<TABLE id=msgUN cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>Coffeeshop Chit Chat - He woos businesses, talent to come here</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">4:24 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>1070.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE class="georgia11 whiteBg" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=620 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=padlrt10>Oct 10, 2008</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>GAUTAM BANERJEE
He woos businesses, talent to come here
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>By Li Xueying
</TD></TR><TR><TD class="marginbottom8 padlrt10">FOR years, Mr Gautam Banerjee has been hot on the trail of a former schoolmate from his hometown in Mumbai, India.
His childhood friend is, today, a mover and shaker in the global pharmaceutical industry, owns one of the largest companies in the world and has a fondness for acquiring businesses in Europe.
So, says Mr Banerjee with a laugh: 'I've been trying to get him to come to Singapore and set something up for the last several years.'
The Nominated MP and executive chairman of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore may not have succeeded - yet - in this case.
'I've not given up on him,' he adds.
But he has been instrumental in helping influence other high-value Indian talent to settle down in Singapore, as well as wooing several Indian companies to set up their regional headquarters here.
The 53-year-old, who became a Singapore citizen 18 years ago, is modest about his role as a bridge between economic giant India and Singapore, noting that good governmental links between the two countries have long existed.
'I still have very close links with my school friends in India, so that gives me a connectivity which is unique because if you've been to school with someone and grown up with him, it is a different type of relationship and it opens doors.'
His background has been an advantage when he helps government agencies such as the Economic Development Board woo Indian companies.
Aware that business is as much about emotion as economics, he invites Indian business leaders to his home to mingle with his friends.
The enthusiastic evangelist for the good news of Singapore was born and raised in India but lived and worked in Britain for nine years before settling down here with his wife. He never saw London as a place to sink his roots because he believed he would always be treated as a second-class citizen.
'But Singapore,' he says, 'because it's a very multicultural, multi-religious society, is something the Indian diaspora is attracted to.'
It also offers creature comforts to those who have lived in the United States and Europe. 'Even though India has made a lot of strides in the last number of years, it's still not the easiest place to live in,' he says wryly.
Because India's economic rise started later than China's, its overseas elite are not yet flocking home the way Chinese talent are. Singapore thus has 'a window of opportunity' to draw more Indians in.
The tensions between local Indians and new immigrants from the subcontinent are 'a challenge'.
The first group are mainly Tamil speakers from the south whereas the newcomers are largely Hindi-speaking northerners. The latter also tend to be richer and better educated.
'How do you get a private senior professional to mix with somebody from a different social stratum?' he asks.
Many of the new immigrants obviously want to socialise with people they are comfortable with.
What could help are more events to bring the two groups together at schools and Hindu temples.
The wives of Indian expatriates could also be encouraged to extend their charity work beyond fund-raising, to tuition for local, needy children, he suggests.
He thinks new citizens should attend a course on the rights and obligations of citizenship, as their counterparts in the United States have to do.
'All I was required to do was watch a video on Total Defence,' he says, laughing. The Singapore Story is 'the reason why I decided to come and live here, bring up my children here, build a home here'. 'I want to share that with others. I want to tell them this is a great place to come to,' he says.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>[email protected]
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He woos businesses, talent to come here
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>By Li Xueying
</TD></TR><TR><TD class="marginbottom8 padlrt10">FOR years, Mr Gautam Banerjee has been hot on the trail of a former schoolmate from his hometown in Mumbai, India.
His childhood friend is, today, a mover and shaker in the global pharmaceutical industry, owns one of the largest companies in the world and has a fondness for acquiring businesses in Europe.
So, says Mr Banerjee with a laugh: 'I've been trying to get him to come to Singapore and set something up for the last several years.'
The Nominated MP and executive chairman of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore may not have succeeded - yet - in this case.
'I've not given up on him,' he adds.
But he has been instrumental in helping influence other high-value Indian talent to settle down in Singapore, as well as wooing several Indian companies to set up their regional headquarters here.
The 53-year-old, who became a Singapore citizen 18 years ago, is modest about his role as a bridge between economic giant India and Singapore, noting that good governmental links between the two countries have long existed.
'I still have very close links with my school friends in India, so that gives me a connectivity which is unique because if you've been to school with someone and grown up with him, it is a different type of relationship and it opens doors.'
His background has been an advantage when he helps government agencies such as the Economic Development Board woo Indian companies.
Aware that business is as much about emotion as economics, he invites Indian business leaders to his home to mingle with his friends.
The enthusiastic evangelist for the good news of Singapore was born and raised in India but lived and worked in Britain for nine years before settling down here with his wife. He never saw London as a place to sink his roots because he believed he would always be treated as a second-class citizen.
'But Singapore,' he says, 'because it's a very multicultural, multi-religious society, is something the Indian diaspora is attracted to.'
It also offers creature comforts to those who have lived in the United States and Europe. 'Even though India has made a lot of strides in the last number of years, it's still not the easiest place to live in,' he says wryly.
Because India's economic rise started later than China's, its overseas elite are not yet flocking home the way Chinese talent are. Singapore thus has 'a window of opportunity' to draw more Indians in.
The tensions between local Indians and new immigrants from the subcontinent are 'a challenge'.
The first group are mainly Tamil speakers from the south whereas the newcomers are largely Hindi-speaking northerners. The latter also tend to be richer and better educated.
'How do you get a private senior professional to mix with somebody from a different social stratum?' he asks.
Many of the new immigrants obviously want to socialise with people they are comfortable with.
What could help are more events to bring the two groups together at schools and Hindu temples.
The wives of Indian expatriates could also be encouraged to extend their charity work beyond fund-raising, to tuition for local, needy children, he suggests.
He thinks new citizens should attend a course on the rights and obligations of citizenship, as their counterparts in the United States have to do.
'All I was required to do was watch a video on Total Defence,' he says, laughing. The Singapore Story is 'the reason why I decided to come and live here, bring up my children here, build a home here'. 'I want to share that with others. I want to tell them this is a great place to come to,' he says.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>[email protected]
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