Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California known for innovation and technology. It has become a global startup ecosystem due to factors like education institutions, venture capital funding, and immigration of talented individuals. Muslims form a growing part of the diverse population in Silicon Valley, with over 250,000 living in the Bay Area. They have established mosques, schools, non-profits and found success as entrepreneurs and executives in major tech companies. The region continues to be shaped by waves of immigration that foster its culture of risk-taking and reinvention.
2. WHAT IS SILICON VALLEY?
• IT IS A REGION IN NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA
• ALSO CALLED BAY AREA
• OR SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
• BUT MOST OF IT STARTED IN THE
SOUTH BAY ABOUT 35-50 MILES
SOUTH OF SAN FRANCISCO
• THERE IS NO ONE PLACE CALLED
SILICON VALLEY
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4. WHAT IS SILICON VALLEY?
• IT IS A HOTBED OF INNOVATION
AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
• IT IS AN ECO-SYSTEM WHERE
IDEAS, TALENT, EDUCATION, AND
VENTURE CAPITAL COME TOGETHER
• IT IS CONSTANTLY REINVENTING
ITSELF, SO THERE IS A LOT OF
CHURN
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6. LARGEST TECH EMPLOYERS SV
25,000
24,626
14,674
14,185
10,000
132,000
98,771
35,587
74,200
37,543
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000 160,000 180,000
Apple
Alphabet/Google
Facebook
Cisco Systems
Tesla Motors Inc.
EMPLOYEES
Local Worldwide
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/subscriber-
only/2019/09/27/largest-technology-employers-in-silicon.html
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7. SILICON VALLEY FAST FACTS
• JUST AS THE GOLD RUSH OF 1849 BOUGHT HUGE
WEALTH TO CALIFORNIA, SO HAS SILICON VALLEY
• SECRET OF SILICON VALLEY IS EDUCATION (STANFORD,
BERKELEY, SAN JOSE STATE), PLUS VENTURE CAPITAL,
PREVIOUS MILITARY BASES, TECHNOLOGY, IMMIGRATION,
PLUS GREAT WEATHER.
• APPROX. ¾ OF ALL VENTURE CAPITAL IS BASED/FUNDED IN
SILICON VALLEY
• BEFORE SILICON VALLEY FOUNDED IT WAS AN AREA OF
ORCHARDS AND FRUIT CANNERIES (WHICH ARE ALL GONE)
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8. SILICON VALLEY FAST FACTS
• POPULATION OF 7 MILLION+ PEOPLE IN 9
COUNTIES, 101 CITIES
• SILICON VALLEY IS NAME DERIVED FROM SILICON,
USED TO MAKE SEMICONDUCTOR CHIPS/ICS, THE
PHYSICAL HEART OF ALL DIGITAL PRODUCTS.
• CLIMATE THAT REWARDS RISKS, TOLERATES FAILURE
• CREATES NEW BUSINESS MODELS, FREE SEARCH,
SUPPORTED BY ADVERTISING, DOWNLOAD SONGS,
AUDIO STREAMING, VIDEO STREAMING, RIDE-
SHARING, ON-DEMAND DELIVERY
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9. SILICON VALLEY FAST FACTS
• SILICON VALLEY STRETCHES FROM SAN JOSE IN THE SOUTH TO
SAN FRANCISCO IN THE NORTH.
• THE FIRST TECH COMPANIES IN THE VALLEY WERE SHOCKLEY
SEMICONDUCTOR (1956), FOLLOWED BY FAIRCHILD, INTEL, AMD
AND OTHERS.
• 39,520 COMPANIES IN SILICON VALLEY (ANGEL.CO)
• $119, 035 IS MEDIAN ANNUAL INCOME
(HTTPS://WWW.DEPTOFNUMBERS.COM/)
• MEDIAN PRICE OF A HOME IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY IS
APPROX $1.1 MILLION.
• SAN FRANCISCO AND THEN SILICON VALLEY MOST EXPENSIVE
PLACE TO LIVE IN U.S. $4,000/MONTH.
• BAY AREA WEATHER: HOT TO WARM SUMMERS, COOL WINTERS
All #s for 2019
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11. IMMIGRATION: KEY SUCCESS FACTOR
• SILCON VALLEY IS A MELTING POT OF PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER
THE WORLD.
• IN THE HI-TECH SECTOR THE BIGGEST SUCCESS HAS BEEN
PEOPLE OF INDIAN ORIGIN
• NOT ONLY ARE >40% OF H1-B VISAS ISSUES TO PEOPLE FROM
INDIA, THEY HAVE RISEN TO THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF CORPORATE
AMERICA.
