NetIP Austin – 2011 Year in Review!

The Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP) Austin chapter is a nonprofit organization that recognizes and promotes the overall advancements and achievements of South Asian professionals in Central Texas.  Our mission is to serve as the unequivocal voice for the South Asian diaspora by developing and engaging a cohesive network of professionals to benefit the community. NetIP Austin is part of a network of 23 chapters across North America.

Within one year as a revived chapter, NetIP Austin was recognized as Best Small Chapter and Best President in 2010. NetIP Austin has established a presence as a very professional, family-friendly, cultural, and service-oriented organization. NetIP Austin has developed a network of more than 800 South Asian professionals. The organization’s programming focuses specifically on four pillars – Professional Development, Cultural Awareness, Political Awareness and Community Service.

 NetIP Austin appreciates the significant impact of Asian culture and has acknowledged various ways to celebrate South Asian culture, for example promoting local artists of diverse backgrounds. In addition, through Bollywood Trivia Nights and Diwali parties, NetIP Austin has put efforts forward in bringing our Eastern culture home to Austin.

 In the spring of 2011, NetIP Austin co-hosted book readings introducing new talents to the literary scene including fellow Austinite Nina Godiwalla, author of “Suits: A Woman on Wallstreet,” and Supriya Bhatnagar, author of “And Then There Were Three..A Memoir.”

 NetIP Austin has been very diligent in providing political awareness activities for our members in order to foster a spirit of civic engagement.  We’ve hosted a number of events that nurtured discussions around current political issues including health care, Asian American voting trends and the significance of mid-term elections.

 In the spring of 2011, NetIP Austin organized an Arab Spring event. From Tunisia and Egypt to Libya and Syria, recent months surrounding the event had seen the Arab world swept by a wave of popular protest and revolution. NetIP Austin members were given the opportunity to delve into this historic topic. Our discussion featured Professor Roy Casagranda, a local expert and author on Middle East affairs. Professor Casagranda addressed the events, their impact on the world, and what its future may hold. His comments were followed by an audience question and answer session/moderated discussion.

NetIP Austin has been at the forefront in ensuring that its members have opportunities to give back to the local community and international avenues through volunteerism and participation in activities such as MLK Day of Service, organizing aide for Goodwill, assisting local nonprofits with fundraising events, helping to restore a portion of the local environment by planting trees, and quickly corralling efforts in response to the tragedies such as those in Haiti and Japan.

 NetIP Austin, in its third year, took the lead on coordinating Be the Change National Day of Service engaging nearly 1,000 volunteers in service at more than 20 community service sites across Central Texas. As a result of NetIP Austin’s leadership, SAALT (South Asian Americans Leading Together) the national coordinator for Be the Change, recognized Austin as a national site for Be the Change in 2010.

NetIP Austin successfully delivers a variety of professional networking opportunities through monthly dinner circles and small to large scale networking mixers held at various homegrown Austin establishments. We offer professional development seminars, talks presented by successful professionals across a variety of fields, and access to multiple community businesses who partner with NetIP Austin in order to provide benefits and guidance to NetIP members.

 Please visit us at www.netipaustin.org to see our upcoming events. Meet our board, and join us in our efforts to professionally permeate our South Asian backgrounds into our homely and loveable Austin culture.

NetIP partnered with Keep Austin Beautiful to clean up the Lady Bird Lake Cleanup

 NetIP collaborated with Saalt to sponsor a Mahatma Gandhi Be the Change Creative writing contest and one our winners with Sameer Shah

The Arab Spring: A Discussion on the Recent Events in the Middle East — speaker, Professor Roy Casagranda, discussing the Arab Spring and related history

Our attentive audience at the Arab Spring Event

NetIP Columbus – 2011 Year in Review!

NetIP Columbus started off 2011 riding a very weak wave of pervious years where the membership counts were declining and funds diminishing. We didn’t have a far reaching presence within the community where the NetIP name was known by all.

With this year’s board we wanted to change the perception and make NetIP Columbus a name recognized not only by South Asian Professionals but also have a good standing with other organizations. Our commitment of collaboration and making this chapter know as the premier professional organization in Columbus led us to plan and host one of the largest Job Fairs in Columbus.

To start off, NetIP Columbus focused on making their members feel valued on every event/mixer. We gave heavy membership discounts and gifts for any new and existing member.

We collaborated with local India organizations to spread our mission and values. This saw an increase in attendees for every event.

Our primary goal for 2011 was to focus NetIP Columbus on the professional front. We intently planned on having a series of professional events culminating with the huge Career Fair.

This goal became a reality in October when we had three very successful events.

