Felix Balderas 
MCALLEN – Zoho is a globally recognized technology company with millions of users worldwide. In the past year, Zoho has set up an office in McAllen that aims to create self-reliant local communities and benefit the Valley’s economy over time.
Tejas Gadhia, head of the Zoho McAllen office spoke to KVAQ-TV about the company’s focus and philosophies.
“One of our core philosophies is really about making products that are valuable to the market, everything that we make is generally on the lower end of the pricing structure for whatever market we’re in, it’s not just being a cheap product but also being a high-value product,” said Gadhia
In 2020, Zoho introduced the philosophy of transnational localism which is dedicated to supporting local communities and residents in these local cities that usually would have to relocate to work.
“We knew we wanted to be in Texas, so we basically surveyed every city, over 50,000 people in Texas… We went through every city and figured out the affordability index, what the healthcare index is, what the universities and school systems look like in order to feed talent, what is the cost of living, resident happiness factors, safety… McAllen checked in all those boxes,” said Gadhia
Zoho has created new opportunities for McAllen by not just providing employment for 35 employees, but also adding to the Rio Grande Valley’s economy and growth.
“Having a local market presence is important… for us, a lot of the emerging market that we are seeing is in these tier 2 cities… it’s a lot easier to do business in general, you don’t have to spend as much, yell as much, you can be more personable, honestly easier to do business with, then people who are there experience long term employee happiness,” said Gadhia.
Silvestre Treviño, account executive and McAllen resident detailed his discovery of the McAllen Zoho office.
“When I was looking for positions, I was looking for something in the tech field, something to match my sales experience with my tech background… I was a bit apprehensive at first, I just wasn’t sure that this was a legitimate offer because it matched everything that I was looking for,” said Trevino.
According to Gadhia, at the rate Mcallen is growing, it might end up being the hub office. With new opportunities and a groundbreaking philosophy, Zoho will continue to add to RGV’s prosperity.
