OPEN Washington DC isn’t just for South Asian entrepreneurs anymore

At its core, OPEN Washington DC is a “platform for connecting people,” says President Farooq Cheema. And the D.C.-based chapter of this global nonprofit entrepreneurship network has been “connecting people” for 10 years now.
Specifically, during those 10 years, these people have primarily been members of the immigrant South Asian community — individuals who face a specific set of challenges when starting a business. Cheema himself told Technical.ly that he joined OPEN, initially, for the community component — to meet people who understood the issues he faced on a day-to-day basis.
But now, a decade in, OPEN Washington DC is working to expand its audience. Why?
“We discovered that a lot of different minorities face similar challenges,” Cheema said, citing female entrepreneurs and members of different immigrant groups. But ultimately OPEN is going even broader than “minorities” — anyone who is doing business in the D.C. area can now sign up to be a member. “We want to add more value to the Washington D.C. community specifically,” Cheema told Technical.ly.
Cheema admits that widening the umbrella will result in a change in the specific “flavor” of the network, a network of potential partners and advisors for OPEN members that spans 12 chapters around the world. But, he says, that change will be for the better.
Just on cue, OPEN is holding its flagship annual conference at Capital One in McLean, Va., on Saturday. You can attend even without an OPEN DC membership (which runs $70 per year for professionals), it’s just a little more pricey. Cheema hopes to gather 250-300 local entrepreneurs for a day spent networking, learning and being inspired. Shahla Aly, director of customer experience at Google Cloud, will present the keynote address; there will be a panel discussion on government contracting; there will even be a pitch competition.
Find more information, and register, here.