Goa and Entrepreneurship
It was mentioned in a special article on March 16th, 2010 on The Navhind Times; that Goa, according to experts, has all the advantages and potential to become an outstanding First-World-State within the next ten years, provided a transparent, corruption free, proactive, corporate governance is in place.
Goa needs to look beyond mining and tourism and develop sustainable, environment friendly industries with a human-face. Mining and tourism have provided a good Launchpad for economic growth of Goa, but the two industries also put an immense stress on the sensitive biodiversity of Goa. In order to make Goa into a truly world-class state, emphasis needs to be laid on enhancing the knowledge base of the people. With the advancements of technology and the penetration of internet in people’s personal lives, sharing quality information among selected groups of people is truly an achievable task. Access to right kind of information is the primary step towards accomplishing relevant tasks.
Goa has a vast educated work-force and steps need to be taken to focus on the knowledge economy. Short-term problem solving plans should be replaced by encouraging the creation of long-term employment opportunity. Most of the smartest talents produced in Goa are either serving some organizations in other parts of India or have taken the long route of helping other countries around the world develop into world-class hubs. People blame the Government. I would personally blame society. In my lifetime of growing up, I never received words of encouragement with conviction to ‘start’ something on my own. Every attempt would be backed up with a cloud of discouraging suggestions from people from all walks of life. The Government in this regard has the power to influence and inculcate certain values in society with its wide reach and staggered network. It should assist in developing a culture of entrepreneurship, encourage collaboration and have a strict system in place for accountability.
Entrepreneurship is by default heavily linked to taking risk. Some of the best known inventions in the world would not be accessible to us without risk-takers. The same risk-takers who started off in their little known garages and makeshift offices now run multi-billion dollar companies. The same risk-takers now have thousands of staff and pay millions in salaries to its workforce. Risk taking is an attitude. This attitude needs to be built among our vast educated work-force and properly backed up by providing channelled knowledge, easy access to information and a database of facts & figures. Risk alone won’t get results, but calculated risks when taken with proper understanding of the future trend can definitely prove fruitful.