PDF: 2962 pages, 5.2 MB - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

Global Reach
• identify, prioritize and develop positions and strategies to address issues of importance
to the Indo-American community; and
• create a forum for exchanges of ideas between the community and policymakers.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, former state controller Steve Westly, and Representatives
Mike Honda and Zoe Lofgren attended the conference, and Barack Obama made a video appearance.
Despite the heavy Democratic participation and the historic allegiance of Indo-Americans
to the Democratic party, IAC insists that it will be bi-partisan in its activities and that the
key objective is civic involvement. McKinsey senior partner Rajat Gupta, who donated to both
Khanna’s race and Jindal’s first 2004 run in Louisiana, observes: “I think we should make contributions
in all fields. While the first-generation immigrants did not participate in politics, the second
and third generations are becoming fairly active, and this is overdue.”
Non-Stick Networks
Indian professional networks are structured differently from Chinese networking models and
reflect a distinct set of interests within the Indian immigrant community. Specifically:
• Chinese organizations formed more along occupational and business networking lines,
while Indian professional organizations were initially cultural.
• Chinese professionals faced a more challenging glass ceiling due to language and cultural
differences, and they channeled entrepreneurial energy earlier in the direction of creating
new startups; Indians experienced greater mobility and opportunity within their
professions due to English language proficiency and world-class educations from India’s
elite schools.
• Indian networks have tended not to link mentoring to investment, but rather have
viewed it as a way to give back by passing on knowledge to the next generation.
• Chinese networks have been shaped in part by government policies in Taiwan and the
People’s Republic of China that were geared to reverse a potential “brain drain” and lure
graduates back home in the interest of technology and skills transfer; no comparable
Indian government strategy has existed.
• India’s sizable domestic pool of legal and financial services talent has reduced the need
for cross-border collaboration in M&A and business startup activity.
Forrester research vice president Ravi Nadjou also points out that while entrepreneurs in India
have been highly effective in developing new tech products, programs and applications, they
have until recently been relatively risk averse in starting their own companies to take those advances
to market.
Education and job experience in Silicon Valley may impress, but heading a startup with no sales
and no revenue other than early-stage VC funding is still socially suspect (compared, for example,
to government service).
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