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Netlink Tops the Inc. 500 List

Netlink Achieves 720.5% sales growth in last three years

MADISON HEIGHTS, MI September 2, 2008 – Inc. magazine today ranked Netlink’s 720.5% three year growth as one of the top six Michigan companies in its 27th annual Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. The list is the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy – America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. Netlink joins companies such as Zappos, Intuit, GoDaddy, Under Armour, Jamba Juice, American Apparel, and Oracle in the group of Inc. 500.

“If you want to find out which companies are going to change the world, look at the Inc. 500,” said Inc. Editor Jane Berentson. “These are the most innovative, dynamic, fast-growing companies in the nation – the ones coming up with solutions to some of our knottiest problems, creating systems that let us conduct business faster and easier, and manufacturing products we soon discover we can’t live without. The Inc. 500 list is Inc. magazine’s tribute to American business ingenuity and ambition.”

Entrepreneur of the Year

Achieving full potential
How Dilip Dubey achieves an annual growth rate of more than 100 percent

Smart Business Detroit | July 2008

Dilip Dubey always encourages his 1,200+ employees to do the right thing, even if it isn’t the easiest thing, a philosophy that has led Netlink to annual growth of more than 100 percent.

Dubey founded his company with a partner in 1997, with each one contributing $1,000 in capital and taking on one project from Chrysler. The early years were tough at Netlink, an information technology solutions and outsourcing company that bases its approach to service delivery on Dubey’s Delta Platform, which streamlines various systems to provide a high-quality product at a significant savings. Investors and potential clients alike called Dubey’s idea for a new delivery model “brain dead” and said that, even if validated, it was far too big an idea for a start-up. Today, clients include GM, Ford and Starbucks, and Netlink has a five-year backlog.

Netlink’s typical sales pitch is less than five minutes, and it offers two competitive advantages: services are provided on a fixed-fee basis rather than an hourly rate, so Netlink takes on the financial risk, and a 20 percent savings is offered upfront to customers.

Other factors contributing to Dubey’s success are his belief in empowering employees to make key decisions independently, doing the right thing and emphasizing that family commitments come first.

Dubey says that given Netlink’s phenomenal growth, the challenge is no longer just to grow but to achieve the company’s full potential, and when it does so, he predicts it will be the largest ITO/BPO global company in the midmarket.

Entrepreneur of the Year winners announced

Crain’s Detroit Business/ 13, June 2008

By Leah Boyd

Netlink CEO Dilip Dubey is named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2008 in the Central Great Lakes region on Thursday during a gala at The Ritz-Carlton-Dearborn.

This program, in its 22nd year, recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate extraordinary success in innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Oakland County’s Emerging Sectors® Program

Netlink has been honored as one of the Oakland County’s Emerging Sectors Companies who helped Oakland County reach the $1 billion mark and are helping shape County’s future on May 22 at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills.

Hot firm is bullish on state

Agency's actions keep Netlink from going to Denver

Detroit Free Press/ 25, December 2007

By Tom Walsh

Here's a jolly holiday surprise.

It's a story of a rapidly expanding Detroit-area company adding hundreds of jobs and doubling its revenue every year.

And there's more.

Not only is this hot growth company in our Michigan midst, but it's also a story of rapid response from a state agency that helped keep this anomaly from departing for Denver.

Let's let Dilip Dubey take the story from here.

Dubey, 38, was born in India, earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from a college in his hometown of Bhopal, and then a master's in 1993 from the University of Michigan. He joined General Motors Corp., for which he worked in Pontiac on a GM-Isuzu joint venture until 1997, when he formed Netlink, an information technology services shop, with partner Anurag Shrivastava, a friend from India who attended Clemson University and later worked as an IT consultant with Capgemini.

By mid-2006, Southfield-based Netlink was en route to $28 million in annual sales and had several big customers in Colorado encouraging the owners to move Netlink headquarters to Denver.

