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Indian executives trying to establish local chapter of support group Hoping to TiE one on with The IndUS Entrepreneurs Tuesday, March 13, 2001 Eve Modzelewski, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
As far as Vinny Raj is concerned, Pittsburgh has the intellectual energy, institutions and track record to rank among the nation's high-tech hot spots. What it lacks, he believes, is a reputation. So the 21-year-old native of India is working to change that.
Raj is crusading to brand the city as "Silicon Hill," playing off the nation's best-known high-tech mecca, Northern California's Silicon Valley. He's talked with Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy to promote his idea, and is seeking to enlist other local Indian entrepreneurs to support his cause.
It's not hard to find such support. While the 2000 Census data has yet to fully break out the region's population by heritage, there's a sizable network of Indian residents who call Pittsburgh home. The Census estimates that the local Asian population, which would include people of Indian descent, grew 59 percent in both the city and Allegheny County the last decade, to 9,195 and 21,716, respectively.
Already, more than 31 area business people with ties to the Indian subcontinent have signed on to help Raj and others create a local chapter of The IndUS Entrepreneurs, better known as TiE. It's an association that allows entrepreneurs with roots or interests in India and surrounding countries to share their ideas.
"There are two things that are key for the local economy -- immigration and entrepreneurship, and TiE brings both of these things together," said Sanjay Chopra, founder and former chief executive officer of OnlineChoice.com, a North Side e-commerce company that sells electricity, telephone and other services to individuals and small businesses.
Chopra also is working to try and establish the local TiE chapter. So is Manu Kumar, 26, an Indian entrepreneur and founder and former CEO of SneakerLabs Inc.. Kumar, in fact, is spearheading the local effort.
Internationally, TiE has 25 chapters in five countries, while new chapters are being launched in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, said Raj Desai, executive director at the original chapter in Silicon Valley, founded in 1992. The organization reports that its entrepreneurs are responsible worldwide for over $75 billion in new market capitalization.
With local technology innovators such as Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh seemed to Kumar like a logical place to start a new TiE chapter.
"There are enough people in the area starting companies or heading up companies," said Kumar, a native of New Delhi. "But there's not enough interaction."
With monthly meetings and keynote speakers, TiE Pittsburgh would aim to promote and foster a forum for exchange between all local entrepreneurs, not just those of Indian descent, Kumar said.
It was that desire that led him and four other Indian entrepreneurs -- Chopra, Ashok Trivedi, Ravi Koka and Rajiv Enand -- to come up with the idea for TiE Pittsburgh. "The four of us said, 'OK, it's about time we put this together,' " Kumar said.
The five, all of whom have founded or are top executives at local tech companies, plan to meet again in April, and Kumar said he's working to incorporate TiE Pittsburgh as a nonprofit.
Vinny Raj said he thought organizations such as TiE would help keep young people, especially technology grads from CMU, in the area. That, in turn, would help Pittsburgh get the recognition it deserves.
"On a national scale, a lot of people know about CMU, but they don't relate it to Pittsburgh," said Raj, CEO of Online Web Software, a partner company in iventurelab.com, an Oakland high-tech incubator. That lack of recognition is part of why he wants to brand Pittsburgh with a high-tech nickname.
That's why he's also working to set up another local networking group, to be known as IndUS Gateway, that would bring together local executives and professionals on a regular basis.
Raised within the cohesive Indian community in Pittsburgh, Raj said he thought the regional influx of Indian people over the last decade was part of what made TiE a necessity.
Raj said he is inspired by TiE Boston, which attracted about 500 people to its annual conference last year.
"Boston has an incredible chapter," he said, explaining that its annual conference allowed anyone with any business idea to have 20 minutes one-on-one with a venture capitalist.
And whether Raj is able to convince people about the "Silicon Hill" pseudonym, the energetic entrepreneur has high hopes for TiE Pittsburgh and for Pittsburgh in general.
TiE Pittsburgh's Web site is still in the works, but those interested can e-mail tiepgh-owner@egroups.com.
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