Focus on education boosts Asian businesses
By Alexander MacInnes The Record (Hackensack N.J.)
HACKENSACK, N.J. — Small business experts believe Asians are successful, in part, because of their disciplined work ethic, their investment in educating the next generation to join the professional ranks and their loyalty in serving the Asian community.
Dave Kang, vice president of Evermetal, Inc., sells scrap metal to companies in Asia.
Nationally, there are about 6 million minority-owned businesses, of which 3 percent gross more than $1 million in sales, according to Heyward Davenport, regional director of the Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Of those most profitable businesses, half are owned by Asian-Americans, according to Davenport. That success, according to interviews and available data, starts with a rigorous commitment to educational achievement, which then leads to higher-paying jobs, or the creation of businesses in more lucrative fields — such as engineering, information technology and health care. Once established, Indian, Korean and Chinese business leaders tend to carry less debt and save more of what they’ve earned.
Anil Bansal, president of the Asian Indian Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, is blunt about the success of Indians.
“It’s the education,” said Bansal, a founder of the Indus American Bank in Edison and owner of a Web design company and a restaurant. “There’s no secret, whatsoever.”
The gap in earnings between workers with advanced degrees and those with some college experience or an associate’s degree has grown in the last 10 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2000 those with advanced degrees earned on average 70 percent more than employees with less education. Last year, that difference grew to 84 percent.
Succeeding in the classroom is a message delivered repeatedly to the next generation, according to Saeed Patel, president of Amex Computers Inc. in Carlstadt. Patel came to New Jersey from Gujarat, India, 22 years ago — with a $15,000 loan from his parents and an engineering degree.
“We don’t discount education,” Patel said. “We want to make sure our kids have the best opportunities. That is actually on my mind every day.”
Patel’s Amex, a wholesale computer distribution company, had sales of $28.5 million last year. He said he has expanded his businesses cautiously, without overextending himself and building on his savings — characteristics, Patel says, that are common among Asian immigrants.
Asian business leaders across the country added almost as many employees to the workforce as African-American, Hispanic and Native American business owners combined, according to the U.S. 2007 Economic Census.
Asians created 2.8 million jobs, compared with 3 million by businesses owned by the other three groups. When Asians created those jobs, they were more often in the science and technology sectors.
Chiling Tong, the former chief of staff for the Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, says Asians are expanding into areas of business beyond information technology, such as energy and recycling.
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