Seventeen years ago, Anis Uzzaman won an education ministry scholarship and left New York to study at Tokyo Institute of Technology. The American was excited by the chance to learn top-notch technology in Japan, where electronics giants Sony and Panasonic were leading the world.
Years later, those firms are faltering and their credit ratings are in junk-bond territory. Uzzaman, now general partner at a Silicon Valley capital venture firm, laments the decline. But rather than sit around and do nothing, he decided to help by advising Japanese startups aspiring to become the next Facebook or Google.
"Without the education I received in Japan, I would not be where I am today," said Uzzaman. "I would like to give back to Japan."