Asian Achievers Awards 2017

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2017

@ABPL_GROUP #AsianAchieversAwards #AAA2017

Diversity in Media, Art and Culture A stellar performance by British Asians

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Programme

Guests seated / Toast Master on Stage Welcome Speech by L George - CEO, Asian Business Publications Ltd COMPERES, Nitin Ganatra and Raageshwari Loomba Swaroop on stage.

Entertainment Speech by CB Patel – Publisher / Editor / Chairman Asian Achievers Awards Speech by Mrs Helen Gordon, Chief Executive, Royal Society of Medicine; The Chair of the Judging Panel.

Award Ceremony Begins Award 1 Professional of the year Award 2 Sports Personality of the Year Award 3 Achievement in Art & Culture Award 4 Achievement in Community Service Award 5 Uniformed & Civil Services Award 6 Entrepreneur of the year Award 7 Women of the year Entertainment Charity Akshayapatra Presentation * Speech by Bhawani Singh * Auction by Lord Jeffery Archer Dinner Awards Ceremony continues Entertainment Speech by Mr Zishan Nurmohammed - EY Acknowledgments Rovin George – Head of Sales & Marketing Compere’s announce commencement of rest of the awards Award 8 AAA for Achievement in Media Award 9 AAA for Business Person of the Year Award 10 AAA for Lifetime Achievement Award 11 AAA for International Business Person of the year Award 12 Editors Award Raffle End of the programme After party Carriages

ASIAN ACHIEVERS

AWARDS

The people’s choice awards

ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

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10 DOWNING STREET LONDON SW1A 2AA

I

am pleased to support the 17th annual Asian Achievers Awards in its endeavour to recognise individuals who produce outstanding work across many different professions within the Asian Community.

The contribution of the Asian community to the United Kingdom is extensive and I thank you for all that you do to support the prosperity of our country. The Government remains committed to making the United Kingdom a place where all people, regardless of their ethnic origin or background, feel valued and are able to fulfil their potential. You all make a vital input in our culturally diverse nation.

I hope that these awards, in their 17th year, continue to inspire others to strive for excellence in their respective field. I would like to congratulate all nominees on this special occasion and hope that all those in attendance enjoy this wonderful event.

Rt Hon Theresa May, MP Prime Minster of the United Kingdom

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MAYOR OF LONDON

L

ondon’s diversity is one our greatest assets. The contribution of Asian communities in arts, culture, business and trade is what makes London the greatest city in the world.

As Mayor of London I would like to congratulate the nominees and winners of this year’s Asian Achievers Awards and thank them for their contribution to ensuring London is open to ideas and creativity.

I would also like to thank the organisers for putting together this wonderful event and for highlighting the inspirational work coming from the UK’s Asian community.

Rt Hon. Sadiq Khan Mayor of London

N

ow in its 17th year, the Asian Achievers Awards ongoing endeavour to recognise and encourage excellence has been invaluable. British Asian’s hard work means that they continue to make huge contributions to numerous fields in the UK. Their hard work and drive have enabled them to turn adversity into opportunity.

I regularly meet British Asians whose entrepreneurial spirit and drive have improved the lives of people in the UK and abroad.

The Asian Achievers Awards, nominated by the public, serves to highlight not only the prominence of British Asians in British Society, but also to provide role models to inspire young British Asians to excel. I would like to pay tribute to CB Patel, one of Britain’s legendary editors, and to the staff of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, now in their 46th year, for their dedication to recognising outstanding British Asians. I would also like to congratulate all those nominated for the awards and wish them all the best in their inspirational endeavours.

Rt Hon Keith Vaz, MP ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

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Congratulations to the winners and nomin nees of the 17th Asian Achievers Aw Awards.

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Foreword

The 17th Asian Achievers Awards Recognising excellence in the British Asian Community Dear friends,

Once again it is time to celebrate another landmark event in the British Asian calendar – the Asian Achievers Awards. Little did we know, when we instituted the awards seventeen years ago that it would soon become a household name, coveted for its fairness and transparency.

Rightly called the 'people's choice awards' they are driven by the commitment of readers of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar to seek and nominate true excellence within the Asian community.

In the last few decades, Asians in Britain have scaled the heights of diverse fields and greatly enriched British life in sharp contrast to Winston Churchill's prediction about the “problems which will arise if many coloured people settle here.” Today, interwoven in British life's rich tapestry are myriad hues of cultural fabric drawn from all corners of the world.

Befittingly, this year, the Asian Achievers Awards will bestow special recognition upon the growing British Asian prominence in media, art and culture - careers to which earlier generations rarely had access due to several constraining factors. Members of the Asian community are making a huge impression in these fields and I genuinely desire that Awards and recogni tion such as this will spur them to greater heights. The contribution of Asians to television, soap, music, theatre, drama and cuisine needs to be highlighted and applauded and I cannot think of a better platform than the Asian Achievers Awards.

The awards ceremony also offers a platform for a nominated charity to raise much needed funds and over the years this event alone has helped raise over one million pounds. Akshay Patra, this year's nominated charity has been doing a tremendous task by feeding deprived children in India. This Indian NGO's noble motto is, “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.” May I urge you all to donate generously for this worthy cause.

Once again we received a record number of nominations this year making the judging process a painstaking one. On behalf of all our readers I offer my whole hearted thanks to the eminent panel of judges for their tremendous efforts.

The AAA would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. EY has been the headline sponsors for the last several years. Edwardian Hotels London and Shanti Hospitality have been the other longstanding partners. Their support, and indeed all the other sponsors' generosity, will go a long way in ensuring that the Asian community will continue to add to the rich diversity and prosperity of our nation.

May I also thank all the supporters of Asian Business Publications including my colleagues for their hard work behind the scenes and for contributing to the success of another AAA. I do hope that you have an enjoyable evening.

Yours sincerely, CB Patel Editor / Publisher Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

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Comperes R

aageshwari Loomba is a pop singer, actress, model and television anchor. In 1994 Raageshwari signed onto her first film, Zid at the age of 18. In 2000, Raageshwari and her father collaborated on an album,Y2K Saal Do Hazaar. It was during this time that she was diagnosed with Bell's palsy which left her paralysed on the left side of her face. Over the next year she spent her time rehabilitating herself through yoga and physiotherapy.

In 2011 she made her comeback by appearing in the reality TV show Bigg Boss. Since her return to the limelight, she has widely promoted the benefits of yoga, and is known as an ardent yoga practitioner. She has also hosted MTV, BBC and TenSports shows such as Quest and One on One With Raageshwari.

She got married to human rights lawyer Sudhanshu and has a daughter Samaya Swaroop who at just four months old had her first modelling break with a Spanish children’s apparel label.

Raageshwari Loomba

K

enyan born English actor Nitin Ganatra is best known for his role in East Enders playing Masood Ahmed. Ganatra won “Best Onscreen Partnership” with Nina Wadia at the 2009 British Soap awards and was nominated for “Best Actor” at the 2010 British Soap Awards. Gantra left his role as Masood in 2016 to focus more on his stage and movie career.

Ganatra has worked on-screen and off as he performed with the Royal Shakespeare theatre in Les Du Paridis and the National theatres production of Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushie. Other notable performances have been the Prince of Pondicherry in the Tim Burton film Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Gurinder Chada's film Bride and Prejudice as Kholi Saab and The Mistress of Spices as Haroun. His other TV appearances have been on Channel Five's Corfu Kitchen In October 2014, Ganatra called for more racial diversity within British soaps, revealing that there is a sense of "pressure" for minority cultures to represent.

Nitin Ganatra ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

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Helen Gordon

Panel of Judges Chair - Panel of Judges

Helen, currently Chief Executive, Royal Society of Medicine, joined the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 2010 and has developed its role, work and impact as the newly dedicated professional body for pharmacists in Great Britain. Under Helen’s leadership the Society has created a strong patient and member focused organisation which has introduced a professional development and recognition system for pharmacists. Prior to this she held the position of Chief Executive of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners in November 2013 and an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Reading University in 2016.

Zishan Nurmohammed

Zishan works with entrepreneurial growth businesses at EY. His core responsibility is to sign-off audits of privately owned businesses and offer support to sign-offs of small cap AIM and main market listed businesses. Zishan is a graduate of EY’s BME Leadership programme, is a co-leader of EY’s flagship Entrepreneur of the Year Programme in the London & South region and sits within EY’s London Audit Mid-Market leadership team. Zishan started his career at a two-partner firm of chartered accountants, and has since worked at EY for 13 years, principally in London. He has three years of international experience at EY Dubai. Zishan has also spent a year in banking, working at UBS Investment Bank and Lloyds Bank plc.

Bianca Miller Bianca started The Be Group with the belief that all individuals should be able to access personal development services. Bianca has developed her company into the ‘go to’ business for personal branding success. Bianca became a public face after an excellent performance on BBC’s ‘The Apprentice’ in 2014.

Her idea for a diverse range of nude hosiery became a reality when ‘Bianca Miller London’ launched online in November 2015 and in Selfridges (London and Birmingham). Bianca Miller London is currently stocked in rose, sand, latte, chestnut and chocolate. In January 2016, Bianca was awarded a prestigious ‘Power Profile’ award from Linkedin as one of the top 10 most powerful leaders on the website.

Navin Shah AM

An Architect by profession, since 2009 Navin Shah is a member of London Assembly representing the constituency of Brent and Harrow. Navin has also served on Harrow Council for 20 years during which he was Leader of Harrow Council. He is a founder member and trustee of the Harrow Anti-Racist Alliance and recipient of the Asian Achievers Award in 2006. A member of the Fabian Society, Navin is especially engaged in the field of community cohesion, planning, regeneration, transport and housing. He is a grassroots campaigner and known for his work with diverse communities, promoting equality for all and justice. Navin is a Harrow resident and his wife Rekha is a past Mayor of Harrow and daughter Aneka ShahLevy is a Harrow Councillor.

Major General Duncan Capps CBE

Major General Duncan Capps was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Transport in 1985 where he spent his formative military career at Regimental Duty in the UK and Germany deploying on operations to Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Bosnia. Capps took command of 7 Transport Regiment and Bielefeld Station in 2006, supported operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the UN. He was deployed to Afghanistan in December 2012 as Joint Force Support for which Capps was awarded a CBE. He was a member of the Royal College of Defence Studies before taking over as Head Defence Supply Chain Operations and Movements (DSCOM) in DE&S.