1. On Oct 4th we had a Professional Mixer partnering with TechColumbus Ohio (a professional incubator for companies). Our guest speaker at the event was Ohio Dept of Jobs CIO.
2. On Oct 12th, we had a classes for Career Workshops partnering with Columbus State.
3. and on Oct 21st we had our Fast Pitch Career Fair with over 30 companies and 300 attendees.

 As a result of the professional series we were invited to be on NBC4 for a prime television interview and also had radio spots prior to the event.

Prime Time is TONIGHT with Parag Khanna!

Join us for the last show of the year tonight, Prime Time with NetIP today- Friday Dec 2nd, 2011 at 4:00 pm with geopolitical analyst Parag Khanna.

Parag Khanna is a leading geo-strategist, world traveler and author. Presently a Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation and Senior Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, he is author of the international bestsellers How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance(2011) and The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order (2008).

To learn more about Parag please visit our earlier post

We thank our listeners for sticking with us all year while we talked to some wonderful guests like Gotham Chopra, Raghav Bahl, Aarti Sequeria, Anand Ghirdidharadas, Dinesh D’Souza

Prime Time with NetIP plays only on HumDesi Radio.

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Prime Time on Friday with Parag Khanna!

Previously, he served in the foreign policy advisory group to the Barack Obama for President campaign.

During 2007 he served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a senior geopolitical adviser to United States Special Operations Forces.

Prime Time with NetIP plays only on HumDesi Radio. Join us for the last show of the year on  Friday Dec 2nd, 2011.

Best Mutual Fund Advice For NRI’s

A Mutual Fund is a professionally managed type of collective instrument that pools money from many investors to buy stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and/or other securities.

Mutual funds invest according to the underlying investment objective as specified at the time of launching a scheme. So, we have equity funds, debt funds, gilt funds and many others that cater to the different needs of the investor. The availability of these options makes them a good option.

While equity funds can be as risky as the stock markets themselves, debt funds offer the kind of security that is aimed for at the time of making investments. Money market funds offer the liquidity that is desired by big investors who wish to park surplus funds for very short-term periods.

Balance Funds offer investors having an appetite for risk greater than the debt funds but less than the equity funds. The only pertinent factor here is that the fund has to be selected keeping the risk profile of the investor in mind because the products listed above have different risks associated with them.

So, while equity funds are a good bet for a long term, they may not find favour with corporate or High Networth Individuals (HNIs) who have short-term needs.

Diversification

Investments are spread across a wide cross-section of industries and sectors and so the risk is reduced. Diversification reduces the risk because all stocks don’t move in the same direction at the same time. One can achieve this diversification through a Mutual Fund with far less money than one can on his own.

Professional Management

Mutual Funds employ the services of skilled professionals who have years of experience to back them up. They use intensive research techniques to analyze each investment option for the potential of returns along with their risk levels to come up with the figures for performance that determine the suitability of any potential investment.

Potential of Returns

Returns in the mutual funds are generally better than any other option in any other avenue over a reasonable period of time. People can pick their investment horizon and stay put in the chosen fund for the duration. Equity funds can outperform most other investments over long periods by placing long-term calls on fundamentally good stocks. The debt funds too will outperform other options such as banks. Though they are affected by the interest rate risk in general, the returns generated are more as they pick securities with different duration that have different yields and so are able to increase the overall returns from the portfolio.

Liquidity

Fixed deposits with companies or in banks are usually not withdrawn premature because there is a penal clause attached to it. The investors can withdraw or redeem money at the Net Asset Value related prices in the open-end schemes. In closed-end schemes, the units can be transacted at the prevailing market price on a stock exchange. Mutual funds also provide the facility of direct repurchase at NAV related prices. The market prices of these schemes are dependent on the NAVs of funds and may trade at more than NAV (known as Premium) or less than NAV (known as Discount) depending on the expected future trend of NAV which in turn is linked to general market conditions. Bullish market may result in schemes trading at Premium while in bearish markets the funds usually trade at Discount. This means that the money can be withdrawn anytime, without much reduction in yield. Some mutual funds however, charge exit loads for withdrawals.

All said and done, Mutual Funders! It is the right way to maximize sizable returns from a medium to long-term stand point. Rather than parking one’s money in Fixed Deposits, invest in Equities through professional Financial Managers to get decent returns, as equities as an asset class reward you more in the long run. Remember Mutual Fund Investments are subject to market risks. Please read the offer document carefully before investing.

Executive MBA Fair on November 11th

The Economist‘s Executive MBA Fair – online November 11th 2011 – FREE:

Meet Executive MBA admissions officers from programs around the world at this FREE online fair. Gain insight into the MBA experience by chatting with alumni, watching webinars and videos, and downloading resources. 

 ** Sign up now for your chance to win a free iPad 2 when you visit 5+ business school booths on November 9th-10th. **