HTC Honors Vijay Goradia for Entrepreneurship at Annual Gala

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: The Houston Technology Center held its Tenth Annual Gala last Thursday evening, May 16 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel’s ballroom downtown and about 500 people showed up for the much anticipated event that brought many of the city’s successful as well as new, up and coming entrepreneurs together for a show of camaraderie.

The reception buzzed with conversation and hors d’ouvres as slides featuring the celebrated entrepreneurs of 2013 were projected on a huge screen, and continued on two large screens inside the dining portion of the ballroom. The forty one companies- and pictures of their founders and main driving forces – represented some well known names and others that hope to become so.

Among these were four Indian names: Juuhi Ahuja of Wise Men Consultants an IT consulting firm that provides augmented staff, software, hardware and support; Gaurav Khandelwal of ChaiOne which builds custom web and mobile applications; Arun Pasrija of CHR Solutions Inc., a telecommunications consulting firm; Vibhu Sharma of Ingenious Inc., a technology company offering real-time performance monitoring software and Umesh Verma of Blue Lance Inc., a global provider of Cyber Governance solutions– and most were in attendance at the event that was full of adulation for their efforts and contribution to the Houston economy.

There was a substantial Indian contingent at the event there to applaud one of the luminaries of the community, Vijay Goradia, who was being honored that night for his entrepreneurial drive that has resulted in his company, Vinmar International Inc,, a 34 year-old petrochemicals marketing group, to become one of the top growing firms in the metroplex.

Nearly three years ago, Goradia pledged $1 million to fund an annual Innovation Prize during the next years at the HTC to help companies who got their start from university research. So far, several startups have shared $150,000 in annual prize money for the commercial application of their technology, the soundness of their business plan and the resulting potential for job growth within the region. The 2013 winners will be announced on October 9. Goradia also serves on the Board of Directors of the HTC.

Goradia was named the Honoree of the Year at the Gala and was interviewed onstage in a Tonight Show version of a dialogue where he described how he started his first company making plastics with his brother in India right after high school. “I thought I was too young to be in business,” he recalled, “so I gave it up, though it was rather successful, and hitch hiked around the world and then moved to the US.” Within three weeks of his move, he started another company in his friend’s apartment, and this later became Vinmar International.

Goradia remembered that he learnt the best life lessons when he was hitch hiking for two months, surviving on his wits. He mentioned a time when he was on the back of a pickup truck packed with people in Kabul during the fasting month of Ramadan and had an urge to eat. When he grabbed some bread and grapes and began to eat, a Muslim man threatened him with a knife. “I blurted out that the Quran forgives the travelers from fasting, and this was seconded by some other person in the truck and the man was satisfied,” he recalled with a chuckle, “but in fact, I had never even read the Quran!”

Goradia attributed much of his success to the support of his family and in particular his wife Marie. “I am very lucky,” he said, “she keeps me grounded.” He also recalled a turning point in his life in 1996 when he visited a school for 30 kids in a shanty town in Mumbai and saw the value of education. Since then, he has generously supported the US based charity Pratham which funds childcare and education in India, and will reach 35 million kids this year. In addition, the Goradias support the Meals on Wheels program of the Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston, as well as many other local organizations.

The HTC Gala also honored four individuals with Lifetime Achievement Awards in various spheres of industry. These were Tom Short, the CEO of Anardarko Industries for his work in Aerospace; John Calaway, Director of Wind Development at Pattern Energy Group for his work in Energy; Leland Putterman, the CEO of Acorn Systems for his work in Information Technology and David McWilliams, Chair of BioHouston for his work in Life Sciences. Also remembered in a slide montage for his work was Dr. S. Ward Casscells IIIrd who passed away.

At the start of the Gala, Paul Frison, the Executive Vice Chairman of the HTC briefly touched on the work that the group has done in promoting entrepreneurship since the organization began in 1999. He lauded the efforts of HTC President and CEO, Walter Ulrich for his tireless pursuit of making HTC a premier incubator of talent. Frison also acknowledged the presence of Indian Consul General Parvathaneni Harish and his wife Nandita at the event.

HTC’s nurturing through the $2.5 million in raised funds has allowed 400 entrepreneurs to flourish, bringing in $1 billion to the local economy and 3,600 jobs, claimed Frison, as he also acknowledged the entrepreneurial spirit that had allowed Houstonians like the Allen Brothers, George Brown and Jesse Jones to build many of its institutions and mainstay industries like the University of Houston, Rice University, Texas Medical Center, the Johnson Space Center.