Owais Shah

Owais is a former English cricketer who played for Middlesex between 1996-2010 and Essex CCC between 2011-2013. He joined Hampshire for the NatWest T20 Blast in May 2014. Between 2001 and 2009, he played 71 ODIs and 17 T20 internationals. He also played 6 Test matches in 2006 and in 2008– 09.He has represented the IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders, during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Afterwords, he was bought by the Kochi Tuskers Kerala for the following two seasons and also had a short stint at the Wellington Firebirds in New Zealand.

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Professional of the year The Finalists

Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian FRS is Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. His research explores the structure and function of DNA. He is a principle inventor of a method for sequencing the code of DNA that is now used to sequence human genomes on a population scale mainly for medically related projects. Balasubramanian founded the biotech companies Solexa (1998) and Cambridge Epigenetix (2012).

Balasubramanian’s contributions have been recognised by awards that include BBSRC Innovator of the year (2010) and the Tetrahedron Prize (2013). He was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2011 and Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012.

Balasubramanian was knighted in the New Year’s honours for services to science and medicine in 2017.

Maneesh Juneja Maneesh Juneja, a world renowned Digital Health Futurist and TEDx speaker, explores the convergence of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence to see how they can make the world a healthier and happier place.

He has one bold vision that drives him: finding ways to use data to improve the health of 7.5 billion people on earth. He has given talks in North America and Europe to a range of audiences, with the aim of helping them understand how their organisations can survive and prosper in an increasingly uncertain world.

In a career spanning 20 years, Maneesh has worked with data to improve decision making across a number of industries, most recently working with the world’s largest patient databases in research & development at GSK.

Fayyaz Afzal OBE Fayyaz Afzal OBE (blind barrister formerly at No 5 Chambers) is now a District Judge dealing with civil and family cases. He is believed to be the only blind District Judge.

As a Recorder he deals with serious care cases. He was one of the first Asian blind barristers. He practised in crime, civil, family and immigration. He was a Legal Assessor and Legally Qualified Chair for health and professional regulators.

He has served on committees at the Advocacy Training/Bar Councils and Lincoln’s Inn. He is a senior advocacy tutor. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and Honorary Doctor of Staffordshire University. DJ Afzal has been an inspirational role model for those with disabilities and from non-traditional backgrounds.

Professor Sanjay Sharma Sanjay Sharma is Professor of Cardiology and Head of Research for the clinical and academic group at St George’s University of London and St George’s NHS Foundation trust.

Professor Sharma leads a large tertiary inherited cardiac diseases program serving south east England to manage young patients with cardiomyopathy and ion channel diseases. He is the director for the largest sports cardiology unit in the UK which is responsible for athletes with potentially serious cardiac diseases, from British premier soccer and rugby league, the Lawn Tennis Association and the English Institute of Sport. He is the cardiology advisor for the British rowing team, Sky cycling squad and is the chairman for the expert cardiac committee for the Football Association. He is medical director of the London Marathon. Professor Sharma was chairman of the ESC sports cardiology nucleus and congress programme committee member of the European Society of Cardiology in Preventive Cardiology.

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Sports personality of the year The Finalists Neethu Haridas Neethu Haridas, a science teacher at a top independent girls school by day and a semi-professional footballer by night, makes a powerful motivational statement, that not only can anyone play football, but anyone who puts their mind to it can conceivably achieve their dreams.

Holding the much coveted position of forward striker for the famous Queen’s Park Rangers Ladies FC, the dually versed professional said that more than inspiring young girls as an Asian woman in her circle-shaped pastime, she symbolises the ability to conquer any professional sphere.

She is a strong believer of following whatever makes you want to wake up in the morning and persevere like you’ve never done before. Her mantra is: “Success is simply the by-product of your pursuit of happiness.”

Sivakumar Ramasamy As a youth, seeded GB Taekwondo athlete, Siva represented his club Gurumu Taekwondo and country at national and international levels. At 17, Siva became a trainee coach and later established himself as the Head Coach of Gurumu Taekwondo. Under his leadership, the club endured phenomenal success and evolved to become one of the top ranked clubs in Europe.

As the Cadet and Junior National Talent Development Coach for GB, Siva has worked closely with athletes who have podium-potential for future Olympic Games. His athletes have won medals at the European, World and Commonwealth Championships.

Siva, a key contributor in the development and shaping of British Taekwondo, is currently London's Development Officer for Taekwondo. His mission is to make Taekwondo an accessible sport for all.

Tania Nadarajah Tania Nadarajah is a Paralympic archer, ranked no.1 in her category in the UK. She finished 5th in the mixed team event at the 2016 Rio Paraympics and is currently training full time for Tokyo 2020.

Tania was paralysed in a road traffic collision and started archery as a hobby in 2014. She was talent-spotted and began representing Great Britain just a year later. This year, she won 5 gold and 2 bronze medals at national and international competitions. She regularly competes alongside able-bodied archers, ranking within the top 4% of archers in the country. Tania visits schools and other organisations to inspire the next generation of athletes and is a patron of Sportability, a charity providing sporting events for people with paralysis.

Haseeb Hameed Born in 17 January 1997, Haseeb is an English cricketer and made his debut for Lancashire in 2015.

In February 2016 he signed a four year contract for Lancashire and scored over 1000 runs in that season breaking Mike Atherton's record as the youngest Lancashire player to reach that mark.

He made his international debut against Bangladesh in September 2016 and subsequently toured India where he scored his maiden half century, scoring 82 runs. He became the youngest debutant to open for England in a Test match when he toured India.

Despite breaking his finger in his first innings he still went on to make an unbeaten half century.

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Achievement in arts & culture The Finalists Amrit Kaur Lohia

Amrit Kaur Lohia is a Sarangi player and vocalist in genres of Punjabi folk, R&B and soul.

Based in London, she tours internationally as a performer, composer and workshop facilitator. She is a youth worker, mentoring youth offenders and children in foster care.

Amrit is also the founder of ‘humanised.org’, a social enterprise dedicated to humanising history and social issues through the Arts and she is currently a Global Youth Ambassador for ‘A World at School’.

Amrit has also trained as a theatre director at the Young Vic Theatre and has a masters degree in history, specialising in South Asia, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her notable performances include Glastonbury Festival, UN General Assembly (New York) and Googleplex (California).

Nainita Desai Nainita Desai is one of the UK’s leading composers for film & television. As a current BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and winner of the Music+Sound Award 2016 for Best Feature Film Score, she started as a sound designer on feature films including Little Buddha (Bertolucci).

Having composed scores for hundreds of film & TV projects that have won or been nominated for OSCAR, BAFTA, EMMY awards she writes regularly for the BBC, C4, ITV, C5, HBO, SKY, Discovery and the BFI. Recent commissions include the BBC film Mumbai-The Musical, BFI feature film Darkness Visible (BFI), WW2 drama Ni’ihau, a major video game

by Annapurna Interactive, landmark series Rituals (BBC NHU), Earth’s Natural Wonders (BBC1), The Ganges with Sue Perkins (BBC1) and My Family, Partition And Me (BBC1)

Paul Sinha Paul Sinha was born in the UK to Bengali parents and the family medical dynasty. Whilst studying medicine in the 1990s, Paul took his first steps on the stand-up comedy circuit. He pursued both careers and at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival earned a nomination for the highest accolade in live comedy, the Edinburgh Comedy Award (formerly Perrier).

Shortly after his nomination, Paul hung up his stethoscope to become a full-time comedian.

A lifetime of curiosity and learning informs Paul's comedy but now also ranks him as one of the UK’s finest quizzers. This has led to yet another concurrent career, this time as a general knowledge expert on the ITV quiz show, The Chase. A tea-time favourite, The Chase vies with BBC's Pointless as the most watched programme on daytime television.

Ryan Chetiyawardana Ryan Chetiyawardana opened White Lyan at the end of 2013, where he’s created one of the most inventive cocktail menus in the world. It’s the first cocktail bar to use no per-ishables - no fruit and no ice, meaning the amount of waste is significantly lower than any other bar.

Ryan believes that he learnt a lot from how well his mother managed a kitchen like cleaning, timing, being methodical and planning.

His second bar, Dandelyan at Mondrian London, brought the warmth of a neighbourhood bar to a five star hotel setting. At Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards in 2015, Ryan was crowned International Bartender of the Year and Dandelyan took home the honour of "Best New International Cocktail Bar".

In 2015, he was also crowned 'Best International Bartender of the Year' at the Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirit Awards in New Orleans.

He has received a number of awards including Top 1000 Most Influential Londoners.

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Achievement in community service The Finalists Akeela Ahmed

Akeela Ahmed has been an equalities activist and campaigner for nearly 20 years. On Muslim Women’s Day, she was listed in Nylon magazine as an activist that is ‘making a difference’. In 2014 she founded ‘She Speaks We Hear’ which gives an unfiltered platform to women’s voices. Akeela advises and works with government in tackling anti-Muslim hatred, sitting on the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group.

She is also a social entrepreneur within the social housing sector, and full time director of a homelessness organisation that she setup in 2014. In January 2017, Akeela spoke to over one hundred thousand people at the Women’s March on London. She is a Trustee for the Muslim-Jewish women's network Nisa Nasheem, and regularly appears in media.

Davinder Kaur BEM Davinder Kaur is one of the founding members of SWEDA (Skills, Work and Enterprise Development Agency) and has been involved with the organisation since its inception in 1989. She served as a volunteer Director on SWEDA’s board of management for nearly over 10 years and is currently the Chief Executive Officer before joining SWEDA’s management team as a staff member.

Davinder has built her career from extensive experience in managing commercial companies (operating in retail, wholesale, import and export sectors) in UK and Western Europe. She is a fully qualified and experienced business adviser and for over 15 years she has been managing voluntary/community sector organisations in the West Midlands. Since 2004 she has pioneered the diversification of SWEDA’s service provision in response to the aspirations and needs of local communities.

She is the Chair of Sandwell Consortium of Third Sector organisations and serves on the management boards of several organisations/ charities.

