rocks are natural stones picked up from Mexico’s Rosarito Beach, smoothened and marketed like live pets, in custom cardboard boxes, complete with straw and breathing holes.

This fad lasted for about six months, seeing a sharp increase in sales during the Christmas season of December 1975. By February 1976, sales declined and the product was discontinued. Gary Dahl managed to sell over 1 million Pet Rocks,each for four dollars,becoming a millionaire, in the bargain.

Fad is very short lasting. Its graph is very narrow, sharp and skewed.

Whenever a fad comes up in market, it is quickly adopted by a particular segment of people and is forgotten equally fast and rapidly by these people.

The other examples of successful fad products would be Fidget spinner, Yo-Yo, Pokémon, Rubik cubes, hula hoop etc. A fad product usually doesn’t have much utility. And that is the reason why the sales start declining after the initial rush, due to decline in the fascination associated with the product. Normally, consumers who purchase fad products engage in variety-seeking buying behaviour. They are experimenters and try out all possible new products in the market.

A fashion has a comparatively longer product life cycle. However once they reach their highest sales, the fashion products experience a steep decline.

On the other hand, style is something that is adopted by a particular sub-culture or younger demographic group for a

A very common example of ‘style’ among youth of India in recent times, is the growing of beard and hair style, trying to imitate the likes of Virat Kohli comparatively longer period of time, till the style gradually phases out. A very common example among youth of India in recent times is the growing of beard and hair style trying to imitate the likes of Virat Kohli.

One thing that is common in these three cases is that their adoptions are driven by herd behaviour and collective actions. It is the demonstration effect which makes others adopt fads, fashion and style impulsively, or trigger stock market movements, or cause banking panics among larger segments of the market.

Similarly, it is herd behaviour of consumers observed in a situation of pandemic like COVID 19, that results in panic buying leading to genuine shortages of essential goods and certain specific products like hand sanitizers, face masks, soaps and toilet paper, regardless of whether the risk of a shortage is real or perceived. And most of the times it is perceived risk of shortages that leads to people buying impulsively in large quantities and hoarding stuff at homes leading to actual shortages and store shelves going empty.

This phenomenon is referred to as self-fulfilling prophecy by researchers.

Self-fulfilling prophecy is a sociopsychological phenomenon wherein someone is ‘predicting’ or ‘expecting’ something, and this ‘prediction’ or ‘expectation’ normally comes true, simply because one believes it will happen, and due to this belief, they start behaving in that direction; and thus, their resulting behaviours align to fulfill those beliefs, which otherwise would have not happened. That is peoples’ beliefs influence their actions. The ‘predictions’ or ‘expectations’ are normally made

by people based on their previous knowledge about that particular subject or event.

The first person to mention about this phenomenon was American sociologist William Isaac Thomas. In 1928, he developed the ‘Thomas theorem’ or better known as ‘Thomas dictum’, stating, “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” Later on building on Thomas’s idea, Robert K. Merton, another American Sociologist, coined the term ‘Self-Fulfilling Prophecy’ thereby popularizing the thought “a belief or expectation, correct or incorrect, could bring about a desired or expected outcome.”

Robert K. Merton in his book Social Theory and Social Structure, cites an example of a bank run wherein, a number of people falsely believe that the bank was going to file for bankruptcy and this in turn actually leads to the bank’s collapse. Someone somewhere must have started a rumor which created a fear among the investors and because of this false fear, many people decide to withdraw their entire deposits, one after the other, leading to herd behaviour, whereby almost all people line up to withdraw their deposits. These actions by depositors indeed causes the bank to go bankrupt because it actually loses its deposits and is left with nothing but to file for bankruptcy. In Robert K. Merton’s words, “The prophecy of collapse led to its own fulfillment.”

Most of the times, in case of situations affecting the general society, such as in COVID 19, an individual’s belief makes them speak out their beliefs to other people, thereby creating rumours, which spread like wild fire, more so with present day tools like social media in action. And

The writer is Founder Director, Saldots Academy; corporate trainer and facilitator; past chairman of Goa Management Association. Email: pradeepsalgaonkar@gmail.com 70 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

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as a result, many people start believing in similar fashion – in this case, mostly negative predictions or expectations, such as stock out, long periods of shortages, disproportionate price rises, pandemic spreading very fast, etc.

