Trenton, NJ (October 2020) – Mahesh Yadav, Founder and CEO, Optima Global Solutions Inc., of Lawrenceville was awarded the David Sarnoff Award for Advocacy and Community Engagement honor at the 8th Annual New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur awards on October 15, 2020. The awards program featured keynote speaker Jeremy Robbins of the New American Economy and a panel discussion with Patrick McGowan of Genova Burns, Ali Bokari of Unilever and Rashaad Bajwa of Domain Computer.
The New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards honor immigrant business leaders helping New Jersey communities thrive. The awards were created to highlight the social and economic contributions of New Jersey’s immigrants to communities throughout the state and celebrate the important role of immigrants to today’s economy. The awards are sponsored by the NJ Business Immigration Coalition, a broad-based coalition of New Jersey chambers, associations and organizations, including the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Asian Indian Chamber of Commerce, Diversity Dynamics, Einstein’s Alley, Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce, NJBIA, New Jersey Chinese-American Chamber of Commerce, and the Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The 2020 winners and their NJ business location and country of origin are:
Immigrant Entrepreneur of the Year – Ali A. Houshmand President of Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ (Iran)
Caspar Wistar Award for Growth –Raj Sahu-CEO Connexions Data Inc., Paramus, NJ (India)
Albert Einstein Award for Innovation –Shuguang Sunny Wang, Managing Director Broad USA, Inc., Hackensack, NJ (China)
David Sarnoff Award for Advocacy and Community Engagement– Mahesh Yadav, CEO Optima Global Solutions, Inc., Lawrenceville, NJ (India)
Rising Star Entrepreneurial Award – Hussain Bootwala President & CEO HAZ International, Inc., Edison, NJ (India)
The judges for this year’s Awards were: Sandeep Agarwal, President and CEO, Pure Indian Foods, a previous award winner, Lina Llona, CEO of the Middlesex Regional Chamber of Commerce, and William Keep, the former TCNJ Vice Provost and Dean of the TCNJ Business School.
The Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards were named for historic New Jersey immigrant entrepreneurs. The many nominees represent small mom and pop businesses as well as large corporations; ranging from high-tech firms to professional service providers, from manufacturing operations to restaurants and financial institutions. Combined, they employ hundreds of people and do billions in sales.
