Minister highlights branding, packaging and outreach as key to growth
PANAJI
Calling marketing the missing link in the growth of small enterprises, Goa Industries Minister Mauvin Godinho on Saturday urged Self Help Groups (SHGs) and micro and small entrepreneurs to invest in professional branding, packaging and market outreach to scale up their businesses – strengthening their own incomes while contributing more meaningfully to the State’s economy as well.
Speaking at a live interaction with SHGs and entrepreneurs, Godinho said many businesses had viable products but failed to grow because they did not focus enough on marketing and packaging.
“Marketing has to be taken seriously. That is where growth begins,” he said, adding that the government had already set up special centres to support entrepreneurs.
Women entrepreneurs
The minister said the State had also appointed separate officers exclusively to assist women entrepreneurs, showing the government’s intent to expand women-led enterprises. “Our women entrepreneurs must come forward and encourage other women to lead businesses through awareness. Participation is the only way we can achieve our targets,” the minister said.
He said financial support was no longer limited to loans alone, adding that the government is offering loans along with subsidies, and there are special subsidies for women. The real challenge, however, was to increase the number of beneficiaries and ensure that loans were used to expand operations rather than remain at a subsistence level.
Packaging matters
Godinho reiterated that packaging was another weak area that needed urgent attention. “Packaging must meet international standards. Attractive, professional packaging combined with proper marketing will open new markets,” he said, stressing that presentation often determined whether a product could compete beyond local boundaries.
GI products under-marketed
Referring to Goa’s 15 Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged products, the minister hinted these assets were under-marketed. “These products need aggressive marketing. If entrepreneurs scale up GI-based businesses, incomes will rise and the state will benefit as well,” he said.
Lakhpati Didi drive
The interaction also highlighted Goa’s push under the Lakhpati Didi initiative, which aims to create 11,000 women from SHGs with annual household incomes exceeding Rs 1 lakh. IAS officer and Director of Planning, Statistics and Evaluation Vijay Saxena said around 3,600 Lakhpati Didis had already been created in the state.
As per the Central scheme, a Lakhpati Didi is defined as an SHG member whose household income crosses Rs 1 lakh a year, achieved through sustainable livelihoods, financial literacy and entrepreneurial activity supported by collective action.
Schemes support growth
Meanwhile, at the presentation by the department, officials explained that the Goa State Rural Livelihoods Mission (GSRLM), in convergence with the centrally sponsored Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) scheme, was central to this effort. The objective of the convergence is to strengthen SHG-led micro enterprises, help them scale up, and integrate them with markets.
Under GSRLM, support includes mobilisation and institution building, enterprise creation under schemes such as SVEP, skill-based training, handholding, and financial assistance through revolving funds, community investment funds, start-up funds and SHG–bank linkages. Marketing platforms such as SARAS, Asturi, Tarang and rural marts provide outlets for SHG products, supported by community institutions from SHGs to cluster-level federations.
The RAMP scheme complements this by focusing on formalisation and competitiveness. It supports Udyam and GST registration, licensing, quality improvement, branding and packaging, market access through e-commerce and institutional buyers, technology upgradation and productivity enhancement, and linkages with the wider MSME ecosystem and private sector.
Training for candidates
Under RAMP targets in Goa, more than 30,000 candidates are to be trained, 1,600 SHG members formalised into MSME units, water and energy audits conducted at 800 MSMEs, and 300 MSMEs transformed into “champion” enterprises.
Godinho urged enthusiastic entrepreneurs, particularly women, to make full use of the Business Facilitation Centre. “There is visible enthusiasm at the village panchayat level. It has to be channelled into entrepreneurship, backed by marketing and scale,” he said.
