MCALLEN, Texas - Indian software company Zoho held a ceremony to celebrate the opening of their newest office in McAllen.
Headquartered in Del Valle, this will be Zoho’s third location in Texas after opening an office in New Braunfels late last year.
Keith Patridge, president and CEO of the McAllen Economic Development Corporation, teased about the company’s highly-anticipated move to the city in December. With over 10,000 employees throughout 25 countries, Zoho’s settlement in McAllen signals the advent of more tech-focused business and career opportunities for residents and affirms the city on the world stage.
“We are extremely pleased to be making this announcement of Zoho for several reasons,” said Patridge. “First, it marks the arrival to McAllen of a global technology company that will offer our family and friends career opportunities in the rapidly growing software development sector. Second, Zoho is giving us the opportunity to validate something that we all have known for a long time. And, that’s that a technology company does not have to be located in a major metropolitan area to be successful.”
The event drew many local officials and dignitaries to the Foreign-Trade Zone site, including McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos and Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, who both spoke at the ceremony.
Villalobos thanked McAllen Retail Development Director Rebecca Olaguibel and her team for their work and expressed his gratitude to the local colleges for developing the workforce to attract Zoho.
“All of this would not be possible without our partners,” said Villalobos. “…Thank you A&M, STC, UTRGV. With an educated workforce, everything is possible.”
Cortez boasted about other factors that made the region desirable for the corporation.
“Some of the reasons that this international company chose Hidalgo County for its third Texas office was, again, our quality of life, our cost of living, …our healthcare, the strength of our local educational system … and, most important, our culture,” said Cortez.
“Sitting here, you may not realize what you got,” said Raju Vegesna, Zoho’s chief evangelist. “As an outsider looking in, it was amazing to see how collaborative this team is and continues to be. … Here all the teams are collaboratively working for the betterment of the community, which we haven’t seen otherwise in other places.”
Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu joined the ceremony virtually from the company’s global headquarters in Chennai, India. He highlighted Zoho’s philosophy of “transnational localism,” which asserts that individuals do not need to relocate to large metropolitan areas to find good-paying jobs with multinational companies. Instead, companies should cultivate the talent where it is found for the benefit of that community in the long run.
“Good jobs, high-paying jobs can be created in low-cost-of-living areas,” said Vembu. “… So that is our strategy, approach: to take deep roots and serve the community, hire people, train immersive training, induct people into the tech ecosystem, create good paying jobs as a solid foundation for our employees and communities. That is the moral of the company.”
Vegesna added, “This is the future of community. We like to be an asset to the community and not a liability, which means we want to bring the opportunity to the local people, local talent so that they go; they set up; they settle down here; they expand and contribute to the same community that, basically, they grew up in.”
Tejas Gadhia, head of project management for Zoho, will oversee the McAllen office. He said he appreciated the warm welcome the company received from local officials and was impressed by the straightforward and humble way they approached business. He says looks forward to getting better acquainted with the area and immersing himself in the culture.
Mike Sauceda, who was hired as a software solutions consultant at the new office, called McAllen the “mecca” of the Rio Grande Valley and expressed his excitement to be able to stay in the region.
“Working with a great technology company like Zoho brings me a great sense of pride,” said Sauceda. “When you compound that with the fact that I'm able to work right here in my community, well, that's just the icing on the cake.”
Currently, the office has 25 employees, but Zoho is still actively hiring for the location. They plan to double their headcount by next year.
“We will continue to be an asset to the region, and we hope we can certainly grow together,” said Vegesna. “We think we can be one of the most influential technology companies in the world, and the talent is here, and thanks to all the colleges who have been doing an amazing job in grooming all the talent. We have the good talent, good demographics, and more importantly, the right culture.”
To view a listing of the company’s open positions, visit their website here.
Editor's Note: The above news story is the first in a five-part series on Zoho's arrival in McAllen. Part Two will be posted in our next edition.
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