Saba Nasim BEM Saba Nasim is a solicitor by profession. Cricket has always been a passion of hers and she began playing and coaching youngsters at Wanstead CC in 2010. Her enthusiasm and passion for passing on the knowledge of the game to others led her to do the ECB Level 2 qualification and she began to coach within her community. She set up a girls only project in an area where there was a lack of facilities for them to try the sport at the grassroots level. Since 2010, Saba has coached over 1000 girls at various schools, clubs and youth centres and has used sport as a vehicle to drive change in her community. She has become an inspirational role model for young females especially in the South Asian community in getting girls to try the sport.

She has shown that you can work full time in a high pressure job whilst also pursuing your passion to make a difference to people’s lives.

Vanita Patel MBE Vanita joined the Board of Trustees of Anti-Slavery International in 1996. She has been widely recognised as a tireless advocate for eradicating global slavery and promoting human rights. She has astonishing energy and a proven track record in encouraging people to understand and support her diverse charitable works.

Vanita has raised substantial funds for numerous charitable projects which have been endorsed by spiritual leaders, royalty, Presidents, Prime Ministe rs, entrepreneurs and celebrities.

She has recently become one of the Commissioners for the International Tribunal for Natural Justice and the Board of Trustees of Memorial 2007 which aims to erect a memorial in Hyde Park for African slaves.

Her current project is to secure supplies of sanitary towels to schools in Tanzania on behalf of ‘One Voice for Freedom’ a charity of which she is the founder member.

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Uniformed & civil services The Finalists Anuja Dhir QC

Anuja Dhir was appointed as an Old Bailey judge in 2017. She is the first non- white judge to hold that position.

Anuja was born in Scotland.

Her father, Professor Ravindra Dhir OBE, came from Punjab in the 1950’s. Her mother came from South Africa. She has two sisters.

Anuja started university at the age of 16. In 1989, having been awarded a Gray’s Inn Scholarship, she was called to the Bar. Anuja practised at the Bar for 23 years, prosecuting and defending in serious criminal cases such as murder, fraud and national security cases. She was elected a bencher of Gray’s Inn in 2009, appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2010 and made a judge in 2012.

Anuja is married with 3 children.

Sharan Ghuman MBE Working both at the UK border, inland as well as internationally, Sharan has fulfilled numerous roles during her 17 year career in the Home Office. Predominantly specialising in the immigration sector, Sharan has also completed management roles in customs and counter terrorism, specifically cash and proceeds of crime. As the safeguarding lead for her command at London Heathrow Airport, her efforts to safeguard victims leaving the UK were recognised in the receiving of an MBE earlier this year.

Her passion for safeguarding and protecting the vulnerable continues in her current role as the National Community Engagement Lead for India, where she endeavours to ensure a dignified future for those who have been exploited.

A mum of 2 young daughters, Sharan also spends much of her personal time in charitable endeavours. She is a trustee for two UK charities, school governor as well as a faith policy advisor on various safeguarding issues.

Lieutenant Brijinder Singh Nijjar Brijinder joined the Army in 2014 commissioning into the Army Air Corps as a helicopter pilot. He passed the Army Pilot Course in February 2017 becoming the first ever serving Sikh to do so. Additional to this role he has been involved in engagement with black and Asian minority ethnic communities helping to better inform the public of the Armed Forces. This culminated with a recent attachment to the Civil Engagement team in Regional Command where over a five month period he helped to plan and attend over forty engagement events including youth camps, media work and community events helping to raise public awareness of t he Armed Forces. Having returned to flying training, he continues to visit schools and youth groups in his spare time in order to educate the next generation about the opportunities available to them and maximise their potential.

Kulbir Pasricha Born in Middlesex, Kulbir has worked in the public sector for 27 years where she has worked at operational, tactical and strategic levels. She joined Kent Police in 1998 as a central crime reporting unit investigator and her career progressed from Crime Support Officer to Area Diversity Manager, and since 2012 she has been Community Liaison Coordinator. Her discretionary roles include Family Liaison Officer, Trauma Risk Management Practitioner and Critical Incident Advisor.

Over the years she has made a positive difference to diversity and community engagement, and has been recognised through various awards including the Wainwright Trust Award/National Criminal Justice Award and more recently as a finalist in the Chief Constable’s Awards for The Phillip Pratt Award for Community Policing. Kulbir is also a carer and enjoys charity work and writing poetry.

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Entrepreneur of the year The Finalists Lisa Sohanpal

Lisa Sohanpal is the co-founder, CEO and food lover behind the new multi-award winning, innovative and challenger brand – Nom Noms World Food – nutritious world food for kids and grown-ups. It is distributed across the UK, France and Australia in retail, foodservice and airlines.

Lisa’s experience spans over 18 years in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry, where she has led businesses across 47 countries within Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia- Pacific and delivered exponential growth in her region.

Nom Noms World Food was born out of a need she felt as a busy working parent of 3 very young children all under the age of 3 years at the time. With 3 years in development and having launched in August 2015, Nom Noms World Food has won accolades of over 20 industry awards.

Madhuban Kumar Madhuban moved to the UK - her home since 2002, after having worked and lived in three continents. In her 21-year career she founded Metafused, a VC backed company in artificial intelligence for financial services.

She worked as a venture capitalist for Insight Venture partners where she joined the fund's Asian arm at its inception as it pioneered India-US cross border investing.

Madhuban has built innovative products like the Barclays-Oyster card with First Data and helped set up $120million financing for a Horlicks plant for GSK. She is an alumni of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, University of Wales, Cardiff and London Business School.

In her free time, she helps women empowerment and dreams of travelling to uninhabited islands.

Gi Fernando MBE Gi Fernando is an engineer, social impact entrepreneur and investor, who founded workforce technology and transformation company Freeformers. He is a thought-leader on the future of work, behavioural change and the impact of Automation/AI on employment and society.

Gi also holds positions on various Boards relating to creative, education and learning transformation, including Apps for Good, Duke of York IDEA and Craft.co as well as being the founder of Code and Canvas.

His investments include Century.tech, Technology Will Save Us and The Skills Academy alongside innovative startups changing the world around us, such as, BookingBug, Citymapper, Hypeapp.co, Timberyard and Playmob amongst a portfolio of 30+ investments.

Alick Varma In 2012 founder and CEO at Osper, Alick Varma launched a safe MasterCard prepaid debit card with a mobile banking app.

The idea was to introduce children to money managing early in life, very much like what he himself did.

Alick built a children’s bank account with their own orange debit card, which parents order online and attach to their own bank accounts.

Unlike high street banks that offer a free account, this is actually a paid-for service. Parents pay £1 a month for the service. The app raised $10 million from Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s venture capital firm Horizon Ventures, tech investment firm Index Ventures, Travelex Chief Executive Peter Jackson, and Darren Shapland, former chairman of Sainsbury’s Bank.

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Woman of the year The Finalists Shivvy Jervis TED

Shivvy is a tech futurist and presenter who makes it her mission to hunt down those groundbreaking innovations that have true, meaningful impact on our lives and how we do business.

The two web video series (Digital Futures and The Trailblazers) she formerly created, attracted 11 million viewership and featured not only world-class digital pioneers but became a platform for next-gen founders.

She is currently authoring a riveting new book on the explosive advances of the next decade that will transform our lives for the better, and a new video series.

Shivvy also serves on two national councils for diversity and future of employment and has been recognised as one of Europe's leading women in tech.

Jagdeep Rai Jagdeep has worked for Barclays since 1995 having joined its graduate management training programme. Since then, Jagdeep has undertaken a number of wide ranging roles including strategic, client facing and leadership positions within the retail and corporate environment.

Jagdeep is passionate about her role and the opportunities it allows her in leading and developing people whilst driving commercial value, and making a positive impact in the local community. She has a particular interest in the diversity agenda; particularly the development of females and BAME individuals into more senior positions, as well as the support and growth of female and BAME led businesses. In this regard, she regularly contributes as key-note speaker and panellist across a wide variety of internal and external forums.

She was listed as number 18 in the EMpower and FT Ethnic Minority leaders list.

Dr Faiza Shaheen Dr Faiza Shaheen is the Director of a leading think tank, the Centre for Labour & Social Studies (CLASS). At the time of appointment in 2016, she was the youngest and only BAME female director of a policy think tank. In 2017 Faiza was named the Observer Rising Star for campaigning. Daughter of a car mechanic, she managed to win a place at the University of Oxford to study Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE).

Faiza is the author of a range of materials and publications covering the most salient social and economic debates of our times and is a regular contributor to debates on popular news programmes.

Previously she was the Head of Inequality at Save the Children UK and she still mentors working class young people from East London.

Dr Tara Swart Dr Tara Swart is a neuroscientist, leadership coach, award-winning author and medical doctor. She works with leaders all over the world to help them achieve mental resilience and peak brain performance, improving their ability to manage stress, regulate emotions and retain information.

Tara is the only top-tier leadership coach with both a PhD in neuroscience and a former medical career as a psychiatrist. Educated at Oxford University and King’s College London, her role as Senior Lecturer at MIT and Visiting Professor at Oxford SAID ensures that she remains at the forefront of the latest developments in her sector.

Tara Swart is the author of the award-winning book, Neuroscience for Leadership: Harnessing the Brain Gain Advantage. She is also the very first Neuroscientist-in-Residence at the Corinthia Hotel, London.

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Achievement in media The Finalists Coco Khan

Coco Khan is an author, columnist and journalist. Her debut tragicomic short 'Flags', was featured in the sleeper-hit anthology, The Good Immigrant, to critical acclaim. It was subsequently serialized and adapted for BBC Radio 4, and she is now working on her debut novel. Her column "All the Places I'll Never Live" (Guardian) offers a comic glimpse into life in Generation Rent as a millennial British Asian. As a journalist she has written extensively on portrayals of race in media and the arts.

Khan is committed to documenting the everyday beauty and humour of the Asian experience, with an emphasis on portrayals of independent, and sexually empowered Asian women. She was educated at Warwick University, receiving a scholarship to read English and American literature.

