KOJAIN Entrepreneurship Workshop Summary
KOJAIN organized entrepreneurship workshop during Oct 1 (evening) – Oct 2 (all day) in Laurel, Maryland was a grand success. 70+ participants, speakers, volunteers and guests attended the workshop and gained insight into starting a business.
Established in 1995, KOJAIN (Kachchhi Oswal Jain Association in North America) is a cultural, charitable, educational and religiousnon-profit organization, 501 (c) (3) status, for Kachchhi Oswal Jains residing in North America. About 1600 KOJAIN Community families reside in North America.
The idea of the entrepreneurship session originated during July 14 – 16, 2006 sammelan in Washington D. C. Area. A session was dedicated to the entrepreneurship. The session generated a great interest and requests came to expand the session in future. A one day Entrepreneurship Program took place on August 1, 2008 as a precursor to the Sammelan during August 2 – 3, 2008 in Detroit Area. About 200 persons came to attend on August 1, 2008. A stand alone Entrepreneur Workshop idea was being toyed around for a long time and finally the Entrepreneurship Workshop took place during October 2010 with everyone’s support, help, cooperation and encouragement. The team made the Entrepreneur Workshop successful with a vision, goal, talent, connection, hard work, support and cooperation.
KOJAIN Board was represented by Navin Dedhia (President), Manish Mota (Vice President), Nimesh Chheda (Secretary),Manoj Dharamsi (Region 7 Director) and Vijay Chheda (Past President).
Entrepreneurship requires thinking unthinkable or thinking outside the box. Looking around for ideas and using creative approaches, a new business model can be created. An entrepreneur follows dream, pursues an opportunity, and takes charge of his own destiny. An entrepreneur brings something of value to the society, makes a job for himself and for others, and creates wealth that benefits family, community, country and the world. He is a believer of high thinking and implementation. He seeks support and guidance when needed. He has natural entrepreneurial guts, positive attitude and shows spirituality in actions. He is a highly goal oriented person with a multitasking cool brain andunderstanding of fiscal policy and economics and is very adoptive and flexible. Charles Darwin had said: ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.’ Traditional approaches to services & products may have worked in the past are no longer sufficient to meet the demands of a changing marketplace.
Along with the registration package, participants received a KOJAIN Workshop Souvenir and Rich Dad’s book on
‘Before You Quit Your Job’, authored by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter. The colorful 36 page entrepreneur workshop souvenir contains articles on entrepreneurship, bio data of speakers and Kachchhi Business Directory of 46 business owners in North America. It is estimated that about 200 Kachchhi community persons own the businesses in North America.
The Workshop topics covered wide range of subjects from the basics of entrepreneurships to the specific industries. Speakers presented varieties of topics onWords of Wisdom on Entrepreneurship, Historical Perspective and Kachchhi Entrepreneurial Spirit, Entrepreneurial Workshop & IT Opportunity, Taxation and Financial Planning, and the Specific Businesses such as Restaurants, Fast Food Franchises, Hotel/Motel, Retail Shops, Check Cashing, Available Resourcesand Business Opportunities in India. During the two days of the event, thought provoking presentations were provided by 14 speakers. Attendees were amazed with the speakers’ knowledge, experience and the information provided during the questions-answers period. Valuable tips, advice, tools and methodology were part of the speeches. Emphasis was placed on where to focus and communication. Planning for the unexpected was also stressed. A message from Gautam Prakash (Maryland), opening speaker on Oct 1, was to focus on the undeveloped (white spaces) markets and not to lose conviction and passion to survive. Vivek Maru (Washington
D. C.) described his experience in Sierra Leone (African Country) on Social Entrepreneurship. ‘Results first and recognition will follow’ was his message. He also stressed to maintain an experimental spirit along with innovation, flexibility and adoptive nature. Anil Shah (Massachusetts) summarized nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship in his speech. His advice was to follow with passion along with concrete goals and do what you love. Importance of Income planning and sequence of return on invested money was key message from Harak Gala (Maryland). Kevin Manning (Massachusetts) stated to look for the niche market and product differentiation to succeed. A very cool
example of a franchise operation was demonstrated by Dhavni Vyas (Maryland). Rajeev Chopra (California) summarized that successrequires sacrifices, hard work, focus, perseverance, planning, action and execution. Lisa Vora (Maryland) and Amit Vora (Maryland) defined entrepreneurs as those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to use both to their advantage. They also said always
seek advice and guidance from others. Organizedinformation and planning ahead are key to the success. Rajesh Rayonia (Massachusetts) in his Retail Business speech said thatan employee is not a ‘worker’ or a ‘nokar’ but is a help provider. He said to avoid dynamic and competitivebusinesses such as video store, restaurant, health food and specialty store, clothing and accessory store, card and gift store kind of businesses. Vasant Chheda (New Jersey) and Bhavi Vora (Maryland) said that check cashing is a highly regulated service business. Haresh Chheda’s
(India) opening remarks were ‘farming is the best, business is medium and job is the worst’. Upcoming sectors in India with potential growth are infrastructure (power, road, bridges, and telecommunication), health care (preventive care), education, information technology, fast moving consumer goods, real estate and finance.
