From Manik Mehta
NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Bernama): Penang-born Malaysian entrepreneur Datuk Vijay Eswaran was honoured Saturday night with the New Global Indian (NGI) award for philanthropy and business excellence at the Global Indian Business Meet (GIBM) 2012 in New York.
Eswaran, who is currently in New York, is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the QI Group of Companies.
At the award ceremony, Eswaran was cited by many speakers as a “renowned Malaysian entrepreneur, author, speaker and philanthropist”.
The QI Group, founded in 1998, is an e-commerce-based conglomerate with businesses diversified into retail and direct sales, technology, lifestyle and leisure, luxury and collectibles, education, training and conference management, property development and logistics.
Eswaran’s QI Group has regional offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, besides having a presence in nearly 30 countries through a wide-range of subsidiary companies.
As Chairman of the University Council of Quest International University in Malaysia, Eswaran is also on the advisory board of the Global Business Council and Corporate Malaysia Roundtable.
In addition to the GIBM award, Eswaran was given the Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year award at the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Award 2012. Eswaran arrived here already decorated with another award by Forbes Asia as one of the top 48 philanthropists.
The audience, comprising largely of senior leaders of the globally-spread Indian diaspora, had eagerly waited to hear his views on the subject of the Indian economy and the political landscape in India.
“While most Indians already know quite a bit about Malaysia, the award given to Vijay (Eswaran) at this event has put Malaysia on India’s business radar.
“Indeed, Vijay’s presence will afford Malaysia an opportunity to enhance its visibility in the eyes of the increasingly influential and financial powerful Indian diaspora,” Amit Khanna, a US-based Indian businessman, who has visited Malaysia a number of times, told Bernama.
Describing India as a “consciousness and a concept that spans 4,000 years” that has permeated the planet, Eswaran praised the “brilliance” of the Indian diaspora.
He also spoke about the importance of silence in our day-to-day lives, emphasising the importance of listening and seeing rather than talking, in line with the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi who is described as the “apostle of non-violence”.
The event discussed, among other things, “issues impacting the global business and how to channelise expertise in chartering new avenues of investment, entrepreneurship and building sustainable growth models for India.
The meet was organised by New Global Indian (NGI) Foundation was themed ‘Doing Business in Challenging Times – the Indian Way: Global Networking for Entrepreneurship and Inclusive Growth’.
Besides Eswaran, there are few other Malaysians of Indian origin; there were also Indian-origin achievers from several other countries; seven business, entertainment, ecology and professional leaders from India being felicitated
at the three-day event.
The objective of this meeting has been to explain and explore how Indian-managed organisations are surmounting the odds and challenges to succeed and grow in the competitive global economy.
The event will examine the drive, passion, work ethic, innovation and strategy that energise India’s emerging market and enables Indian-run businesses and organise. — BERNAMA
News source: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v6/newsindex.php?id=696613
