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Panaji: A move is
under way in Goa, a state where the service industry accounts for
half of its income and provides 40 percent employment, to
evangelise college students and convert them from "job seekers to
job givers".
A joint initiative by the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI),
the Goa Principal's Forum (GPF) and NGO I Create India, it aims at
promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship and will reach out to 18
colleges and 9,000 students spread across the state.
"We have tied up with the Goa Principal's Forum and I Create
India. The former will provide us with the necessary students
while the latter, an entrepreneurship promotion initiative will
provide the knowhow for this outreach programme," GCCI president
Manguirish Pai Raikar told IANS.
"The I Create India programme completely simplifies the language
of business. It has no jargon and it is taught in the local
language, so that academically weak students and even drop-outs
can understand the concepts of fixed costs, stock inventory,
reading balance-sheets, putting together business plans and the
like," Raikar said.
According to Raikar, Ulhas Kamat, the chief executive officer (CEO)
of the entrepreneur development initiative and an Indian Institute
of Technology alumnus of Goan origin, was keen on harnessing and
locally moulding young business talent.
Anil Dinge, principal of the PES college in Ponda and convener of
the GPF, said that the primary objective of the initiative was to
change students' mindset from that of job seekers to one of job
givers.
"We are trying to instill a seed of self-employment in the
students. There are 18 colleges in the association. From these we
have at least 500 students involved in the programme from each
college," Dinge said.
With Goa's economy driven by the mining and tourism sectors, the
service industry in Goa is one of the biggest contributors to the
state's coffers. According to research conducted by Geetanjali
Urankar of the GVM College of Commerce and Economics, Goa's
economy is "service led".
"Goa, one of the smallest states of India, has witnessed a
tremendous growth in its service sector, which contributes over 50
percent to the state's income and over 40 percent to the state's
employment over the last decade, making it a service-led economy,"
she states in her research paper.
According to Dinge, it was just such kind of over-reliance on the
service industry which needed to be checked.
"We need to create and develop people locally who can give jobs
and not just become job-takers. That balance needs to be struck,"
Dinge said.
(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)
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