The result being all people, due to fear of the unknown, start acting in that direction, purchasing disproportionately huge quantities of goods, spreading further rumors, spreading further fear, thereby actually worsening the situation which otherwise could have not caused any damage or shortages. Thus, it can be said that “The prophecy of stock out and shortages has led to its own fulfillment.”

Yet another explanation is the concept of individualism and self-preservation versus collective interest. We have an innate tendency to make exceptions for ourselves when it comes to certain specific purchases or requirements.

We know that buying more than what is required is the real reason for shortages.

But when finally we as individuals see goods displayed on the shelf for the first time in a week, we are most likely to buy more than what we need because we are worried about when the stocks will be

Robert K. Merton in his book Social Theory and Social Structure, cites an example of a bank run wherein, a number of people falsely believe that the bank was going to file for bankruptcy and this in turn actually leads to the bank’s collapse available next, and we are most unlikely to put our own and our family’s needs behind that of the community.

For example, during the initial days of lockdown, goods like biscuits and toast were a big scarcity. Wheat flour went missing from the stores for a pretty long period. It’s ideal to have a truly collectivist society whereby everyone would behave and purchase only what is needed, leaving sufficient for others to buy. But that’s only a wish. The society will always remain largely individualistic society, dominated by self-preservation behaviour.

Conclusion Fad, fashion and style is largely based upon herd behaviour; what the majority adopts is taken as the most wanted and fashionable. The same trend was seen in

the panic buying during situations such as the lockdown following Covid-19.

The self-fulfilling prophecy tells us how something that is predicted will fulfill itself, and this is clearly seen in the lockdown; when it was prophesized that stores would run out of stocks, they did indeed run out of it. Individualism and self-preservation often come before collective interest, and we see that a person would buy more than required, if they thought that in future its shortage would cause them problems. They don’t really think about the rest of the public when making such purchases.

Thus, the above three theories postulate that consumer behaviour is very complex and dynamic and difficult to predict, though marketers have to continuously garner newer ammunition to face the challenges

july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 71

green goa / PRAJAL SAKHARDANDE

Mollem Under Threat The heritage activist expresses his concerns on how the upcoming Government approved Mollem project could spell doom for Goa’s natural heritage

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oa, an ethereal combination of emerald on the East and azure on the West once again, stands threatened, due to the draconian axe called ‘development.’

As has happened multiple times in the past, desecration of Goa’s natural inheritance may now begin to sound clichéd. Nonetheless, it is unfortunate that such despoliation is underway yet again!

This time, the area in question happens to be the lush-green forests of the Mollem Wildlife Sanctuary and the natural green cover of the Western Ghats – a biodiversity hotspot identified

by UNESCO. Albeit, Mollem may not feature in UNESCO’s prestigious list; however, it certainly occupies a vital fraction of the majestic Western Ghats.

Three mammoth projects that spell trouble in paradise for Goa’s innate legacy in the Mollem region have been granted permission by our anti-environmental State and Central Governments alike.

There is a proposed four-lane National Highway project to be implemented through the Mollem Wildlife Sanctuary;a transmission line commissioned by the Vedanta Group passing through the sanctuary; and the double tracking of the railway line from Castle Rock to Cullem passing through the pristine valleys of the Dudhsagar waterfalls.

Considering that Goa’s heritage-land has been under continuous attack from the Government mechanism, it is about time that we the people of Goa put our foot down and obliterate this disastrous plan of dubious intent. The Eastern topography of Goa is covered almost entirely with greenery in the form of lush forests, undulating landscapes, charming flora and fauna that is rich in biodiversity of varied nature! Interestingly, Goa’s largest butterfly species, the ‘Southern Birdwing’ resides there.

That aside, the Western Ghats, specially in the Mollem region happens to be home to a variety of diverse species of birds, flowers, blades of greenery, springs, plants and arboreal heritage as well. An extensive range of animals live there, too. Having said that, it is understood that the three above-mentioned colossal ventures approved by the Government are absolutely and completely detrimental to the very existence of Mollem as a

Southern Birdwing

The Eastern topography of Goa is covered almost entirely with greenery in the form of lush forests, undulating landscapes, charming flora and fauna that is rich in biodiversity of varied nature!

Goa’s largest butterfly species, the ‘Southern Birdwing’ resides there wildlife sanctuary and its rich natural heritage. It is imperative that we as Goans understand the game and not allow our prosperous ecological heritage,

which is already fragile due to the onset of relentless mining activities, to be plundered in this manner.

