ATCC members. In these short 5 years of our existence at ATCC, we have already undergone a generational change of inspired leadership.
The Australian Tamil Chamber of Commerce began its life with its first inaugural meeting on the 20th of November 2015.
Mr. Samuel Thevasagayan, Mr. Jegan Arunachalam and Mr. Arumugam Rajeevan were the first three to develop the idea of a chamber of commerce, its vision and goals, and the creation of a constitution.
The Inaugural meeting happened as planned, at the Yaarl Convention Centre in Pendle Hill with eighty participants, and the degree of enthusiasm among them was great. Very quickly, the participants elected Sam as the founding president and elected several Office bearers among whom Vindran Vengadasalam still remains a vibrantly active and inspiring member to this day.
It was the success of the Canadian Tamil Chamber of Commerce (established in 1991) that motivated Sam to set up similar Chambers for Tamils in Australia.
Achievements of the ATCC are as follows:
The initial idea of setting up a Chamber was started around 2005 when Prof. Ilagupillai from Canada, a physicist and successful entrepreneur was visiting Sydney, and with him, a meeting was organized with 60 prominent Tamil businesspeople. All were enthusiastic about forming a Tamil chamber of commerce, but it didn't progress any further.
Even during the first 6 months, ATCC experienced the challenges of capable members leaving for professional growth reasons, but fortunately equally capable others came on board, and ATCC continued to innovatively engage and edify Tamil business people and the community with its programs.
Events and activities that keep the ATCC vibrantly alive:
Within less than 6 months of the inauguration, in April 2016, ATCC's first trade show was held at the Fairfield Showground Convention Centre, with businesses and cultural entities participating. The tone was set right then, that ATCC was not just a business hangout, but an exciting environment for families, students and young aspiring professionals as well.
Our first event, still ongoing though, was the 5 km Australia Day Walkathon held in the Toongabbie - Pendle Hill area, and enthusiastically attended and supported by Tamil businesses, families, community leaders and by political leaders as well who rejoiced in ATCC's inclusive spirit.
Monthly networking meetings revolved around selected guest speakers who would make presentations of their business specialties, educated the audiences on good business practices and methods, and answered questions. These meetings always ended with people freely moving around, making acquaintances and seeking to add value to each other's business and professional efforts.
A stand-out achievement of the ATCC was the creation, since 2016, of a small pool of aspiring entrepreneurs to start their own businesses - and helping to set up, consult, solve challenging problems on the way, to establishing and running them successfully. Now, these business people help other aspirants in turn.
ATCC has since then expanded interstate by starting a chapter in Queensland and Victoria.
ATCC has become known Internationally as well among leading organizations in the Tamil diaspora, and ATCC members are invited and frequently participate in international events.
ATCC is an exceptional Tamil organization with a unifying ethos of bringing Tamils together, no matter what their country of origin, and if you see it as a place where people meld and work together harmoniously and with great enthusiasm.