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Samosa and Chai Speaker Series | Feb 2019 Recap

GIACC hosted its first “Samosa & Chai” Event of 2019 at Jai Ho Indian Kitchen and Bar. The event began with networking over delicious Indian snacks and appetizers and drinks.  Anita Ninan, President of GIACC welcomed all attendees and gave a brief overview of GIACC, its mission and objectives,  and past programs and collaborations with other organizations. Unmesh Mishra, Chairperson, then introduced the guest speakers prior to their presentations, and recognized GIACC Board Members, and Mr. Prasad Vanpal, Commercial Officer, Indian Consulate General Atlanta,  who were present at the event.

The first guest speaker for the event was Dijjotam “Dijji” Raina, Co-Founder of PalSolve, Inc., a startup company using apps for solving problems in closed trusted groups using discussions and reviews.  Mr. Raina presented the key features of PalSolve’s  feature rich app for HOA/Condo home owner communities, and Associations (Ethnic, Interest, Business, Non Profit and more) where you can choose features including – Discussions, Buzz, Events, Reviews, Deals, Classifieds, Chats, Member Directory, Files, Reservations and more.Mr. Raina is also CEO and Founder of MedOfficePro, Inc. a global company focused on backend healthcare services and software applications for Ambulatory Surgery Centers for last twenty years. Additionally, he is the founder of Crystal Children’s Centre, a world-class early childhood education center in Gurugram, India. He is an Ole Miss (MBA) and BITS Pilani (Engg.) alumni.  He is a resident of Alpharetta and active in many social causes as well.

The second guest speaker was Manoj Gupta, Head of Business Operations for ICICI Bank USA, who gave an overview of ICICI’s services in the US market and a comparative analysis of the Indian and US Banking industries. Mr. Gupta is a career banker with more than a decade and a half of experience in the Banking and Finance industry. In his role as the Head of Business for ICICI Bank’s USA operations, Mr. Gupta oversees financing of small and medium enterprises and Indian business in the USA. Mr. Gupta has been with ICICI Bank for the last 14 years and has worked across functions like Treasury, Corporate finance, Project Finance, Structured Finance and Debt Syndication.  He is a chartered accountant from ICAI and holds CFA, FRM, ERM certifications.

The presentations were followed by Q & A from the attendees and interesting questions were asked regarding the new app technology as well as ICICI Bank’s services.

We also had David Wiener,  Consul & Senior Trade Commissioner, Canadian Consulate who attended the event and shared brief details about the services provided by his office towards business and trade development and investment opportunities in Canada.

Anita Ninan provided concluding remarks including information regarding prospective Chamber events, including the Atlanta Indian Film Festival 2019 on May 10, 11, 2019 and a Tourism Event in the Fall.