Business Forums Promote Diversity

Leggett Meets With South Asian Leaders

To promote inclusion of the county's diverse racial and ethnic groups in county policies, County Executive Isiah Leggett's administration has been having a series of community forums to address the groups' concerns and ensure, officials say, that "everyone has a seat at the table."

Leggett (D) and representatives of the county's Department of Economic Development met last week with business and civic leaders from the county's South Asian community.

"I want to use this occasion, and those that follow, to make clear my commitment to our diverse business and civic communities, that my administration welcomes their ideas, values their input and will do all we can to address their concerns," Leggett said last Thursday in his remarks to the nearly 80 people at the meeting. The first forum in the series, organized by the newly established Division of Business Empowerment, which supports the county's minority- and female-owned small businesses, was in July with the Chinese American community. The next meeting is scheduled with Hispanic leaders Sept. 27. Officials also plan to meet with African American leaders, female business owners and the Korean business community.

Montgomery County has the largest number of Hispanic, Asian and female-owned businesses in the state and the second-largest number of African American-owned businesses, according to 2002 census figures.

At last week's discussion, Leggett emphasized the importance of retaining minority businesses while continuing to attract other companies. Members of the county's Indian community, which makes up most of the South Asia group, urged officials to actively recruit talented workers from India for local information technology and biotechnology firms.

In November, two delegations from Montgomery County, one from county government headed by Leggett and one from Montgomery College, will visit India. The government delegation plans to meet and form partnerships with companies in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. The college delegation will discuss establishing a prototype of its education and workforce-training model in the state of Haryana.

Those attending the forum said they appreciated the theme of openness in county government, which some considered a break from policies of past administrations.

We've "been in the county for 34 years," said Manish D. Kothari, president of Sheladia Associates, a development consultant firm in Rockville. "We're not a huge corporation. It's been hard to break into the procurement process and many times they wouldn't give you a straight answer. This administration is open to saying how we can stay here. I like to feel that I'm working with someone who is interested in keeping me here, rather than someone who will give me a politically correct but ultimately dismissive answer, which has been my experience in the past."

For others, the discussion offered a chance to network and to gain a better sense of the community.

"It just helps us to connect the dots," said Rahul Singhvi, chief executive officer of Novavax, a Rockville-based clinical-stage vaccine company that relocated its headquarters to the county earlier this year.

"It gives us an awareness that there is a support system in the county," he said. "If I need a commercial loan, I know who in the community is willing to offer me that and I can just pick up the phone. I was located in Pennsylvania for 10 years, and they never facilitated communication like this. I had zero opportunity to do this kind of networking."

So far, the Leggett administration has scheduled three forums with three segments of the Asian population and one each for African American, Hispanic and women's groups.

Katie Knowlin, assistant director of the Division of Business Empowerment, said discussions will also be scheduled for other racial and ethnic groups.