Heartwarming immigrant banking story: The State Bank of Texas is owned and mostly run by Patels. Indian immigrant Chan Patel comes to Stanford for grad school, becomes a successful hotel entrepreneur. He finds that lenders are unfairly discriminating against Indians & decides to open a bank to solve the gap. He needed $2M of capital to start, so he crowdfunded from F&F, gave lifelong directorships to everyone who committed $100k (mostly other Patels who still form the board today). They opened the bank on Black Monday (1987) with a single paid employee (& a bunch of unpaid family members who took bank training courses!). They've never had an unprofitable quarter, & now have $2.7B in assets. The business is still mostly lending to Indian-Americans in the budget to mid-range motel/hotel segment. This is a very large niche - Indians own 60% of the hotels in America, and most of the owners are Patels... AKA the "Patel Motel Cartel"
TIL: Patelco Credit Union is not the one started by Patel cartel. But this. TY.
Love this. But Dan, we both know that isn't your name. (Pete, you too!)
Patels are one of the most hard working immigrants in the U.S.A.Not only they built a mammoth industry from one Single Room Occupancy hotel in Sacramento in 1942 but they now own more than 62 per cent of all hotels and motels in America.I have detailed their true American immigrant success story in my book,"Surat To San Francisco: How The Patels From Gujarat Established The Hotel Business In California".Please check out the website: patelhotelhistory.com
Are you saying that they discriminate against non-Indians in hiring? If that is true how are they any different from those they blame for discrimination?
Absolutely love this! While I am not a Patel, as a fellow Indian, I feel a deep sense of pride in the unity, resilience, and intelligence that the Patel community brings to the broader Indian diaspora. The Patels are a shining example of what can be achieved when a dedicated group comes together, supporting one another and lifting each other up. Their commitment to hard work and collaboration serves as an inspiring model for all, showcasing the strength of community and shared success within the Indian community. Go blue!
My parents / GPs are from west bengal, so this is amazing
I love those stories where they started small by borrowing $2M from friends and family 🤣
Wow, love this Sheel Mohnot! Reminds me a bit of Live Oak Bank (strategy-wise). Immigrants have always been so fundamental to building America. Discussion lately about lighter American regulation (and how it's been so important in our growth this century) still largely seems to exclude banking. Specifically, getting a new bank license today is as improbable as it has ever been in the modern era. This is unfortunate: I don't think it's a coincidence just how many small community banks our country has had relative to the rest of the developed world. So it's worrisome just how much more difficult it is to open a new bank now than it was, for example, in 1987. Post-savings and loan crisis (80s) & financial crisis (2000s) regulation aside (some of which are undoubtedly a good idea!), surely most would agree the collapse of new charters this century is a bad development. A sign that we've overcorrected in this regard. I hope policy can be adopted in the future before it's too late to reverse this trend. America needs banks founded by the next generation of Chan Patels!
Patels have been very resourceful here. During 1974, I was surprised to see that every motel I stopped at during a visit to Oregon was owned by a Patel. They have since doubled their ownership and moved upscale.
Founder of South Asian Trailblazers | Writer/Speechwriter, Speaker, & Strategist for CEOs | Wharton MBA ‘25
1moSheel Mohnot, this is the exact reason my dad founded AAHOA (Asian American Hotel Owners Association) — the largest association for hoteliers. My sister and I grew up attending conferences with him when we were babies. He partnered with Mike Levin — the CEO of Days Inn, who saw the Indian community as promising hoteliers and demonstrated incredible allyship because he’d seen the Jewish community face similar discriminatory practices decades prior. He’s a part of why and how my dad and so many other Indians got into the business. Thirty years later, my dad also launched his own bank, Embassy National Bank, to support immigrant entrepreneurs (one of the few minority-owned community banks in Georgia!). It’s amazing what our parents’ generation did in the face of adversity — the response was grit, hustle, resilience, and paying it forward.