The slogan for start-ups used to be The ‘Make in India’, ‘Start-Up India’, ‘Stand-Up India’ a few years ago. However, it is still being used when the speakers deliver their speech on events related to start-ups. With time passing by, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come up with a few more slogans which have lately caught up and are being used frequently in the speeches. They are primarily Sabka Saath (support of all), Sabka Vikas (development for all) Sabka Vishwas (faith of all) and Sabka Prayas (efforts of all).
Yes, sloganeering is important to cheer the hapless and struggling start-ups who spend their time, money, energy to fructify their innovative ideas. It is no secret that only ten per cent of the start-ups make it big or become successful. The fear is that the rest ‘unsuccessful’ 90 per cent become rudderless and are left in the lurch and under heavy debt which not only kills the business but also leads to many job losses.
One of the most successful start-ups in India which began as early as 28 years ago in 1993 is Café Coffee Day (CCD). It is an Indian listed café chain with more than 1000 outlets in India, owned by Coffee Day Global Limited, a subsidiary of Coffee Day Enterprises Limited. Coffee Day serves 1.8 billion cups of coffee, annually, in six countries, with revenue of Rs 43.31 billion and employing over 20,000 people directly. It was in news couple of years ago due to wrong reasons and unfortunate death of its founder VG Siddhartha who allegedly suffered pressures from many quarters including Income Tax Department. Yes, it was a success story which we see dwindling.
Goa has around 220 start-ups in the State and to take it to the level of CCD, it would require lots of effort from an entrepreneur and less of interference but only hand holding and timely support from the government machinery to scale up. The government needs to help the potential entrepreneur who can help provide jobs in the State and hence contribute positively towards the overall growth in the economy of State especially after the attack of Corona virus.
The potential in the small State like Goa will look very promising if the start-up policy, which is one of the best in the country, is fully and aptly implemented and clears the cloud over issues like provision for grants, soft loans, incubation facilities, performance-linked grants for incubators, etc, at the time when it is required. Any delay in delivery of this ‘help’ can be very detrimental to the start-ups since for them, time is money.
It is also essential that the policy should be an outward looking one which should enable tie-ups with accelerators from within the country or even from abroad, if need be. Also, the Goa government, in order to encourage young minds would need to go back to school and introduce subjects like entrepreneurship development programmes and catch them young. Several workshops and seminars have been held in schools and colleges but it has only been a one or two-day affairs as photo-ops. A proper course, direction and academic support and follow-ups are required for the students who show entrepreneurial skills at an early stage.
Fortunately, there are Goan start-ups and companies which are capable of handling each and every one of these tasks in partnership with the government if required and they have been doing so. The government must take their support and utilise their expertise for the growth of the industry. Opportunities to execute all these works will help strengthen the local businesses, create over 4,000 jobs, bring about progress while maintaining eco-friendly industries in the State.
The State has the policy, intention and the support from all the stakeholders but what is required is more transparency, quick and timely delivery with a proper ease of doing business.
It is basically ‘walk the talk’. This will inculcate confidence among the new entrants in the field and will encourage them to dive in to take the challenge. States like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, etc, have shown that they take this start-up sector very seriously and hence the results are seen at the national platform. It is a big opportunity for a State like Goa which has been talking about scaling up start-ups since 2015. This can happen only with co-ordinated effort of all the stakeholders.
