One such company is Anan Technology, an Israeli start-up that operates out of an office in Panjim. Ajit John met with the co-founder Yair Abraham to learn more about the company and his plans for the business.
Herald: Why did you decide to set up the business in Goa?
Yair Abraham: I visited Goa for the very first time in 2014 and loved the food, the culture and the general atmosphere. I decided to do something in India and my partner and I felt that the advantages of doing business here was too many to ignore. It is cheaper to set up business here than it is in Israel. For an office this size I would be paying $4000 a month, whereas here I am paying so much less. The quality of staff is very good and they are prepared to learn, so it was obvious that yes, it made sense to start a business. And yes the domestic market is so much bigger.
H: The State government has been talking about encouraging the establishment of new business in the State, what was your experience like?
YA:We have been in business for four month and I can honestly say we never ever had any problems while setting up the business. Since both of us were foreigners we could not register our company. We had local people to help us out on that front. We spoke to the Goa Chamber of Commerce and they advised us to meet a CA. We rented the office and he helped us with all the paper work. We never had any problems while setting up the business. No one asked us for a bribe.
H: How did you recruit the staff?
YA: It was easy recruiting, we released an advertisement in the newspaper and the response was good. The level of knowledge was good and yes they are smart. I have four employees and it gives me more time to do my own ting. In Israel it was just not possible. The staff is also interested in learning and doing the job well. And like I said earlier Israel is so much more expensive.
H: What kind of service do you provide?
YA:We are involved in Web development meaning website development and web applications. We have a client in Israel, Europe and another one in America, which we have just taken on though we have not started work on that assignment.
H: What are the problems you face while doing business in Goa?
YA:One and one only, the internet speed is very poor. I work with a BSNL connection and I don’t have optic fibre here in this area. I have a limit on my access to the internet placed by the various schemes unlike in Israel where there is no limit. Here it is a max of 8 gigabytes where as in Israel it is 50-60 or even more gigabytes.
H: What are your plans for the next five years?
YA:We have to enter the Indian market, which is so big. And yes we have to look even more aggressively at the international market because we have an advantage of price. I have also some ideas in some other field. I would like to be out of the office much more and look at other things. I will appoint a manager and talk to him from where ever I am.
