Ritu Jha–
Harbir Bhatia, the Indian American CEO and president of the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce (SVCCC) on March 7 coordinated an event that brought together mayors from five key cities in California to forge regional conversations. The event was held at Milpitas, California. The first-of-its-kind event was attended by Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gilmore; Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein; Mountain View Mayor Pat Showalter; Cupertino Mayor Sheila Mohan and Milpitas Mayor Carmen Montano. Also attending were representatives of Sunnyvale Chamber, Martinsville Chamber, Cupertino Chamber, and the US-China Chamber.
Bhatia (pictured above at the event), who took the charge as SVCCC CEO and president last July, told indica, “My goal was to make it an impactful conversation by having more of them (mayors) participate. This time we had five mayors and 160 participants in the event. It was a huge hit.”
She said the SVCCC wants to bring conversations to a regional level. “The mayor’s job and responsibilities are at the local level, but organizations like SVCCC give them platforms to converse about things that impact each other,” she said.
Discussions at the event centered around transportation, housing, and cost-of-building challenges. “If we start thinking about collectively resolving them, there might be chances for collaboration. Whether it’s an innovation corridor, tourism corridor, or even business enhancements corridor. This event was the first opportunity to have several mayors in one room,” Bhatia told indica.
Bhatia said the event was aimed highlighting the benefits businesses bring to society. “This conversation often doesn’t happen; people talk about revenue generation but not about the impact it has on infrastructure and resources that children and adults use,” Bhatia said.
“Libraries, after-school programs, and children’s parks are funded by the cities. These are public benefits only possible if the economy is doing well. While we are focused on commerce, we are also cognizant that it helps create a financially empowered community. Commerce gives jobs, and puts food on the table. All these things create stability and bring in more investment.”
“This platform, especially for programs like this, brings in a non-partisan, non-political way, because it’s not about a candidate, it’s about the outcome. Our chambers focus on three things — advocacy, education, and building connections. So, they can grow and then the society can thrive. Many chambers across the country are unable to afford resources because they’re going with a traditional model that a member comes to them, they provide membership value, and that’s it. But we need to bring in large corporations, we need to bring in the cities, we need to bring in NGOs,” she added.
The speakers focused on housing, academic opportunities in each city, how to get more business, connect with government officials, opportunities, and new technologies. “We are a regional organization. But, because of our backgrounds and our vision, we recognize the importance of building bridges nationally and internationally. We’re also going to hold economic forums and economic development opportunities,” Bhatia said.
One of Bhatia’s other focus areas is youth. “Youth is important because they’re the ones who step into our shoes or create new roles. If they’re not in a position to be able to handle that work, who’s going to do the jobs or be the innovators?”
While hosting the event Bhatia shared data regarding business and opportunities. “There are over 47,000 businesses incorporated in the county. About 49 per cent of them are small businesses. That’s a significant portion of the economy because 50% of them provide the services that other employees of large corporations avail. These two things are coupled. If we do not have small businesses to provide those services, corporations cannot hire employees.”
