Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, Publisher Editor, Business Goa, shares his thoughts at the Business Goa Awards
Welcome to the eleventh edition of the Business Goa Awards. In deep veneration to my kuladevatas Shree Mahalakshmi and Shree Damodar, I stand before you to welcome you to yet another edition of Goa’s only business awards ceremony.
Business Goa is 14 years old, a very bustling teenager; and in 14 years, this magazine has seen many life cycles of businesses in Goa. With Covid thrown in, we have seen a new set of businesses develop; while some have perished and others have flowered – in a much different business world out here today. In terms of the dynamics of business, the kind of mix that we have today in Goa is quite different from when we launched the magazine in 2009.
For a print publication like ours it is quite a challenge as everywhere you go people are talking about the impending deathknell of print; but thanks to all the people who have been supportive of the magazine, many of whom are in the room today, I think Business Goa magazine, along with its events and branding properties, we are not just surviving, but thriving.
Over the years, this awards function has honoured 280 plus business owners, changemakers, entrepreneurs, leaders in their space and it is a very proud initiative for Goa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
When we launched the magazine, questions were not raised whether we would be able to sustain it financially, but whether there was enough content, enterprises, businesses or brands that would help it survive. I think that the state and the business community deserve a huge round of applause. You people have made it possible for us to remain in business and you have been inspiring us to hit the news-stands every month.
On a person level, I have been a huge glut of consuming business stories and have been reading autobiographies of entrepreneurs and business leaders. However, thanks to Business Goa, every now and then an opportunity comes to me, at a time when I sit to edit the magazine, where I read every story – these stories are all very inspirational. I see the spark of great enterprises being built right here in Goa.
Business Goa Awards are a way for us to showcase how Goa is moving ahead in the field of enterprise and businesses. The set of awardees every year gives us an indication of where Goa is heading and you will get a glimpse of it tonight. Business Goa’s brand value far outweighs it being just a magazine. Today, it is a brand that is valued with deep respect and admiration by the movers and shakers of business in Goa.
At the Awards, our quest to zero in on awardees and to reach out to stakeholders begins pretty much at the end of the awards function. It is a year-long process for us to identify our set of awardees for the next year. Today, we celebrate the awardees once again and add to the vibrant line up of the alumni who have been on our pages. They are the real stars and that is why we call it ‘The Night of The Business Stars’.
Let us thank all the people who have made this event possible. The title sponsors once again this year is Spexmojo.com and I must thank M K Gupta, Shobhit and Neeraj for being our presenting sponsor, this year too. We have a new set of associate sponsors and I would like to thank Epsilon Money and Sun Estates. Fortune Miramar, thank you all for coming on board once again. Our powered by sponsors are Copperleaf, Majestic Pride Group, Tangentia, Divekar & Co, Generation India. Hilton Goa Resort is our venue partner and Indigo Music our radio partner. Dewar’s is the spirits partner, Audi is the automobile partner; and Adcity, our outdoor advertising partner. We have also been supported by Herald Publications, as usual.
I appreciate the contribution of my team, Annalise Gouveia, Sybil Rodrigues, Rakshama Naik, (our interns) Rageshree Das and Abitha Shekar; Mayur Santineskar and Deepak Korgaonkar, and Samay Shetti.My gratitude to my friends, Pavan Agni and Cedric Vaz. I must thank the advertisers who have been part of the Awards Souvenir. A big thank you to Sweet Nation, Ulhas Jewellers, Rajdeep Maintenance Services (Rajdeep Builders), De Souza Group, La Cabana, Mangal Analytics and Research Consulting (MARC), Umang Group, Equiknox, NRB Group, CAM Services, EP Biocomposites Ltd, Nanu Estates, Adwalpalkar Group, Jai Ganesh Ispat, Sardessai Group, Glazetek Systems, Astra Metals and Planet Hollywood.
I am delighted to welcome you once again for this glittering ceremony of awarding, rewarding, felicitating, and for putting in focus the business stars of Goa
