GROUP AIMS TO GIVE A LINK TO SOUTH ASIA: GLOBAL TRADE IS THE MAIN FOCUS OF LOCAL CHAMBER

The Houston Chronicle

Houston companies seeking to do business in South Asia - or with
enterprises headed by immigrants from India, Pakistan and nearby countries
- might do well to first check with people who know how to climb corporate
ladders on both sides of the globe: Members of the South Asian Chamber of
Commerce.

"If any business wants to go to Pakistan or India and do business, we can
provide that help. We have the links," said Sam Syed, who will become the
chamber's president-elect during its changing-of-the-guard dinner,
combined with a tax seminar, at 6:30 tonight at the Hilton Hotel
Southwest, 6780 Southwest Freeway.

Since its founding 11 years ago, when there were relatively few business
establishments headed by South Asians in Houston, the southwest
Houston-area chamber, 9888 Bissonnet, has helped in uniting business
people from seven South Asian countries.

While building on its original mission of gathering strength in numbers,
the chamber has increased services through the years to its now-752
members - and its soon-to-be-installed leaders plan to broaden the
organization's scope again this year.

Ronnie Patel, who will be the chamber's chairman for 2005, said the group
will work to enhance its partnership with local business and government to
increase its voice in Houston's affairs.

"We're a non-political organization, not involved in politics like
Democrats or Republicans, but we're involved in the affairs of the city
and what's going on in the community," said Patel, 45, who lives in the
Shadow Lake subdivision near the Westchase Business District. "We've seen
our businesses grow and we've helped to nurture them."

The chamber regularly hosts business seminars on taxes, investments,
immigration, information technology, medical issues and other subjects of
interest to its members.

It also offers luncheons and events featuring such speakers as Mayor Bill
White and Houston City Council members M.J. Khan and Gordon Quan.

In 2002, the chamber worked with Quan and the Houston Police Department to
create and distribute safety kits with videotapes in Hindu, Urdu, Korean
and Vietnamese in response to high numbers of immigrant convenience-store
owners targeted in southwest Houston assaults and robberies.

Preventing robberies

The training kits were paid for with a $ 12,000 donation to the South
Asian chamber by Anheuser-Busch and Silver Eagle Distributors and
developed by Quan assist about 2,000 businesses prevent robberies and
better work with police on identifying suspects.

In 2003, Faz'le Yousuf, then president of the South Asian Chamber of
Commerce, was among six area leaders who met with attorney George Willy to
discuss the impact of the war on terrorism on businesses owned by South
Asians and other immigrant entrepreneurs.

In 2004, chamber board member Munira Pajwani-Zahid served on a panel of
city officials and Asian and South Asian civic groups to address Houston
Police Department officers about the problem of violence directed toward
Houston's Asian community.

There are some indications the joint efforts have had a positive effect,
Patel said, citing an improvement in the past year for South Asians with
businesses in "this land of opportunity."

Patel, who employs about 18 people in his Insurance Services of America
company, a Genesis Merchant Solutions subsidiary at Westheimer and Gray
Falls, came to Houston from India 22 years ago to study business
accounting at the University of Houston.

In 1984, he received his bachelor's degree, then a master's degree in
business finance in 1986. He also became a certified public accountant and
financial planner with one of Houston's top accounting firms.

The short swearing-in of chamber officers, followed by a tax seminar by
Herman & Company, is an example of the high priority given to the
education of its members, Patel said. The seminar will discuss new tax
laws affecting small businesses.

"We also give away scholarships - four for $ 500 each - to high school
students whose names have been submitted to the board. The scholarships
are based on merit," he said. "And we normally have an award for an
entrepreneur to foster business growth."

The top entrepreneur for 2004 was Shaukat Zakaria of Houston-based Zak Oil.

A Houston first

Comprised of business members from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal,
Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives, the chamber was the first business group
in Houston especially for South Asians, he said.

"Now there are so many - India, Pakistan, they all have separate chambers
now," he said. "Then, we were the only one."

Ismail Mohammad, who will take his oath as the chamber's new president,
owns a commercial lending company, Star Financial in southwest Houston,
and a real estate development and commercial leasing limited partnership,
Genesis Intercontinental Ventures.

In his five-year association with the chamber, including a stint as the
organization's treasurer, Mohammad has seen the chamber grow since its
founders who now serve on the advisory board - including Ghlum Bombay,
Haroon Shake, Lupfi Assan, George Willy and Tewan Ahmed - incorporated in
1993 to "unite seven nations and bring them together under one umbrella."

"We are working with corporate companies, community networking, spreading
the word about the businesses owned by members of the chamber and updating
their knowledge of corporate companies in America," said Mohammad, 52.

Mohammad came to the United States in the 1980s after running his father's
printing-materials import business in Pakistan.

He opened an omelet shop on Bissonnet, then sold it and moved to Rhode
Island. It wasn't until after his three children had graduated from high
school that he could finally shake off the cold weather and return to
Houston, where he started a mortgage business and a real estate
partnership he continues to manage.

One of his goals for 2005, he said, was to help the chamber launch an
international business exposition for South Asian companies looking to do
business in the United States.

"We are trying to communicate with some South Asian countries for an expo
in this country, hopefully in Houston," Mohammad said. "We would like to
invite exporters from India and Pakistan to display their products that
can benefit us over here."

Once the idea of the expo gets off the ground, the South Asian countries
could likely return the favor, opening export opportunities for goods
produced by Houston-area businesses "once we get rolling and into it," he
said.