• CEO OF MICROSOFT: SATYA NADELLA
• CEO OF GOOGLE: SUNDAR PICHAI
• CEO OF ADOBE: SHANTANU NARAYEN
• MUSLIM SUCCESS STORY IS A SMALLER PART OF THIS BIG
PICTURE 11
13. SILICON VALLEY IMMIGRATION TIMELINE
1980s
1st Wave of Immigrants
South Asian & Arab
1990s
Bosnians
2010s
Somalia/Sudan
Eritrea/Ethiopia
1970s
Yemeni
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14. SOME OF THE VISIONARIES AND CO-
FOUNDERS OF THE FIRST SILICON VALLEY MOSQUES
Dr. Mahboob Khan (deceased, RA)
Co-Founder of Orange County
and Muslim Community Association (MCA)
Abdul-Sattar Rydhan (deceased,
RA)
Co-Founder of South Bay Islamic
Association (SBIA)
Saleem Shaikh (deceased, RA)
Co-Founder of South Bay Islamic
Association (SBIA) and Muslim
Community Association (MCA)
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15. A FEW MUSLIM ENTREPRENEURS
OF SILICON VALLEY
Razi Mohiuddin Serial
Entrepenur, Co-
Founder OnSale (IPO)
and others
Jawed Karim
Co-Founder
YouTube
Hosain Rahman
Co-Founder
Jawbone
Amr AwadAllah
Co-Founder
Jawbone
Ruzwana Bashir,
Cofounder and
CEO, Peek
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16. SOME SILICON VALLEY NON-PROFIT
FOUNDERS
Dian Alyan Founder
GiveLight Foundation
Co-Founder
Council on American-
Islamic Relations
(CAIR)
Largest Muslim
Advocacy organization
in U.S.
Ameena Jandali
Maha Elgenaidi Co-
Founders
Islamic Networks
Group (ING_
Educating American
Schools and
Government about
Islam and Muslims
Manzoor Ghori
Founder Indian Muslim
Relief Committee
(IMRC)
Hamza Yusuf
Co-Founder
Zaytuna College
First
Accredited
Muslim College
in U.S.
Hamid
Rezapour
Founder
Islamic
Scholarship
Fund
(ISF)
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17. A FEW SILICON VALLEY MUSLIM
SCHOLARS
Shaykh Alaeddin El
Bakri
Imam Zaid Shakir
Zaytuna College
Dr. Hatem Bazian
Zaytuna College & UC
Berkeley
Sheikha Maryam Amir
Imam Suhaib Webb (SWISS)
Shaikh Hamza Yusuf
Zaytuna College 17
18. COMMUNITY
As the Muslim Community grows a growing number
of institutions offer various services both for
Muslims as well as the wider community
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19. SOUTH BAY ISLAMIC ASSOCIATION
(SAN JOSE)
One of the first
mosques established in
the South Bay
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24. CAIR SFBA
Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a national
Muslim civil rights and advocacy group with regional offices
nationwide, and co-founded in the Bay Area.
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25. ISF
Islamic Scholarship Fund (ISF) increases American Muslim
representation in media and politics in order to improve public
opinion and policy by providing grants to students.
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26. ING
Islamic Networks Group (ING) is a peace-building organization
providing face-to-face education and engagement opportunities
that foster understanding of Muslims and other misunderstood
groups to promote harmony among all people.
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29. BAY AREA MUSLIMS
• APPROX 250,000 MUSLIMS IN BAY AREA (3.5% OF BAY POPULATION)
• 50% SOUTH ASIAN + ARAB FOLLOWED BY OTHERS
• 20 MOSQUES + ~30+ MASALAS (PRAYER FACILITIES)
• 300+ HALAL RESTAURANTS IN BAY AREA (ZABIHA.COM)
• 10-20+ FULL TIME ISLAMIC SCHOOLS
• 1 FULL TIME ACCREDITED MUSLIM COLLEGE (ZAYTUNA)
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30. REFERENCES
• SILICON VALLEY: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE BY RUSSELL HANCOCK
• THE BAY AREA MUSLIM STUDY: ESTABLISHING IDENTITY AND COMMUNITY
BY FARID SENZAI, PH.D.DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH - ISPU,ASSISTANT
PROFESSOR, SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY AND HATEM BAZIAN, PH.D., UC
BERKELEY PROFESSOR, ZAYTUNA COLLEGE CO-FOUNDER
• SPECIAL THANKS TO DR. MOHAMMED NADEEM PAST PRESIDENT, MUSLIM
COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, SANTA CLARA, CA. FOR HIS FEEDBACK
• HTTPS://WWW.SILICONVALLEYCF.ORG/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/PUBLICATI
ONS/BAY-AREA-MUSLIM-STUDY-ONBA-PROJECT-EXECUTIVE-SUMMARY-
WEB.PDF
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