Ambitions are growing for Indo-American chamber
Swapan Dhairyawan was named president and chairman of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston this year. Originally from Mumbai, India, he works as a certified public accountant and became a member of the chamber in 2004. He served as director in 2012 and has been treasurer for over five years.
His new leadership role began on Jan. 1, with an official inauguration held Feb. 22.
Q: What is your overall vision for the chamber this year?
A: The overall vision is not to move from our mission goal, which is networking, connecting and visibility.
Now, the Small Business Administration says that almost 33 percent of businesses fail within their first five years. Within 10 years, 50 percent of those businesses are out. I think they need to be educated. Everyone comes with the intention to succeed. No one wants to fail in business. That being said, my vision is to assist, help and be a mediator, a partner in which you can be able to succeed in your vision for your business.
Q: What are existing initiatives you hope to continue or new ones you hope to add?
A: Continuing events that we do are our Distinguished Lecture series and the Women in Business event. These events are for the public at large and for membership at large in which we bring in distinguished speakers who talk about their profiles, who talk about their weaknesses and challenges.
The new thing I’m adding this year are specific seminars. We have been doing a tax seminar every year. But post the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it’s an amazing new field. We are going to go out into the community. We are going to different locations and organizations, making people aware about the tax cuts through small workshops. And we are doing something related to a legal seminar having to do with the EB-5 immigration visa. Then an engineering seminar, which is something we
Q&A: SWAPAN DHAIRYAWAN
have planned for this year which has never been done before.
Now within the IndoAmerican community here in Houston, which has grown to 150,000plus, there are issues with seniors and spouses in which they don’t know what happens in case of the loss of a spouse. So we want something that can educate them of what are the resources and where do you go for them.
Q: How does the chamber connect businesses in the city to those abroad, and how important is that connectivity?
A: The Indian economy has grown a whole lot. India was the 16th trading partner (with Houston) in 2015. That number is now the 14th. India has a huge potential. India, which has close to 60 percent of its population in the age group of 25, that is a big market with potential. That is what we want to tap into. The chamber in 1999 was formed with the vision of accessing Indo-American trade. But that is now longer our mission statement. We help businesses over here to grow. Connectivity with Indian businesses remains, but it’s not the priority of our mission statement anymore. The priority is over here.
Q: What goals do you hope the chamber will meet in future years?
A: The chamber has been here for the 19-plus years. It has evolved, and its mission statement has changed. In Latin, commerce means coming together. And that is what I see the chamber leaders doing in the future. How they are going to form relationships with the Greater Houston Partnership, the Houston District Export Council and other organizations, and how they are going to make it a leading organization at the forefront.
We are looking for not only serving the community, but also some recognition for the branding of the chamber to grow.