Why are Indians so successful?
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Why are Indians so successful?

There are more than 14 million Indian-born migrants settled around the world. Of those, approximately 2.8 million reside in The United Arab Emirates, just over 2 million in the United States, 1.7 million in Saudi Arabia, 1.2 million in Canada, and about 1 million in the United Kingdom.

The Pew Reseach Center, Kauffman Foundation, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Harvard University, and many others have showcased the success of Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and other tech hubs in the US. Indian entrepreneurs have been very successful in other regions and industries around the world as well.

In the US, Indians (India and US-born) constitute just over one percent of the population. However, Indians own and operate more than 50% of the hotels, motels, and Subway and 7-Eleven franchises. To provide a perspective, the hotel industry room revenue alone in 2014 was over $142 Billion dollars.

Indians are also saving and improving American lives. Indians own more than 50% of the independent pharmacies in the US. More than 10% of the physicians in the US reported Indian ethnicity. Indians have founded, on average, 14% of Silicon Valley companies since 2007, and 8% of engineering and technology companies in the US. In VC circles, having an Indian co-founder is considered an asset for funding. Most leading VC firms have an Indian partner to tap into the Indian talent network.

The above-average statistics are consistent outside the US as well. Indians own 75% of the diamond businesses, including those in the precious-stone capital Antwerp. Reasonably enough, more than 90% of the world's rough diamonds are cut and polished by Indians. In the mid-20th century, Indians constituted just over one percent of Uganda's population and contributed more than 20% of the country's GDP. After Indians were deported out of Uganda by dictator Idi Amin, they went on to create and own several businesses in the United Kingdom. Indians had similar success stories in Burma, Kenya, South Africa, and Down Under.

Back home in the US, the median household income headed by an Indian immigrant was $103,000. Compared to $48,000 for immigrant households and $53,000 for native-born households.

These successes are commendable in the light of ongoing immigration challenges. A documented, ‘legal’ immigrant from India waits an average of 13 years to earn a Permanent Residency (Green Card) in the US.

As an Indian entrepreneur and immigrant, I am obviously proud of the success of my fellow Indians. And intrigued. Intrigued enough to have done my doctoral research on the topic.

Most things being equal, what motivates, drives, and challenges us Indians more than others? Education, language skills, hard-working culture, values, diversity? Or is it something more sinister - difficulty in starting businesses in India, corrupt Indian bureaucracy, racism in the workplace, or is it something else?

Doctoral research is a doorway to a lifelong exploration on a topic about which you are truly passionate. I had a limited sample size and hypotheses. I found Indian immigrant entrepreneurs have a higher need for achievement, and higher education levels compared to natives. Not entirely revolutionary or eye-opening, I know. Free of school and Institutional Review Board restrictions around dissertations, I am now looking into this topic from another perspective.

#TheIndustryShow is a production of DesiPreneur Media and is a conversation with Indian entrepreneurs from different walks of life. These discussions delve deeper into the Indian entrepreneurial journey of business people, celebrities, public figures, and techies. Among others, we have met with Payal Kadakia, co-founder ClassPass, Hasan Minhaj of The Daily Show, Sramana Mitra of 1 Million by 1 Million (1Mx1M), Ravi Patel star of hit documentary Meet The Patels, Manu Shah of MS International, Navneet Chugh of Chugh, LLP.

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[1] Indian Americans-Pew Research Center

[2] America’s New Immigrant Entrepreneurs-Kauffman Foundation

[3] Vivek Wadhwa

[4] Anna-Lee Saxenian

[5] William Kerr

[6] Marketplace.Org

Alok Singh

Business Consulting | Ernst & Young- EY| Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) | Strategy | Performance Improvement

7y

Dr. Nitin Bajaj, PgMP Thank you for sharing the fabulous article.However, i wonder why the same people are not so successful in their motherland as much as they are in abroad.I also sometimes wonder if our systems are designed for people to fail? Are our universities/higher educational institutions working as a training academy to produce best consume ready workforce for west as there is no better output measure than employers seeking the students.

Sundar Balu

Senior Director, Global Market Development

7y

Good observations and bringing them to light. Its too bad that the current Presidential candidates are not trying to encourage "good" immigration but rather who can kill the $5/hr illegal alien. Trump surprisingly has the closest to an "entreprenurial" immigration policy in that MS and PhD immigrant students should not be allowed to leave till "x" years so that they can contribute to the US innovation and technology engine. On another note, Indians by force are a resilient society starting from over 4000 years ago and through each and every invasion, they have learnt to take the good and ignore the bad without meddling with the ecosystem. Along with this also brought on a survival mode within our DNA. Our parents, their parents and their grandparents all learnt to be "content" with whatever little they had but never gave up trying. As one who visits India often and having run an organization there a few years back, I must say there is very little "COMPLAINING" and more "doing". When the largest electrical grid meltdown happened in 2013?, and over 650 million (2x US population) had no electricity for over 2 days, what did everyone do... not complain but came back stronger, wiser and "cleverer". It is also this survival mode (similar to NYC) that, as Karl puts it, have strengthened Indian mindset over the years.. that it "cant get worse" and if it does, "I know how to get over it, one way or the other". Most of us have grown up with some elder at home saying, "I raised you to at least find "one" meal a day by yourself". Except, today, we have found ways to find many meals...

Love to see how diversity CAN both work and be widely adopted.

It's about perception. 20 years ago, in 1996, when I was at Exodus Communications in Santa Clara, CA, I had fellow employees and customers tell me directly that they didn't want their systems monitored or managed by a "3rd-world country" like India. At that time, Indian system admins and network engineers could not communicate well with customers and had little customer service skills. They were kept away from customers frankly. The Indian worker has changed in the last 20 years and most projects include India/Indians at the start. Wow, what a difference 20 years makes in terms of perception and worker engagement!

Anil Dilawri

Managing Director at Save it like Sully

7y

What a fascinating initiative, Nitin. I look forward to hearing more about your findings. Along with the obvious success characteristics (language skills, education, strong work-ethic, etc.) I have also observed a few other attributes. Successful Indians (especially entrepreneurs) seem to be creative, are tough negotiators, and have an ability to take "educated risks".

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