Tina Daheley Tina Daheley is a journalist and presenter who works for the BBC. She presents the news, sport and weather bulletins. She has presented television coverage of women's football and co-presented the BBC Three political discussion show Free Speech, alongside Rick Edwards.

Daheley has also presented the 60 seconds news on BBC Three, E24 on the News Channel and Revealed. She is the former host of the 1Xtra news show, the flagship news programme for 1Xtra.

She is regularly seen fronting the BBC News 8pm update on BBC One. In September 2016 Daheley became one of the main presenters of Crimewatch.

During the 2015 general election and last year’s EU referendum she fronted a number of debate programmes. Last year she took on BBC Two’s Victoria Derbyshire show and Breakfast on BBC One at weekends.

Tina was one of the lead presenters during the 2015 General Election.

Angela Saini Angela Saini is an award-winning British science journalist and author. She is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, and her writing has appeared in New Scientist, the Guardian, the Times, the Economist, Stylist, Wired, and others.

Her latest book, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story, was published to widespread critical acclaim by Harper Collins in summer 2017. Her first book, Geek Nation: How Indian Science is Taking Over the World, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2011, becoming an Independent book of the year.

Angela has a Masters in Engineering from Oxford University and is a former fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She lives in London with her husband and son.

Tanika Gupta MBE Tanika has written over 20 stage plays that have been produced across the UK and has written extensively for television (Eastenders/Grange Hill) and radio drama. Some of her plays include: Lions and Tigers (Globe theatre) Midsummer Night’s Dream (Globe Theatre –Dramaturg), Anita and Me (Birmingham Rep); The Empress (Royal Shakespeare Company); Wah! Wah! Girls (Sadler’s Wells); Sugar Mummies (Royal Court Theatre); Gladiator Games (Sheffield Crucible Theatre).

Her awards include: John Whiting Award for The Waiting Room, BBC Audio Drama Award for ‘Best Adaptation’ for A Doll’s House and Amnesty International Media Awards for radio play Chitra. In 2008 she was awarded an MBE for services to drama and in 2016 was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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Business person of the year The Finalists

Shahid Sheikh OBE Shahid was born in Uganda but was driven out of the country along with his family in 1972.

They arrived in the UK as refugees but have created an extremely successful business which has traded successfully since 1981. Clifton Packaging is now regarded as one of the world’s leading and innovative flexible packaging firms working with some of the world’s biggest multinational corporations. With plans in place to grow the business to a £30million turnover backed up by a strategic five year investment programme to support that growth, the next 35 years look exciting.

Shahid was awarded an OBE in 2013 for his services to business and to charities. He is also a past chairman of the Institute of Directors, Leicestershire and was the first Asian Board Director at Leicestershire County Cricket Club. Shahid is the current Chairman of the Shahid Afridi Foundation (UK).

Mohsin Issa & Zuber Issa Based in the United Kingdom, Euro Garages was founded in 2001 by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa with the acquisition of a single petrol filling station in Bury, Greater Manchester. The group currently manages over 350 petrol forecourt convenience sites across the United Kingdom under ESSO, BP and Shell fuel brands and has developed high profile retail partnerships with leading brand partners including Starbucks, Subway, KFC, Burger King, Greggs, Sainsbury’s and SPAR. A notable achievement in 2016 was Euro Garages (EG) merger with European Forecourt Retail (EFR). As a result of this the group now operates in the UK as EG, and in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg as EFR, serving more than 6 million customers each week from nearly 2,000 sites and employing circa 5,500 colleagues.

Surinder Arora Surinder Arora is the founder and chairman of the Arora Group.

Surinder founded his business in 1999, running a luxurious fourstar hotel at Heathrow. From there he built a business based on strong principles of enterprise, including the purchase of the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel in 2012.

Today, the Arora Group is a successful private group of UK-focused companies, with specialist property, construction and hotel development and management divisions. The Group owns and manages a diverse portfolio of assets with a particular presence in airport regions.

Surinder and wife Sunita are co-founders of the Arora Charitable Foundation. The Foundation’s charitable balls have raised a combined total of over £1.8million.

Surinder has been honoured with success in a number of recent awards, including the “Corporate Responsibility” category at the London and South East Institute of Director Awards 2016 and “CEO of the Year” at the UK Private Business Awards in 2016.

Poonam Gupta OBE In 2003 Poonam founded PG Paper Company Ltd, originally operating from her family home and has developed the business into the hugely successful and globally recognised brand it is regarded as today, exporting to 55 countries worldwide. Her continuous hard work and determination has assured that it is one of the UK’s fastest growing paper companies providing customised paper solutions for customers.

Most recently, Poonam’s ambitious nature was recognised when she was awarded an OBE on the Queen’s honour list for services to business and charity.

Her charitable interests are women-centric issues, underprivileged children, animal conservation, gender equality and she works alongside many charities to offer her support.

She continues to strive and improve her business achievements and charitable commitments ac ross the globe.

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The Akshaya Patra Foundation is the world’s largest non-profit school meal provider. We are globally recognised as one of the Top 25 NGOs in the World, and have been studied by leading institutions, including Harvard Business School.

Our vision is that no child should be deprived of education because of hunger.

One in three of the world’s malnourished children live in India, and malnourishment kills 3,000 children every day. We work to eradicate malnourishment and facilitate childhood education by feeding 1.6 million school children across 11 states in India every day through our Food For Education Programme.

Our aim is to positively impact children whose families are living in poverty by delivering hot, healthy and nutritious school lunches hygienically prepared in our state of the art kitchens - to over 13,000 government schools.

These free school lunches enable the children we serve to attend school instead of having to work for food, give them the energy to concentrate in class and improve their academic performance, and allow them to grow and develop healthily.

The children are encouraged to enjoy their meal together as equals, irrespective of gender, religion or caste.

As a result of our Food For Education Programme, 78% of parents surveyed perceived that their child’s health had improved. School attendance levels and school enrolments have increased – in particular the enrolment of girls, who are often the first in a low income family to be withdrawn from school. Evidence published by the World Bank shows that educated women “tend to be healthier, earn more income, have fewer children, and provide better healthcare and education to their children”.

By enabling children to receive an education in this way we are breaking the cycle of poverty.

It costs just £10 to provide fresh school meals to one child for a whole year through Akshaya Patra.

We have an ambitious goal to reach 5 million children by 2020 – helping them to gain the lifelong gift of education and to build a brighter future.

For more details log on to our website:

www.foodforeducation.org.uk

The Akshaya Patra Foundation

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THE AKSHAYA AY YA P PA ATRA TRA A FOUNDA FOUNDATION TION UK U N L I M I T E D F O O D F O R E D U C AT I O N

THE WORLDS AR GEST ’ LA MID-D A AY Y MEAL PR OGRAMME SERVING 1.6 MILLION CHILDREN D AIL LY Y

OUR PURPOSE TO ELIMINA ATE TE SOCIAL INEQUITY IN ONE E GENERA ATION TION OUR MISSION TO SERVE 5 MILLION CHILDREN DAILLY Y BY 2020 @theakshayapatrafoundationuk @UKAkshayaPatra

@TheAkshayaPatraFoundationUK

Broadgate West, 11th Floor, 1 Snowden Street, London EC2 2A 2DQ info@akshayapatra.co.uk | 020 7422 6612 | Charity No: 1117756

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Charity auctioneer of the evening LORD JEFFREY ARCHER

Jeffrey Archer has topped the bestseller lists around the world with sales of over 270 million copies in 97 countries and more than 37 languages. He is the only author ever to have been a number one bestseller in fiction (eighteen times), short stories (four times) and nonfiction (The Prison Diaries).

He gained a Blue in athletics at Oxford, was President of the University Athletics Club, and went on to run the 100 yards in 9.6 seconds for Great Britain in 1966. Jeffrey has served five years in the House of Commons and twenty-two years as a Member of the House of Lords.

His latest novel Be Careful What You Wish For, (book four of The Clifton Chronicles series) spent twelve weeks in the top 10 - four of them at #1 – on the Sunday Times Best Seller list, and also went to #1 in Australia, India, and South Africa. www.jeffreyarcher.com Follow Jeffrey on Facebook and Twitter @Jeffrey_Archer

LOT 1

A PRIVATE DINING EXPERIENCE FOR 10 PEOPLE AT THE L’ANIMA RESTAURANT L’Anima is a southern Italian restaurant with soul, treating guests to a brand new culinary experience whilst making them feel instantly at home.

The private dining room, with its elegant simplicity and natural materials (limestone, fire and water), is the ideal serene space in which the experience of dining becomes detached from the mundane world. Enjoy a lovely evening with your favourite friends, with some fantastic food and a fabulous ambience.

The package covers 3-course dining for 10 people including a half bottle wine per person in the private area of the restaurant located at 1 Snowden Street, London EC2.

Reserve Price: £1,500 Donated by Peter Marano (www.lanima.co.uk)

LOT 2

A ONE-ON-ONE MEETING WITH ‘DRAGON’ TOUKER SULEYMAN Suleyman Touker is a multi-millionaire business magnate, fashion retail entrepreneur and an investor. He is the founder of the quintessentially British menswear brand, Hawes & Curtis and the man credited with reinventing the seminal 90s womenswear label, Ghost. He is most known for being on the investors’ panel of the BBC TV series Dragon’s Den. In 2015, The Sunday Times listed Suleyman in its Rich List, estimating his fortune to be £150 million. The winning bid gets an exclusive hour of TOUKER TIME. A truly ‘money cannot buy’ experience!

Reserve Price: £3,500 Donated by: Sow & Reap

LOT 3

ONE YEAR MEMBERSHIP OF ENTOURAGE CONCIERGE SERVICE A chance to become a member of the Entourage Concierge, the next level in lifestyle management and the ultimate in flawless service and luxury.

Members of Entourage Concierge not only get reservations at the hottest restaurants and hotels across the globe, tickets to incredible events, impossible-to-get luxury items but also are privy to money-can’t-buy-invites. Examples of some recent events attended by their clients, included the premier and after-party of the new Manolo Blahnik film in New York and London, a private dinner with Anthony Horowitz and Sally Greene of the Old Vic Theatre. With this prize, which is valid for one year from date of activation, you will have full access to all the benefits of being an Entourage Concierge member which is usually priced at £25,000.