"I was 30 days away from signing papers to relocate to Colorado," Dubey told me last week. "We had eight or 10 customers out there, and lots of people were saying it was a better strategic location for us." Ciber Inc., another firm in the IT outsourcing space like Netlink, had grown sales to $800 million from its base in a Denver suburb.

"There's a perception out there that if you say Michigan is the best location for your business, then you must be idiots," Dubey said.
Just as he was considering the move West, Dubey got a call from a midlevel manager at the Michigan Economic Development Corp., the state's quasi-public business attraction and retention agency.

"I had heard MEDC's commercials on the radio before, but I didn't believe them. I had never heard of government doing anything worthwhile," Dubey said.
But he agreed to a meeting.

"These guys were aggressive. I was amazed at the speed at which they operate," he said. Once MEDC staff learned about Netlink's growth, how its people were scattered in various metro Detroit locations, and that it was on the verge of a move to Colorado, a plan was pulled together quickly to help Netlink consolidate at a new headquarters location in Madison Heights.

The state could provide a tax credit worth $3.6 million over seven years if Netlink continued to create jobs. The City of Madison Heights kicked in a personal property tax abatement worth $2 million over 10 years.

Dubey was sold. He had an emotional attachment to Michigan, where he had launched the company and started a family with his wife, Sonal, a former Delphi Corp. employee. Netlink had won its first major project from DaimlerChrysler to create an online portal for Chrysler and Dodge dealers. And now he had financial incentives and a strong show of support from the state.

When Dubey and his staff dedicated their new Madison Heights headquarters this month, Gov. Jennifer Granholm was on hand to help cut the ribbon.

Revenues expected to double

Dubey talked then, and in more detail with me last week, about what sets Netlink apart from a host of other IT services firms and drives its growth. The company has 1,000 employees now -- about 400 in Michigan, 400 in Bhopal, India, and 200 more scattered in other locations -- and expects revenues to grow to $60 million this year and double in each of the next three years.

Netlink's business model is wrapped up in its simple promise to customers: It will cut their IT costs by at least 20% and improve service by 20%.

Yes, by sourcing some work to India there is a cost savings, as great as 70% on some work. But IT outsourcing firms that overdid the rush to India, by sourcing as much as 95% of IT work for U.S. customers to India, have encountered problems of both quality and perception.

There are some things that his young (average age 26), well-educated employees in Bhopal are very good at, Dubey said. But there are others that they have never experienced.

"If you are designing a system for automobile dealerships and you have never purchased a car or been in a dealership, that has some impact on your ability to work on that project," Dubey said. "Serving the customer is the key, and if the customer doesn't want to have to deal with his IT provider at 3 o'clock in the morning, or with an accent he can't understand, he shouldn't have to."

That's the rationale behind staffing both in the United States and abroad. Now that technology and globalization have allowed know-how to be zapped around the world in seconds, sourcing of some work to lower-cost nations will always be part of the equation. But plenty of opportunity remains at home.

Netlink expects to hire 300 people in the United States during the next 18 months. And most of those, happily, will be in Michigan.

Netlink hailed as key to local tech jobs

Netlink Software Group America CEO Dilip Dubey accepts a plaque from Gov. Jennifer Granholm during an event held on Dec. 7.

C&G NewsPapers/ 19th December 2007

By Jeremy Adragna

MADISON HEIGHTS — The lobby still smelled of paint, and rows upon rows of empty cubicles were being prepared for 300 new employees as Gov. Jennifer Granholm and CEO Dilip Dubey cut the blue ribbon on Netlink Software Group America’s new headquarters last week.

The expanding high-tech firm announced a move from its Southfield offices in March with plans to grow the company in Madison Heights in the coming years. In their new headquarters, Netlink officials estimate an increase to $200 million in annual revenue in the next three years.

In 2007, Netlink hired 150 employees, and has plans to hire an additional 200 in the next year, officials said. Netlink already employs 1,000 people in several offices in the United States, Europe and India.

“Without the key stakeholders around us … we would probably not be in Michigan,” said Dubey. “We would be looking at other opportunities outside. We’re thankful for their belief in our growth as we move forward.”

