NJ Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards Seeking Nominations​

Einstein's Alley, a member of the NJIEA Coalition, is proud to announce the opening of nominations for the 5th Annual New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards. The awards will be presented on September 13, 2017 from 8:00 -11:30 AM at the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce/Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce Global Opportunities Summit “Building Bridges to Business Connections” at the Doubletree Hotel in Princeton, NJ.

In New Jersey, foreign-born individuals like our 2014 winner Mario Casabona CEO of Tech Launch, and 2015 winner Iftekhar Hossain of IH Engineering, and 2016 winner Jose “Pepe” Garcia of Maverick Building Services have created more than one in three new businesses in recent years, ranking New Jersey behind only California, New York, and Florida. NJ companies started by immigrants generate an annual business income of $6.2 billion in New Jersey.

NJIEA is a coalition of New Jersey groups, including regional and bi-national chambers of commerce, immigrant advocacy groups, and other community organizations joining to celebrate the important role of immigrants in today's economy and to honor the contributions of immigrant business leaders to their communities.

We believe that rather than send qualified foreign-born advance-degree graduates of U.S. colleges and universities back home to compete against U.S. businesses, Congress should encourage these individuals to stay in the United States by offering them permanent resident status. We can further buttress our competitive edge by expanding the H-1B visa program, which makes available to U.S. businesses some of the world's most highly-trained professionals in fields across the business sector. What's more, a significant portion of H-1B filing fees fund education and training programs to enhance the skills of U.S. workers, particularly in the technology fields.

This year, we will be honoring immigrants for their achievements in growth, advocacy, and innovation, and we will name the 2017 Immigrant Entrepreneur

of the Year.

Are you an immigrant entrepreneur who has excelled in one of these fields? Do you know someone, a colleague, family member, neighbor, or friend, who you think has what it takes to be named an award winner for innovation, growth or advocacy or for the 2017 Immigrant Entrepreneur of the Year?

Nominations are open through July 14, 2017. To submit a nomination, go to https://www.princetonchamber.net/njiea/#