Reserve Price: £4,500 Donated by Lily & Simon Liebel, Entourage Concierge Service (www.entourage-collection.com)

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LOT 4

Live Auction Items

PRIVATE SCREENING OF THE ICONIC BOLLYWOOD FILM ‘SHOLAY’ & MEET WITH SIPPY FAMILY ‘Kitne aadmi the, ’ a dialogue that everyone who is even a remote Bollywood fan would easily identify as spoken by the infamous Gabbar Singh of Sholay. It stars the super star Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, Sanjeev Kapoor and Amjad Khan. Time magazine nominated Sholay in the "Best of Bollywood" list in 2010, and CNN-IBN listed it as one of the "100 greatest Indian film of all time" This package offers a private screening in a cinema in London for around 40 guests and an opportunity to meet with Sacha Sippy, grandson of producer G P Sippy, and hear some lovely anecdotes about the ‘behind the scenes’ of the making of this film.

Reserve Price: £2,500 Donated by Sacha & Laila Sippy

LOT 5 JEWELLERY SET IN 18K GOLD WITH DIAMONDS, RUBIES & EMERALDS An opportunity to own this delicate and exquisite necklace and earrings set in 18k gold with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.

Amrapali Jaipur is a celebration of the timeless Indian art of adornment and authentic master craftmanship. It is a renowned premier luxury jewellery brand from India and known for its designs showcasing the heritage of India with a modern eclectic twist.

Reserve Price: £4,000 Donated by Amrapali Jewels (www.amrapalijewels.com)

LOT 6 DEBENTURE TICKETS FOR THE WIMBLEDON LADIES FINAL 2018 A perfect way to enjoy the summer in London. Watch one of the most watched tennis matches at the iconic centre court with debenture tickets for two people. Debenture ticket holders at Wimbledon are seated in the best seating blocks and receive a pass to the exclusive Centre Court Debenture Holders Lounges.

Reserve Price: £1,800 Donated by Euro Events Hospitality

LOT 7 A TAILOR-MADE LUXURY GOLDEN TRAINGLE HOLIDAY IN INDIA A 7-day super luxury trip to the three ‘golden cities’ of India - Delhi, Jaipur and Agra with accommodation at the Ultra Luxe Oberoi hotels in all 3 cities including The Raj Vilas in Jaipur and Amar Vilas in Agra where you can enjoy the Taj from the balcony of your room.

The journey’s highlights include visits to The Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, Jama Masjid, Hawa Mahal and an Elephant Safari. All internal travel within India is included in this package together with breakfast on all 7 days and an English-speaking tourist guide. This offer is valid for one year subject to availability and not valid for booking between 22nd Dec and 4th Jan. Reserve Price: £6,000 Donated by: Asian Voyages (www.asianvoyages.co.in) ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

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The power of inspirational role models Sanjay Bhandari, Partner at EY in the UK & Ireland

T

hroughout our lives and careers we are inspired by individuals that help us to achieve our professional and personal ambitions. Role models from the world of arts, sports, business - any field of endeavour where we have a personal affinity, including family - can be a powerful influence on a person’s success. Awards programmes, such as the Asian Achievers Awards, are crucial to highlight personal stories, celebrate achievements and reinforce the power of role models.

In the same way, our own programme EY Entrepreneur Of The Year aims to inspire existing and future entrepreneurs to help drive the UK and global economy. The programme, which has been running in the UK for almost 20 years, highlights business leaders who are creating wealth and jobs, driving innovation, disrupting the status quo, and making a difference to the communities in which they work.

Entrepreneurs often take an optimistic view of the world, seeing opportunity where others see obstacles.

That enthusiasm can prove infectious. EY Entrepreneur Of The Year runs in over 60 countries around the world, sharing the stories of truly inspirational individuals, who are building and scaling their businesses with purpose.

An excellent example is EY’s World Entrepreneur Of The Year winner, Murad Al Katib, founder of AGT Food and Ingredients. With annual revenues of $1.4bn, AGT is undoubtedly a commercial success, with a bold vision to feed the world in a more sustainable way, providing healthy protein rich food as an

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

alternative to meat, thereby reducing land and water consumption.

At EY, role models are also a source of motivation and inspiration to our people and the next generation of leaders. We are also focused on increasing the representation of ethnic minorities at every level of EY, as well as working with other organisations and bodies to help drive the public conversation. We are proud to support the Parker Review, which was commissioned to examine and boost the ethnic diversity of UK FTSE boardrooms.

In 2013 the firm set down targets to have at least 30% female and 10% Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) representation in its new partner intake.

Measured on a three year rolling period; in 2017 those figures stand at 28% and 11% respectively.

We recognise there is still more to do and we are working hard to build our BME talent pipeline by setting recruitment targets and adopting a proportional promotions policy, so all of our talent has access to the same opportunities. We have award winning sponsorship programmes – for example CareerWatch – that pairs BME and female rising talent with a senior sponsor to help them progress. But above all, it is the rollout of our inclusive leadership training programme that we believe is the real game changer here - cultivating an inclusive culture where difference is embraced and unconscious bias is challenged.

At EY we know the value of a diverse workforce operating in an inclusive working environment, where people are empowered to be themselves and work how, when and where they choose. We also know the value of role models and the importance of highlighting their achievements through programmes like the Asian Achievers Awards.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners tonight. You are all role models.

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Congratulations to all the shortlists & winners of the

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Diversity Matters

Chasing the light at the end of the tunnel

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he issue of ethnic diversity has been one of the most widely covered topics in 2017. A shocking study has recently revealed that for every 2.3 million ethnic minority people in the UK there is only one ethnic minority CEO, compared to one white CEO for every 600,000 white people. It is evident that without prominent and diverse role models, it is impossible for the whole next generation to be inspired to reach that level. This is as true in business as anywhere else and is highlighted in Mckinsey’s report 'Diversity Matters'.

But statistics in the study of Race at Work 2015 brings a ray of hope. It states that there is now an indication that employers are actively trying to diversify their board pipeline. Of course there’s still a long way to go but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and we all need to chase it together, to succeed.

And this is exactly what Narita Bahra, an inspiring and leading defence barrister at 2 Hare court has to say.

Speaking to the Asian Achievers Awards, she said, “It is now easier to come in through the doors, but still difficult to reach or remain at the top. In our profession, it is difficult for an Asian women to be taken seriously. And then comes the social and family commitments. Therefore it is important to have a role model- a guide, support and mentor to achieve your goals better.”

Arjun Panesar co-founded diabetes.co.uk, and was their chief technology officer till recently. Promoted as the current

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

CEO he said, “Asians are certainly becoming better represented in the UK. The tech, finance and medical professions are more representative of the Asian community than most, which is testimony to the dedication and resilience of the Asian community.”

Dr Mukulika Banerjee is the Associate Professor in Social Anthropology and Director, South Asia Centre at the London School of Economics and her experience has also been similar. She said, “It is a privilege to work in a UK university where I can go to work in a sari and not be asked ‘what is the occasion?’

LSE is diverse and people know that it is a modern Indian woman’s work clothes. It is interesting, however, to see people’s looks of perplexity on the train when they see an Asian woman in a sari reading The Economist or running up the escalators.”

Bijna K Dasani, FRSA is the head of Architecture and Innovation in the Financial Service Sector and former Vice President, Deutsche Bank. Speaking to the Asian Achievers Awards she said, “As an Asian woman and a professional in financial services I believe there is a sound representation and opportunity across the spectrum for women in the context of the business world as we know it today. At graduate intake most companies have an equal gender representation, and that's a conscious effort.

Studies show that as people's careers and personal lives demand increased responsibility in parallel, it's women who usually pause their careers for personal priorities. There is therefore heavy attrition from middle management upward, across most industries. Therefore only 15 per cent of all board seats are filled by women globally.

“Within the workplace, my gender has never held me back and if anything I have always been given opportunity and constructive feedback purely on merit and performance.

As a community of Asian professionals we must think laterally about diversity, and openly and logically about the potential women in our community have, and the glass ceilings imposed socially rather than by industry. Diversity of thought, technology and people, is fundamental in driving optimum solutions and outcomes, and without active inclusion, diversity cannot be sustained.”

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Sport – More Asian representation need of the hour

D

espite making up the largest ethnic minority group in the country, there are not enough Asians in professional level sport. The question is whether there are inherent barriers within sport itself which prevent Asian participation, or are there inimical factors within the community. It is a well known fact that British Asian children are often pressured by parents and peers to succeed academically at all costs and become doctors, dentists, accountants or lawyers over choosing sport as a career.

Naomi Dattani, Joint-Captain of the Middlesex Cricket team, told us:“There’s a lot of pressure from parents to pursue academia; as if that’s the only path to a good future. It’s difficult to balance traditional culture and sport.”

She went on to explain how sport can actually teach people, especially youth, valuable life skills that they might not normally pick up in the office or classroom: “In sport you are constantly having to gauge your environment, staying very sharp and adaptive, and you are always meeting new people. It’s not the same monotonous work and team of people, 24 hours, every day. I think as a British-Asian community, we do need to get better at encouraging our children to take up sport.”

The incredible Aman Dosanj, the first ever BritishIndian to play for England as goalkeeper for international women’s football in 1999, said: “Regardless of origin, sex, skin colour and religion anyone can excel at sport and Indians are not any less able. Sport is supposed to unite people, and I do feel that growing up being treated as just another player was the main element. I was lucky to have been guided to the right channels at an early age. I grew up playing with my brother in the back garden and then with my infant school team, where I was the only girl. My mother was a beautician at the time and she found the Southampton Saints for me. So I joined the under-10s and was consequently fortunate to be trained by Sue Bucker, for-

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

mer England goalkeeper!”

Dosanj, raised Sikh and currently living in the NorthAmerican subcontinent has been likened to the character and story of Jess from Bend It Like Beckham. As expressed in the film, there is a gender issue to tackle across the British-Asian diaspora. Here, the idea of an ‘an acceptable career’ also overlaps with the cultural stereotypes of a‘ good women.’

Harleen Kaur, a young emerging martial arts star told us: “For me, I see girls in particular, pushed towards academia whereas boys are encouraged to pursue careers in sport. I think at this point there are more opportunities for British Asians, and we do need parents to actively help break traditional taboos. Another important aspect of diversification in sport is media coverage. There needs to be more stories about Asian women's success in sport.”