It is generally observed that Goans who are collective stakeholders of the ecological treasure are rarely noticed or taken seriously by governmental dispensations and that by itself is the biggest democratic bane! Nonetheless, in the year 2006, the people of Goa cried hoarse about the implementation of the Regional Plan of 2011 and had it scrapped – thus saving Goa’s natural heritage from the insatiable clutches of the government. Therefore, keeping this in mind, it is about time that we raise our clubs and maces once again and save Goa from this fast approaching, imminent menace which is nothing but a massive threat to our beloved land.

As humans, we cannot possibly let these disparaging projects bulldoze all over our natural heritage and our congenital and innate concerns. We need to be up-in-arms about these projects or else I fear, Goa is on the brink of destruction! The unremitting digging and construction works that will go into the materialization of these projects will deplete our ground water table.

Moreover, axing forests will exhaust the ground water table further which will ultimately leave a terrible impact on the climate leading to an arid climate and environmental spiralling at the hands of these high powered projects and its influential bosses!

Let us all come together and up our ante against this utter sacrilege of our beloved Mollem. I humbly appeal to all our brethren in Goa to come forward in opposition and put an immediate halt upon these three environmentally hazardous and insensitive projects at the earliest!

The writer teaches history and is a published author. He also serves as Vice President of Goa Heritage Action Group Email: heritageprajal@rediffmail.com 72 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

mindspace / Dr. Mahesh Pai

Emotional First Aid The writer speaks about psychological injuries, its cascading effect on one’s physical health and seeking professional help

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uch too often, it is only when a celebrity commits suicide, that we sit up and take notice of issues such as stress, depression and mental health. It is a fact that in our day to day life, we may attribute a great deal of importance to our physical health and hygiene, but we hardly even acknowledge the need for emotional hygiene.

Dr. Guy Winch, a psychologist, recognises this favouritism we practice of the body over the mind. He advocates that just as we are taught the concept of first aid for our physical injuries at an early age, we also need to teach First Aid for psychological injuries.

In his best seller Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, Dr. Winch reminds us that we don’t rush to the doctor every time we have a cough, a scrape, or a bad stomach. We usually treat such physical ailments in our homes. Of course, if we don’t get better, we might end up going to the doctor at some point; but the vast majority of time, we are perfectly able to nurse ourselves back to health without professional medical intervention. He argues that the same is true when it comes to psychological injuries. If we apply emotional first aid when we sustain a psychological injury, we should be able to nurse ourselves back to emotional health without the assistance of a mental health professional.

Winch has identified common psychological injuries that we sustain in daily life that might require emotional first aid: Rejection: We get rejected all the time, by dating partners, employers, friends, and spouses. Rejections are the emotional cuts and scrapes of daily life.

Failure: We frequently fail to attain our goals, to pass tests in school, or to complete tasks that we set for ourselves.

Failures are like emotional colds that when left untreated, can turn into psychological pneumonias.

Psychological injuries can aggravate one another in similar ways.

Untreated rejection can cause damage to our selfesteem Loneliness: We all have periods in which we feel lonely, as though our existing relationships are not fulfilling our emotional needs. The problem is that the longer we feel lonely and disconnected the weaker our ‘relationship muscles’ become.

Loss: We regularly experience losses in life; when relatives pass away, a friend moves out of town, our kids leave home, or our favourite pet dies. How we rebuild our lives after a loss can determine whether we emerge emotionally stronger from the ordeal, or psychologically weaker.

Brooding and Rumination: It is easy to get caught in cycles of brooding and ruminating in which we feel a compelling urge to stew on sad or angry feelings and find it difficult to think of anything else. But doing so is like picking on our emotional scabs – it doesn’t allow them to heal.

Guilt: We spend several hours a week experiencing mild to moderate guilt which when excessive, can hijack our attention and make it difficult for us to concentrate on our work and responsibilities. Lingering guilt can poison our most cherished relationships and sometimes, impact entire families.

Low Self-Esteem: We often experience bouts of low self-esteem– days in which

we feel incredibly low and self-critical about ourselves and our capacities.

Having low self-esteem is like having a weakened emotional immune system – it makes us more vulnerable and more likely to sustain further psychological injury.