When the move was first announced, Dubey said his 10-year-old company was actively being wooed by the state of Colorado to move to Denver. Dubey approached the state-run Michigan Economic Development Corp. seeking concessions to stay in Michigan. It worked.

The MEDC has given Netlink a $3.7 million tax credit over seven years in order to ensure that the company continues to grow in Michigan, Granholm said.

Dubey lauded the efforts of the MEDC in holding the company’s hand through the process of applying for state and local tax credits while deciding to expand in Madison Heights.

“I would encourage all the business leaders that are in the technology field to look at Netlink as a data point and an example of what can happen in Michigan,” said Dubey. “How we can grow globally in Michigan and really make the difference for the community and impact globally.”

Dubey said Netlink is here for the long term and the company’s growth plans “are very ambitious.”

“(Michigan) has been challenged by the global shift in manufacturing jobs,” said Granholm. “To create and expand technology jobs in this state is a very specific focus of our diversification strategy. This is the sweet spot where we want to be.”

The Madison Heights City Council also awarded the company $2 million in tax abatements earlier this year with the hope that the company would hire local residents or attract young workers.

The company, located at 999 Tech Row, is surrounded by other commercial businesses Draexlmaier Automotive of America, Hanson Windows and Evigna marketing firm. A number of other office buildings near the location remain vacant, however.

“It’s a community embrace of this company and your future,” said Granholm to Dubey. “To the extent your plans involve hiring and additional growth in Michigan don’t hesitate to call. We can meet or beat your best deal if you’re competing with another state or another country.”

Granholm said retaining businesses like Netlink would ensure that college graduates stay in Michigan and work in high-tech jobs.

Company officials describe Netlink as an IT and business process consultancy.

Auto industry key to NetLink IT expansion

IndUS Business Journal/ 15th November 2007

By Paul Imbesi

MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. – When the University of Michigan’s perennial powerhouse football team lost to the much smaller and lesser-known Appalachian State University earlier this college football season, Dilip Dubey learned a lesson from his alma mater: always be on your toes and never grow too comfortable.

Right now, Dubey and his company, Netlink, seem to be on their toes. In late July, Netlink signed a five-year, $50 million IT and business process outsourcing deal with a Detroit-area automotive supplier. Dubey said the new contract is the third largest in Netlink’s 10-year history.

Dubey is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Netlink, which is based in Madison Heights, Mich. Anurag Shrivistava, Netlink’s president and chief technology officer, is the company’s other co-founder.

Netlink is a IT and business processing outsourcing company that mainly focuses on five sectors: the automotive industry, health care, technology, finance and retail. According to Dubey, his company supports big-name companies like General Motors Corp. and Starbucks, but mid-market companies are Netlink’s bread and butter. Dubey said Netlink can take over all of a mid-market company’s IT needs

The difference between GM and a mid-market automotive company is that GM will not outsource all of its business to Netlink, he added, whereas mid-market companies that spend anywhere from $2 million to $60 million on IT have more of an interest in saving money using Netlink, especially during a time when the American automotive industry is going through struggles.

Netlink has 150 customers, with about 20 auto suppliers in its portfolio, which Dubey believes is growing due to positive word of mouth within the automotive industry.

Netlink pitches companies its “20:20 rule,” which guarantees Netlink customers that they will save 20 percent in costs and will also have 20 percent service improvement, according to the company. Dubey said “very rarely do we hear a no” from clients about Netlink’s 20:20 rule. However, it raises another problem: clients think the deal is too good to be true, and they wonder how Netlink can guarantee it. Dubey said most of the time with their clients is spent explaining how the model works.

The company opened its new headquarters in Madison Heights in August, which created 473 new IT jobs. Netlink currently employs over 1,000 people, half of which work in the company’s Bhopal, India, facility. Netlink also has offices in Southfield, Mich., Miami, Phoenix and Denver.

Dubey is originally from Bhopal, and he said he intentionally chose to open a facility in Bhopal over a larger city to help the the city’s growth. Dubey came to the United States about 15 years ago to go to school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. Prior to Michigan, Dubey received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Regional Engineering College Bhopal.