Indeed, as confirmed by Ruqsana Begum, a professional kick-boxer and the current British and World Kickboxing Association female Atomweight, this would certainly encourage both parents and children alike. Balancing a career as a science technician, she commented: “I think in particular for females in male dominated sports, it's good to showcase and present British-Asians as role models.

Women can relate and feel inspired. The back pages and sports sections of newspapers are obviously a good place to start. We need to make it the norm!”

Thus, at this point in the 21st century, as traditional thinking gives way to more open mindedness, the British Asian community must also fuel the momentum by opening its mind. Says Dosanj, an avid spokesperson for ‘Kick it Out’, an anti-racism campaign, “It’s just a shame that even after two decades, we are still discussing British Asian issues!” As the tide is slowly changing, and with more Asian role models in sport than ever before the future for the community looks promising.

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“If art is to nourish the

roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

” - John F. Kennedy

Rising diversity in art and culture

T

he ties between the UK and South Asia have been very close. From curry to culture to cricket, we have a lot in common, but a shared past is not enough to keep a relationship going. Creative and Performing arts have become a strong platform to celebrate the cultural ties, and the UK-India Year of Culture is an example of that jubilance.

Whether it is Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire or Amrita Acharia of Game of Thrones fame, we see a slow but steady rise of Asian leads in creative and performing arts.

While we have seen Asians playing roles that are specifically meant for them, they are also increasingly playing roles that have nothing to do with their ethnicities. And that is not just confined to performing arts.

Asian authors are also establishing deeper ties through their writings. Author Shrabani Basu thinks there has always been a market to learn facts, and historical novels are received very well when published. Shrabani's book Victoria & Abdul has recently been made into a film with Judy Dench, and it has gained a huge round of applause from the audience already. Speaking about the importance of the historical novels in British mainstream, Shrabani points out, “I think there is a lot more interest in works of history written

by Indian authors. I write non-fiction and history which has a niche audience compared to writers of fiction. I remain a writer of history and am happy if people appreciate my work.”

Akram Khan MBE, is a brilliant dancer and choreographer of British Bangladeshi origin, who thinks that Asian artists are always spotted by their colour first. Though he has personally never faced it, he is confident that racial typecasting continues, but less in the world of dance than others.

Working currently on two documenaries, one on robotics, he feels his community needs to embrace creative arts more, not just as an entertainment but as a profession, like the Indian community. What is Akram's greatest challenge? He replied, “Trying to be still or silent. Stillness provokes you to

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

see and listen better. But in today's world with so many technology and internet critics, being still or silent is hard.”

Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed is the 2017 Masterchef winner. She works as a hospital doctor and is training to specialise in gastroenterology in the future. Saliha has been cooking ever since she was 12, though being a doctor often means she does not always have the time to fully engage in it. With a book coming out in September 2018, Saliha thinks her mother is an excellent role model.

Historically a woman has always been associated with the kitchen. Saliha thinks the idea about Asian women chefs is finally catching on, though the profession needs to be more female friendly. “Cooking often requires long services,” she said. “The food industry should be a bit more flexible, for example women could be allowed to do lunch services rather than dinner or even sharedrops for evenings to make time for their family life or other commitments.

While historically mainly men have been chefs, there is scope for improving the profession by making it female friendly.”

Patricia Rozario OBE is a Bombay-born British soprano. Born and educated in Bombay, India, she went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the rest is history. Being the only Indian origin soprano, she believes she has never faced any typecasting. In fact it was through the English composer Sir John Tavener that she returned to her roots to explore Indian Classical Music. But what has been the greatest challenge for her? Speaking to Asian Achievers Awards she said, “I have sung all around the world and people have been struck by the beauty and purity of my voice. My Indian origin makes me unique and people are charmed and amazed. But I've always had a challenge with some contemporary pieces of music which are complex in their structure and require a singer to have perfect pitch, which I don't, in order to hold their line amongst a lot of dissonance”.

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C

Helping thy neighbour

ommunity service or public service, paid or gratis, is the lifeblood of any society. Even in ancient Egypt citizens committed themselves to hours of community services instead of paying taxes. In today's world many wartorn nations might collapse if not for community and charitable services which play a huge role in rebuilding them. In day to day life, whether it is domestic violence, trafficking, free schools or mid day meals, organisations with a spirit of public service do a commendable job.

Therefore if you are a 'social animal' or practice a certain faith, you have committed to the social contract of 'helping thy neighbour' (eg Seva). If you are a believer in karma it implies that your benefactors might might come to your aid some day, when you need it most. By explicitly endorsing interfaith dialogue, separating hate speech from clean belief, and accepting cultural fluidity, we can turn much of the dissent into an exemplary social salve. As part of a big universal family, it is our duty to be at our moral best, not as sycophantic denizens, but as genuine, increasingly influential equals.

Saurav Dutt, an author and writer by profession agrees with the notion. Deeply involved in community and charitable services, an ardent activist, he has also donated part of

Reena Ranger, the Conservative Councillor for TRDC, and Chair and Co-Founder of WE (Women Empowered), a platform dedicated to supporting female professionals, elaborated: “It is only through conversation that we can break down barriers, change perceptions and understand that ultimately people have a lot more in common than they might otherwise think. The fear of asking questions and talking openly in case one is branded an “ist” or “phobic” allows misconceptions to take root. That causes resentment, misunderstanding and mistrust. Unless we come together, we cannot know each other!”

Over the years what the big events in the world stage have shown is that now is the opportune time to substantiate an incomplete intercultural narrative. How apt then to speak with writers and policymakers. The seminal academic Homi K. Bhabha adamantly criticised the imagined “construction” of one, national identity, and how this separates rather than bring together. And, as the first quarter of the 21st century edges on, we are seeing ourselves reflected in higher and more respectable positions. We are thus at a sociological and economic point where we can shape an international history in a way that we couldn’t do so instrumentally or politically before.

I alone cannot “ change the world, but

I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.

”

- Mother Teresa

the proceeds of his novel The Butterfly Room, as well as his follow-up novel Inviolate, towards The Sharan Project, helping the survivors of domestic abuse in South- Asian communities. He also works very closely with the Women's Interfaith Network.

Speaking to the Asian Achievers Awards he said: “The strengths as well as the weaknesses of multiculturalism are a wonderful objective, but to move forward we must be honest and unafraid to encourage debate. We must respect the views of those we disagree with and talk about the inconvenient so that we can learn from one another. Increasing collaboration and encouraging all members of the community to dialogue with each other, share ideas, motivate, initiatives, brings wonderful minds together, making us stronger.”

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

As Ranger confidently says: “Arnold Schwarzenegger said it best: ‘Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring to your own life.'

Within the British Asian community, I have always found that this quote has been doubly applicable.”

CEO, Ren Kapur, whose recent start-up X-forces unites all segments interested in the future of the ex-service community is passionate about public service. She added: “An issue close to me is balancing traditional expectations against new values in society. We need constructive communication between elders and the young – we can’t be so apprehensive, fearing confrontation.”

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Uniformed & Civil ServicesAiming for inclusion T

he low number of ethnic minorities in the armed forces, police, fire services and other public institutions has been highlighted from time to time. The Race Relations Act of 2000 reinforced public authorities' duty to promote racial equality and good relations between members of different racial groups. Defence Secretary Rt Hon Michael Fallon has also pressed for an increase of recruits from ethnic minority backgrounds by the end of the decade. Under his plans to improve diversity, various schemes are being introduced to improve minority representation at senior levels. British Asians are not risk averse, yet not many join the uniformed and civil services. Though the reasons behind dwindling numbers remain unclear, lack of interaction with the community and awareness are believed to be the key causes.

Speaking to a number of officials, we discovered that their focus to promote cultural diversity has now begun to shift inwards, and quite rightly so. Veering from the stereotypical motifs of strict attire, physical armament and social pretence, they have brought a refreshingly contemporary dimension to the concept of national defence - that of valuing human connections and protecting British community spirit. Proponents of deeply structural and longterm reform, they signify a strong and cosmopolitan future.

Lieutenant Harmeet Singh Nijjar, a rising young talent in the Army, said: “Whilst British Asian representation in the armed forces seems to be lacking, I believe there is now a positive spirit in the forward thinking and inclusive approach they have set out. It is important to remember that the armed forces are always looking for the right individual with appropriate character. There is untapped potential in a number of communities and the Army is working to widen the target audience by addressing the gatekeepers and guardians of these communities.”

This was corroborated by Major Ashok Rao, who

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

works in Medical Defence Engagement. He told the Asian Achievers Awards, “Knowledge of the armed forces and what it can offer is an area that the south Asian community is sometimes not aware of. The armed forces have been working hard to improve awareness and understanding of the various roles that are undertaken, from humanitarian aid to peacekeeping operations.”

Indeed, PC Amjad Ditta, Positive Action Co-ordinator of the West Yorkshire Police, reiterated that much was being done to build a multidimensional momentum to create meaningful community change within the UK. For him particularly, this meant expanding the definition of affirmative action beyond the typically envisaged idea of pushing employers to accept multiculturalism via officious red tape. Ditta is motivating minority groups to actively seize job opportunities. He said: “I’ve consciously engaged with under-represented groups to help identify and rectify what is stopping them from joining the service.

This has included driving social media feeds, workshops, seminars and attending community and religious events to promote both cohesion and enrolment options. At the end of the day, it’s great knowing that I’ve made a real difference and left a positive impression. This is the favourite aspect of my job, and of course, I love being a police officer. Having a more diverse and talented workforce means we can fight community-specific crimes more effectively too.”

Varsha Mistry, forensic practitioner at the Metropolitan Police Service said, “Definitely the number of Asians in the Met Police is increasing. But with increasing awareness and visibility, it can be even better. We need to interact more with the local community and explain that the Met Police is one huge family. I am sure that will help our youngsters to consider uniformed services as a career option.”