KOJAIN Entrepreneur Workshop Oct 1 Opening KOJAIN Entrepreneur Workshop Guest Speaker
Speaker Gautam Prakash (Second from left) with Haresh Kunvarji Chheda (Third from left) of Ghalla &
Program Committee Members and Volunteers Bhansali, Chartered Accountants, Mumbai, India
KOJAIN Entrepreneur Workshop Oct 2 Speakers KOJAIN Entrepreneur Workshop Washington D. C.
Area Volunteers with Program Committee Members
Kachchhi community has business instincts in their blood. Looking into the past, many of our ancestors had farming business in Kachchh. As times changed, some ventured out of Kachchh in search of other business opportunities. Initially many settled in Mumbai and started to do the business as retail grain merchant. Later on some changed to clothing business. Still majority are grain merchant or clothing business owners. Lately, many
are steel utensil retail shop owners, residential and commercial builders, manufacturers of raw materials and finished goods, and other kinds of odd business owners.
Compared to other community, it is estimated that 60 – 70 % Kachchhi Community members are business owners in India. Kachchhi Community is considered a very affluent society amongst Jains in India.
After migrating from Kachchh to Mumbai, a next wave of Kachchhis came to North America during 1960’s and
1970’s. Initial immigrants were engineers and doctors. Some of them after working few years in industry, jumped into businesses and became very successful business owners. Currently Kachchhi Business persons in North America own hotel/motels, retail stores, franchise operations, IT business,engineering/architect consulting firm,
investment and mortgage broker, check cashing business, tax consulting and other businesses.
Workshop Program Planning Committee Chair Anil Shah (Massachusetts) with the support from the Advisory members Mayur Chheda, Vijay Chheda, Anand Gangar, Akshay Shah and Navin Dedhia presented the best show to the attendees. Kalaben and Bhavi Jain handled Registration and communication tasks with attendees and KOJAIN. Amit Vora hosted the Workshop at his business facility and accommodated all requirements and requests. Nayan Shah, Kunal Rambhia, Jaideep Shah and Navin Vora produced a colorful 36 pages Souvenir in a very short time. Washington D. C. Area local volunteers Gunvantiben Bhavsar, Manoj Dharamsi, Meeta & Kanti Gangar, Vasant Gala, Kala & Bhavi Jain, Nalini & Harak Gala, Nirmala & Navin Vora, Bhavi Vora, Amit Vora and other members helped in all logisticsupport and make attendees feel at ease and at home. Harshad Dharod & Family from California weresponsored the workshop meals. Errors and omissions are unintentional and are deeply regretted.
A great amount of effort went into making Oct 1 – 2, 2010 Workshop the best ever. Everyone including speakers, Program Committee Members, volunteers and KOJAIN Board Members contributed whole-heartedly. The
Workshop would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of all. Program Committee
wished attendees to take one good idea from the workshop to make a difference in their lives. When this happens the Program Committee would consider being rewarded for the job well done.
Program Committee Chair Anil Shah Navin Dedhia and Anil Shah with Vivek Maru, who spoke on
addressing the audience on entrepreneurship Social Entrepreneurship
and IT industry
Contact: Navin S. Dedhia
5080 Bougainvillea Drive
San Jose, CA95111, USA
Tel: 408-629-1723
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