Vijay Goradia
Founder and Chairman, Vinmar International, Ltd.
A native of Mumbai, India, Vijay migrated to the US in 1978 and founded Vinmar International, Ltd., a global distribution company, that he grew to an international distribution powerhouse with over $3B in sales and over 29 offices worldwide. Vijay pursued his love for travel and learning about different cultures along with his business endeavors. The company moved its headquarters to Houston in 1985. Vijay established Goradia Capital to invest in and acquire other businesses. Vijay and his companies have received recognition for his business success as well for philanthropy.
These include :
US Presidents E Export Award
Outstanding Texas Entrepreneur, State of Texas
United Nations Association Award
EY Master Entrepreneur Award
Houston Technology Center Award
American India Foundation Award
Asian Pacific American Heritage
Interfaith Ministries Tapestry Award
Over 20 years ago, Vijay, together with Marie, founded an NGO called Pratham in the US to support an initiative in India to educate slum children. It was a very low cost ($25 per child per year) yet very effective teaching model. Since the program was replicable , scalable and measurable, and since the leadership was strong, it has now grown to impact over 40M children to date and currently benefitting over 5M children a year in India. In addition this model is now replicated in other parts of Asia ,and many African and Latin American countries. Vijay continues to travel around the world for work and pleasure (104 countries to date).