Each of these psychological ‘injuries’ can impact our emotional well-being and even our physical health, especially if the injury is prolonged. A sprain to the forearm can make us overcompensate and injure our shoulder muscle as a result, which in turn can cause stress on our back muscles, such that we might end up having trouble walking. Psychological injuries can aggravate one another in similar ways. Untreated rejection can cause damage to our self-esteem, which can make us behave defensively and push people away, which can makes us become more socially isolated, at which point we find ourselves feeling lonely and brooding about how our friends have stopped caring, which can lead to a full blown depression, and even thoughts of suicide. Treating our psychological injuries as soon as they occur can prevent this cascade effect and minimize the likelihood of small injuries accumulating and becoming much bigger in time. After all, life is not about what happens, but how you handle it

The writer is Principal of Goa College of Home Science, Campal, Panaji-Goa Email: drmaheshpai@gmail.com

Advertise with the Voice of Business in Goa

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Email: businessgoa.media@gmail.com july 2020 | Business Goa industry Dossier | 73

bon Appétit

@businessgoamagazine

‘Baking’ Goa a sweeter place!

Driven by the aspiration to be her own boss, 21-year-old Janhavi Amonkar speaks about her saccharine venture, ‘The Cake Factory Goa’, its luscious range of products and much more...

Bailey’s Irish Cream cupcakes

The classic Red Velvet cupcakes

Brownies

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By ameya nayak

ased out of her home at Porvorim, Janhavi Amonkar, a BBA (Finance) graduate from Dempo College, started her own business, The Cake Factory Goa about a year ago. Speaking about what led her to start the business; Janhavi says that she always felt drawn towards venturing into something creative and doing

74 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

something of her own. She says that baking had always been her hobby since she was 15 and thus, when she graduated at the age of 20, she took a month off to decide whether she wanted to pursue a finance related job or go ahead with her dream of running her own business and pursue her everlasting love for baking and take it to the next level. Janhavi humbly says “With immense motivation and support from my family and friends, I went ahead with the idea of The Cake Factory Goa and today, I can proudly say that it is the best decision that I have made!”

Elaborating on what her business is all about; Janhavi mentions that The Cake Factory Goa is a home-based baking business with delectable selection of cakes, cupcakes, brownies, chocolates and all things sweet. Moreover, she quips about how it gives her enormous satisfaction to know that something that she has baked with her own hands is a part of someone’s special occasion.

Janhavi further reveals how she has always had an inclination towards the culinary arts; however, what made her particularly drawn towards baking is how creative she could get with it. She goes on to say, “the market potential in Goa is amazing with plenty of space for growth and a lot of competition which always keeps things fresh and innovative and makes me want to do something better every day.”

Speaking of her signature dishes, she says that the cupcakes, especially the classic Red Velvet cupcakes, Hazelnut filled cupcakes and the Bailey’s Irish Cream cupcakes are the most loved items; and among the cakes, the classic Chocolate Truffle cake is a bestseller!

As far as the response to her venture is concerned, Janhavi says that The Cake Factory Goa has completed a year in the business on the 4th of July and in this one year; the response has been nothing but overwhelming! “People are always looking for something new, something innovative and obviously, something tasty. The response especially during festival season like Diwali, Christmas and special days like Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, has been great. What makes this even better is that the business has mostly grown on the basis of social media and the use of apps such as Instagram and Facebook” says a grateful Janhavi.

Janhavi Amonkar

Moreover, she also states that even though the world is currently facing a global pandemic in the form of COVID-19, what has kept her morale high is the fact that her beloved customers always keep telling her how they crave for the cupcakes and brownies, baked by her.

She speaks of how her loyal customers kept telling her during the lockdown that they could not wait any longer for her to resume accepting orders!

Further, speaking about her target audience and customers, Janhavi says that her target customer is anyone with a sweet tooth and the fact that she houses a variety of products over a wide price range makes it suitable for customers with different needs and budgets to approach her. “With customizations and varieties available, we always have something available to cater to every need that a customer has for every kind of occasion,” she says.

Commenting on her plans for the future, Janhavi says that she will continue to innovate and elevate the quality of her products as per market trends. She wishes to see The Cake Factory Goa turn into a brand, with her products being synonymous with the brand; and a long list of loyal and satiated customers.

Finally, when asked what message she would like to give her current and prospective customers, Janhavi signs off saying “I would just like to thank my customers who have been extremely loyal since the beginning of The Cake Factory Goa and made this one year of business immensely successful; and for prospective customers, I just hope to see them placing their orders soon from our wide range of products and I guarantee that they will not be disappointed!”

bon Appétit

@businessgoa

The Revival of Goan Classics

Chef Ryan Alexandre Semelhago talks about contemporary Goan cuisine through the lens of Zōdo

The Cheesy Conversation, Chicken Piri Piri and Nagoa Chicken

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By sybil rodrigues

hef Ryan Alexandre Semelhago runs a home catering service -Zōdo, which translates to ‘firewood’ in Konkani, from his residence in Nagalli Hills, Dona Paula.

