The New Jersey Business Immigration Coalition is currently accepting nominations for the 2023 New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards, which acknowledge the value and achievements of immigrant workers and business leaders across the state. There is no fee to enter using the preliminary form at the NJ Business Immigration Coalition’s website, njbusinessimmigration.org/nominations. Both suggestions and self-submissions are welcome until June 1.
The NJ Business Immigrant Coalition is a professional aggregate of representatives from various organizations, associations, and chambers, including members of groups like NJBIA and the PMRC, who come together to advocate for “bipartisan and common sense immigration reform.”
“The New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards were created over a decade ago to highlight the social and economic contributions of New Jersey’s immigrants to communities throughout the state and celebrate the important role of immigrants to today’s economy,” says Katherine Kish, one of the founders of the Coalition and the executive director of the Central New Jersey economic development initiative Einstein’s Alley. “The nominees and honorees represent small mom and pop businesses as well as large corporations; ranging from high-tech firms to professional service providers, from manufacturing operations to restaurants and financial institutions. Combined, they employ hundreds of people and do billions in sales.”
After the recommendations are reviewed by a panel of judges, the awards ceremony will be held just before the Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Multicultural Business Expo at the Pines Manor in Edison on Tuesday, June 27, from 4 to 5 p.m.
Immigrant figures can be considered for their accomplishments across six categories: the 2023 immigrant entrepreneur of the year; growth, with an award named in honor of the person who “established the first successful glass factory in the colonies,” Caspar Wistar; advocacy, after telecommunications businessman and radio pioneer David Sarnoff; innovation, after scientist Albert Einstein; the young entrepreneur award or rising star, named after dressmaker and fashion manufacturer Ida Rosenthal, the inventor of the “modern brassiere” and co-founder of undergarment brand Maidenform; and finally, nonprofit entrepreneurship, named after Josephine Ho, described as “a key leader of the NJ Immigrant Awards initiative” and “advocate for Asian immigrants” whose roles included being the executive director of the New Jersey Chinese-American Chamber of Commerce and a board member on the Chinese-American Planning Council.
The 2022 Immigrant Entrepreneur of the Year was Shibber Khan, the principal and co-founder of the Criterion Group LLC, whose company successfully developed the “largest film studio in New Jersey” when it opened the Jersey City media production facility at Cinelease Studios Caven Point in 2021.
More: njbusinessimmigration.org.
