‘Vibrant Goa targets to bring min `1K cr investment to State’

This year, from October 17 to 19, 250 companies from foreign countries and 2,000 companies from all over India will come to the State as delegates of a huge networking event called ‘Vibrant Goa’. The event may still be a few months from now, but the preparations are happening in full swing. One man, who is making tireless efforts for the success of the event, is Dr Jagat Shah, chief mentor, Vibrant Goa Foundation. The Goan caught up with him in an exclusive interview

| MAY 20, 2019, 03:02 AM IST

Karan Sehgal  


Q: You’ve been going to many countries to market the concept of ‘Vibrant Goa’. What do people think of Goa there before you start educating them about it? And, by the end of your presentation, what do you tell them what Goa is all about?  

Dr Jagat Shah: In foreign countries, everyone thinks of Goa as a tourism state and also as a wedding destination. We’ve made a 5-minute film on Goa, where we show 12 industries in the State. We show that film first because visual has more impact than words. Then, we have a 30-40 minute long presentation, where for each sector we show figures.   

For example: there are 80 pharmaceutical factories in Goa and 40% of pharma companies in Goa are exporting to regulated markets like the US and Canada. Then, we talk of food-processing and information-technology (IT) in the State. Hearing such information, people get totally surprised because they didn’t know Goa was beyond tourism.   

Q: During your road-shows in the US, Canada and Middle-East, which sectors were people very keen on?  

JS: People were keen on getting into trade and partnership with Goan companies in wide ranging industries like food-processing, pharma, IT, skill-development, healthcare, education, electronics, shipbuilding, minerals and light engineering products. In fact, there was a lot of interest in IT. In San Francisco, we met some companies, which have proposed to organize a ‘Goa Technology Summit’ in San Francisco in July, where they will invite investors and IT companies and we will discuss how to make Goa Silicon Valley of India.   

Q: Goa lacks industrial land. When a new project comes in, the State Government takes a long time to allot a plot. Given this problem, are you inviting companies for new projects or are you inviting companies to expand trade?  

JS: From day one, we were aware of this challenge. As a result, the 12 sectors that we have chosen to focus on at ‘Vibrant Goa’ are those sectors, which need less land but more knowledge. For example: healthcare and education. Goa already has educational institutions like Goa University and BITS Pilani. We can do projects for skill development there. For healthcare, we can have projects inside the already existing hospitals. For IT, we don’t need much land.   

However, to tackle the land issue, we are going to release advertisements in few days to invite people, who are willing to provide their land for industrial use. Basically, we want to make a land-bank. But, it will not be under ‘Vibrant Goa’ because it will be a separate initiative. We thought of it because when we went to US and Canada, companies said they were ready to come but they wanted to know where we had land. But, we don’t have land in Goa.   

Now, we want to invite people, who can write to us by saying where they have title clear land. Thus, we will make a land-bank map and put it up when ‘Vibrant Goa’ happens.   

Q: Where do you expect maximum response to come from for ‘Vibrant Goa’?  

JS: Maximum response will come from the US and Canada. We have kept a target to invite 250 companies from foreign countries. Just from the US and Canada, we have 97 delegates already registered to be a part of ‘Vibrant Goa’. From Middle East, another 35 delegates are registered. And, we are going to Middle East again in July because the governments of Oman, Qatar and Bahrain have invited us one more time.   

This is the strength of Vibrant model, wherein we create a huge network for long-term. All road shows are done in Indian embassies, which makes Vibrant a credible event. If we are in the US, we network with American associations, Indian associations, Goan associations and Konkani sabha.   

Thanks to this approach, people, who left Goa to move to the US 30-40 years ago, become our ambassadors. They spread word about us. If I am a person of Goan origin and am living in Chicago, most people I know are Americans because my life has been with them for decades. They also get to know about Vibrant Goa through the network. This is the emotional connect we utilize.  

Q: How can a Goan businessman become part of your delegation when you travel to foreign countries for road-shows?  

JS: They have to write to us for that. We charge a fee for making them part of our delegation. When they come along with us for road-shows in foreign countries, we organize B2B meetings for them. We go to every city for two days. On the first day, we organize B2B meetings for our delegates with targeted companies. Second day, we have road-shows, wherein we have delegates and we also invite people from the business community of that country. Since such road-shows happen in Indian embassies, the ambassador is also a part of the event. During road-shows, we call the delegates to give a short presentation where they invite other companies to talk to them.   

Q:  Have you kept a target of what you would like to achieve at ‘Vibrant Goa’?   

JS: We are targeting at growing trade, knowledge and investment in Goa. There will be 170 booths on display. On trade front, we expect 40% of these companies to start exporting after ‘Vibrant Goa’ and we are preparing them for that. Another 40% companies are expected to start doing business all over India. We are inviting 2,000 companies from all over India to ‘Vibrant Goa’.  

There will be a knowledge summit during the event as well, which is aimed at increasing the knowledge of participating companies about the best business practices. Plus, we are also expecting minimum Rs 1,000 crore investment to come to Goa due to the event.   

Share this