24 Facts About Dilawar Syed

Dilawar Syed is a Pakistani-American businessman, entrepreneur, and government official.

Dilawar Syed served as Deputy Administrator of the US Small Business Administration from 2023 to 2025.

Dilawar Syed previously served as Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the United States Department of State.

Dilawar Syed earned his Bachelor of Arts in economics and computer science from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dilawar Syed was the president of Freshworks, where he helped scale the software company's products to thousands of small and medium-sized businesses.

Dilawar Syed was the founding chair of the California Entrepreneurship Task Force within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development.

Dilawar Syed served as a member of the Silicon Valley Recovery Roundtable, which was tasked with helping lead the region's economic recovery.

In that role, Dilawar Syed led the Obama Administration's engagement with AAPI small businesses after the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Dilawar Syed served as that Committee's liaison with the US Small Business Administration and the United States Department of Commerce President's Export Council.

On March 3,2021, President Joe Biden nominated Dilawar Syed to be Deputy Administrator of the US Small Business Administration.

Dilawar Syed was renominated to the post on January 3,2023.

Dilawar Syed was sworn into office on July 10,2023.

Dilawar Syed's nomination was backed by more than 200 business, civil rights, and faith groups.

In October 2024, Dilawar Syed traveled to Miron, North Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Valdosta, Georgia and several other urban and rural population centers in the Southeast to survey storm damage and assess needs of survivors impacted by Hurricane Helene.

Dilawar Syed was among the first senior government officials to raise concerns over the availability of funding for SBA disaster loans and to highlight the need for Congressional action to appropriate additional funding following widespread economic damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

In February 2022, Dilawar Syed was appointed as the Special Representative for Commercial and Business affairs in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the Department of State.

In March 2022, Dilawar Syed joined Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Senator Roy Blunt on a presidential delegation to commemorate US National Day at the Expo 2020 Dubai.

In July 2022, Dilawar Syed visited South Asia, touring India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

In September 2022, Dilawar Syed co-chaired economic dialogue between the US and the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.

Dilawar Syed held meetings with Iraq's Prime Minister, several cabinet ministers, the Iraqi private sector.

Dilawar Syed visited Portugal in May 2023 to promote US commercial investments, particularly in Lithium processing.

Dilawar Syed challenged "reliance on untrusted Chinese state-owned companies for critical infrastructure [which] threatens our shared security and values, as well as undermines the free market".

Dilawar Syed asked for the Portuguese to reconsider their commercial relationships with China, stating "[the US wants] our friends in Portugal to make these decisions fully aware of the risks of working with the PRC".

Dilawar Syed's visit showcased industries such as biotech and auto design in Irvine and Orange County.