Houston, TX: Arun Agarwal, Nextt chief executive officer, has been named to the Product Development and Small Business Incubator board by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on March 30th. With his appointment, which has a term that expires Feb. 1, 2019, Agarwal became the first Indian American given the position in the state’s history.
Nextt is a Dallas-based home textiles company that supplies to retailers such as Walmart, Target and Kohl’s. It also has a portfolio of celebrity brands, including Beautyrest, Ellen Tracy, Jessica McClintock and Royal Sateen. The company was recently awarded a patent for “alpha cotton,” a fabric that will make sheets 30 to 40 percent cheaper than 100 percent cotton.
Agarwal, who also serves as the director of the company, which also has an art design studio and showroom in Manhattan, New York, was honored for his contributions to HIV/AIDS organizations last year (I-W Sept. 2, 2015http://bit.ly/1NObWiX).
“It is such a huge honor for me to serve on one of the governor’s boards,” said Agarwal in a statement. “As global business owners, it is our responsibility and civic duty to help other local small businesses survive and thrive in this global economy, and I am excited to do my part.”
PDSBI is a revolving loan program, administered by the office of the governor, and overseen by a nine-member board appointed by the governor. The incubator’s fund provides financial aid for the development, production and commercialization of new or improved products, and to foster the growth of small businesses in Texas.
Agarwal, a graduate of IMT in Ghaziabad, the University of New Hampshire and Harvard University, was named 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Greater Dallas Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. He also received the minority business leader award by the Dallas Business Journal in 2013; the 2014 Outstanding Entrepreneur award by the Indian American Friendship Council; “NRI of the Year” by TIMES NOW and ICICI Bank in 2015; and was named the king of home textiles by D Magazine.