Although Dubey’s company is doing well right now, he said he is aware that Netlink is still a mid-sized company that is striving for sustainable success, so he does not want to fall back into a comfort zone.

To avoid this, he keeps in mind his alma mater’s historic football upset and has a new creed: it is better to learn a lesson from others’ mistakes than commit them yourself.

Netlink forays into remote monitoring

Business Standard/ October 25, 2007

Bhopal-based Netlink software group has plans to tap the potential of information technology in new areas like remote monitoring for addressing all major downtime risks of companies that involve people, processes, and state-of-the-art technology.

The company has prepared a blueprint of Rs 80 crore for the purpose and is likely to take on some big IT firms in the sector. However, the company is still awaiting the state government’s nod for clearance on 10 acres land in the proposed Bhopal IT park.

“Through a holistic approach based on our decade-long experience, our company is now venturing into supporting mission-critical environments. In simple words, if natural or man-made disaster takes place, we will make sure that our clients’ business will not suffer due to the technology failure,” Anurag Shrivastava, chief technology officer and promoter of the group, told Business Standard here, adding, “the project will take shape by next year provided land is available in time”.

“In the days to come, our main business driver will be partnerships with big technology companies of telecom, manufacturing, etc,” he added.

“We are waiting for the land to be allotted. Last year we were assured by the state IT department that land would be allotted to us on priority. We have plans to develop a remote monitoring centre in Bhopal for our existing customers. This depends on cutting-edge technology. We will help them reduce the impact of downtime, and enable new mission-critical capabilities through this project.”

Worldwide big IT solutions providers offer costly remote monitoring business solutions that put mid-size companies under severe financial strain.

“Our clients will be able to save a minimum of 20 per cent on IT spending,” said Shrivastava, who has redesigned his business model at all company locations in India and the US.

Without naming a big telecom solution providing company he said: “We will enter into a deal with the company within two months so that we can broaden our client-base and increase product portfolios that will include disaster recoveries, product life cycle management.”

‘Everything was at risk’: In a decade, Netlink grows from one $500 contract to $60M in revenue

Crain’s Detriot Business, October 2, 2007

By Tom Henderson

In its first year in 1997, Dilip Dubey’s IT services company landed one contract for $500.

He had quit a secure job as an engineer with General Motors Corp., and his wife, Sonal, had quit her job as a program manager with Delphi Corp. to have their first baby.

“Everything was at risk,” he said. At risk, but not in doubt.

Dubey, the CEO, and his partner, Anurag Shrivastava, the chief technology officer, were sure they could make a go of it by targeting small- and medium-size businesses that established IT firms seemed to overlook. “We didn’t go half-baked. We knew what we were doing. With larger customers, there are a lot of competitors,” said Dubey. “But when you go to mid-market companies, there’s not much competition.” Events thus far have proved them right.

Today their company, Netlink Software Group America Inc., has about 1,000 employees — half in Bhopal, India, and about 380 in Southeast Michigan. It had $14 million in revenue in 2005, doubled that to $28 million last year and projects revenue of $60 million this year.

Customers include Starbucks, Subway, GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler L.L.C., with whom Netlink landed its first major contract in 1999.

“With such a big client reference, life became a lot easier,” said Dubey.

Netlink’s targeted niches include the auto-supply chain, health care, retail and high-tech companies. Between 40 percent and 45 percent of revenue is auto-related.

“We’re thrilled with that. We have no hesitation to have a large auto-related business,” said Dubey.

At the end of July, Netlink opened its new headquarters in Madison Heights, a headquarters the state of Michigan won from a competing offer in Denver with a tax credit of $3.6 million granted in March. The credit requires Netlink to add 298 jobs over the next seven years.

Eighty of those promised jobs have already been added, said Dubey, to fulfill a new contract that will be announced soon by a global tier-one auto supplier. He said it will add $10 million in revenue a year.

Netlink opened an office in Dallas in 2004, one in Denver in 2006 and one in Miami in May though the acquisition of a small IT firm, VINPlus Inc., and plans to open an office in California next year.