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Y

Young entrepreneurs Making a mark

oung people across the UK are leading the charge in launching start-up businesses. A Microsoft research recently indicated that businesses that are founded by young entrepreneurs were more likely to have healthier finances. Though that does not indicate that every business founded by a young person has succeeded, there indeed are many young entrepreneurs, especially of Asian origin who have launched companies in their twenties, and have hit major milestones. They also provide role models for other young people who may not necessarily feel that going to university or entering full-time employment is right for them.

One such inspiring story is that of Richa Bhalla. Born and bred in London, she has worked in the US Silicon Valley and is the founder of the start-up, Pedals. Through her business she is building a network of riders who accept small jobs across London via an app.

The burgeoning company is based in Farringdon and specialises in the distribution of “unique and bespoke” goods, using oldschool bicycle delivery. She has also found success with a simple flower delivery service called Petal and Cycle. Though the 29 year-old believes being a woman in a male dominated society has played to her advantage, her greatest challenge has been the work culture here. In an interview with Asian Achievers Awards, she said, “US has far fewer barriers. They refer you and pass around your information without expectations, but in London it is a bit transactional.”

Young and vivacious Shrimoyee Chakraborty started her restaurant Calcutta Street in Fitzrovia to make homemade Bengali food the 'talk of the town'. Within a year she has opened a second branch in Brixton, but 28 year old Shrim thinks running a business at a young age is a huge challenge in itself. “As a young woman boss, it is a challenge to get people to accept your views. Getting funds to start a business in the UK was the easy part, the hardest is the day to day running of the business. From the outside it

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

looks all glamorous, but it is pure and thankless hard work.”

Ganesh Rao, won a £10,000 prize from Sir Stelios’s easyGroup to launch a new Easy brand. The website specialises in matching up like-skilled tennis players to cavort with relish across the nation. Ganesh was in between jobs, when he joined a tennis club and realised that he had no one to play with. So he created an online tennis club and launched it straight after Wimbledon. Explaining one of his greatest challenges he said, “I used to be a doctor. So giving up medicine to start a business was initially a tough decision. But I was a lot more passionate about tennis and there is nothing more rewarding than doing what you love, every day. The internet has made starting a business easier and cheaper, and more Asians are starting businesses after realising that you don’t have to be a doctor or lawyer to be successful!”

sit down and “Don’t wait for the

opportunities to come.

Get up and make them!

” - Madam CJ Walker

Self-made Nikki Gupta is the Co-Founder and Director of ‘Mark It!!’, an instantly trending business responsible for a nifty new Maths app that helps students “master A Level questions” and get them exam success.

Speaking about her biggest challenge she said, “For me it came from having to wear lots of hats at once. We had very little experience so a lot of 'hustle' was involved! Being Indian was surprisingly only an issue when it came to justifying my career choice to my own family. My successes were not necessarily celebrated the same way as qualifying to become a surgeon. This makes me sad because in so many ways, doing something on your own and outside of the norm is the new face of professional challenge. I wish it was rewarded more with encouragement.”

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

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Women

Breaking the glass ceiling

S

elf-confidence, overcoming setbacks, having the determination to succeed, not compromising oneself and being prepared to do the jobs no one else wants to do are some of the keys to commercial success, according to British Asian women.

Whilst those the Awards interviewed still felt there was a double glass ceiling in the British workplace, they also thought it was slowly being broken.

“There is no secret to success, it's a lot of hard work and persistence,” explained Elena Fernandes, a British model of mixed Indian heritage.

“It's easy to give up, it's harder to keep getting back up after each rejection but the key is to keep pushing. Believe in yourself,” she said adding, expectations Indian women would stay at home had largely disappeared and they were now “encouraged to strive for the stars.”

“There are more Indians in the modelling industry and I'm happy to represent Indian culture along with my colleagues to diversify the industry so that it is more reflective of society,” she added.

British Indian women can be stereotyped as lacking in assertiveness and “weak decision makers” lamented Rehana Ameer, the first Indian-born woman to be elected a Councillor to the City of London and founder of IT consultancy Prosap Corporation Ltd. A barrier she faced was whether an Indian origin woman could lead multimillion pound large cross country projects. “There are not enough high-profile British Indian women role models to imagine women running the show,” she opined.

But to navigate disruptive trends, businesses ought to harness the power of diverse thinking and hire women from diverse ethnic backgrounds, she said.

And it was networking and conducting research and collecting data set her apart from the competition.

However boardroom positions in the UK are still dominated by white middle-class males, pointed out Dame Asha Khemka DBE DL, Principal and Chief Executive of West Nottinghamshire College Group, the first Indian-born dame in living history. “This situation is worse for Asian women as they cope with the double prejudices, a double-glazed glass ceiling,” she said.

The first woman to study law at Oxford, Indian barrister Cornelia Sorabji

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

But it is “not the challenges that life throws at us that define us, but how we respond to those challenges”, she said. “I always took on the jobs that no one else would take on because they were seen as too hard. That is how you make a name for yourself. I carved out a niche for myself. I was also not willing to change who I am to fit a mould. “ Khemka, who grew up in Bihar, added: “My Indian heritage has given me so much – my optimistic outlook, my entrepreneurial spirit and relentless determination.

“India made me and Britain enabled me and gave me the opportunity to shine.”

It was the Indian upbringing of Nadra Ahmed OBE, Executive Chairman, National Care Association too, that helped her excel in the care sector, which has a large Asian presence. She grew up with a strong respect for elderly people.

She believes you should “never be afraid to challenge if you can back it, with up with facts” and “work towards an improvement agenda rather than blaming a system.”

“Being British Asian sometimes makes it difficult to break into the Asian hierarchy,” she said. “I tend to sense more hostility from Asian men. British society has been more accepting of Asian women in senior roles but Asian men still struggle with it.

“But we do not get to where we are on our own, we come across many people who support or oppose us and each brings its own message to strengthen us. It is important to keep your feet on the ground. I try not to ride the crest of a wave.”

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0-Media.qxp_A4 Temp 15/09/2017 18:12 Page 52

Changing media landscape Asians need to embrace new opportunities

T

he media landscape is changing at a pace hitherto unseen and technology has been at the forefront of changing trends. While this has thrown up new opportunities BAME representation in media has not kept pace with the trend.

A few months ago, a report on unequal representation and gender pay gap in media took the country by storm. The debate on lack of diversity in the media and several other fields has existed for a while but the problem persists.

It is commonly known that Asians do have preferential professions. But even if times are changing, and minority communities are entering the media world, the fact remains that only a dominant group plays the gatekeeper.

The media industry demands a high level of transparency from public and private institutions, but offers surprisingly little in return. While the few journalists hired from ethnic minority communities are offered roles such as interns, reporters or anchors, they remain a rarity among those who set the more prominent agenda- the editors, producers and senior managers.

Visual journalist and award winning British Srilankan documentary filmmaker Kannan Arunasalem believes that times are changing. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The New Yorker and AOL Originals, in addition to broadcasts on BBC and Al

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ASIAN ACHIEVERS AWARDS 2017 Asian Voice & Gujarat Samachar

Jazeera English. His films have screened at international film festivals and art museums. Speaking to the Asian Achievers Awards, he said, “Within the Sri Lankan diaspora, there has always been pressure to follow certain professions like medicine or the law. However, with greater recognition, proliferating new media platforms and social media there is growing awareness among BAME communities about new opportunities in media.”

Award winning British Bangladeshi freelance journalist Poppy Noor, who is Commissioning Editor, Guardian Housing Network, writes about class, politics and race. She has always been passionate about social justice which inspired her to become a journalist.

Speaking to us she said, “Journalism is a profession where considerable hierarchies exist, part of it is to do with class, partly gender and partly race. When you look at the editors and senior editorial members in the newsroom they are generally bereft of ethnic minorities. People tend to see you as a BAME person first and a journalist second.

Moreover there are preconceived notions about who can write about a particular subject or cover a particular story.

Understandably BAME journalists are commissioned to cover certain stories, at times, for sensitivity reasons, but it's not a healthy sign if they are asked to do stories confined to their race alone.”

Metro journalist Tanveer Mann said, “I am a woman and an Asian, so there will be hurdles to face in what is traditionally a male dominated industry.

But there has been a rise in ethnic minorities choosing careers in journalism, and that's down to the increasing number of role models.”

Speaking about glass ceilings, renowned Radio 4 journalist and British Indian author Anita Anand told us, “Have I ever faced a glass ceiling? For one, the promotion and remuneration systems in the profession are nebulous. Of late there is some transparency and I am glad about that. I want to be confident and reassured that when I encourage bright young professionals to take up media roles, they will be placed on a level playing field.

“I am delighted that more young people are thinking of taking up journalism as a career. For me journalism has always been about speaking the truth powerfully and clearly, and the voices that speak about truth should be diverse.

Diversity is strength.”

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0-Busine person.qxp_A4 Temp 15/09/2017 18:14 Page 54

Asian businesses

T

Success despite odds

he contribution of British Asian entrepreneurs to UK business is impressive. A recent report showed that Asian wealth has increased by 69% over a period of 7 years, compared to a 23% increase in UK GDP. Majority of these are 'rags to riches' stories, and today their business model has shifted from family to corporate. However their basic foundation remains strong, so do their values and ethics. British Asians in business are role models for rest of the society and they have encountered several challenges such as getting funding, finding skilled workers and in some cases, outright racism.

Shavata Singh started her business in 2000, when there was no established eyebrow grooming industry in the UK. So her biggest challenge was educating the British public about eyebrow grooming, which was not commonplace then. Now Shavata Brow Studio has 24 outlets in key locations and employs 250 staff.

live on nothing, leaving him running the business. “I was getting abused on the phone and people were breaking windows,” he said. But it was a phone call in which a competitor called him a “Paki” and “told him to go back to Southall” that made him determined to prove them wrong.

Providence was on his side as that time British cab companies didn’t hire Asian drivers so he hired them. Later a majority of non-Asian drivers stopped working in the trade, so he bought the other cab companies out, and before long he had dominated the area.

Twenty eight years later Jassi's business is worth millions and employs 400 drivers. But now he faces the disruptive threat of Uber. To counter that he is adding minibuses and executive cars to his offering.

Working in the travel business, the issue that Hemang Shah, director of Star Tours, initially faced was getting customers to choose him over his competitors. So he decided

“The world will not remember what you say, but it will certainly not forget what you have done.

