Promoting community concept of ‘grow, let grow’ in Goa

Nominated in top 50 influential people of Goa in 2022 by Insider Goa, Asha Arondekar is the current chairperson of Women’s Wing Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI). Felicitated with the Priyadarshini Award at New Delhi and the Achievers Award by World Trade Centre at Mumbai she also bagged the Award for Best Women Owned Food Industry in Rural Area by AWAKE, Karnataka in 2024.

Asha is the Goa India State Chair of G100 and also the president of Goa State for ABWCI (Association of Business Women in Commerce & Industry) – a global chamber for women entrepreneurs. It is a body that aims to provide an enabling environment for women in business by connecting them to industry leaders and offering relevant opportunities. Asha has also been appointed as the Global Entrepreneur Ambassador by La Global Foundation, New Delhi under Global UN Economic Growth 2024.

Asha was the first lady president of BNI – Aparant Goa. She is on the advisory board of Goa Livelihood Forum and director in Aparant Foods Ltd – a Goa government company. On board as a Consulting Director of a Zambian company HODI Ltd, Asha is also a trustee in SAY Foundation.

Asha’s list of awards is countless – Business Goa Award, Goan Hospitality Award, The Goan Achievers Award, Trinity World Indian Hospitality Award, The Best of India Biz Award, Inspiring Women of Goa, Women with a Vision Award, Successful Business Woman and Entrepreneur Award and many more. She was felicitated with the World Women Leadership Congress Awards amongst Goa’s women leaders, too. She herself has initiated the Orchid Awards for the Women Achievers of Goa in 2011 and successfully doing it for 12 years, awarding Women Achievers.

Shouldering multiple responsibilities, and doing multitasking, Asha’s latest venture ‘Global to Local’, a Goan supermarket in Panaji that supports 100 plus rural women and self-help groups across Goa to be financially independent.

What makes this Goa born woman so dynamic and enterprising? “Discipline and hard work,” states Asha, a post-graduate in Clinical Biochemistry with a gold medal. “My first entrepreneurial venture kick started when I was just a teenager, while studying in Pune,” she discloses. It was then that she co-founded a trading firm of a pharmaceutical research product which later evolved into a joint venture manufacturing the same product in India and exporting to Europe. After returning to Goa she started a pharmaceutical research company at Verna Industrial Estate.

Successfully deviating from pharmaceutical sector to wellness industry 16 years ago Asha brought the leading wellness brand in India ‘VLCC’ to Goa and within four years she launched her own brand ‘Satva Salon & Spa’ – a chain of salons and spas that has flourished across Goa for over a decade now.

It was in June 2023 that Asha was appointed as the chairperson of the Women’s Wing at the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) wherein her role is to collaborate with a committed team to spearhead initiatives that empower women across Goa. Asha also plays a similar role as the Goa State president of ABWCL that matches the goal of steering women empowerment and entrepreneurship, as well as providing an enabling and nurturing platform for women in business. “At ‘Global to Local’ we are doing exactly the same,” she quips.

The pandemic motivated Asha to focus on social commitment and empower the rural women and self help groups in Goa by making available a platform to display and sell their products. The pandemic had hit their businesses and many had lost jobs, and their earning resources. Their savings were over and they were in need of some decent income through the skills they possessed.

“So I stepped ahead, and conceptualised a platform in line with Swayampurna Goa, for these women to display their homemade products and earn a living,” shares Asha, adding, “It was an inner calling. And a Goan supermarket ‘Global to Local’ was born to promote locally produced goods. The products were authentically Goan and locally made. She recalls that initially around 20 women and self help groups joined hands and the number kept growing. The store became an outlet to instil confidence in these women and make them financially independent. Today the store helps over 100 women and self-help groups display and sell their products thus empowering rural Goan women entrepreneurs.

The experiment truly succeeded. Going a step further, Asha encouraged the women to upgrade their products, do some research and make something innovative so that the market grabs it instantly. There’s a craze for homemade food items, handcrafted artefacts and all that is from the Goan soil.

“Indeed, initially it was a little tough and we had to do a lot of spade work to pick and choose skilled resource women, procure their products and make sure the supply remains constant and continuous. The SOPs were set over the time. I received a subsidy from the Goa government for this project that supported rural women. Our clientele grew eventually and ‘Global to Local’ soon became the apple of the eyes for locals as well as visiting tourists. We now have a good number of footfalls. Over the shelves, we display around 300 plus products – from spices, sweets, snacks, pickles, chutneys, grains, oils, vinegars, bakery products, desserts, savouries, handicrafts and Kunbi handloom weaves – all of which can be either consumed personally or gifted.”

‘Global to Local’ is a choice stop for travel companies offering a wide choice of products to visitors. The products can be ordered through e-commerce platforms across India and in Goa one can just sit at home and order through Swiggy and Zomato, too. Asha is looking forward to having two stores now – one in the North and the other in the South beach belt of Goa, and also at the two airports, in the near future. “I am happy that I can support livelihoods across my State and also propagate the concept of ‘think global, buy local’, says Asha. Believing in creating business ventures with a social impact, Asha gives the credit of her super active lifestyle to the support of her family and to her spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and his Art of Living practices that she has been following since two decades.