On Saturday, May 4th, 2013, the Princeton SCORE chapter and Princeton Public Library are joining forces to host the 5th Annual Small Business Fair in downtown Princeton. The fair will be held at the Princeton Public Library from 11am to 3pm, and attendance is FREE.
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Sreenivas Bhashyam Asuri (Bash) is a multicultural man with a technology and business background. He spent 10 years working in India and another decade in the US working primarily in technology firms. He understands the binding similarities between a seemingly very different United States and India. Bash shared, “We are the world’s 2 largest democracies, both have a largely British legal system, and both are filled with small businesses that are striving to be innovative and thrive.”
Though Bash had wanted to start something for a while, the trigger point for Bash to start a business was after he read an article the New York Times back in the fall of 2008. He read that the Fortune 500 companies had posted record profits – the largest ever. He found this troubling since unemployment was 10%, small businesses were suffering and consumer spending had all but disappeared. He knew firsthand that small businesses in his community were suffering, many shuttering the doors.
Bash observed a lopsided world where large multinational corporations had teams and divisions that spanned geographies and could exploit human resources and capital goods to their own profit advantage. But at the same time, smaller companies didn’t have the same opportunity; he set out to level the playing field.
With his experience deeply rooted in technology companies like Autodesk, Siemens, and InfoSys, Bash would be a likely candidate to start a technology company. Yet, he doesn’t consider his latest venture a technology company. True, he leveraged his technology background to build a solid trading platform, the underpinning of the company he founded, UI Business. But, the foundation of his company is inherently nontechnical and relies on what traders of the past centuries knew and practiced. Bash shared, “You need face to face communication and to establish trust with the people you trade with. People don’t like doing business with people they don’t know and they are afraid of scams and being cheated.” As true as this was in the annals of trading history it is ever true today in the age of the Internet.
Owner/Founder
Sreenivas Bhashyam Asuri(Bash)
My Successes
UI Business (UIB) is a trading platform and services company setup to enable trade between businesses of the US and India. Exclusively serving businesses in the US and India allows a focus on specific cultural, trade, taxation and other issues to create the best user experience. UI Business is able to help build trust and familiarity between trading partners because unlike other Internet only plays, UI Business has people in India and in the United States that can meet with businesses, check out goods, and provide background checks and verification for all parties to a transaction. They also bring sales expertise and enable all sorts of transactions from jewelry and industrial goods like forklifts to medical equipment including CT Scanners and MRI machines.
What’s next for Bash and UI Business? Bash shared, “Well, we now have a business plan that a venture capitalist would read and understand. We are all setup and running. Now we’d like to bring in outside investment from angel investor groups. With additional funding we can hire additional sales people, run marketing campaigns, and scale the business.”
When asked what advice he would give another entrepreneur, Bash said, “For any business you start, you need to have passion. I believe that any business should be part of a larger social objective, not just to make money. It should contribute to society, improve the community at large. Whatever you do, if it is tied to a bigger purpose, passion and energy will come automatically.”
How SCORE Helped
When asked why he went to SCORE, Bash shared, “I needed validation. In my heart I knew I was right but I wanted to make sure. You have a lot of self doubt when you are running your own enterprise. At the time of my first meeting I had a functioning business but no business plan. "
When asked if he’d recommend SCORE to other Bash said, “I sure would. There are knowledgeable people just sitting there waiting to help you for free. They don't expect anything in return. They have no self interest; they are very good. I believe it is organizations like SCORE that make the US the world’s best place to do business.”
Published Mar. 17, 2013
Ask SCORE
After working for more than 25 years in the publishing industry, the company I worked
for downsized and I accepted an attractive buyout package. Now I’d like to start my own
business. What do I do first?
About the Author
This column is brought to you by the Merrimack Valley Chapter of SCORE, with nearly
70 current and former business executives available to provide free, confidential, one-on-one
business mentoring and training workshops for area businesses. Call 603-666-7561 or visit
merrimackvalley.score.org for information on mentoring, upcoming workshops and volunteer
opportunities. SCORE is a national, non-profit organization and a resource partner of the U. S.
Small Business Administration.
Learn the fundamentals of starting a business with the free workbook Simple Steps for Starting Your Business, brought to you by SCORE in partnership with Bank of America.
DREAM BIG!
SCORE and Bank of America are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed. As part of that common goal, we offer this educational resource to help you plan for that success. This workbook serves as a primer, offering practical information and exercises that will help you know whether starting a small business is right for you.
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