Asian Voice - Saturday 19th May 2012
Leading Lights
by Rani Singh
Special Assignments Editor
Abdul Khan, 26 Abdul Khan is the Founder and CEO of ratethatcurry.com. He was a digital marketer with a degree in Management and Marketing from De Montfort University. Abdul is a Virgin Media Pioneer – part of a free and open online peer-to-peer community for young entrepreneurs – and was asked to represent the UK at the 2011 G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Summit. Through Virgin Media Pioneers he represented aspiring business leaders, campaigning to change the UK’s approach to financing youth enterprise. His recommendations were implemented in the 2012 Budget. Q Tell me about your family. My late father, Jahir Khan, came to the UK from Bangladesh in the 60s. He saved enough money to buy a restaurant in Manchester and brought my mother, Piara Khatun and my siblings here. I was born the day after Ma landed in the UK. My father had a number of restaurants and takeaways, but would not allow us to have it easy and work for him; he wanted us to be educated. Q How was the idea of Rate That Curry born? After securing my dream job in digital marketing, I attended a conference in Oxford. I was craving home-cooked curry, so I asked the hotel manager for a recommendation. She advised me to look online as she wasn’t from the area. After searching, I was surprised that there wasn’t a website for finding a curry house in an unfamiliar town. My taxi driver’s recommendation didn’t please my taste buds so I did further research. The idea was born; I was awake till the early hours with the excitement of writing my first business plan and purchasing several domains that related to ratethatcurry.com. Q What did you do next? I presented the idea to my family and friends. I was eager to leave my job that weekend! I was approached by a family friend who asked if I knew anyone who would create a website for his business. Food outlets struggle to attract business because often their marketing efforts are limited to leafleting. A marketing principle is to increase perceived value – so now I help businesses by designing websites at attractive prices.
Q How did you come across Virgin Media Pioneers? I found Virgin Media Pioneers when Googling ‘starting up a business’ and registered with their online community of entrepreneurs last year. I attended several of their free workshops and was interviewed by a film crew for their promotional material. I was asked if I would be one of three Pioneers to champion the concerns of aspiring entrepreneurs to the UK government. I volunteered to be a part of the Control Shift campaign.
We are standing on the shoulders of our forefathers – due to their success and struggles, many of us are educated and enjoying comfortable lifestyles Q What is the Control Shift campaign? Control Shift is a report submitted to the government. It was announced at a festival where I sat on a panel alongside Vince Cable MP; I asked him what the government was doing to make finance available to young entrepreneurs. He replied with no distinctive answer. Later on I attended a workshop with Virgin Media Pioneers, the Prince’s Trust and leaders from start-up organizations in the UK. I asked, ‘If I could easily get a loan to study an MA in business enterprise, why is it so difficult for me to get finance when I want to implement this knowledge?’ I was then invited to Westminster to present the idea of youth investment. In March this year, the government announced a £10 million pilot Young Enterprise Loan scheme.
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9 UK UK plans to open 5 curry colleges ly grow from that base. Suzy Jackson of the Hospitality Guild told an Indian daily, “If recruits sign up to a curry college, they get six weeks of training which includes working in a kitchen. So it’s real hands on stuff. They will then get a guaranteed interview with one of our employers, which could lead to a twoyear apprenticeship and they will have then got a real good chance of getting a job.for life.” But Indian restaurateur Rajesh Suri told the same daily that it would be
The British government on one hand has closed doors to foreign chefs, but on the other they have committed 1.75 million to open five curry colleges to teach Britons how to cook Indian food. This has apparently become necessary after the government effectively barred entry of chefs from the subcontinent as part of a policy to tighten immigration and reduce the number of settlers from outside the European Union. The colleges are aiming to take in 50 students in the first year, but quick-
impossible to fill the jobs overnight. “Training people takes three to four years.” “The immigration cap is a big blow to the industry. The local curry house has been hit the hardest. They are disappearing because people cannot get the staff,” said Suri. Under the new immigration rules, chefs can only be recruited from abroad for posts paying over 28,000 a year, exclusive of accommodation and meals. They must also have five or more year experience.
Britons travel round the world in taxi
Abdul Khan
Q What was it like being apart of the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Summit? The Institute of Directors selected me to be one of 400 delegates. I learnt how India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and others encourage enterprise. I met Prof Mohammed Yunus who said I should take every misfortune and turn it into a positive.
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Q What’s the future for Rate That Curry and for you? We want to launch and grow ratethatcurry.com by serving the owners of food outlets with new marketing strategies. We are standing on the shoulders of our forefathers – due to their success and struggles, many of us are educated and enjoying comfortable lifestyles. We will offer print services, PR consultancy and web design to our clients.
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ing their record-breaking trip. The trio, from Birmingham’s Aston University, have already set a new Guinness World Record for the highest taxi journey after reaching 5,300 metres above sea level with Hannah at Mount Everest’s base camp.
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Q How were your ideas taken up after that? The night of submitting the report to the government, I attended a Virgin Media reception, where I was offered a free desk at Somerset House by Steve Good, the CEO of The Big Society Network. Ex-Dragon Doug Richard has supported me. I have met with Sir Richard Branson on several occasions; his favourite curry spot will soon be announced on ratethatcurry.com.
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Johno Ellison, 28 — drove across four continents and 50 different countries in their trusty diesel motor, affectionately called Hannah, the Daily Express reported. They had set out from London in February 2011 and returned home on last Thursday after complet-
Three Britons in their 20s have undertaken a recordbreaking trip around the world in a cab, travelling over 43,000 miles (over 69,000 km) with 80,000 pounds (about $128,600) on the meter. The three friends Paul Archer, 25, Leigh Purnell, 24, and
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