Left to right, back: Chandler Sharma, emeritus director; Claire McLeveighn, director for external affairs and international relations, City of Atlanta; Surinder Bahl, emeritus director; Brenda Morant, executive director; Andy Dakshina, board member; Paul Bahl, president; Sam Olens, chairman, Atlanta Regional Commission; Left to right, front: Former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, board member, and Paddy Sharma, board member. photo courtesy of the chamber

The Asian Indian Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta may sound exclusive by name, but even in its first few official days of operation, the chamber has shown that it wants an international influence beyond India, the homeland of its founders. 

The new chamber, which has been operating for about four months, held its inaugural banquet at the Carter Center Oct. 19, where Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, spoke about the importance of the global economy. 

Founders of the chamber, veteran immigration lawyer Chandler Sharma and businessman Surinder Bahl, recognized the trend toward globalization early on, and they have been facilitating Asian Indian business in Atlanta for a combined 50 years, according to Paul Bahl, Surinder’s son and the first president of the Asian Indian chamber.

Mr. Sharma has been practicing immigration law in Atlanta since 1979. He helped Mr. Bahl’s family obtain permanent residency in the U.S. in 1987, almost a decade after they had come to the States by way of England and Canada. 

Now in their 60s, both men have accumulated a significant number of contacts and experience in the international business community, and they want to “leave a legacy,” Paul Bahl told GlobalAtlanta.

“My dad and Mr. Sharma are like chambers of commerce inside one person,” Mr. Bahl said, referring to both men’s ability to foster connections among businesspeople across the globe. 

Besides achievements in their own fields, the two men started the Global Business Center in August 2004 on Clairmont Road to give Indian businessmen the resources they need to start their business in America. 

The chamber is a newer venture that Mr. Bahl said will have an international focus that swings inwardly by helping investors coming to Atlanta while also creating opportunities for Georgia companies looking to India and beyond. 

“(The chamber is) not so much politically oriented, but we’re more focused on helping promote trade for businessmen who work for small- to medium-sized companies, like the guy that’s over here that wants to import window frames or door locks but doesn’t know how to do it,” Mr. Bahl said.

He added that the chamber’s willingness not to limit itself only to India will allow it to hone a broader international focus than is implied by its name.

The strategy has already paid off, as the chamber has attracted the membership of an Atlanta developer whose primary business is construction but whose other venture, Worldwide Partnerships LLC, aims to promote economic development in his home country of Honduras.

Although Jorge Duran, an 18-year Atlanta resident, acknowledged that the Central American country is far from Asia, he told GlobalAtlanta that his relationship with Surinder Bahl and the chamber could spread benefits across Georgia, India and Honduras.

He agreed with Paul Bahl, who said that the Asian Indian label will not limit the chamber’s work with companies and governments in other parts of the world.  Besides, Mr. Duran said, many Asians are seeing the opportunities in Honduras and other Central American countries.

“A lot of Asian companies are already over (in Honduras).  Koreans are very involved and Indians are becoming aware of it.  That’s a reason I also wanted to join the chamber,” he said.

He added that Atlanta businesses looking for manufacturing bases would benefit from Honduras’ pool of inexpensive labor and proximity to the Southeast, two attributes Mr. Duran believes should make Honduras more attractive to U.S. companies than faraway China.

Mr. Duran said that he hopes to boost awareness about Honduras by trying to connect Indian businesspeople in Atlanta with representatives from the Honduras government, who will be visiting the Georgia capital in a few weeks. 

He also wants to join the chamber’s board of directors, which includes former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland and founding members, Surinder Bahl and Mr. Sharma, as well as others. 

With this board, Paul Bahl said that he wants to have a sharp, unwavering focus on promoting trade that distinguishes the Asian Indian chamber from other India-focused organizations in town.

Although another Indian chamber, the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, has been well-established in Atlanta for seven years, Mr. Olens’ remarks at the inaugural dinner implied that India’s growing economy and increased interaction with the U.S. will provide ample elbow room for any organizations involved in promoting bilateral trade between Georgia and India.

“Your chamber will assist us in promoting those business opportunities,” Mr. Olens said to an audience of about 80 at the Asian Indian chamber’s inaugural dinner.

News reports have noted that nearly 70,000 Indians live in the metro Atlanta area, and Mr. Olens said that “Asian Indians have a median income that is 17 percent higher than the average,” according to a press release issued by the Asian Indian chamber.

Wipro Technologies, the information technology division of Bangalore, India-based multinational, Wipro Ltd., recently selected Atlanta out of more than 600 other locations as its base for a new software development center.

Roop Singh, a committee co-chair for the Georgia Indo-American chamber who planned a 2006 conference that played a role in laying the foundation for the relationships that brought Wipro to Atlanta, also said opportunities are plentiful for Georgia-India trade.

“The opportunity to grow business between Georgia and India is so huge these days,” Mr. Singh told GlobalAtlanta. “It’s a growing pie, and if more people want to contribute to that pie, the more, the merrier.”

The Asian Indian chamber has about 35 members (including companies and individuals), and the inaugural dinner went a long way in convincing those present that the chamber would be effective, according to Executive Director Brenda Morant.

“We had people saying they were going to join because of all the contacts they made,” Ms. Morant said. 

She told GlobalAtlanta that the chamber is organizing a trip to India in January and a conference in Atlanta featuring Banashri Bose Harrison, the Indian Embassy's minister of commerce, next April.

For more information about the chamber’s upcoming events, contact Ms. Morant at (404) 587-3126 or by e-mail at brenda@mail.gtrr.net.