One of the top tourist destinations of India, Goa is known primarily for its sun-kissed beaches and bohemian crowds harking back to the days of guitar-winging Beatles and John Lennon. Well, that image is likely to be dented. If the IAS officer Ankita Anand has her way, Goa will soon be known for creating high-value startups.
A 2015-batch officer of the AGMUT cadre, Ms. Ankita is the CEO of the ambitious Start-Up Promotion Cell (SPC) of the Goa Government. In November last, she took charge of her new posting.
As far as making serious efforts to make Goa a new start-up hub was concerned, things were quite laid-back, and officials complacent, before Ms. Anand arrived on the scene. In fact, even after she took over as the CEO of SPC, she found nobody in her team could assist her in any meaningful way.
As she told Indian Masterminds during a conversation, “After July 2019, the engagement of the consultants from Ernst & Young (EY) who were working with the SPC took a downward turn. This created a gap between the startup owners and the SPC, as no one was assigned to cater to the formers’ demands. It was a very difficult time for me as there was no one in the team to guide me and tell me what was going on.”
Overcoming the Hurdles
Days after joining the post of CEO of SPC, Ms. Anand got down to the brass tacks. As a first step, she asked her seniors to bring the consultants back on the table. After getting the go-ahead, the pending files were cleared and in January 2020, four consultants from Ernst and Young were brought back.
The next step was to clear the pending files of the startup owners which was to be discussed in a high-powered meeting headed by the Chief Minister. After several trials, the meeting was scheduled in the month of February in which all the pending files were cleared.
Implementing Policy Initiatives
Ms. Anand, while consulting the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), came to know that around 200 startups from Goa had been registered with the Government of India, but not with the Goa Government. She subsequently started working on integrating the data and got the start-ups of Goa registered on the official website of Startup Goa. She said, “It took around four months to complete this integration process, however it was very useful to register all the startups, which have originated from Goa, on our official website.”
“We made a WhatsApp group which included all the startup owners and the members of the SPC in which the latter used to mentor them and provide legal, financial, and marketing knowledge for their overall development. General Financial Rule (GFR) 2017 was also implemented two months back, which I think would help the startups in a big way.”
She also tried to give a wider canvas to the product devices-based startups by asking them to register on the Government E-marketing (GEM) portal, where they can sell their products not only in Goa but all over the country.
Gaining Momentum
When Ms. Anand joined as the CEO of SPC, only 50 startups were certified. Within 10 months, the number jumped to 100! Till now around Rs 92 lakh has been granted to these startups and more will be disbursed shortly. Through the money which has been granted to support the entrepreneurs, a huge amount of employment has also been generated among the Goans. The policy also aims to provide employment to at least 5000 Goans.
Ms. Ankita Anand has been on the go since she joined the office. She has been on the ground addressing the startup owners who were feeling hopeless and lost, in the face of not getting any assistance from the Government earlier. She said, “Being on the ground and coming across various innovative ideas has enabled me to recognize their work and offer them a platform.” Ms. Anand is convinced that Goa has the capability to become the next global startup point. Fortunately, with her arrival on the scene, things have started moving towards that direction.
