Business Goa, the only magazine in Goa covering business and the economy, has conferred upon the Dempo Group an award as part of the periodical’s annual recognition of good work done by Goan enterprises.

The Business Goa Awards for Corporate Excellence 2017 has singled out our unique initiative, the Dempo Goodwill Ambassador Programme, as the CSR Initiative of the Year.

The award came at a glittering ceremony held at the Goa Marriott Resort, Panaji, yesterday, the 30th April, 2017 at which the who’s who of the Goan corporate world and society were present. India’s foremost ad guru, Piyush Pandey, and the country’s leading TV news editor and anchor, as also son of Goa, Rajdeep Sardessai, were the special guests at the event.

The Dempo Goodwill Ambassadors – Spurring Indian Sport to Global Excellence

The Dempo Business House has for long reflected the concerns of Goans through its specially driven endeavours into social responsibility, not just through its industrializing efforts.

The Goan passion for sport, soccer in particular, is shared by Dempo. But in his aim to formulate sustained non-football programmes of sports development for Goan youth, Group Chairman Shrinivas V Dempo unveiled a unique, first-time corporate endeavour of sports promotional assistance to Goan youngsters who show promise of international excellence in their sporting disciplines.

Known as the Dempo Goodwill Ambassadors, each of these youths is a globally benchmarked / rated achiever in her or his discipline – 22- year old Natasha Palha (lawn tennis), 21 year old Anurag Mhamal (chess), and 14 year old Tanisi Kirtani, (table tennis). Past achievers supported include Ivana Furtado (chess), Talasha Prabhu (swimming) and Akanksha Salunkhe (squash).

The Dempo Goodwill Ambassador Scheme aims to provide a fillip to deserving Goan youths, benchmarking themselves globally in sporting disciplines other than football or cricket. Formulated in the year 2007, the Dempo Sports Policy, administered by a Sports Committee, hopes to create a culture of sport by channelizing vibrant youth energy for sports activities and physical fitness with sportspersons of international standards. The scheme sets aside Rupees Fifty Lakhs, every year for the promotion of the skills and pursuit of three to four sporting talents of Goan origin or domicile, under sixteen years of age, in the disciplines identified by the Sports Committee, with a practical focus on Olympic sports.

In addition to this, Group Company Goa Carbon Limited has supported its GCL Ambassador, 23-year old Bhakti Kulkarni (chess). Each ambassador, already a prodigy when they joined the Scheme, reported a jump in performance and achievement in the course of their association with the Scheme.

That jump can be gauged from a few indicators of performance or achievement:-

  • Anurag Mhamal progressed to his International Master title and is on the verge of becoming Goa’s first Grand Master in chess, having secured all the FIDE norms and needing only about 50 rating points to be declared one.
  • Bhakti Kulkarni is Goa’s first and only Woman Grand Master in chess. Her latest achievement is winning the Best Woman prize at the Dubai International Open Tournament earlier this month.
  • Tanisi Kirtani is already All India No. 5 in the Sub Junior Girl’s Table Tennis rankings, having won a bronze doubles medal in Portugal and a silver team medal in Iran this past fiscal year, two among her international achievements.
  • Natasha Palha is ranked #543 in the Global Top 600 Women’s Doubles ITF Rankings in Lawn Tennis and has beaten two players in the Top 400 in the Woman Singles in the previous fiscal, besides winning the Doubles crown at an international open $15000 event in Cairo.

The complete story of the awards ceremony recognising the Goodwill Ambassador Programme, which is Chairman Shrinivas V. Dempo’s brainchild, is given below in the words of Business Goa itself.

Business Goa Awards For Corporate Excellence 2017

After its spectacularly successful debut in 2012, the much awaited Business Goa Awards for Corporate Excellence were back, and this year, bigger and better. So, while the sun set into the Arabian Sea on 30th April 2017, 26 excellence seekers took away a personalized award plaque amidst thundering applause and cheering from the who’s who of the Goa’s business fraternity. Held at the Goa Marriott Resort and Spa in Miramar, the event witnessed a spectacular turnout of industry biggies and associates of Goa’s only business magazine.

