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World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz has been invited by the Gujarati Businessmen Association of America to host a day-long seminar on “The Advantages and Ethics of Family Businesses” in New Jersey, sources confirmed. The invite is said to have nothing to do with Wolfowitz introducing the concept of family business in the workings of the World Bank. The workshop will be held towards the end of this month because he is currently up to his neck in work and would have some amount of free time towards early June.

“Yes, I have been invited and I would be honoured to lead the seminar in front of the Gujarati businessmen in New Jersey,” Wolfowitz said, “in fact I am a little apprehensive because these people have been conducting family businesses for years and this is actually my first attempt doing it.” Wolfowitz said that the World Bank has been an excellent platform for him to lern about the core values and work ethics involved in running a family business including the tricky issue of salaries and perks that non-family members of the organisation would not necessarily be entitled to. “It is a new realm as far as the board-room is concerned but the key to staying in power is to constantly re-invent yourself and I am doing just that,” he added.

The seminar would be open to all businesses in the New Jersey area but seating preference would be shown to Gujarati family businessmen preferably those who have settled in the USA for the last five generations. While the conference costs are said to be “fairly reasonable,” discounted rates would apply to owners of motels and gas stations. While there has been no confirmation as to where the conference would be held, several local motels are said to be aggresively pitching for the exclusive right to host this once-in-a-lifetime event. Kaushik Gandhi, fifth-generation Indian-American and owner of the Kamal Makan Motel off I-28 said that he was looking forward to being a part of this event. “It is very heartening to know that there is effort being made to promote the interests of Gujarati businessmen. It has been very difficult for us to establish an identity in this country and this is just the opportunity we have been waiting for.”

The World Bank has not commented on this seminar or Wolfowitz’s attendance deeming it a private matter that does not require the organisation to be involved. A spokesperson for the organisation said that they “were extremely confident that Wolfowitz would bring the highest personal ideals to the seminar in the very same way that he did as President of the World Bank.”

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