Day 10 of Mentor on Road, USA

“If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.”

-Swami Vivekananda

Day 10 of Mentor on Road, USA started with an event with University of North Carolina’s UNCC portal. The (PORTAL) Partnership, Outreach, and Research to Accelerate Learning facility, is a premier workspace and innovation center for regional and global business pioneers, located on the campus of North Carolina’s urban research university.  PORTAL is the University of North Carolina, Charlotte’s latest commitment to industry-university partnership designed to spur business growth and job creation, promote research and innovation, and support the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Charlotte region. 

They have an ideal start up incubator where students, professors, businesses and also the people who do not belong to UNCC can incubate. We were highly impressed by the facilities they provide which include- running kitchen, board room and seminar room, telephone and full furniture. 400 to 1000 square feet offices for start-ups were available costing US $33 per square feet per year with all the facilities and taxes added. 45 start-ups, who started 7 years ago, are already operating from UNCC. We would be connecting them to Indian universities in an effort to explore more opportunities.

At UNCC portal start-up incubation centre

After this we went for lunch at Woodlands - the South Indian restaurant, hosted by the Charlotte Mayor's office and Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. We had an interesting discussion on how the State is trying to create an entrepreneurship environment.

Charlotte is home to the corporate headquarters of Bank of America and the east coast operations of Wells Fargo, which along with other financial institutions made it the second-largest banking center in the United States from 1995 to 2017 and the third-largest from 2017 to present. 

The Charlotte Chamber is a membership, volunteer-led organization. Their mission is to connect, innovate and grow opportunities for all who do business in Charlotte. Charlotte is well known for its pro-business environment. The Charlotte Chamber’s Business Analytics and Data division has combined detailed information on taxes, incentives, labor force, talent availability and other factors affecting a business’s bottom line.

Second event was with women owned businesses at Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. 10 women owned businesses shared their wonderful stories of how and why they started their business and what were the challenges they faced. We have recorded their experiences and will share shortly.

Women owned businesses who participated were companies such as:

1. Specialized staffing company for the physically challenge
2. Academic and career counselling
3. Commercial and residential installations contractor
4. Flower importers from Ecuador 
5. International relationship manager for the city of Charlotte
6. Business growth advisor, relations builder and trainer
7. Economic development and export promotion advisor
   
   Issues raised at the women empowerment discussion held at Charlotte Chamber were:

1.   Women businesses do not have an access to capital. They need support to build a business plan
2. Social revolution required
3. Assumption by companies that it is the man that has to raise a family so gets paid more
4. Advanced training in home based businesses required
5. Education of women over the generations has improved
6. Today’s generation takes time to lose traditional ideas. It is an organic process
7. Divorced or separated women have no choice but to look for job or start a business
8. Availability of professional day care centres for children is a big influencing factor for women working in USA
9. Technology driven buisnesses - women businesses think smaller than they are
10. Across the US, a lot of entrepreneurial classes for women have been started in universities but women entrepreneurial role models are not sufficient enough
11. The current success stories of women businesses are a motivator
12. Women are still expected to do traditional women oriented activities.
13. From a education perspective, community colleges promote small businesses for women
14. Local business communities give a strong support for women to work.

Third event was with the Indian diaspora. We were happy to notice that even Chinese and Africans were attending this event. It was hosted by Asian American Chamber of Commerce.
Asian American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) is dedicated to improving the economic development for Asian Pacific American owned businesses in VA/DC/MD through sponsoring events such as business networking programs, business development workshops, seminars and other special events. Asian American Businesses generated over 52% of the total revenues generated by all minority businesses. AACC provides a link to Asian and Pacific business communities in Greater Washington area. It's a great platform for corporations to reach out to local Asian and Pacific market.

Mentor on Road, USA shared details of developments in New India 3.0 and motivated them to adopt their village to convert into a smart village. We were glad to note that a good number of participants came forward and adopted the idea of smart villages. Following which, interesting questions were raised about the developments taking place in India. Everyone felt proud of the direction which India is taking.

Asian American Chamber of Commerce

Our day ended with a discussion on the next steps for the appointment of a State Mentor across the US states where we are visiting. Tomorrow we have an early morning meeting with the start-up centre – HQ Charlotte at Packard Place from where we would proceed to Atlanta.

Nisarg shah tying up with an IT start-up for e-governance

HQ Charlotte is on a mission to foster inclusive communities of entrepreneurs who create lasting economic and social impact. They create an environment that will empower others to create purpose-driven businesses and to leave the world better than they found it, and are addressing two major challenges that entrepreneurs face:

1. Building a trusted support community
2. Gaining access to flexible, affordable office space

They support growth oriented, community minded, and impact driven entrepreneurs through tailored “Mind, Body, Business, and Community” resources such as workshops, expert mentorship, online healthcare services, wellness coaching, software and financial discounts, volunteer opportunities, networking, and more.

Looking forward to an eventful day ahead.

Jai Ho! (Let victory be yours)