Asian-Americans excel in their academic performance, but remain severely underrepresented in leadership positions, entrepreneur-turned philanthropist Frank Islam said on Friday in his address to the NextGen Awards of NaisA Global, which recognised next generation of Asian leaders in the US.
Citing NaisAs statistics, Islam said Asian-Americans account for 25 per cent of Ivy League students and 50 per cent of the Silicon Valley workforce but constitute only two per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs, three per cent of US attorneys, and two per cent of college presidents.
"It's time to end that bamboozling and to give those outstanding Asian-American students and young professionals the assistance they need to break through the bamboo ceiling. One of the best ways that can be done is through the naisA mentoring protegee programme," he said.
"Given my own background and personal experience, I would like to throw one idea into the pot for naisAs consideration. That is that it develop a mentoring programme for Asian- Americans who want to be entrepreneurs and start-up or build their own businesses," Islam said.
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Among other awardees were Sachiko Kuno, founder & chair of Halcyon and President of S&R Foundation; Dr. Wallace Loh, president of the University of Maryland; David Kim, vice president of Government Affairs of Hyundai Motors; Sid Venketesan, Chief IP Counsel GE Digital; and Mei Xu, co- founder & CEO of Chesapeake Bay Candle.
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