” - Jack Ma

Her next challenge was finding therapists who were happy to do just eyebrows. “I didn’t do business studies so making staff contracts and negotiating product prices were all challenges,” she said.

“There is always someone cheaper round the corner so you have to make sure your customer service is excellent and you invest heavily in competent staff,” she added, saying she had no investors when she started off and had to work on the shop floor.

For Caparo Group Founder Lord Swraj Paul, the hardest thing for an immigrant businessman is to establish his credibility. He said, “The greatest challenge as an immigrant is to establish one’s credibility through hard work, determination and integrity.”

The biggest hurdle Gurdev Jassi, Chief Executive of Skyex faced when he started his minicab business in Hillingdon, a predominantly white area, in 1989, was racism. “A lot of people in the area then did not like Asian owners and cab drivers,” he said. His business partner pulled out after six weeks saying that he could not afford to

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to offer services that mainstream tour operators could not, such as integrating kitchen caravans within the business.

This enabled him to offer authentic Indian meals to customers, thus tapping into a nice market.

His business grew through word-of-mouth.

“Never lose focus even during tough times. When you put customer service at the forefront of everything, you become a trustworthy brand and customers will return,” he advised.

For Rajbir Singh Manak, owner of construction group Akaal, the key challenge has been to find skilled workers.

Rajbir who employs more than 200 staff told the Asian Achievers Awards, “Brexit will adversely affect our workforce because a lot of them are European,” he said.

But to counter that Akaal is offering in-house training and they are considering building parts of homes in offsite factories. According to Manak the secret to success was a thorough understanding of your industry and figuring out how to deliver the best service at the best price, even when you do not get the best price from your suppliers.

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Ernst & Young

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EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services they deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. EY develops outstanding leaders who deliver on the promises to all of their stakeholders. In so doing, they play a critical role in building a better working world for their people, for their clients and for their communities. EY refers to the global organisation and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organisation, please visit ey.com.

Shanti Hospitality Shanti Hospitality Group Limited the hospitality subsidiary of C&C Alpha Group Ltd. It is a hotel and restaurant business with international brands and assets including the award-winning destination spa Ananda in the Himalayas, Nira Hotels & Resorts and Nidra Hotels. Shanti Hospitality’s current portfolio and pipeline projects spread across Asia, Europe and the Indian sub-continent. Shanti Hospitality currently owns 12 operational hotels across the globe.

What distinguishes Shanti Hospitality’s business is the constant commitment to providing quality, comfort and uncompromising service to all its guests. These values apply to all brand segments within the Shanti Hospitality group – ranging from an award-winning destination spa, to 5-Star business hotels, lifestyle boutique resorts, and midmarket leisure and city hotels.

Edwardian Hotels Edwardian Hotels London is one of the largest in the UK's hotel sector. The success story of the company goes back to 1977 when its current Chairman and Founder Jasminder Singh OBE bought the Vanderbilt Hotel in South Kensington.

While nine of the hospitality chain's hotels are within central London, it also owns the Radisson Edwardian Heathrow, New Providence Wharf Hotel in Canary Wharf and Radisson Blu Edwardian in Manchester. The group has also launched a number of successful restaurant concepts across several of its hotels – May Fair Kitchen, Scoff & Banter, Annayu and Steak & Lobster are some of them. Its 13th property and its first 5 star is The Hampshire – a prestigious 350-bedroom hotel, currently under construction in Leicester Square. With beautiful rooms and suites, it will contain an Odeon cinema, restaurant and bar concepts, meeting and event spaces. Says Jasminder Singh, “London offers visitors and the people who live here so much – from entertainment and culture, to architecture and education. I wanted to develop hotels in prime locations to not only take advantage of all that, but to become part of the fabric of the city itself.”

Regent Group Regent group has a passion for education; helping learners to excel personally, academically and professionally. Established in 2000, and based in north-west London, they are experienced providers, delivering quality education from nursery, through tuition services and full-time secondary school, to further and higher education and executive leadership courses.

Regent Group's aim is to build a 21st century education model for future world learners and their vision is to become a leading provider of quality education, enriching the lives of the students and the communities in which they live and work.

The group's learners benefit from a personalised study programme tailored to their needs and aspirations and their team has years of experience, sharing a passion for education with a strong desire to help learners achieve their full potential.

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Our Sponsors

Galliard Homes

Founded in 1992 and with over 700 staff, Galliard is a property development, hospitality and management group overseeing mixed-use, residential, hotel and commercial projects across London and southern England. The Group has a £3.95 billion portfolio under construction which includes 6,905 homes and 341 hotel suites.

State Bank of India - UK State Bank of India (SBI), with a 200-year heritage, is the largest commercial bank in India in terms of assets, deposits, profits, branches, customers and employees.

The Bank has been operating in the UK for the past 95 years and has grown to become the largest international operation of State Bank of India. Whilst the bank’s heritage in the UK began in wholesale banking, it has successfully launched a retail offering in recent years and was recently awarded a commendation in the ‘Best No Notice Account Provider’ category for its Instant Access Savings Account at the Moneyfacts Awards 2016. SBI UK has recently added a new look and feel to most to its UK branches to align them with high street presence while enabling greater access to the bank’s services of savings products, buy to let mortgages, safe deposit boxes, business accounts and NRI services such as remittances to India. SBI UK has reaffirmed its commitment to the UK market through two new branches in London at Ilford and Hounslow and plans to incorporate a UK subsidiary during the next year as it plans to continue with its retail presence in the coming years.

Axiom Stone Solicitors Axiom Stone is a successful legal practice based in London (Edgware, Middlesex & Mayfair).They represent clients both nationally and internationally and provide legal solutions to a myriad of issues.

Axiom Stone continues to grow from strength to strength. Indeed, have now becoming the preferred legal partner to many businesses within London, across the UK and internationally. Their friendly, yet robust approach allows them to innovatively provide strong legal advice and representation in numerous fields including litigation, property, corporate and commercial. They also specialise in legal matters related to the healthcare industry and provide a niche service to entrepreneurs and medium to large sized businesses.

Rational FX RationalFX was established in 2005 as a private forex services company. They are authorized by the FCA and to date have transferred over $5 billion for their clients. They offer a multilingual online payment system for approximately 20,000 private and corporate clients. They offer highly competitive exchange rates and quick forex transfer times for private clients and businesses. RationalFX helps individual clients in a variety of capacities, from regular and one-off money transfers online, to moving money for emigration and making payments for tuition or for property and mortgages. RationalFX is an independent foreign exchange service provider based in the UK with additional offices in France, Poland, and Spain.

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Sow & Reap

Our Sponsors

Sow & Reap was established in 2004 and has a track record sourcing, refurbishing, developing, renting and selling properties in central London for its clients. The company has recently evolved into land acquisition assembling an excellent team to gain planning permission for its investors.

In August 2017, for example, Sow & Reap was given the go ahead for the development of 92 apartments in North London. The Sow & Reap team include architects, an array of specialist consultants and planning experts as well as political lobbyists. Thus, in addition to its central London property experience, Sow & Reap is able to add tremendous value for its clients finding and developing land. The largest profits margins are often made at the land stage of a deal, so this expertise is very valuable to investors seeking strong returns.

Nine Group Nine Group owns, develop and manage multiple branded hotels in the UK. In additionto this, the group also are a major commercial investor in UK real estate.They have completed various large residential developments. They have also acquired various distressed investment portfolios and currently, through various acquisitions own over 16 hotels and hundreds of commercial and residential units.

Their growth rate over the last two years hasmade them one of the fastest private hotel companies in the UK employing over 800 people.

Skylord Travel

Skylord Travel has been established since 1983 and are one of the largest travel companies in the UK. For yearsthey have supplied flights to travel agents all over the country, growing year on year.They now have a team of over 100 in 6 offices, from whichthey have 4 offices in UK spread around Eastcote, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester and 2 in India.

Skylord Travel.com have grown from issuing a few thousand tickets a year to now issuing over 80,000 tickets a year, all this with a negligible complaint rate.

Pure Heaven

Pure Heaven is Sun Mark's own label brand. Sunmark was founded in 1995 by Rami Ranger and operates from its head office in Greenford, Middlesex. Sun Mark, in partnership with its sister company Sea Air & Land Forwarding Ltd, was founded with the purpose to provide customers an end to end service for marketing and distribution of FMCG products. Sun Mark focuses on approaching traditionally hard to reach markets around the world and provides both its own label and leading brands such as Heinz, Mondelez, Nestle and Unilever amongst others to certain territories worldwide. Sun Mark is also a leading member of the Landmark Wholesale group.

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CONTENT

Editor/Publisher: CB Patel

Chief Executive Officer: L. George

Managing Editor: Kokila Patel

Associate Editor: Rupanjana Dutta Deputy Editor: Urja Patel

News Editor: Kamal Rao

Advertising Manager: Kishor Parmar

Head of Sales & Marketing: Rovin J George

Head - New Projects & Business Development: Cecil Soans Graphic Designers: Harish Dahya & Ajay Kumar Customer Service: Ragini Nayak

Interviews/Articles by: Naomi Canton, Rupanjana Dutta, Sunetra Senior and Cecil Soans

Asian Business Publications Ltd Karma Yoga Houes 12 Hoxton Market London N1 6HW Tel: 020 7749 4085 Email: aveditorial@abplgroup.com www.abplgroup.com ŠAsian Business Publications Ltd

Programme Editor's Message Message by Prime Minister Theresa May Message by Mayor Sadiq Khan Message by Rt Hon Keith Vaz, MP Compere Panel of Judges The Finalists: Professional of the year Sports personality of the year Entrepreneur of the year Achievement in arts and culture Achievement in media Uniformed and civil services Woman of the year Achievement in media Business person of the year The Akshaya Patra Foundation Charity auctioneer of the evening Our sponsors Articles: The power of inspirational role models Helping thy neighbour Aiming for inclusion Young entrepreneurs making a mark Asian businesses - success despite odds Women - Breaking the glass ceiling Sport- More Asian representation need of the hour Diversity Matters Rising diversity in art and culture Changing media landscape

Congratulations to all nominees and winners of the 17th Asian Achievers Awards

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