Convention raised more than $125,000 for scholarship fund.
Updated September 9, 2014
By The American Bazaar Staff
GRAND RAPIDS, MI: More than 700 members of the Maheshwari community from around the world attended the 7th International Maheshwari Rajasthani Convention held here over the Labor Day weekend.
The four-day event, held from August 29 to September 1, at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, featured talent shows, networking and educational events and entertainment shows. The venue was turned into a mini Rajasthan, with traditional cuisines from the state and a variety of cultural programs unique to the Maheshwari community.
The convention raised more than $125,000 for a scholarship fund for helping students from the community that are doing master’s degree programs in US schools, said Ashwin Saboo, a member of the convention’s education committee which was led by Vikas Bhutada.
Besides scores of Maheshwari community leaders in North America, a number of prominent community leaders from around the world attended the conference as guests of honor. They included Rajasthan Commissioner of Industries Vinod Ajmera; Ramesh Chandak, Managing Director of the India-based infrastructure and construction firm KEC International; Ramgopal Mundra, Vice President of the Akhil Bharatiya Maheshwari Mahasabha; and Krishna Taori, Group Managing Director of Oman’s Hasan Juma Backer Trading & Contracting Co. Oman
“This was the best convention I attended,” Saboo, a resident of Washington, DC, who had also attended the last two International Maheshwari Rajasthani Conventions in Los Angeles in 2012 and Washington, DC, in 2010. “Maheshwari Detroit team did the best to plan, prepare and execute [the convention].”
Delegates who came from other US states and abroad also had a chance to see the Silver Lakes Sand dunes on Lake Michigan.
(Correction: A previous version of the story had incorrectly stated the number of delegations.)