Garden City NY - The ICCNY held its January Networking Dinner and membership meeting January 30th, 2008 in Garden City NY at The Akbar Restaurant. In the extended networking hour connections were made between the new and longstanding members and guests, as all enjoyed the open bar and appetizers buffet and passed traditional hors d’oeuvres.
When the seated portion of the first meeting of the year began, the new Board of Directors were the first announcement. Board member Billy Singh announced New Board of Directors appointments for 2008, naming Mr. Nilesh Kadakia as President , Mr. Ajit Mody, as VP, Directors Mr. Arvind Dharia, as Treasurer, Mr. Arjen Bhatija. Continuing on the Board for another term are Mr. Mandip Singh, Mr Umesh “Diku” Mody. The ICCNY has also added Mrs. Reena Gulati, as Legal Counsel to the chamber; and T J Anand are as Certified Public Accountants.
Billy Singh also introduced the members of the Chamber to the membership, to several rounds of applause.
Incoming President, Mr Nilesh Kadakia, introduced Billy Singh as the new Chairman of the Chamber. Mr. Kadakia addressed the membership with expanding the reach of the ICCNY members into the community and increasing the rolls as primary themes. Mr. Kadakia also announced the next Annual Diwali Dinner Dance would be held once again at Akbar Restaurant, on October 11th, 2008. The Chamber already has a few sponsorships from large corporations for this gala event.
The floor was opened to a goal setting forum – inviting all members to share their suggestions and vision for Chamber programs and sponsored initiatives in 2008. Virtually all members participated, and several common purposes formed in agreement, allowing programs and strategies for the upcoming year to line up.
Mr. Madhu Patni is very committed to grow membership. He even offered to pay for first time new members at the next monthly meeting.
Some well agreed upon purposes crystallized during the forum:
• Members openly offering their aid to other members, to put their experience to use for common membership benefit.
• A strong agreement that each member taking initiative to successfully invite more associates to join the chamber will build a larger, stronger Chamber of Commerce.
• A suggestion of sharing of our success stories within the Chamber met with great agreement, as many accounts of mutual support, rewarding networking and well earned praise go unreported due to the low key, modest approach of our business leaders.
• Surprisingly, it was noted, many in the Indian business community and beyond are unaware of the existence of the ICCNY. An outreach campaign was suggested with word-of –mouth promotion as the first line of action.
• One observation was that organizations who dedicate themselves to the service of a community cause gain in recognition and membership, besides the altruistic rewards of service. Upon identifying a charity, it was suggested that a golf outing fundraiser can be effective toward this end.
Toward the end of the forum, a call for greater awareness about correct email forwarding made by Chairman, Billy Singh.
This brought a few smiles, but Mr. Singh’s point about limiting the distribution of email whose interest is smaller than the CC list was well taken.
Mr. Singh hopes to create a web page for every active member on our web site, with active “links” to their respective websites. Members are invited to send in their pictures and bios as soon as possible, while we redesign our web site to include a database of all members by business / occupation.
• Ideas about how to maximize the ICCNY.org website were invited.
• Interaction with other Chambers of Commerce and networking groups was suggested.
As Mr. Billy Singh summarized the common themes expressed by the membership in the forum, the Chamber’s potential was recognized more clearly.
During the sumptuous traditional Indian cuisine dinner that followed, members and directors conversations turned toward a productive and expansive year for the Chamber.
