10 minute read
STARTUP GOA
By Rajesh Ghadge
Later on he was appointed as CEO of the Atal Incubation Centre (AICGIM) at Goa I n s t i t u t e o f M a n a g e m e n t f o r m e d u n d e r t h e A t a l Innovation Mission, Niti Agog of Government of India in year 2021 and since then he has helped hundred of startups to a c h i e v e t h e i r d r e a m s b y p r o v i d i n g t h e m w i t h t h e platform and funding. According to Rajesh, he could have continued adding to his list of his start ups but while working for the government of India he found his calling, “I decided to help other startups to scale up as it was no longer about fulfilling your own dreams but helping others achieve theirs and I really thank the GIM (Goa Institute of Management), who hired me and gave me an opportunity to do this,” said Rajesh adding that he has helped more than 100 startups with the incubation programs at AICGIM. “One of them I would like to name here is, Minco, started by Sanket from S a k h a l i m G o a t h a t h a s managed to raise 2 million dollars.”
R a j e s h a l s o mentioned that they had started the virtual incubation d u r i n g t h e C o v i d a n d i t continues to operate till date. “Besides this we have also added something called On Demand Incubation, under which the startups don’t have to sign up the contract with AICGIM and they are free to incubate elsewhere, and at the same time they can come to us for any kind of help when they face an issue, this way we are trying to be a Startup Buddy rather than incubation as such,” he added.
Increase Customer Base
There are many issues faced by startups in India and in Goa, a significant one being a paucity of funds. When asked, Rajesh admits that this is a huge problem in the country and a main reason being the rate of interest which is comparatively h i g h e r t h a n t h e o t h e r developed countries. “ I t i s n o t r i g h t t o compare the western economy with that of India since the rates of interest there is much lower compared to India,” said Rajesh adding that rate of interest in other countries is around 2 to 3 percent while in India it is nearly 6 to 10 percent. “The investor in the west does not have any choice but to invest into the startups and new ventures and new ideas but in India that is not the case. My advice to the startups in India is to generate money through the customers rather than from investors. According to me although India while having a higher rate of interest also has a larger marketplace, and stronger customer base compared to other developed countries. Many startups make this mistake by looking for the investors, instead they should be widening their customer base and the Investors will come automatically to them.”
Goa is a Great Place to Innovate
Goa is a great place to live and work and thus many start-ups come down to Goa but once they get initial funding and support they move out of the state. When I asked Rajesh about the same he said that Goa is a great place to start and innovate. “Goa is a place where startups can conceive and grow, and according to me there is no other place in India like Goa. When the startups start their innovation and product tests, Goa is a great market for the product market fit, the reason behind this is, Goa has everything right from industries to the agriculture, from marine to shipping and most important is the Tourism and health care and Goa is a mix of all three sections of the society, rich, middle and lower middle class and what the innovators need is the quality of life and the work life balance which Goa has in abundance and that is what makes Goa a perfect place for the startup.” According to Rajesh, start-ups moving out of the state is for two reasons. “First is the market expansion which is not possible in Goa due to its small population and second is
due to the lack of technology and talent in the state of Goa. When the requirements of development grows from the couple of engineers to the 100 or 500 engineers, Goa is not the right place and that is the reason the startups move out of Goa,” said Rajesh adding that there is a new era of innovation is coming, called web 3 or b l o c k c h a i n , w h e r e t h e customers base does not become the geographical hurdle and according to me these types of companies will thrive in Goa soon. These new generation startups will be working for the world not alone India. Besides that these web 3 startups won ’t need more manpower to do the coding they can work from garages or living rooms and do accomplish the tasks.”
The Grapes are Sour
According to Rajesh it is not the lack of infrastructure or lack of manpower that is responsible for the startups to move out of the state. “It is many a times due to the story where we call it the grapes are sour for the entrepreneurs, there are many Goan start-ups like Mrinq Te c h n o l o g y a n d G e n o r a Infotech, that has excelled in their ventures and made Goa proud. These startups have also b e n e f i t e d w i t h t h e G o a Startup Policies,” said Rajesh a d d i n g t h a t G o a s t a t e government has distributed more than 1.5 crore rupees since the inception of the Goa Startup Policy. “If you compare the population of the state and the startup money that has been disbursed by government, I can bet that Goa will be in top 5 across different states in the country.” Rajesh believes that the entrepreneurs often shy away from the policy due to lack of documents . “They feel reluctant since they have to submit certain documents and most of them don’t have them in order. I have worked with the government of Maharashtra, Government of Rajasthan and now Government of Goa and I have seen the people reluctant and ask why the documents are required but what they don’t understand is, it is the part of the process, ” said Rajesh adding, AICGIM, FIIRE, CIBA and BITS PILANI together have received the approval of 10 crore rupees to give it to startups in Goa. “Funds are distributed and many have already benefited out of it but there are some startups who have not applied properly or not done the due diligence and they keep receiving mails asking for the more documents which is the part of the process.”
T h e I n f r a s t r u c t u r e a n d Topography of Goa
According to Rajesh, there is a n i s s u e a s f a r a s t h e infrastructure is concerned but it is not due to the lack of any attempt from the Government side but it is due to the existing topography of the place. “When I moved to Goa, initially I also got frustrated due to the constant power failure and lack to Internet services but soon I realized that this has n o t h i n g t o d o w i t h t h e e f f i c i e n c y o f t h e s t a t e government but it is due to the topography of the region which is out of the scope of any technical expertise. Goa has very unique, topography and the population is also spread across the larger areas making it difficult to create sustainable infrastructure. According to me sometimes the downtime is good cause we are in the place like Goa to not to constantly work and sometimes we need t h a t b r e a k t o e n j o y t h e atmosphere.” Another thing that Rajesh mentions is about the effects of over development. “If you look at the metros like Mumbai and Bangalore that has underground cabling and 24 hours of Electricity and Internet,but does not have the greenery, but here in Goa it's different, this place is not having infrastructure like metros but it has a beautiful environment,” he added.
The Journey Has Just Begun
A c c o r d i n g t o R a j e s h t h e startup revolution has just started in Goa and compared to the other states it is also at a very initial stage. “The startup policy was introduced in 2017 which is hardly a couple of years. Another thing, lot of people are not aware that Goa is the only state in country that has come with two successive startup policies. The attempt has already been made and it will take some time for things to settle down. There is need of becoming the part of eco system. According to me Goa is advancing in the right direction and I will urge to the startups to talk with the other startups who has been benefited, they can learn from each other and at the same time the startups who have received the grants from the government should talk about the same in the public so that it benefits others.” T h e A I C G I M according to Rajesh is a Centre Agnostic Incubator. “Which means we don ’t prefer any particular sector but having said that we realized that Goa has an inherent advantage, like greenery, Environment, kind of people who visit Goa and l o o k i n g a t t h a t w e h a v e launched few initiatives and one of them dealing with the f o o d p a r t c a l l e d F i e r c e Kitchen, dedicated support system for the food-preneurs, and second is the Hub-CE to support the startups who are looking to mitigate the climate crises and third is we are trying to build the Web 3 port in Goa,” said Rajesh adding that this will help in innovating the new blockchain Web 3, NFT and Crypto Industry. “The reason we are calling it port is they will not be based here, they will be entrepreneur tourists, they will c o m e t o G o a , t h e y w i l l innovate and create something here. We are looking forward to do something in this sector which is a new industry and it will save the brain-drain which is happening due to the migration of the Indian talents to other countries. I believe that Goans who are innovating should not move out of Goa, we will provide them with the platform and environment that will help them innovate and we will provide them with the ecosystem and we will also be the bridge between the Startup and government.”
