Take IT to villages; get Goan youngsters back to Goa
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 13 February 2016 23:45 ISTGoa government plans to build IT centres in the cities, but the young Goan IT professionals want to take IT to the villages.
They also want to bring back to Goa all the Information Technology professionals, who have gone outside the state or abroad, as young entrepreneurs.
It was a different insight witnessed at a meeting convened by Goa Forward of few young IT professionals, who are involved in start-ups with innovative ideas.
None of them were happy with the new IT policy declared by Goa government recently which, according to them, does not address basic issues confronting the start-up efforts of youngsters.
As GF president Prabhakar Timble summed it up, the slogan for IT revolution in Goa should be ‘Take IT to Villages’ rather than congest cities with more urbanisation.
“Give us good connectivity all over the state, smooth public transport and seed capital to convert our ideas into IT business”, suggested Jervis Pereira, Director of GITIC, which works on incubators for IT professionals.
Rather than setting up big IT parks and habitats, the government should promote home start-ups by simplifying the procedures with single window system, no trade licence required and a uniform policy for getting NOC from the panchayat or municipality, he said.
The government should help financially by providing minimum Rs 10 lakh of seed capital for the start-ups instead of mere Rs two lakh offered in the IT policy, felt the young professionals.
“In Singapore, the unpaid loan is converted into equity by the government and the business is taken over. Goa can think of this model”, said Jason Fernandes, CEO of SmartKlock Inc, who has returned from US to start IT business in his home town.
Ashton D’Souza, another IT professional, suggests adopting the Karnataka formula where government contributes 50% while the rest half is raised from the market.
Cicero Silva, director of Crecio Interactive, felt that incubation centres for the start-ups should be set up in different places all over Goa rather than concentrating everything in one central place.
The young IT professionals also felt that the authorities should look at Goan boys and girls as entrepreneurs rather than mere employees and inspire them to get into IT business through colleges.
The young professionls also felt that Goa is a right place to develop IT in a leisurely environment rather than getting stressed in the metros or anywhere else in the world.