Dubey said the company expects to close on two more acquisitions in the fourth quarter this year. One is a Michigan-based company with about $11 million in revenue. The other is a European company with about $8 million in revenue. Dubey said he plans to use the European company, which has offices in the U.K. and Germany, as a platform to open offices next year in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Poland.

Jonathan James, vice president of global marketing for Troy-based Syntel Inc., praised Netlink’s focus on growing its European business and looking to small companies “who don’t have the IT budget that companies like Syntel generally look for.

“There are three waves of demand in outsourcing,” he said. “One is (Forbes) Global 2000 companies, the companies everyone is chasing because they spend so much on IT. No. 2 is the European sector, which is 12 to 24 months behind the U.S. in IT outsourcing. No. 3 is from small and midsized businesses.”

James said there is strong global demand for IT outsourcing, particularly the niche known as business process outsourcing, which Netlink focuses on.

“With global BPO, we’re looking at annual growth of 25 to 30 percent,” he said.

Dubey and Shrivastava met as undergrads in India in 1986, then went their separate ways. Dubey enrolled at the University of Michigan to get his master’s degree in mechanical engineering and went on to GM. Shrivastava went to Clemson to study human-computer interfacing.

Dubey spent three years at GM while working on his Ph.D. in international business at Wayne State University, doing his thesis on teamwork in global businesses.

Shrivastava joined the Paris-based Capgemini Group as an IT consultant.

In 1997, they decided to reunite and form a company.

“I had a great job at GM, but you could see where you were going to end up in 30 years. It didn’t seem exciting enough,” said Dubey, who said the division of labor was clear-cut.

“He was the technology brains. I was the process and business side of things, and we pulled it together.”

Jim Radzicki is vice president and chief information officer for Arizona-based Direct Alliance, a wholly owned subsidiary of TeleTech Holdings Inc., a billion-dollar global provider of IT outsourcing.

Radzicki said he needed to hire a contractor about a year-and-a-half ago to help with an internal project. A board member at TeleTech recommended he contact Netlink.

“We gave them a call, compared them to some competitors and chose them. We’ve since extended the relationship twice, and as other projects arise, I’m sure we’ll use them on those, too.

“With some contractors, they come in, deploy and are gone. Then, you get nickeled and dimed on follow-ups. But we built a relationship with them. They did knowledge-transfer to our employees. They didn’t just throw something over the wall.”

One preferred model for Netlink is to take over a customer’s IT staff, down to making the customer’s employees its own.

R.J. Wentz became an employee through the purchase of VINPlus, which did systems integration for auto dealers. He is now Netlink’s vice president of automotive retail operations in Madison Heights.

“I was incredibly excited about their acquiring us. It provided us a resource pool that we didn’t have before,” said Wentz. “They invested money in us that let us do what we always thought we’d be capable of doing. I expected that.

“What I didn’t expect — I’d worked for large organizations and expected to be stepping back into the corporate environment — was we were all treated as family by Dilip and Anurag.”

Tom Henderson: (313) 446-0337, thenderson@crain.com

“Outsourcing helps Michigan jobs grow”

The Detroit News (Editorials & Opinions), August 31, 2007

Dilip Dubey

A recent report from the University of Michigan's School of Public Policy points out encouraging signs of growth -- and opportunity -- in the Michigan economy as the state works through a wrenching, historical change in its manufacturing base.

But Thomas Ivacko's "Michigan's Economic Transition" also puts some difficult questions before us: Does Michigan have the capacity to reinvent itself for success in a knowledge economy? Or will we all be mesmerized by what the report calls "a slow-motion economic train wreck unfolding before the citizens' eyes"?

The answers to these questions are by no means certain, but I answer with a hopeful "yes" to our future in the knowledge economy and "no" to the train wreck.

Netlink Inc. is making a huge bet that Michigan will compete and succeed in a global knowledge economy. It is adding about 470 jobs in Michigan and opening a new headquarters building in Madison Heights, which will collaborate with our development center in Bhopal, India. We have doubled in size in each of the last five years.

