Parry Sondhi is associated with Wroclaw since the beginning of 2011. Born in Mohali (now known as Ajitgarh), India, he spent a year in Liverpool, where he worked as a manager for Raytheon Professional Services — a company that provides services in the field of training, for, among others, General Motors. In the UK, he met his wife, born in Wroclaw. In this way, after a while he moved to the capital of Lower Silesia.
He came to the meeting with a label #NewWroclaw on the chest and with an unusual openness he told me about his first steps in Wroclaw.
He tried to get a job in a few large companies and carried out projects related to data visualisation and commercial infographics. In January 2012, Parry founded his own company, Absolute Kreative. Although at the beginning the language barrier worried him, and he attended the Polish language course, it soon became apparent that all of his customers are from abroad: Nokia France, AVG Antivirus, Forrester and London Gatwick. Thus, attending Polish classes was not necessary any more.
"Definitely, the real attraction of Wroclaw are the people", he says. "In May 2012, I took part in the first edition of Wroclaw Startup Weekend [where for 54 hours, the participants work on their ideas, develop a business model and create prototypes — editor's note] and there I really got to know many other foreigners who wanted to try with their own business. I found information about other events inspiring entrepreneurial attitudes: initiatives that bring foreigners living in Wroclaw together and encourage the mutual learning and building teams to work on the ideas and to face the market." "And these core competencies are the greatest treasure of Wroclaw. Hence the initiative #NewWroclaw", continues Parry. Changes through a hashtag Through the NewWroclaw hashtag [that is a phrase or word preceded by the # symbol — called hash, enables you to easily locate online discussions on the topic], Parry wants to organise content on major cultural change, understood as certain patterns of thinking, social commitment and approach to foreigners.
This does not require new investment, such a "revolution" can be joined voluntarily. The greatest success would be if every person seeing the hashtag simply asked 'why'? "Although Wroclaw is constantly changing, such changes are visible mainly from the point of view of foreigners or Poles who have spent some time abroad. We all need to make sure that future generations are even more open and tolerant in both social and business aspects of everyday life. There are more and more foreigners moving to Wroclaw and starting a family here. They feel comfortable in the company of the same nationality or other foreigners, but they must also become an integral part of the Polish society. And we also encourage the Poles to spend more time with us! New Wroclaw is a new attitude, with which I would like to infect the others!", smiles Parry.
"I've never felt threatened. Wroclaw residents go to salsa lessons, yoga classes, exotic culinary workshops. They are looking for more and more inspiration, they are open to new experiences. The culture of mutual acceptance grows well here!", says Parry.
Marcello Murgia
