HCN:  What does the IT committee and YEF at GCCI do?

PRAJYOT MAINKAR: IT committee at Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GCCI) facilitates the growth of IT and IT enabled services in Goa. Events held helps bring them on board which in turn helps us understand what kind of work they do. We try helping them grow by having many sessions. The Young Entrepreneur Forum (YEF) is all about the local entrepreneurs who are working in any other field of domain be it textiles, e-commerce etc. It could be any of their offline shows you want to take online, or some beautiful work which could be music or any other creative field. They get associated with us because they also require a platform by which they can connect with local entrepreneurs.

HCN: So how many members are there in this committee and what are their roles?

PM: We have an eight-member team. They are from different fields. The entire focus the IT and YEF committees is to facilitate growth of an eco-system in Goa. We have figured out a lot of issues in terms of knowledge based transfer in Goa. One is the distribution, figuring out what kind of companies are running in Goa. What kind of work they do, getting them onto a common platform. Also figuring out what kind of problems they face. I think that is the essential part. Goa has to be seen beyond tourism. 

We have to see what the core program is and what problems are faced by the start-up eco-system. Bengaluru for instance has been evolving over a period of time. I think Goa too has a lot of potential. There are a lot of senior companies that have evolved from Goa and there are learnings to be taken.

HCN: If I am an IT professional or a start-up, why should I come to you (IT Committee YEF)?

PM: I think we have a problem in Goa in terms of the gap involving what students learn and what the industries need. 

This committee is not just looking at building start-ups but also making sure they are having a lot of community driven efforts. I think these are two aspects we are looking at a distribution angle and a contribution angle within the community. We are not saying they should be part of community for just building start-ups, they should be part the community to understand what Goa has to offer. There is a lot on offer in Goa. 

This committee is going to give them knowledge wherein other senior mentors will talk to them and make them understand how they can serve well. It could be programming, it could be artificial intelligence or power of Internet and a host of other things. 

HCN: What are the latest and upcoming programs you have undertaken?

PM:  We had two events. One was Solve for India in which we tied up with Google to host it. Start-ups got affiliated to GCCI and Google. The important thing is that google mentors were here in Goa helping start-ups to understand different segments where they could contribute to marketing, technology etc. We also had an event on Digital India Platform by which there is a national entrepreneurship award that is going around in different cities, and this was one of the runs we had in Goa. This helps Goan eco-system to evolve to the national level. 

HCN: Education is another focus area where there is a lot of disconnect between what people are being educated in and what the industry wants?

PM: I think education system is a major step which needs to be taken but we are not getting involved in  changing the educations system. We have to find another way to come out of it. To me, I think if a lot of companies in Goa hire a lot of engineers and MCA guys. We are trying to have sessions on weekends preferably and giving them an incite from the industry's point of view. One thing we have to realise that Goa eco-system is essentially is having one advantage which Bangalore does not offer is retention rate of people working in Goa is way high compared to Bangalore. Because Bangalore has too many companies and switch becomes very frequent. So, I think Goan talent is hireable just that we need to make sure that we are giving a little extra mile. And this committee is open to hear about all the IT professionals and we are going to work help them grow.

HCN: Do you go for sessions in schools and colleges and actually take classes to train the students?

PM: We are trying to get in touch with training placement offices with the colleges. That is something which we have already started. Because we have entire data base of people who are looking out for jobs and looking for start-ups. We are trying to make sure that we are having a cooperation with them and it is good that a lot of colleges have shown a lot of interest. 

So we are trying to have sessions to understand what they want from us and this has already began. Now we have people called up to the chamber and have sessions with the local professionals to understand how many companies are there because a lot of IT professionals do not know what type companies are there and what kind work they do. 

That is what it is an awareness program and then we will be having sessions with the local corporates and that they understand what the industry demands are and have to be inclined towards.