What was the concept behind ‘Business Diva’?
The Forum for Innovation Incubation Research and Entrepreneurship (FiiRE) came up with the idea to be associated with the Women’s Wing of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) with the objective of promoting innovation and supporting the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem for women in Goa.
The ‘Business Diva’ Competition was organised with a special focus on women entrepreneurship. The event was powered by Geno Foundation which promotes activities related to women empowerment and gender equality.
What was the judging process involved to arrive at the winner?
Out of the 46 entries that we received, the top 20 were selected for the semi-finals. The grading was done by Inseyah Ali (Incubation Manager, FiiRE), myself as Chairperson, GCCI Women’s Wing and Deepali Naik (Director, Women and Child Development) based on the following parameters:
a) Innovation b) Practicality c) Scalability d) Social Impact of the ventures
A training program on pitching and presentation was organized for the semi-finalists at FiiRE. The participants were trained by Jyothi Iyer (Founder, Stademy) and Poonam Shirsat (Co-Chair, GCCI Women’s Wing).
The semi-finals were held on the 6th January 2020 at the FiiRE Auditorium. The participants pitched their ideas to a panel comprising of Poonam Shirsat, Aditi Tiwari (Strategic Marketing Consultant) and Dr. Neena Panandikar (Principal, Don Bosco College of Engineering) and were rated on the aforementioned criteria. 10 finalists were selected by the judges.
The Grand Finale of the ‘Business Diva’ Competition was held on 14 January 2020 at GCCI Convention Hall, Panjim. The Chief Guest for the program was Pallavi Dempo (Executive Director, Dempo Industries Ltd.) and the guests of honour were Dr. Pramod Salgaocar (Executive Director, Geno Pharmaceutical Pvt. Ltd.) and Manoj Caculo (Chairman and MD, Caculo Group of Companies and President, Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
The judges for the finals were Dr. Mridula Goel, Associate Professor, BITS Pilani, Goa Campus; Jyothi Iyer, Founder, Stademy; Asha Arondekar, Founder, Tatva Spa and Varsha Pai Raiker, founder, S.R.Enterprises.
The winner, Mayuri Bhate, took away a cash prize of Rs.50,000 and one year free incubation at FiiRE.
Through her venture Ecotopia, which she has co-founded, Mayuri Bhate manufactures coconut shell charcoal briquettes by using agro waste as raw material and also helps their farmer partners earn from the agro waste generated on their fields.
The second prize winner, Nivedite Walke has started an initiative called ‘thread architecture’, which takes the traditional granny’s craft of crochet to a level of art which can be used in interior design and architecture in the form of installations, sculptures, etc. thereby preserving the ancient art. She was awarded a cash prize of Rs.10,000 and one year free incubation at FiiRE.
The runners-up prizes went to Sinami Shetye, who has introduced sanitary napkins under the brand name Hy Femme. The products arr hygienic, comfortable, affordable, have high absorbing power and does not use any gel or perfumes. She won a cash prize of Rs.5,000 along with one year free incubation at FiiRE.
The other two ladies who had a podium finish were Priyanka Row, who has co-founded Brunchbites Pvt Ltd., Goa’s first online mealbox – doorstep delivered. This startup caters to school tiffins, corporate lunches, senior citizen thaali boxes and customized event mealboxes.
Dr. Priyanka Raikar is a paediatric occupational therapist who has started the first multidisciplinary clinic in Goa under the brand name Miracle for newborns and teenagers strugling with development or disability.
Both of them also received cash prizes of Rs.5,000 each, along with a one year free incubation at FiiRE.
As chairperson of GCCI Women’s Wing, how do you look at entrepreneurship among ladies in the state?
GCCI Women’s Wing, since its inception, has always supported activities related to women especially women entrepreneurs and Self Help Groups. ‘Business Diva’ was one such event that we associated with FiiRE to meet the objective of the commitee. Basically the event was an idea competition for women with innovative businesses or startup ideas.
What was the takeaway from the event for you ?
‘Business Diva’ was hosted to encourage women entrepreneurs to come out and implement and grow their business ideas with professional help in terms of mentoring, access to funding, compliances, marketing and promotion, scaling etc.
The GCCI Women’s Wing is happy with the successful implementation of this event and for providing a platform to budding business women to give flight to their entrepreneurial dreams.
What are the other initiatives that the Women’s Wing is working on?
The most important event planned in the near future is ASTURI 2020 which we will be organising in the month of October. It will be a two-day exhibition for Self Help Groups and women entrepreneurs with activities planned along the sidelines.
We are also planning to go live soon with ‘Digital Baila’ market place for SHGs and women entrepreneurs for which we have associated with Spark+ Technologies
GCCI Women’s Wing signs MoU with Spark+ Technologies for ‘Digital Baila’
GCCI Women’s Wing and Spark+ Technologies signed a MOU. Present at the occasion were President of GCCI Manoj Caculo; Director General of GCCI, Ramakant S Kamat along with GCCI- Women’s Wing Chairperson Pallavi Salgaocar; Director, Women & Child Development, Deepali Naik and Ramakant Samant co-founder of Spark+, Mohit Sangelker founding member of Spark+ and Shruti Dhargalkar (head, ‘Women of Goa’).
Spark+ Technologies has launched ‘Digital Baila’, a mobile app for SHGs (Self Help Groups) recently and is planning to go live in Q1 2020 across Goa for SHGs in collaboration with RDA-DRDA.
Digital Baila is an initiative of Spark+ Technologies. It is a local startup that offers various services, innovations, and opportunities for women, and students in Goa. It is founded by Sudesh Sangelkar, who hails from Siolim, and is now based in USA.
The aim was to create a platform (Women of Goa) where local women can hone their skills via training, or through internships, or promote services, and sell or promote products, arts, and crafts that are made locally.
The tech team in Goa is led by co-founder Ramakant Samant and engaged in developing, deploying, and supporting Digital Baila – a platform to empower local women by promoting their talent, product, and services.
GCCI Women’s Wing has been working at developing the spirit of enterprise among Goan women since 2005. This platform consisting of women entrepreneurs from diverse fields not only encourages women to be entrepreneurs but also helps existing business women to take their businesses to the next level.
The MoU hopes to implement Digital Baila project initiative across Goa and empower the women community to help women to be self-independent by providing them required support and connecting with right entities which can help them to grow their business. The MoU also hopes to create a common platform which can connect Self Help Groups and women entrepreneurs to empower and explore synergies between them
