Asian American businesses set to become major players in Orange County

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (NV) – The 7th Annual Orange County Asian Business Expo, held Tuesday, proved at least one thing: the Asian American business community in the county is thriving.

Businesses lined up at Great Wolf Lodge for a chance to exhibit their products or talk about their services with representatives of other Asian-owned businesses. With a mission to promote businesses, to nurture social and professional interaction and to strengthen professional networking opportunities, the expo welcomed more than 2,000 attendees, 120 vendors and 20 organizations.

The expo was launched by just two chambers of commerce — the Korean American and Vietnamese American groups — but the event now also showcases businesses started by people with their roots in China, Thailand, the Philippines, Southeast Asia and more.

“We are a business networking group. We have over 7,000 business networkers, including social media and everything, but mainly in Southern California,” said Mohammed Islam, a committee member of the 2017 expo. “We have the event every year and usually in early September.”

Orange County has a high concentration of Asian American communities that are hungry for business opportunities and growth. With major players in the area such as Disneyland and eager local governments, the expo provides a good environment to stimulate expansion and growth.

Stephanie Hang, an instructor at Advance Beauty College in Garden Grove, said she takes a group of students to business events like this one to promote her school’s services. They worked past the event’s closing time to finish polishing the nails of one of the attendees.

“This is a way to get our name out. We do a lot of events to help out the community, and we do the business expo every year,” she said. “I bring at least 10 of my students. We have the morning shift and afternoon shift. Normally people come to our booth and every 10 or 15 minutes, we have people come to try out our services.”

The expo also attracted many tech companies such as DumaTek, based in Tustin, which provides cyber-security for businesses using artificial intelligence.

“Anti-virus today cannot completely protect your computers; artificial intelligence is the only way to eliminate cyber-threats,” founder Gerry Dumatol said, explaining the complexity of modern-day technology and the protection his company can provide.