Walter Vieira, while congratulating the awardees, spoke of Goa’s potential (inspired by Singapore), and the adaptability required to thrive in today’s complex world
Thank you for inviting me to be the keynote speaker this evening on such a special occasion.
Let me begin by congratulating the pioneer and innovator that is Harshvardhan Bhatkuly. About 15 years ago, he launched Business Goa – a magazine with production values and a visual style that few state-level publications had ever seen. It was elegant, relevant, and grounded in Goa, at a time when the local business press was almost non-existent.
At the national level, we had Business World, Business India, and a few others, but none of them focused on the aspirations, needs, and identity of a state like Goa. And then came Harshvardhan – with his vision and initiative – to fill that space. For that, I believe we all owe him a sincere note of gratitude.
In fact, I would say he is the evening’s first award winner in spirit!
This evening, I would like to share a few thoughts. One is personal – I am always very happy to come back to Goa.
Although I wasn’t born here – I was born in Bombay and spent most of my life there – I have always felt a deep connection to this place. My roots, through family, run deep in Goa, and every time I return, I feel that connection grow stronger. Even when I am abroad – particularly in a place like Singapore – Goa is always on my mind. And I have often thought about how Goa, in some ways, mirrors Singapore in potential. It has the ability to evolve into a space that is clean, efficient, community-oriented, and globally admired.
Let me share a story to illustrate what I mean. I was once in Singapore, leaving my hotel to head out for a meeting. Just outside, at the pavement, there was a bus stop. A bus had just pulled up, and a man – who looked Indian – stepped off. As he got off, he casually threw his bus ticket on the ground.
Before I could react and say something to him, a young woman in mufti approached him. She quietly showed her ID and issued a fine: 50 dollars. Just like that. I thought to myself: half his budget for the day or maybe more, gone in a second. All because he couldn’t find a dustbin – or didn’t bother to. But what impressed me most wasn’t just the enforcement – it was the clarity. In Singapore, rules are rules. Cleanliness is non-negotiable.
That experience left a mark on me. I remembered how clean Goa used to be during my childhood, and how unfortunately, over time, it has started following the rest of the country in becoming a little less careful, a little less disciplined. We must stop that trend before it becomes irreversible. Let us learn from Singapore – not just its orderliness, but its sense of shared responsibility.
Another incident that struck me occurred again in Singapore. I was heading to the airport from my hotel, and when we arrived, the meter read 26 dollars. I handed the driver 30 dollars and told him to keep the change. But he quickly handed me 8 dollars. Confused, I told him, “You only need to return four.”
He replied, “No sir, I took a slightly longer route because a stretch of road is under repair. We don’t charge our passengers for our detours.”
I was impressed not just by his honesty, but by his pride. When I tried to insist he keep the extra amount as a tip, he said, “Sir, we don’t accept tips in Singapore.”
Now contrast that with our experience in Goa – say, taking a cab from Dabolim to Miramar, where the driver often demands 8 dollars more than the proper fare. That contrast says a lot.
Then there was another incident – this one even more telling. I had mistakenly carried my hotel room key with me to the airport. It was an old-fashioned one, with a metal tag–clunky, heavy, and hard to miss. I reached into my pocket at the terminal and realized I had not returned it. I considered mailing it from Bombay, but thought, why not send it right there in Singapore?
So I approached the information desk and asked where the nearest post office was. The woman there smiled and said, “Only in Terminal 1.” But then she asked, “What do you want to send?” I explained the situation.
Without a second thought, she offered me an envelope, helped seal it, and pointed me toward a postbox near one of the airport shops. I asked about stamps. She said, “No stamps needed. The postman will collect and deliver it.”
I hesitated but followed her advice. Eight days later, I received an email from the hotel thanking me for returning the key and admitted that it was, frankly, their fault for not collecting it at checkout. But the experience reminded me of something deeper – how systems and people can work together, seamlessly, based on trust and shared accountability. That’s nation-building, even in small acts.
Can we, in Goa, move in that direction? Can we be a state that values cleanliness, integrity, and mutual responsibility–not because someone’s watching, but because it’s the right thing to do?
My second thought tonight concerns the business world many of you are so deeply involved in, as is seen in tonight’s awardees. As you know better than anyone, we are entering an age of unprecedented complexity.
We are now dealing with a global environment shaped by geopolitics, economic nationalism, and a technological revolution led by artificial intelligence. From Trump’s unpredictable trade policies to the pressures of automation, the terrain has changed. Add to that India’s
demographic challenge; finding 100 million jobs in the coming years–and you have a highly volatile, uncertain scenario.
How do we navigate this?
AI, for instance, will transform our world–streamlining operations, optimizing production, and enhancing decision-making. But it will also displace millions of jobs. Can we balance these forces? Or will we be left with solutions that work in isolation – a great product, but no market? A ready market, but no one to sell? A brilliant innovation, but no support system to scale?
Too often, in marketing, we hear the same refrain: a product exists, but there is no buyer. Or there’s a market, but no effective salesperson. You have a suspect who never becomes a prospect or a prospect who never becomes a customer. We must fix that gap.
I am currently writing a series of four articles for Money Life magazine – each one highlighting ten homegrown innovations, forty in total. These are extraordinary ideas, but innovation without reach is just potential unfulfilled. For each product, we must also identify the right market. Once we know the market, we must have a system to find the right salesperson. And once we find the salesperson, we must train them to convert interest into trust, and trust into a sale.
Goa can lead in this. We can create a working model – a crucible – where innovation, adaptability, and customer focus combine and this model can inspire others across the country. Let me give you an example of adaptability. I had a client years ago – Alpha Water Purifiers. It was a husband-and-wife team, among the first companies in Bombay selling home water purifiers. At the time, a Tata subsidiary had just launched a similar product. Alpha saw them as competition and wanted to go national quickly. But they were undercapitalized and under-resourced. So they invited us in for advice.
To their surprise, I didn’t recommend expansion. Instead, I said: “Focus only on Maharashtra. Build your reputation through unbeatable customer service. Promise every complaint will be resolved within eight hours.”
They followed that advice. They exited Assam, Bengal, and other markets where they were losing money. They focused on their home turf and became profitable. With those profits, they eventually moved into more complex water-purification systems for industrial clients – less competition, better margins, and greater stability.
They didn’t chase scale. They chased excellence – and that made all the difference.
There are many examples like this. Consider the solar refrigerator – one of my favourite case studies. It was originally designed for rural India but adapted by Coca-Cola to store bottles in villages where electricity was unavailable. Coca-Cola didn’t just market cold drinks – they made ‘ice-cold Coca-Cola’ a reality even in places without power.
That’s adaptability. That’s vision. So, to all our award winners tonight–congratulations once again. I know I have been speaking about business management to a room full of people who have already succeeded in business. So, in some ways, this has been a case of preaching to the converted. But if even one idea from tonight stays with you – if one story inspires action that benefits Goa, your community, or the nation – then I believe our time together was well spent.
Thank you once again for having me, and I wish you all continued success.
