For the third year in a row, Innovation Origins has organised the annual Expat Top-10. Over the past years, Eindhoven has welcomed thousands of internationals, many of whom have done a great job for the city. Through this top-10 we say Thank You to all of them. This year’s theme of the Top-10 is ‘Jobs and Entrepreneurship’. Every day we offer you an interview with one of the winners. In this interview, you can read about how they ended up in Eindhoven, what they are doing in and for the city, and how they get around in their new community. Today: Vinay Dasa. Here’s the whole series.
“Eindhoven needs a metro”
In Eindhoven since: 2008
Country of origin: India
Speaking Dutch with the neighbour? Yes
Vinay Dasa came to Eindhoven because of the job opportunities for himself and his wife. And now, he is creating these opportunities for his fellow Indians with his company Team Expat. In fact, in doing so, he is not only creating a job for himself, his local team and for tens of technicians from Bangalore and other Indian cities, he’s also helping to solve one of the major problems in Brainport at this moment: lack of qualified employees for the local tech-oriented companies. Enough reason for the jury of the Expat Top-10 to award Dasa his prize.
How would you describe your role within the Eindhoven community?
“Me being in the Netherlands for 10 years now, I have seen Eindhoven grow. My role in this is to provide information to expats on how to settle in the Netherlands, help them to find the right jobs, help them get the right information. But also to help them connect to the right Indian and Dutch friends to make them feel at home, and encourage their entrepreneurship. For the Dutch businesses, I try to make them aware of how expats can contribute to their company and to society, by bringing in diversification and internationalization.”
What, according to you, makes Eindhoven an attractive place to live and work in? What could be better?
What’s good is the job opportunities, the way you can build professional growth, the international environment, and the way the city has developed as a tech hub. What’s also nice is that it’s not a big city nor a small one, it’s just enough to connect very well. The shopping facilities, on the other hand, could be much better. And we would really like to have more events and places to hang out in the weekend, for all age groups. And maybe most of all: the city should have a much better transportation system, in terms of connectivity. Why not start building a metro?”
Tech companies in and around Eindhoven have a huge shortage of employees. What could they do to attract more technicians from India?
“Netherlands and Eindhoven should be more heard in the media, it needs marketing of Eindhoven as an international tech hub. What also would help is to have a better mix of companies: not only in high tech but also in mobile, big data etc.”
What is it like to start your business in Eindhoven?
It’s fun-filled and it gives a lot of opportunities to grow along with the city.
Photo (c) Israel Nunez-Hernandez: Alderman Stijn Steenbakkers hands over the award to Vinay Dasa