One of the most widely commercially grown vegetable crops is okra. In India, its hybrid seed potential is about 2500 MT valued at 600 Cr (INR), which makes it even more important. It is liked by consumers because of its rich source of fibres, nutrients, and minerals, and at the same time, it is also susceptible to many diseases and pests. Mostly it is grown for its nutritive pods. The main goal in okra breeding is increasing yield along with minimum losses due to diseases and insects. There are several resistant sources for many biotic stresses among the diverse wild gene pool of okra. Cercospora leaf spot/blight and powdery mildew also damage the crop significantly, besides Yellow Vein Mosaic Disease (YVMD) and Okra Enation Leaf Curl Virus (OELCV). Apart from diseases, several pests such as jassids, mites, and fruit and shoot bores also cause serious damage to okra. In the recent past, tackling these problems of diseases and pests’ infestation by traditional breeding approach is one of the value addition steps for resistant varieties. Now there is a lot of advancement in molecular and biotechnological techniques, which may benefit the okra improvement programmes by advances in Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) and resistant gene transfer from wild relatives, like Abelmoschus manihot, A. caillei, A. tetraphyllus, and many more. This presentation proposes some pre-breeding projects for Public-Private Partnerships, to combat the challenges using conventional as well as modern breeding techniques.