Ryan, a trained chef, has worked in the hospitality industry for several years.

Apart from his passion for food, Ryan is deeply interested in art, acts in theatre and also writes poetry. “I have been cooking since my childhood and took this passion forward by becoming a chef. My roots in Goa, coupled with my extensive travels, have inspired me and influenced my cooking techniques,” he says.

Ryan’s passion for his Goa and its cuisine have led him to repeatedly advocate the cause for creating modern Goan cuisine. “Since 2002, I have been asking why Goan chefs have not created any new ‘Goan’ dishes which will become classics tomorrow”.

He further adds that “the Goan market place has significantly changed over the last 20 years with the availability of new ingredients.

These new ingredients have unfortunately not been embraced by Goan chefs.

Several herbs like thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, and sage are available plentiful in the market every day and I don’t see a reason why we

are not using them in our cuisine.”

Ryan celebrates local produce and uses techniques from around the world in his preparations. “My food is global in terms of technique and flavour profile while it is completely local in its produce. You may call it ‘glocal’ food, creating wonderful taste profiles using locally sourced organic produce cooked using global techniques”.

Ryan believes that food has to be ‘honest’. “There is no such thing as ‘Authentic Food’! Authentic food only comes up with relation to countries and cuisines that have a very fixed structure.

Honest food needs to be palatable, that celebrates produce, techniques, people and cultures.”

Keeping the above in mind, Ryan speaks about Zōdo. “Zōdo is basically wood fire cuisine which is a celebration of age old techniques injected into his style of modern, Goan food.

Not all food prepared at Zōdo is cooked on firewood, but there are some components that go into all Ryan’s creations that are kissed by the smoke of fire.” Ryan goes on to elaborate about his popular creations such as Nagoa Chicken, PiriPiri Chicken, Crackling Belly, Crackled Pigling, Angry

76 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

Chef Ryan Alexandre Semelhago

Butcher Steak, ‘Malandrajem’, among others. He talks about the ‘Bate Papojoc’ which is his take on tongue made two ways, salted and ‘assado’ and served with a crust of baked mash potatoes. The Angry Butcher’s Steak also has an interesting story. “Basically, all the beef we get in India is very badly butchered. I can only salvage a part as steak from the tenderloin and convert the other cuttings into succulent Zōdo beef strips.

The dish is brought together with a homestyle mash along with mashed potatoes which have smoked cheese, thereby adding a subtle smoky flavour to the dish, finished with homemade bacon.” For dessert, Ryan does his own take on the famous Serradura – though his version adds some secret spices and Moira Plantain Banana’s to elevate this already popular dessert to another level.

As far as feedback from his patron’s, Ryan is ecstatic and says that the response

has been overwhelming with orders regularly coming from the vicinity, Panjim, Caranzalem, Donapaula, to people driving all the way from Chandor and Cavelossim in South Goa to Siolim and Aldona in North Goa. “What pleases me most is when I receive repeat orders. The fact that my patrons are willing to drive from all parts of Goa to taste my food and come back again makes all the hard work worthwhile and fulfilling.”

Ryan operates from home and is a one-man operation thereby guaranteeing that the freshest and best quality ingredients are used in his offerings at the most reasonable prices.

“Everything that I put into my food, matters to me. The salt that I use in my kitchen costs six to seven times the cost of commonly available salt. I source organic brown sugar and unsalted butter, from Kodaikanal, which is hand moulded and hand wrapped. I use ‘Khapli’ wheat, the English name being Emmer wheat, which has very minimal gluten content and is not commonly available.

Utmost care is taken at every single step in my kitchen.”

Ryan concludes with a message to aspiring chefs.

“Keep cooking, believe in yourself and keep questioning your ability from time to time.

Stay hungry, stay passionate and stay motivated”

NewsMakers Dr Vinaykumar Pai Raikar receives ‘Distinguished Service Award’, the highest award of The Rotary Foundation

Dr Vinaykumar Pai Raikar has been conferred with the ‘Distinguished Service Award’, the highest award of The Rotary Foundation.