Netlink has prospered by helping companies outsource or contract out back-office business operations and computer services. Isn't there something counterintuitive about an outsourcing company with major operations in India creating jobs in Michigan? We don't think so. Understanding why helps point us all in the right direction when discussing the state's future.

Michigan can compete

Contrary to what many may believe, the U.S. economy is not about to be crated up and shipped off to India. In the industry where Netlink competes, we are seeing more and more competition from firms in China, Eastern Europe and, increasingly, Mexico.
In the global knowledge economy, there are no sheltered harbors where companies operate free of competitive pressure. There is no place to hide. Like everyone else, we compete on the basis of technical expertise, service and returning clear savings to our customers.

Here's where the U-M report offers, perhaps, the most encouraging signs. In "human capital," our state has huge assets and advantages. Michigan, the report notes, ranks second in the nation in the percentage of the labor force employed in high-tech jobs and 10th in the nation in the percentage of engineers in the work force. What's more, the report notes, the state ranks near the top in research and development spending from both private and university sources.

To translate this human capital into new products and new industries will take an entrepreneurial spark, a willingness of talented people to undertake risky, innovative ventures. In this area, Michigan led the nation in new business start-ups in 2002-03 -- precisely during the deep restructuring of state industries such as auto and office furniture. This, the U-M report concluded, is "clearly evidence of improving entrepreneurial activity, refuting the accepted view of Michigan as a lethargic and hulking economic has-been."

In important sectors such as health care, financial services, law and accounting, some of Michigan's best businesses are already competing and winning in the global knowledge economy. However, two areas need immediate attention if we are to escape the train wreck that so many fear.

First, Michigan's political leadership needs to resolve the state budget crisis without hobbling business people and entrepreneurs -- those who create new jobs -- with excessive tax burdens. Our political leadership needs to address this problem with the same sense of urgency, and willingness to make the tough calls, that we see in the executive suites of our major auto companies today.

Second, we need to come to grips with the rapidly escalating cost of higher education at state universities. We are approaching a real a crisis of affordability. We worry now about our best and brightest young people hitching up the U-Haul and leaving Michigan for good as soon as they graduate from college. If we're not careful, they increasingly will be leaving a lot sooner and taking their talents -- their human capital -- with them.

So it's up to us to choose the path -- economic has-been or knowledge economy powerhouse.

Dilip Dubey is chief executive officer of Netlink Inc. in Madison Heights. E-mail comments to letters@detnews.com.

Unfettered growth

How Dilip Dubey overcame the naysayers to grow Netlink Software Group
Smart Business Detroit | July 2007

Dilip Dubey is working to revolutionize the workplace as we know it. He partnered with Anurag Shrivastava to start Netlink Software Group with just a great idea and $1,000 in capital. The information technology and business process outsourcing services company got its first large contract a year later with Daimler Chrysler. Since then, it has executed projects using its Delta Platform model in the United States, Germany and Australia for mid-market and Fortune 500 companies.

When Netlink entered the market, the industry was focused on large players and convinced that no innovation could significantly change IT delivery service. Dubey led the company to overcome resource challenges and the perception of a start-up until the value of Netlink’s business model became apparent to clients based on achieving immediate business results.

Today, the company has a client list that includes Starbucks, GM and Ford, and a five-year business backlog.

Part of that success is attributable to Dubey’s approach to marketing his product and services to potential clients — he guarantees 20 percent savings back to the client, some of which is delivered to the client upfront at the time the contract is signed.

Dubey’s vision is for Netlink to be the leader in IT and business process outsourcing for mid-market companies. He says that when the company achieves its full potential, it will be the largest company of its kind in the mid market and will achieve revenue of $1 billion.

Netlink’s Dilip Dubey 2007 Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist Over 30 Indian Americans shortlisted for E&Y awards

Hindustan Times, Indo-Asian News Service, June 8, 2007

Over 30 Indian Americans are among the regional finalists selected for the Ernst and Young's (E&Y) Entrepreneur of The Year awards for 2007.

