Three keys to Asians' U.S. business success

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Small-business experts say Asians are successful, in part, because of their disciplined work ethic, their investment in educating the next generation to join the professional ranks and their loyalty in serving the Asian community.

Nationally, there are about 6 million minority-owned businesses, of which 3 percent gross more than $1 million in sales, according to Heyward Davenport, regional director of the Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Of those most profitable businesses, half are owned by Asian-Americans, Davenport says.

That success, according to interviews and available data, starts with a rigorous commitment to educational achievement, which then leads to higher-paying jobs, or the creation of businesses in more lucrative fields -- such as engineering, information technology and health care. Once established, Indian, Korean and Chinese business leaders tend to carry less debt and save more of what they've earned.

Anil Bansal, president of the Asian Indian Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, is blunt about the success of Indians.

"It's the education," said Bansal, a founder of the Indus American Bank in Edison and owner of a Web design company and a restaurant. "There's no secret, whatsoever."

The gap in earnings between workers with advanced degrees and those with some college experience or an associate's degree has grown in the past 10 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2000, those with advanced degrees earned on average 70 percent more than employees with less education. Last year, that difference grew to 84 percent.

Succeeding in the classroom is a message delivered repeatedly to the next generation, according to Saeed Patel, president of Amex Computers Inc. in Carlstadt. Patel came to New Jersey from Gujarat, India, 22 years ago -- with a $15,000 loan from his parents and an engineering degree.

Amex, a wholesale computer distribution company, had sales of $28.5 million last year. Patel said he has expanded his businesses cautiously, without overextending himself and building on his savings -- characteristics, Patel says, common among Asian immigrants.

"Credit is very dangerous," he said. "It can be good, but if you falter in your expectations on what it should do for you, you can dig yourself a real hole you can't climb out of."

BankAsiana, a Korean bank based in Palisades Park, N.J., opened its doors in November 2007, just as the recession began, and now holds $110 million in loans and $150 million in assets, according to James Ryu, the bank's chief operating officer. Ryu, who grew up in Santa Monica, Calif., after emigrating from Korea when he was 13, said many younger-generation Koreans learn the value of money and savings by helping their parents in their businesses.

"I know the community itself is very conservative," Ryu said. "Many Korean-Americans have a long history in the United States, and they were able to figure out how to purchase in a sensible way."

Judy Kao, a Realtor for Realty International in Fort Lee, N.J., agrees, saying many of her clients survived the recent housing crisis because they were fiscally conservative.

Asian business leaders across the country added almost as many employees to the workforce as African-American, Hispanic and Native American business owners combined, according to the U.S. 2007 Economic Census.

Asians created 2.8 million jobs, compared with 3 million by businesses owned by the other three groups. When Asians created those jobs, they were more often in the science and technology sectors.