Goa Project, for building a community that is cross-sectoral: Vijay Anand, Founder CEO, The Startup Centre

When meeting Vijay Anand, the Founder-CEO of The Startup Centre, at a GBG event, I asked him about the Goa Project. The agenda of the Goa Project is to build a community that is cross-sectoral, which will come together to help people, says Vijay.

He observes, “What is happening in India is that unless your father was a musician it does not look like you can become a musician. Politicians’ children become politicians, actors’ children become actors. With everybody's children getting placed in the same sector, it seems the caste system is coming back.” As a result, if you want to get into a new industry, based on meritocracy, it can be hard, Vijay points out.

In the Goa Project, the community that comes together is from different streams, he explains. “If I met a band which was really good, can a thousand people buy the band so that they make albums and make a little bit of money? It’s also a phenomenal experience, the kind of stories that I'm hearing. There was an NGO coming there, and saying, ‘We came here with no expectations, but by the time we were done, we had people donate close to a lakh of rupees in terms of, you know. I think you guys are doing a great job. Please continue.’ People are starting book projects; Sudhish has started this movie project with 10 directors now. There’re some crazy projects going on.”

While enough ideas are floating around, Vijay wants to see some visible trails of projects taking off. Yet, he assures, it'll be fun. “Next year will have some interesting things to come off.”