Chandigarh: The American Panjabi community opened the India Centre of Sikh American Chamber of Commerce (SACC) in the city today. Sukhwinder Singh Kaila, founder President of SACC, New Jersey, USA, presented the charter to the newly elected President of India Centre of SACC Manipal Dhaliwal.
Speaking on the occasion Sukhwinder Singh Kaila who is a successful IT entrepreneur in New Jersey said that “strength of a community is judged by the strength of its business community”, and hence the SACC was formed in 2011 by Sikh American business persons and professionals to create a strong voice in the US as well as address various ethnic challenges that Sikh community faced.
Lee Ann Eager, President of Fresno County Economic Development Corporation ofUSA, complimented the initiative and hoped that meaningful business cooperation can be planned and facilitated through SACC for not only Indian but even theUS businesses. She said thatIndia is considered the most favoured destination for business growth in US today. Mr Ruby Dhaliwal, Mayor from City of San Joaquin, California, said that tremendous potential exists for collaboration in the agriculture and agro-processing field which both the countries can explore much more actively through the Chamber.
Manipal Dhariwal, President of SACC India, said that though the Chamber represents a cross-section of Punjabi & Sikh American businesses and professionals, SACC is a trade body engaged in promoting entrepreneurship, offering trade and business opportunities, through networking and exchange of young professionals, startups and students.
Manipal Dhariwal, an NRI and a successful business investor in Punjab, said that the major aim of SACC’s India presence is to empower the Panjabi youth in the hinterland with the right kind of skills and networking opportunities to not only scale up their enterprise but also to explore newer opportunities in the global market, as well as foster entrepreneurship. Setting up an incubation facility inPunjab, setting up a corpus for seed funding the startups, and exchanging business delegations between the two countries is high on this year’s agenda, Dhariwal said.
Today, Punjab has the perfect ecosystem, technical manpower, large number of educational institutions, and supportive government that needs to be marketed especially to Panjabis settled abroad who are eyeing expansions inIndia, Dhariwal added.
Atul Gupta, founder of city-based IT firm, Red Alkemi, an active member of SACC India said that special focus would be on upgrading the skills of Panjabi youth and hand-holding those who intend to pursue higher studies abroad, or intend to setup their own enterprise locally. Utilising the experience of successful Panjabi and Sikh business leaders, SACC will be able to extend a helping hand to the new generation of entrepreneurs as well as support the existing ones with newer trading opportunities, he added.