A gynaecologist by profession, Dr Pai Raikar is the founder of and presently practising at Raikar Nursing Home at Tonca, Panaji, Goa. Dr Pai Raikar is an active Rotarian of Rotary Club of Panaji Midtown since 1999 and has served in various capacities at club level. His achievements at District level were Best Secretary (2004-05), Best President (2007-08) along with 6 district awards and making his club a 100% Paul Harris Fellow Club and contributing over 100,000 USD to The Rotary Foundation with a per capita contribution of USD 1570.

He has served at the District level as District Chairman Coordinator (community service, club service, TRF assignments – District Simplified Grants, Annual Giving, GSE outbound). He has been a proficient speaker and has been on many a platform of Rotary in the district as keynote speaker, facilitator or as a pilot faculty. Dr Pai Raikar has served as the Rotary District 3170 Governor in 2016-17. He is currently serving as the district trainer (2019-20) and is also the District 3170 Measles-Rubella co-ordinator of the National Polio Plus Committee.

Dr Pai Raikar has also been invited to serve on the core committee headed by PRCD Dr Manoj Desai for ‘Mission TTAIPEI’ and avoidable blindness in 12000 villages (2020-21) under the leadership of RIPN Sushil Gupta

Paresh Prabhu’s book on the history of Marathi journalism in Goa, Gomantakiya Marathi Patrakaritecha Itihas published Paresh Prabhu, editor of the Marathi daily Navprabha has, published a very unique book, Gomantakiya Marathi Patrakaritecha Itihas wherein he has, for the first time, compiled the history of Goa’s Marathi journalism over a span of 100 years right from the publication of Anand Lahari by Suryaji Sadashiv Mahatre in 1870 to the beginning of Navprabha, exactly 100 years later.

The book elaborately mentions all the Marathi language newspapers, weeklies and monthlies that have been published during this centurial span. The book speaks about prominent Marathi journalists who have set their mark in the field of journalism in the pre and post-liberation era. That aside, Prabhu, through his book, also highlights bringing in of Asia’s first printing press in Goa by the Portuguese. The book has been made available for purchase and distribution at the office of the Goa Marathi Academy at Panaji

@businessgoa

Mukesh Kumar Meena is Goa’s new DGP

Mukesh Kumar Meena, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, is Goa’s new Director General of Police (DGP).

Mukesh is currently Director, AntiCorruption Bureau, Mizoram. The 1989 batch officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre was earlier posted in Goa as Superintendent of Police. He was earlier heading Delhi’s anti-corruption branch, before being posted in Mizoram. He has also served as the Joint Commissioner and Special Commissioner, New Delhi. He was appointed Secretary to the Governor of Andhra Pradesh last year and has investigated sensitive cases pertaining to scams related to the Delhi Government in 2017. In an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, he has been transferred from Mizoram and posted as Goa DGP

Anirudh Agarwal elected President of Entrepreneurs’ Organisation (EO), Goa

Anirudh Agarwal has been elected President of EO Goa for the year 20202021. Agarwal has a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Goa Engineering College. He then went on to do a MBA from American University in Washington DC.

Anirudh joined the family business of mining and shipbuilding in 2003 and then diversified into renewable energy. His business involves setting up wind and solar projects all over India. His is the only company to manufacture solar panels in Goa and has done several projects, both inside and outside the state. On being elected as President of EO Goa, Anirudh says, “I’m really excited to lead the chapter during this challenging year and look forward to learning from all my peers. I have a fantastic team in place to dish out a year of unforgettable experiences

133 1. Which Japanese business group made the famous Zero fighter during WW II? 2. Which TV channel was founded on June 19, 1926 by Radio Corporation of America (RCA), General Electric (GE) and Westinghouse?

3. Who is the President and co-founder of Sundance Productions, with Laura Michalchyshyn?

4. In 1999, Helmut Lang sold a majority stake in his fashion business to which fashion house?

5. Which is the first life insurance joint venture company to be registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956?

6. Which pharmaceutical company manufactured ‘Ampicillin’ for the first time in India?

7. In 1991, which chain of retail stores was founded by the K. Raheja Corp.?

8. Axol laboratories is a subsidiary in the United Kingdom of which Indian Company?

9. Identify this business leader Answers to BG Quiz 132: 1. GAP 2. The Hilton Group 3. Infosys 4. IBM 5. Enron 6. Mondelez 7. Shivanand Salgaocar 8. Kirloskar 9. Arthur Fry Email your answers to businessgoa.media@gmail.com First all correct entry will get 1 year’s subscription to Business Goa

78 | Business Goa industry Dossier | july 2020

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