LOS ANGELES: The World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) organized its fifth Global conference in Los Angeles from November 18-20. WHEF aims to bring together the best and brightest of Hindu economic leaders and entrepreneurs, according to its founder Swami Vigyanand.
Since inception, WHEF’s main goal has been to promote the name of Hindus and establish them as a strong and notable economic force. Being the third largest economic metropolitan area in the world, Los Angeles has been an excellent choice to host the Forum. A global hub for international trade, manufacturing, technology, finance and more, it has served as a means to inspire attendees and help them have a first-hand insight into the North and South American Markets.
The Organizing Committee included Avadhesh Agarwal – Chairman; Nadadur Vardhan/ Ravi Tilak – Vice Chairmen, Bala Palanisamy – Secretary, and Dr. Subbu Shanmugham/ Sharad Mehta – Directors. Anil Parekh, Raghu Kuppannan, Dr. Toni DasGupta, Sharad Mehta, Shailesh Shetye, Roshan Khandpur, Babubhai Gandhi.
The global community of Hindus has been doing wonderfully well and contributing to the development of a sustainable world in the areas of education, business, healthcare, and technology. More than thirty countries were represented by delegates who travelled to Los Angles to share their knowledge and experience including a delegation from Silicon Valley represented by Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), India Post, Festival of Globe (FOG), GitPRO etc. Entrepreneurs from every major industry – traders, bankers, technocrats, investors, industrialists, and economists – shared their wisdom, experience and resources with more than six hundred attendees.
The three-day event was kicked off by the Master of Ceremonies Sushil Pandit on Friday, November 18 with a prayer and ceremonial lighting of the lamp by Avadhesh Agarwal, Sajjan Bhajanka, Professor R. Vaidyanathan and Dr. Mukesh Aghi.
The conference attracted some of the global thought leaders including Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA 39th District), Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mohandas Pai, Chairman – Manipal Global Education Services, Venture Capitalist Gururaj Deshpande, Dr Mukesh Aghi, President of the US-India Business Council, Srikanth Bolla – Chief Executive Officer of Bollant Industries, Dr. Abhaya Asthana, President, VHP America and many others.
Mohandas Pai, ex-executive of Infosys, indicated that India has an opportunity to become a digital leader and instead could end up becoming a digital colony if investors don’t invest and capitalize on it. He shared that investment from US and China into India is at least 5 times higher than the investment from successful Indian investors themselves. He held the audience with his engrossing speech mixing numbers with humor. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard shared her experience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed optimism about India. Under leadership of current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India would unleash its untapped potential, she said.
Ed Royce, Congressman admired the role of Hindus in his speech and emphasized how the Hindu Americans have made a difference in America in different spheres including hospitality and building temples. Srikanth Bolla, a blind entrepreneur from India shared his inspirational story of how he overcame adversity and could not even get admitted into any of the engineering colleges in India.
As a result, he applied and ended up going to Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After graduation, Srikanth went to India and started Bollant Industries that has grown leaps and bounds making him a very successful entrepreneur.
The conference was very well attended and most people look forward to participate the next year’s WHEF 2017 conference. It is being planned by Acting Chairman PV Sambasiva Rao and is scheduled to be held in Nairobi, Kenya.
India Post News Service
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