Herald: How did your childhood prepare you for your business role?
Jack Sukhija: Well it was wonderful childhood, I studied in Goa, school, college, MBA all done here. Life was great in Goa those days. The beaches were clean, open spaces, play cricket and generally run around. I loved history but had absolutely no aesthetic sense which is a bit odd for me to say considering what I am doing with Geetanjali which I must say is being handled by my wife. I completed my MBA from the Goa Institute of Management and it was 2002 and recruitments by corporate were not very vigorous and so my father expressed the hope that I join him and so I did.
Herald: What did you do in the initial days?
JS: Well I handled the operations and in fact I still do it. I decided to initiate the computerisation process. Those days we were 21 rooms, we are 37 now.
All the moves to market and promote and expand the hotel were all done by my father. Those days the clientele at the hotel was 95% foreign and the rest Indian.
Today ofcourse that has changed. We have approximately 35% Indians coming in and the rest from countries as diverse as France, England, Scandinavia, USA, New Zealand and Australia. Oh yes we do get the odd Russian too.
Herald: What are the problems you face doing business in Goa?
JS: The infrastructure is fine but conducting business in Goa is not respected. Making money is not respected. That explains a lot of the problems.
The roads are fine, the supply of electricity is ok I use an inverter and then yes there is the hassle of getting permissions from the government departments.
See as business men we are creating employment, creating wealth but it is always a battle. One ends up keeping a guy only to sort out all the licences required during the year.
Herald: What would you like to see the government do in the state to ensure that the situation improves?
JS: I would like to do something about tourism in the interiors. Places like Sattari and move away from this emphasis on beaches. We have a farm and we can source our food for our hotel from there. I would like to do stuff like that.
I think we have to move away from the focus on the beaches and change the personality of tourism. I would also like to see the people more sympathetic towards business.
