motivation to companies to spend more towards CSR. It’s like a good bribe. For me, tax is incidental. You should decide, whether it’s tax efficient or not, that a certain percentage of your profits must be spent on social good. On the collaboration with Danish football club and academy FC Midtylland I think Sesa Goa’s academy has done a great job over the years. If India has to progress in football we need to concentrate on youngsters. Simply getting players from outside and trying to qualify may not take us very far in the long run. Keeping that in mind, I always had this feeling that although our team has done well, where do we focus? How do we want to position India as a player in the World Cup? Grass root development is the focus. Unfortunately, there are no successful models in India. So I decided to have a technical partnership with FC Midtylland because they have a great youth development programme and a very comprehensive academy. There’s a lot of motivation, and the youngsters become excellent players because they have the best coaches. I thought of setting up a similar academy here, or having some Goan boys and girls go there. We also need to focus on women’s football in Goa. Unfortunately in the India team there’s not been a single Goan in recent years. Again, I have looked at a club in Sweden which is doing a wonderful job in women’s football. They are coming for discussions with us soon On whether children of well-known personalities find it difficult to slip out from their parents’ shadows Our children’s generation is learning to be independent much faster due to the exposure they get in social circles, the advent of the net, or in their school curriculum. But in a small state like Goa you still feel over-protected. That was my own experience when I studied in the US and in Mumbai. I felt a little lost initially since we came from a smaller state where we were overprotected as youngsters. But I’ve seen that our children are learning to come out of that safety net much faster than we did.
On what he loves about Goa I love the Goan people and take great pride in the fact that I’m from Goa. People are perceived as kind and friendly, to a large extent very low profile. This state is beautiful and the challenge is how to maintain it. There’s a dichotomy – one is we have to develop and expand. Our youth need good jobs, educational facilities, but we also need to keep it pristine. What could be done is good planning to maintain the flavour of both. The best way to start is with the Regional Plan. People from all over the world flock to Goa because they love it. There is something special about everything – the cuisine, our people, the environment, the architectural blend of Indian and European. We have every reason to maintain and yet show a growth path for our younger generation because we can’t remain stagnant. On the sussegado attitude Enjoying a quality of life is useful. I’m not crazy to want to work for 24 hours, ignore my family and just run after the business. That’s one of the reasons why I sold our five-decade-old mining operations. The whole reason was to be able to balance life and work. You can’t be over-sussegado, but a fair amount of balance helps you relax. On his hobbies I love reading non-fiction. Books by people like former president APJ Abdul Kalam make you feel so positive about India in the future. My passion is football, so whenever I get time I watch matches on TV. Exercise for the mind comes from reading and yoga, when time permits. Your mind becomes less stressful and buzzes with ideas. I also like to introspect. I spend a lot of time travelling when there’s not too much pressure. I’m also a foodie and love good wine.
On quality time and vacations with the family I see the children off to school and end my work day at about 6.30 so I can devote time to my family. From then until the children go to sleep at 9 pm, I spend a few hours with them. I try to take two vacations a year, one with the children, and the other with my wife so we get time as a couple. I love going to Italy. One reason is the similarity with Goan culture – lovely people, great food, great shopping and beautiful places. I love walking around the streets, spending time in cafeterias with a cup of espresso and biscotti and spending hours with a book. On his philosophy in life Contributing to society in general really excites me. While I believe in generating wealth, the generation of wealth for my own use is limited. The reason I try and generate more wealth than I want is to give back to society. Some of our programmes like the Goodwill Ambassadors and scholarship fund for Goans to study in the UK have done so well. The best way to serve your nation is to be useful to the people around you when God has given more than what you require. His message to young Goans Youngsters must be passionate about what they want to achieve. I find that a lot of youth lack determination and commitment to an issue. Whether it is fighting corruption or getting more accountability from our politicians, there has to be a focused determination to achieve it. n Pallavi and Shrinivas Dempo
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