About Mentor on Road - USA

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

Swami Vivekananda

Management guru and trade advisor Jagat Shah, after successfully traveling across India as a part of “Mentor on Road” to motivate SMBs and startups, will now carry forward the journey throughout the United States of America. The first leg of “Mentor on Road – USA” will kick start from Boston on June 4^th, 2017. He is going to travel to over 32 cities across 24 states to interact with SMBs, Startups, Women Empowerment Institutions, and the Indian Diaspora.

The primary objective of this program is to increase the exchange of knowledge and the best practices of trade between the USA and India.

This is the fifth instalment of the flagship initiative, “Mentor on Road”. It is supported by the US Commercial Services (USCS), US Department of Commerce and US-India Importer’s Council (USIIC). The journey will see mentor Jagat Shah travelling over 15,452 kilometers (9342 Miles) throughout the country for over 78 days in 2 legs.

Mr Shah enjoys long distance driving, is passionate about working closely with startups, small and medium scale enterprises and enjoys guiding them towards competitiveness and professional excellence. In one of his tours abroad with the Honorable Prime Minister, Shree Narendra Modi suggested to him that he combine both his interests and create history. This turned out to be the vision that conceived the program.

“Mentor on Road – India” was begun in 2015, to embark the nobility of India 3.0--2014, the year when Shree Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. The tour saw him travelling across 35 cities, primarily Tier-II and Tier-III, so as to better understand the problems faced by startups and enterprises of various scales. It was only after formation of partnerships with like-minded organisations, that the vision behind this project was realised. The idea to travel by road to each of these cities symbolised the commitment to reach out to the grassroots and the remotest of villages that came on the way.

The experiences during Mentor on Road – India led to the understanding of the importance of SMBs towards the economy and their effects on job creation. Immediate impacts of the new policies like Digital India, Start-up India, Stand-up India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Smart Cities & Villages, Skill India and Make In India were studied and presented. The presentation talked about how these policies could be used in an optimal manner and to its fullest advantage.

The team that worked behind “Mentor on Road – India” comprised only of ten members. Their continuous and tireless efforts behind this project ensured its success. Furthermore, what makes this phase so inspirational is the fact that, only five members are currently proactively working day and night to organize Mentor on Road – USA. This small yet efficient team has already set up over 70 meetings out of the expected 120. Each member of this team is independent in their way of functioning. All the information is conveyed to the mentor through a mobile war room. This flexibility has led way to much more efficient functioning; also ensuring that personnel loss or absence will not affect the tour in any way.

In each of the cities Mr. Jagat Shah travels to, he will be a part of four gatherings a day. He will meet executives of American startups at universities and innovation centres to connect them with the opportunities in the Indian market. After that, he will proceed to meet small- and medium-scale business owners. Through a presentation on India 3.0, he will throw light upon the galvanised possibilities of trade and investment in India since PM Modi took charge of the government.

Later, he will interact with women entrepreneurs and will connect them to their Indian counterparts and will try to understand practices that lead to better participation by women. Lastly, he will address the Indian Diaspora and will share the concept of Smart Villages and how the former can contribute to the latter. He aims to inform them about Digital India and how it is successfully combating corruption.

A snapshot of the confirmed meetings till date is as follows:

The startup meetings in each city are with following partners (Cities Bold and Underlined):

New York: 1776; Washington DC: 1776; Charlotte: HQ Charlotte at Packard Place; Tampa: Tampa Bay Wave; New Orleans: Launch Pad; Houston: Station Houston; Dallas: NoD Coworking; Phoenix: CO+ HOOTS and Global Chamber; San Diego: Startup Leadership; Portland: Starve Ups; Denver: BoomTown Accelerator; St. Louis: T-REX; Chicago: 1871; Detroit: TechTown Detroit

The SMBs meetings in each city are with following partners(Cities Bold and Underlined):

Boston: WebPort Global; New York: Queens Chamber of Commerce; Washington DC: World Bank and DC Chamber of Commerce and ExportDC; Charlotte: Charlotte Chamber of Commerce; Atlanta: World Trade Center; Jacksonville: Jacksonville, Tallahassee & Pensacola U.S. Export Assistance Center, U.S. Commercial Service (USDOC), JAXUSA Partnership and JAX Chamber; Tampa: Florida Small Business Development Center; Birmingham: Alabama International Trade Center Alabama SBDC; New Orleans: World Trade Center; Dallas: Global Chamber Dallas; Phoenix: Greater Phoenix Economic Council; San Diego: World Trade Center; Missoula: World Trade Center Montana; Bozeman: Montana Manufacturing Extension Center; Denver: Montana Manufacturing Extension Center; Kansas City: USEAC; St. Louis: Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle; Indianapolis: Global Chamber Indianapolis; Pittsburgh: Global Chamber Pittsburgh; Philadelphia: Global Chamber Pittsburgh

The women owned businesses’ meetings in each city are with following partners(Cities Bold and Underlined):

Boston: Center for women and enterprise; New York: United Nations Women; Iselin, NJ: Women's Center for Entrepreneurship Corporation; Washington DC: Maryland Women's Business Center; Charlotte: Women in Business Workshop; Tampa: Tampa Bay Business and Professional Women in Tampa; New Orleans: New Orleans Business Alliance (NOBA); El-Paso: Women's Business Border Center; Phoenix: Global Chamber; Los Angeles: Women In Technology International (WITI); Omaha: Metro Omaha Women's Business Center; Detroit: Michigan Women's Foundation.

The Indian Diaspora meetings in each city are with following partners(Cities Bold and Underlined):

Boston: United India Association of New England; New York: Gujarati Samaj of New York; Washington DC: Global Organization Of People Of Indian Origin- Washington; Charlotte: Charlotte Gujarati Samaj; Jacksonville: Indo-US Chamber of Commerce Northeast Florida; Tampa: Indo-US Chamber of Commerce; New Orleans: American Association of Indian Professionals; Houston: Fruition Technology Labs; Dallas: DFW Gujarati Samaj; San Diego: San Diego Indian Society; Los Angeles: Jain Center of S. California-Los Angeles; San Francisco: Silicon Valley Indian Professionals Association; Omaha: India Association of Nebraska; Kansas City: India Association of Kansas city; Indianapolis: Indiana India Business Council & Indianapolis; Chicago: IABC (Indian American Business Council); 

The deeply rooted socially economic bond between India and USA will fruitfully deepen and leave a lasting impact.