In the 20 years since they were instituted, Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of The Year awards have honored entrepreneurial achievement in the US.

Indian American Dipak Jain, dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University is a finalist from the Lake Michigan area. Also competing in the Lake Michigan region is Anil Sunkara, chief executive officer of AdvanSoft International, India West, an ethnic magazine reported.

Jaswinder Singh Chaddha, Francisco D'Souza, Roopa Makhija, Hiten Patel, Ranjani Posddar, Imran Shah and Karmit S Sidhu are the seven finalists from the state of New Jersey.

Other notable regional Indian American finalists include Dilip Dubey , Prashanth Boccasam, Shankar Iyer, Rahul Sharma, Bala Sundar, Yatish Mishra, Puneet Nanda, Manu Shah, Raj, Pritam M Advani, Inderpal Guglani, Anurag Mehta, Naseem A Munshi, Asit J Choksi, Satin Mirchandani, Shri Thanedari, Ravinder Sandhu, Ganesh Iyer, Gulam Khan, Sunil Hirani, Adnan Mjalli, Raman Kumar, Rohit H Patel and Raza Bokhari.

The regional finals are scheduled for June 22 in Chicago. The winners will be announced at an awards function to be held in Palm Springs, California, November 17.

The winners are inducted into the Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of The Year Hall of Fame. Ernst and Young is one of the largest professional services firms in the world and one of the biggest auditors. The headquarters of the firm are in New York.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm announces Netlink expansion 3 German firms will invest in Michigan, Granholm says

Detroit News Excerpt, March 14, 2007

Three Germany-based companies plan to invest in Auburn Hills, Troy and Grand Rapids, Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s office said Tuesday.

The announcement came as the Democratic governor continued her trade trip to Germany and Austria. She was in the Dusseldorf area Monday, in Stuttgart on Tuesday and plans to be in Graz, Austria, today.

The firms will qualify for state tax credits if they live up to their investment promises.

Netlink Software Group will invest $4 million to expand and relocate its facilities from Southfield to Madison Heights. The project will add 298 Netlink jobs.

General Motors is considering investing $225.5 million in its Orion Assembly plant and in Saginaw Metal Casting and $274.5 million in other Michigan projects. The projects would retain 880 GM jobs.

Delphi Corp. plans to invest $42 million to consolidate research and development, engineering and business operations in Auburn Hills. The project would retain 910 Delphi jobs.

Netlink to expand, add 300 people Company plans to triple in size, move to Madison Heights

The Oakland Press, March 14, 2007

Netlink Software Group plans to triple in size this year to service new clients. Dilip Dubey, Netlink founder and chief executive officer, said his information technology firm doubled in size during 2006 and now expects to triple in size again this year as it adds 300 new employees and shifts operations from Southfield to Madison Heights.

Netlink recently signed new contracts for its distributed team technology with two companies based in Denver, Dubey added.

“We’re experiencing very, very significant growth,” said Dubey, who said the company’s unique technology is geared toward mid-market companies looking for a way to both save time and trim costs with the software applications.

Dubey told The Oakland Press he nearly moved Netlink and 70 employees to Denver. “We were very, very close to moving to Denver,” he said. However, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. persuaded him to stay in Oakland County by offering incentives and helping with the expansion.

“The MEDC held our hand through the whole process. I’m thankful for their strong support,” said Dubey, who said he hopes to move into the firm’s new quarters near 14 Mile Road and John R within the next 90 days.

The MEDC provided tax credits valued at $3.6 million over seven years to convince Netlink to stay in Michigan.

“We are redoubling our efforts to win new corporate investment and jobs,” MEDC President and CEO James C. Epolito said.

Camille Walker, economic development coordinator for the City of Madison Heights, said the city is still finishing up work on its part of the deal. The deal will be submitted to the city council soon, she said. “Madison Heights is very much in favor of growth in high tech and the jobs high tech brings”

Netlink’s $4 million investment is expected to create 473 new jobs, including 298 directly by the company, MEDC said.