Building Business − A Regular Anthology of Professional and Business Development Articles

A collection of article summaries from various sources (with links to actual articles) focused on Professional and Business Development.  We’ve collected them in one spot, so you can easily scan, review and apply to your career and business.

A Better Family Business Succession (SmartBrief) – Whether you plan to leave your family business to one child or sell it to a third party, open communication with your children and family is key, writes Louis Pashman, who breaks down three possible succession scenarios.

Protect your personal assets when seeking business loans (SmartBrief) – Many small-business loans require a personal guarantee that can put your family’s assets, including your home, at risk. If you must agree to such a guarantee, lawyer Richard Reinis offers some advice: Tell your spouse, limit your exposure, narrow the conditions for enforcement of the guarantee and take out insurance in case of a worst-case scenario.

Good innovators know how to figure things out (SmartBrief) – At its core, innovation is simply the art of figuring things out, writes Dennis Stauffer. That means that the basic skills of good innovators are transferable to almost any situation or problem. “The more skilled we become at figuring out, the more likely we are to find success in any endeavor,” Stauffer writes.

Advice for getting started, from an old hand (SmartBrief) – Launching a venture can be “exhausting, ego shattering and (at times) infuriating,” writes serial entrepreneur Farid Naib, but it’s also “one of the greatest thrills in my life.” To anyone thinking of taking the plunge, he says to go for it, be ready to fail and be prepared for growing pains. And don’t be shy about asking for help, he advises.

Is it time for your business’ checkup? (SmartBrief) – As 2011 nears the halfway mark, it’s a good time to take a step back to evaluate your finances, operations and what you could be doing better, say experts. “Give yourself time to make some adjustments,” said Christina Cardenas. Other experts advise examining personnel needs and inventory as well as accounting and financial processes.

Where to find government money for your business (SmartBrief) The federal government awards cash grants to small businesses every year, but unless you operate in a handful of industries such as biotech, health care or clean energy, you’re better off pursuing state and local awards, writes Louise Lee, who offers tips for getting your share of government grants.

5 Tips For Deal-Making Under India’s New M&A Regime (Law360) – Even after an extensive last-minute rewrite of the regulations, India’s brand new merger control regime — which went into effect this month — will force dealmakers to live with some amount of uncertainty, experts say, at least until regulators tackle a few test cases. Until then, experts say companies should keep these five things in mind when negotiating tie-ups that could have an impact in India.

Richik Sarkar is a partner at Ulmer & Berne LLP, a Cleveland based law firm with a national practice.   In addition to practicing law, Richik is trying to reactivate the Cleveland Chapter of Net-IP.  For more information about Richik vist his LinkedIn Profile.

Building Business − A Regular Anthology of Professional and Business Development Articles

A collection of article summaries from various sources (with links to actual articles) focused on Professional and Business Development.  We’ve collected them in one spot, so you can easily scan, review and apply to your career and business.

Buying a Company for Its People (From Dealbook) − Sometimes you buy a company for its product, and sometimes for its people. Tech companies in Silicon Valley are snapping up start-ups to get their founders and engineers, then jettisoning what they actually make, The New York Times reports.

How to find spare minutes in your busy schedule (From SmartBrief) – Do you go to the bank during lunch breaks? Schedule meetings without a definite end time? Power through busy days without breaks? Changing just a few habits can add precious minutes to your day, Dawn Foster writes.

Why good leaders use guidelines, not rule books (From SmartBrief) - West Point’s disciplinary code listed hundreds of infractions until officials realized it was more effective to outline broad criteria for distinguishing “minor” and “major” offenses, and let leaders use common sense in implementing the guidelines. Most organizations could benefit from a similar willingness to issue flexible guidelines rather than hard-and-fast rules, writes Mike Figliuolo. “You hire people because they’re smart. Try giving them a little latitude to demonstrate their smarts and judgment.”

The reason you shouldn’t turn down a committee assignment (From SmartBrief) – Participating in a professional organization is important to developing valuable relationships that can help your career, Lyan Fernandez writes. Being on a committee “puts your appetite for involvement, initiative and leadership in the spotlight among potential prospects and employers,” Fernandez writes.

Richik Sarkar is a partner at Ulmer & Berne LLP, a Cleveland based law firm with a national practice.  In addition to practicing law, Richik is trying to reactivate the Cleveland Chapter of Net-IP.  For more information about Richik, visit his LinkedIn Profile.

