BCNA Celebrates Immigrant Heritage Week with a Special Award Ceremony
BCNA Celebrates Immigrant Heritage Week with a Special Award Ceremony
This year The Business Center for New Americans will celebrate the indomitable spirit and courage of immigrants during New York’s 9th Annual Immigrant Heritage Week by presenting special awards to three outstanding entrepreneurs.
Fatima Shama, Commissioner of the New York City Office of Immigrant Affairs, will be our special guest at the awards ceremony, which will be held on Friday, April 20th.
This year’s very deserving awardees include a single mother of five who began her business with a shopping cart, cooking pot and a dream, an immigrant from Russia who got recertified as a pediatrician while working in various jobs to support a family, and a successful small business owner who has created over 100 jobs.
Our first award, The Boot Strap Entrepreneur Award, will go to Guadalupe Galicia, owner of Guadalupe’s Tamales, who is proof that you can start a successful business without a large amount of start-up capital. The award also recognizes the work of the Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center, a leader in street vendor entrepreneurship.
The New Yorker Job Creator Award will be presented to Hui Ping Liu, owner of LH Human Resources Inc., a home health care agency serving the Chinese and Vietnamese communities. She started the business with a loan of $35,000 from BCNA and, to date, LH Human Resources has created one hundred jobs.
The New Beginning Award will go to Dr. Leonid Isakov, a refugee from the former Soviet Union, who used savings and a match grant, as well as a loan from BCNA, to get recertified as a pediatrician and open Ocean Medical PC. The award also recognizes the Office of Refugee Resettlement for its support and technical assistance to BCNA.
The award ceremony will also feature a panel discussion about “How to use Technology to Market Your Business,” moderated by Chuck Roberts of Durobi and Foulis Peacock of Immpreneur.com. Panelists will include Karen Seiger, author of “Markets of New York;” Sean Basinski of the Street Vendor Project; Deepti Sharma Kapur, CEO & Founder of Foodbeat.com; Adam Sobel of The Cinnamon Snail. and a representative from American Express Open.
BCNA’s Immigrant Heritage Week event on Friday, April 20th takes place at the SIFMA Conference Center located at 120 Broadway, 2nd floor. Please RSVP by April 17 by email, [email protected] or by calling 212-898-7815, ext. 1232.