The Chief Guests for this stunning evening was the creative mastermind Piyush Pandey, national creative director of Ogilvy & Mather India and vice-chairman of O&M Asia-Pacific and Rajdeep Sardesai, currently a consulting editor at the India Today group. The first speaker for the night was Piyush Pandey himself who spoke about the excellent quality and business acumen that Goa has. He highlighted the importance and creativity that start-ups bring to the masses and also mentioned that Goa is indeed one place where start-ups can find their way to success.

With his roots in Goa, Rajdeep Sardesai, our second speaker for the night spoke about the remarkable diversity present in the state. He also put forth his observations on the immense potential that Goa inherits to become the next educational hub and the high quality of life that the state holds compared to many other parts of the nation.

The cynosure of the event was a spectacular set designed by Sushant Tari, managing Director of TPT Productions Pvt Ltd. that held everyone’s attention through the evening. The evening started off with an introductory speech by founder-editor, Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, about the idea behind hosting the Business Goa Awards for Corporate Excellence. Entrepreneurs are the backbone of any vibrant economy. This is especially relevant to Goa, which has in the past few years, seen a slew of individuals make their foray into the business world via their exciting and innovative business ideas. While earlier tourism and mining were the chief drivers of the economy, today, thanks to the daring and entrepreneurial spirit of an increasing number of Goans, as well as settlers who have made Goa their home, a range of businesses including realty, health, logistics, retail, lifestyle, restaurants, tourism and education have become great success stories. So when there are glittering awards ceremonies honouring the likes of actors, artists, musicians, etc, it was only a matter of time before these amazing entrepreneurs, too, were appreciated for all their hard work and efforts and after its debut grand success, the Business Goa Awards for Corporate Excellence were back for the sixth year in a row. Endorsing this opinion were stalwarts from the industry who echoed these sentiments and congratulated Business Goa for initiating such awards and looked forward to them every year.

The awards were classified under four broad categories – Real Estate & Hospitality, Corporate Excellence Awards, Best Companies and Personal Honours. The illustrious list of awardees for 2017 included Casadeco (Real Estate Furnishing Company of the Year); Denzil Xavier (Real Estate Professional of the Year); Risara Properties (Real Estate Brand of the Year); Anantashram in Vasco (Best in Goan Cuisine); Copperleaf in Porvorim (Best in Indian Cuisine); Cavatina (Best in International Cuisine) and Cafe Real in Panjim (Best Vegetarian Cafe).

In the Excellence Awards Prajal Sakhardande bagged the award (Preserving Goan Heritage); Gangaram Morajkar was awarded (Service to Business); The Dempo Group was awarded (CSR Initiative of the Year, collected in the absence of Group Chairman Shrinivas V. Dempo by their CSR Head, Dr. Krishna Gopal Rajanala, General Manager (Human Resources), and his deputy, Rajiv S. Kulkarni, Deputy Manager-CSR & HR); Rajendra Talak was awarded (Entertainment Personality of the Year); Mr. Farmer was honoured (Green Business of the Year); V.M. Salgaocar College of Law (Educational Institution of the Year); and Goa Management Association was awarded (Business Organization of the Year).

In the best companies category the following companies were awarded: Mapxencars (Fashion Brand of the Year); EDC Limited (State-owned Corporation of the Year; Upgrade (Trading Company of the Year); Star Agro Products (Empowering Rural Goa); Umang Software Technologies (IT Company of the Year) and Goa Hyundai (Auto Company of the Year).

In the personal honours, Norbert’s Fitness Studio was awarded (Brand of the Year); Subodh Kantak (Professional of the Year); Prajyot Mainkar (Young Turk); Kshama Fernandes (Business Woman of the Year); Dilip Salgaocar (Businessman of the Year); and Alcon Anil Counto Enterprises (Business Group of the Year).

Business Goa believes that every business man and woman who has the guts and gumption to go out and pursue his or her dream, no matter how big or small, is a winner all the way. These awards are a token of appreciation and encouragement for their efforts and the magazine congratulates the winners on their success.