Run New York City or Mumbai Marathon with NetIP- Lend A Hand India team

Do you wish to one day run a marathon, or perhaps, a half marathon? Well, wait no more! Join NetIP-Lend A Hand India team for the exciting New York City Marathon (Nov 7th 2010) or Mumbai Marathon / Half Marathon (Jan 16th 2011)! As part of the team, you will get guaranteed entry to these much sought after marathons (only 1 in 10 applicants got in the New York City Marathon). Apart from this, you will have access to:

- Professional running coach (in person during weekly group run in New York or via email/phone)

- Customized training schedule to get through the finish line

- Weekly group runs in Central Park (Manhattan)

- Nutrition seminar

- Fundraising tips

In return, you commit to raise $2000 (for full marathon) or $1000 (for half marathon) for Lend-A-Hand India.

To sign up visit http://www.lend-a-hand-india.org/rfd/netip.php

Lend-A-Hand India (LAHI) is an alliance partner of NetIP working to address the issue of youth unemployment and urban migration in rural India by promoting entrepreneurship. The funds you raise will go towards providing vocational and job/life skills training to young high school students and enterprise loans to entrepreneurs from rural India. Founded by young professionals based in New York and with its own field staff/programs in India, LAHI’s programs are benefiting over 10,000 students spread over 55 villages. LAHI recruits local trade practitioners (carpenters, plumbers, electricians etc) and trains to them to teach the young high school students in the villages as part of the regular curriculum hence making the high school education much more relevant and practical. Visit www.lend-a-hand-india.org or write to LAHI@lend-a-hand-india.org for more information.

To sign up for the marathon / half marathon training program – visit http://www.lend-a-hand-india.org/rfd/netip.php

Happy One Year Anniversary “Primetime with NetIP” — One Year Later…

15 amazing show, 12 tireless months, 20 big-name personalities (including the NetIP Executive Team), a valuable alliance partnership & thousands of man-hours of prep later, we are at the one year anniversary of our most successful visibility campaign- Primetime with NetIP. About a year and a half back we got together and dreamed of creating a radio show dedicated to NetIP listeners and covering topics & speakers that would be valuable to our diaspora. After bringing on our first guest (Saira Mohan on May 25th, 2009), little did we know that we had created a “monster” that instantly attracted globally admired and recognized personalities. A show that propelled NetIP’s visibility to a whole new level. A show that attracted over 200,000 listeners both on the radio and through live internet streaming. A show that helped us acquire key sponsors. A show that helped us build one of the strongest Alliance Partnerships  in NetIP’s history with World  Band Media and Hum Desi Radio.

Join me in wishing  ”PRIMETIME WITH NETIP” a Happy One Year Anniversary

This unbelievable success is owed to the support of the NetIP Executive Team, the many tireless NetIP-NA volunteers, the support of the NetIP Chapters who participate and promote  the show, support of World Band Media and Hum Desi Radio and most of all to the efforts of Pooja Dhawan, Brand Strategist for the NetIP External Affairs Team!
What’s next? NetIP on Public Television and Radio?
Stay tuned…

Network of Indian Professionals 7th Annual Officers Leadership Conference

The City of Angels welcomes the Network of Indian Professionals

7th^th Annual Officers Leadership Conference

Celebrating 20 years of South Asian Empowerment

Los Angeles, CA, Feb 10^th 2010: The Network of Indian Professionals’ (NetIP) 7^th Officer’s Leadership Conference (OLC) was held Feb 5 to Feb 7, 2010 at the Wilshire Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles. The OLC served as the national kick-off for the 2010 NetIP calendar year. It provided an open forum for leadership to be recognized, for officers both new and returning to network and form good working relationships. The goal of the OLC has always been to provide an opportunity for NetIP chapter leaders to discuss opportunities and challenges, as well as to collaborate on leading practices as an organization. NetIP North America is the parent organization to its 24 chapters.

“The main goal of this leadership conference was to Inspire and Motivate all our chapter leaders from 24 cities. Based on the overwhelming response, I believe we surpassed our highest expectations. NetIP as an organization has incredible potential, and we’re on our way to becoming a household name, not just in the South Asian community but across North America.” -Shubha Rao, VP Internal Affairs, NetIP North America. Rao’s team put together and managed the conference and logistics in less than 8 weeks.

Attendees from NetIP’s 24 chapters, from coast to coast graced the conference to give feedback and learn about the goals and vision for the organization as a whole. Day one at the conference included a surprise live on-air segment with Brand Strategist Pooja Dhawan and NetIP’s media partner, Hum Desi Radio.

Sundip Arora, President, Network of Indian Professionals of North America was pleased with the conference and the performance of his board. “20 years on, NetIP has made unbelievable strides and leaders from chapters around the continent got a first-hand feel of our progress at our Officer’s Leadership Conference. My goal this year for the OLC was for Chapter Officer’s, new and returning, to Learn, Share, Inspire and Be Inspired. We achieved this through two days of intense collaborative sessions and workshops. NetIP North America is very proud to be part of the biggest OLC in our history and to have set another defining moment for our 20th anniversary.”

