Suji Iyer, Ram Nagappan and Prakash Narayan-
American Tamil Entrepreneurs Association (ATEA) recently conducted their National conference in Holmdel, New Jersey. There was an abundant overflow of energy on Saturday, September 17th at one the most historical venues, Bell Labs, which throughout the twentieth century has influenced thousands of researchers and engineers to innovate on some of the world’s most important technological breakthroughs.
ATEA is a business-focused non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with the vision of creating and providing a platform for networking, exchanging business ideas, seeking mentorship and investments, making connections, and creating an atmosphere for entrepreneurial thinking among NRIs and Americans of Tamil origin. ATEA is for entrepreneurs in all industries, at all stages, enabling them to learn and grow, leading to greater success in business and beyond.
It was a rare sight to see many professional entrepreneurs adorning business suits and furiously networking from 8am to 8pm. Discussions were held on industries that are seeing renewed and new interest in investments such as supply chain, Digital Health, Sustainability, and connected things. ATEA extend their gratitude to the Patel Foundation, the title sponsor and Corestack, the elite sponsor.
CATEALYZE 2022 kicked off by resonating its main theme “Engage and Take Charge” with Ram Nagappan, Co-Founder, ATEA welcoming the participants and setting the stage for the events to follow. The audience were spellbound and captivated by the keynote speakers Sowmyanarayan Sampath, Chief Executive Officer, Verizon Business, Dr. Varun Jeph, Deputy Consul General of India in New York, and Francisco Dsouza, former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cognizant and currently Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Recognize. The moderators of the sessions Karishma Vanjani and Suresh U. Kumar asked the right questions to elicit responses that benefitted both seasoned and aspiring entrepreneurs.
There were power packed and impactful panel discussions on The Next Wave of FinTech Innovations; Indian owned Family Offices in North America; The Second Life of Supply Chain; ATEA Success stories. All of them were well received due to their relevance to the current entrepreneurial trends. The conference also included a startup pitch competition – where curated startups pitched their business plans and investment requirements to a panel of venture capital, private equity and angel investors. The startups that participated in the pitch event were SwirePay (Adithya Murali), Verde (Vijay Krishnan), S2K2 (Aniruddha Mallik), Edquil (Ushapriya Ravilla), Aersys (Vallab Nayak), RapidBotz (Jacob Anthony) and SyenApp (Mani Subrahmanyam).
Many Startups that participated in the conference are part of ATEA’s Digital Accelerator (DAX) program – which assists startups in their entrepreneurial journey.
As the new wave of entrepreneurs emerge due to economic and technological trends, it’s important to note that entrepreneurship has been taking on a new face with sponsorship from the political leaders. ATEA appreciates the esteemed presence of Manish Kulhary, Consul (Trade), Customs Overseas Intelligence Network (COIN), Consulate General of India (CGI), Kwanza Hall who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th congressional district, and Subramanian Muniasamy Executive Director, MD THINK State of Maryland. The partnerships help shape the economy of the States and offer endless possibilities to create new jobs.
The ATEA event planning committee used a multi-level structured conference model consisting of themes, tracks, and events to organize information. The theme for 2022 is “Engage and Take Charge” with a goal of promoting entrepreneurs and investors to collaborate and launch new businesses in the USA. Special partnership flew in from the Women and the Youth wings of ATEA. Continental food was served during the entire event.
Lena Kannappan, co-founder of ATEA, from the Silicon Valley Chapter delivered the Vote of Thanks. The conference planning was led by Ponnarasi Raj, Program Director and Karthik Sundaram, Program consultant. The event planning was supported by Venkatesh Sadagopan and Krishna Chari, ATEA North East chapter Chair and Co-Chair respectively. Event marketing and hospitality were led by Priya Kartik and supported by Senthil Namasivayam. Annamalai Sambanthan served as the treasurer. The program’s media and public relations was led by Suji Iyer.
