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CHICAGO, IL – The Uttar Pradesh Pravasi Bharatiya Ratna Award 2018 was awarded to Dr Sanhita Agnihotri, president of Federation of Indian Associations (FIA)-Chicago, in Lucknow (India) recently.
The selection committee was headed by Swati Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge), NRIs. The award was conferred on her on the 3rd UP Pravasi Diwas during the UP Investors’ Summit.
Born and brought up in Kanpur, Agnihotri migrated to the US 26 years ago with stars in her eyes. Now a prominent financial adviser and accountant by profession, she had to go through fire and water in her initial days.
She worked as a radio jockey for Indian radio programs in Chicago, as a news reader on Ethenic First TV station in Chicago and even as a journalist at ‘Hi India’ covering news and events in the windy city.
“I opened an accounting firm and went on to become a mortgage broker and then an insurance agent. There is nothing I have not done to reach where I am at present,” says Agnihotri.
She has started an NGO, the Lighthouse Foundation, and has adopted a village in Fatehpur where she has set up a washing powder factory for the local villagers to help them become self-reliant.
As Director of Indian American Business Council, she participated in a round-table discussion with Governor of Kentucky Matthew Griswold Bevin and Mayor of Louisville Kentucky Greg Fischer.
She had presented an in-depth case study on the “Challenges and opportunities of doing business in India” at a seminar hosted by Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky in May 2016. In her impressive presentation, she had also identified the growing business opportunities in various sectors that seek to benefit both the US and India.
Under her guidance, FIA-Chicago has been conducting several major community events, including India Republic day, India Independence Day Parade, Indian festivals, health fairs, visa camps, cultural programs, inter-faith meets, etc to promote social harmony.
Always ready to help the poor and offer them jobs, Agnihotri has provided scholarship to underprivileged girls under the program “Sanhita” to encourage them to pursue education beyond elementary school.
Apart from being secretary in Genome India International, an NGO of Indian scientists working outside India, she has been operating and managing an financial consulting firm TaxConsulting Inc, engaged in business, personal income taxes and also provide training to the interns.