Along with ambitious plans to streamline technology across the 24 chapters and the North America parent Organization, NetIP revealed its new intranet which uses google collaboration to make internal communication and reporting seamless. The new VP of Technology, Anish Mistry, explained his efficient plan for the year ahead which included a revamped NetIP.org website and his goal to increase back-end content management efficiency.

Sri Narasimhan, NetIP North America’s VP of Finance and Administration, and his team went over legal, tax and financial reporting requirements for the incoming Chapter Officers. Latha Nehru, VP External Affairs, and her team explained NetIP’s Grameen Foundation initiative in Haiti as well as their plans to forge alliances with other non profits in an effort to raise visibility for NetIP.

The Los Angeles-Orange County (LA-OC) chapter of NetIP helped manage logistics and hosted the evening socials for the weekend. “I was very excited to see that months of hard work had culminated in a successful OLC. The conference setting and venues allowed chapter leaders to network and share ideas in a both professional and social environment.“ -Sapan Shah, President, NetIP LA-OC. The Los Angeles Orange County chapter of NetIP was the host for the conference.

Director of Operations, Santosh Perla, kept the momentum going right from the weeks before the conference with an eagle eye on deadlines. At the conference he kept attendees motivated and energized during a packed presentation schedule.

“More than a forum to share ideas, the OLC was a showcase of the many resources NetIP-NA provides to individual chapters seeking to make an impact in their respective communities.  Our chapter left the OLC with a greater understanding of the tools available to mobilize our membership and enhance the value of the NetIP brand locally.” Ashwin Janakiram, President NetIP Chicago

This year NetIP’s largest event, the Annual Conference is being held in Seattle on August 20-22, 2010. Conference Co-chairs Neha Sharma and Sarika Punjabi presented their conference strategy and theme “Unique by Nature”.

“This OLC was my first NetIP conference experience and I was blown away by the professionalism of the organization. The high caliber of the young professionals in leadership positions in NetIP was very inspiring. It was a great opportunity to connect with people across North America and share experiences. I hope to bring the insight, enthusiasm and strength of NetIP National and other local chapters back to NetIP San Francisco Bay Area. NetIP has great potential for national and local impact on the young professional South Asian community.” Purvi Patel, President NetIP San Francisco Bay Area.

At the conclusion of a weekend packed with valuable take-aways, action items and resources, NetIP and its chapters are uniquely positioned to forge ahead amongst its demographic. NetIP provides the only platform for South Asians in North America to network and grow in their professional and personal lives.

About NetIP

The Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP) is a professional, non-profit organization dedicated to the overall achievement and advancement of South Asian professionals. The primary focus of the organization is to foster a bond among South Asian professionals to unite and support each other locally, as well as to give back and contribute positively to the communities in which they live and work.

Today, the organization includes over 5,000 members and more than 40,000 subscribers in 24 cities across United States and Canada. NetIP has become a premier networking brand over the years. It is the unequivocal voice for an emerging group of South Asians, who excel in every aspect of western society, from business to politics to the arts. The rise of NetIP and its affiliated chapters reflects a general “Coming of Age” by South Asian professionals.

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If you’d like more information about this topic or to schedule an interview contact Pooja Dhawan, Brand Strategy for NetIP North America, by email at pooja@netip.org

Help Rebuild Haiti by Creating Jobs with Long Term Micro-finance Loans through the Grameen Foundation

Dear NetIP Family,

For more than a week now you have all seen the devastating images from Haiti and read heartbreaking accounts of surviors from the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck one week ago today. While there has not been an official estimate of the tragic loss of life that has occurred, the figures appear to be in the tens of thousands.

According to the CIA World Factbook, roughly 80% of Haiti‘s population lives below the poverty line, which further underscores the urgency of this crisis.

Our non-profit partner the Grameen Foundation has setup a fund to collect donations to support not only immediate disaster relief and much-needed humanitarian aid for Haiti, but also long term relief through micro-finance loans that will create jobs and help rebuild the city of Port-au-Prince. NetIP North America has pledged to assist in these fundraising efforts and we urge you to donate today. If every single one of our members donates just $15, we can raise over $150,000!

If you have already donated to this important cause, then Thank You! However, Haiti‘s path to recovery can be further accelerated with your additional support and generosity. When the news cameras are gone and Haiti is no longer the cause of the moment, The Grameen Foundation will still be there providing long term sustainable development through micro-credit and micro-finance loans.
An important mission of the Network of Indian Professionals is to bring the South Asian community together in a common movement to support those in need during such catastrophic times. Again, please CLICK HERE to donate now.

To read about the work Grameen is doing in Haiti please visit their Blog

Thank you for making a difference,

The 2010 NetIP North America Team

www.NetIP.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_of_Indian_Professionals