On Woburn’s busy Washington Street, in a sleek, modern industrial park, is Anowsh Dadgar’s windowed sixth-floor office overlooking a green, sweeping vista of trees and I-93 and I-95, two of the state’s busiest highways. On a facing wall hang autographed photos of hockey player Bobby Orr – and a framed display of an old Orr license plate that Dadgar bid for in a charity auction.

But also in the office are works of art from Asia and the U.S. Visit the company’s web site and you will find a choice of ten languages. Bridging many cultures has been key to the success of Dadgar Insurance Agency, an independent, privately owned, multi-line agency, which specializes in property and casualty insurance for real estate, restaurants, and small retail businesses – particularly those established by first-generation immigrants. Often, these hard-working entrepreneurs were professionals in their home countries, but the U.S. does not recognize their credentials, so they’re starting over.

Dadgar, a native of Iran, came to the U.S. in 1973 to go to business school. He had planned to return to Iran after graduation, but in 1979 the revolution broke out, so his family emigrated to the U.S. instead. At the time, he says, the options for business grads were insurance or banking. He spent two years selling life insurance at MetLife before striking out on his own.

He chose markets that he knew firsthand – apartment buildings and restaurants. As he says on his web site, when he was newly married, he and his wife lived in an apartment building and ate at restaurants frequently. Today, Dadgar Insurance serves more than 800 restaurants and 2,500 apartment buildings throughout New England and other states. “We learned the type of insurance these owners needed, and we’ve developed a lot of good relationships with property owners,” Dadgar says. “A lot of our business comes from referrals from bankers, brokers and property managers. In small business, everybody knows everybody. Over the last 25 years, we’ve often insured the same building under several different owners.”

Another specialty is Korean owned- and operated dry cleaners, which are numerous enough across the country to warrant a trade association of their own – the Korean Dry Cleaners Association, which has endorsed Dadgar Insurance in the past – and which has prompted Dadgar to market specifically to this business group with brochures and marketing tools in Korean. His restaurant materials are multilingual as well.

Dadgar is also a board member of the Small Property Owners Association, which has endorsed the agency for more than 10 years. He says the apartment market is interesting in its diversity – from two- and three-family buildings to property owners who manage thousands of units.

He has watched the economy cycle up and down over the decades. Today’s economy is difficult, he concedes, but the strength of the Euro against the U.S. dollar is bringing foreign investors from Belgium and Ireland to the U.S., where they buy property. Chinese investors from Hong Kong will spend millions of dollars to outfit a 7,000 to 8,000 square foot restaurant. Then, there’s the tourism business. “I’ve seen European families have their weddings here because of the currency difference,” he says.

Today, Dadgar Insurance Agency works with yet another generation of entrepreneurs. And as Dadgar notes on his web site, while he and his wife no longer live in an apartment building, they still frequent restaurants. n