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Head of
Drug Interventions at Her Majesty Prison Birmingham Charanjit Mehat
and Founder of National Halal Centres, Hafiz Muhammad Yaqoob, were
amongst the delighted winners, scooping top honours at this year's
Lloyds TSB Central Jewel Awards.
The
prestigious event, now in its fifth year, was held on Saturday 14th
July 2007 at the NEC, Hilton and played host to the cream of the
Asian community from in and around the region. The awards are held to
celebrate the huge impact of British Asians in both the public and
private sector and will reinforce Central England's reputation as a
hub of the UK's Asian economy. Estimates are that over 200,000 Asian
firms exist in the UK, many of which are based in the Midlands and
across Central England.
Seven coveted
Jewel Awards were announced for Business & Commerce Excellence;
Entrepreneur Excellence; Healthcare & Education Excellence;
Professional Excellence; Public Service Excellence; Retail Food &
Franchise Excellence; and the coveted Lifetime Achievement Jewel
Award. This year's winners are:
Business
& Commerce Excellence Jewel Award: Mohammed Iqbal
Mohammed
Iqbal's career in retail began in 1989 with Topps Tiles, progressing
to Retail Operations Director. He now runs his own business, Tile
Giant, which he acquired just over 3 years ago with 2 stores, and is
now trading with 29 stores, with a further 11 stores planned over the
next 9 months. This has created over 100 jobs throughout the
business. Through Tile Giant and its employees, Mohammed has started
a foundation charity to sponsor an orphanage in Kashmir so he can
provide a better environment and a brighter future for these
children. He is also a Director of the Minority Business Association
and actively tries to mentor and encourage young people to set up in business.
Entrepreneur
Excellence Jewel Award: Waseem Saddique
Waseem
Saddique started on the road to success in 1996, with the opening of
mobile phone retailer Mobile Connections, a part of the EverPlus
Group, in the Bordesley Green area of Birmingham. The success of
Mobile Connections led it to quickly double in size, and this growth
continues today, with a turnover of £39m generated in 2006/07.
Today, Waseem remains at the helm of the group, overlooking its
continued expansion, consolidation and diversification. He has
developed an organisation which had a combined turnover in 2006/07 of
over £74m, and which, even more impressively, has at least
doubled its turnover year on year since its creation. This growth
looks set to continue, with turnover forecast for 2007/08 at over £150m.
Healthcare
& Education Excellence Jewel Award: Asha Khemka
Asha`s story
is truly unique and an example of determination, commitment and
passion for lifelong learning, culminating in great success and
achievements not just for herself, but also for others around her.
She was born and brought up in a small village in India. She got
married at the age of 15, was a full-time housewife for 20 years and
had little opportunity for formal education. Within the space of 20
years, she has gone from being a mature student to becoming the
Principal and Chief Executive of West Nottinghamshire College, which
is one of the biggest colleges in Europe with 20,000 students and
1,200 staff. Asha is one of the only 2 female Asian principals in the
UK today.
Professional
Excellence Jewel Award: Iftkhar Ahmed
Iftkhar joined
Eversheds in 1991 as a trainee solicitor after completing his Law
Society finals at The College of Law, London. He is now an equity
partner in the firm's real estate department - the largest real
estate department in the UK. Iftkhar leads major corporate business
and has considerable experience on a wide range of commercial
property work from portfolio management through to investment and
development work. He has acted and led on some of the largest and
most significant property transactions in the country including
acting as lead advisor on the £2 billion plus securitisation of
Mitchells & Butlers Plc's pub/hotel portfolio and on Mitchells
& Butlers acquisition of 239 properties from Whitbread Group for
£500 million.
Public
Service Excellence Jewel Award: Charanjit Mehat
Charanjit was
promoted to Healthcare Senior Officer at HMP Moorlands in Doncaster
in 1999. She then gained promotion to the rank of Healthcare
Principal Officer (the highest uniformed rank within the Prison
Service) at HMP Birmingham in 2002. Since her arrival at HPM
Birmingham she has gained promotion to the Governor grades and has
managed two remand wings and is currently Head of Drug Interventions.
Charanjit is the first Asian female to get to Governor grade through
the ranks. As an only child she had the sole responsibility of
looking after her late mother and late grandmother and two young
children, whilst maintaining a successful career in the prison service.
Retail Food
& Franchise Excellence Jewel Award: Shelim Hussain MBE
Since finding
a niche in the food market, and selling his first box of frozen
prawns in January 1993, Shelim Hussain MBE has strived to make it his
own and over the past 14 years, has worked tirelessly to make a name
for himself as one of the most talented entrepreneurs in the UK. As
Chairman of the Eurofoods Group he has become a respected businessman
both within the Bangladeshi Community and also within the UK Business
Community mainly due to his acute commercial acumen and sensitive
approach to business. This has been recognised by numerous awards and
honours, including an MBE for service to business in Wales. With the
addition of factories in Bangladesh and the chicken processing plant
in Newport, Eurofoods Group now employs around 2000 people - quite a
significant achievement from someone who started selling prawns from
the back of his car.
Lifetime
Achievement Award: Hafiz Muhammad Yaqoob
When Hafiz
Muhammad Yaqoob left Pakistan more than 50 years ago little did he
know that he would become the pioneer of the Halal food industry in
UK and Europe. He was the first British Muslim businessman to set up
in Birmingham Wholesale Market, selling Halal products nationwide,
establishing Halal abattoirs, serving the community for over 41 years
through the wholesale and export industry. In 1995 he created retail
outlets, known as 'National Halal Centres,' which have now been
recognised by leading supermarkets. The first concession opened
within Tesco Extra store in Slough - a historical breakthrough for a
small British Muslim Company. He has also served the community by
being the Founder Trustee of Birmingham Central Mosque and
contributed to many charities over the years.
The Lloyds TSB
Central Jewel Awards was the second of three glittering award
ceremonies celebrating and congratulating the achievements of the
movers and shakers of UK Asian enterprise, with the final event,
Lloyds TSB Southern Jewel Awards, taking place on 15th September 2007
at Hilton Park Lane, London.
Truett Tate,
Group Executive Director, Wholesale & International Banking,
Lloyds TSB, said: "The success story of Britain's Asian
community continues to be unabated. Year after year, the shortlist
for the Lloyds TSB Jewel Awards showcases an incredible array of
talent and this year is no exception.
"Through
the Lloyds TSB Jewel Awards we want to demonstrate the achievements
of the community across the public and private sector. But that is
just the start. We have established ourselves as a bank that is
dedicated to serving Britain's communities. Our Islamic financial
products and our India Banking Service are just two examples of
initiatives we have launched to cater for the needs of our
increasingly diverse population."
Nominations
for this year's Lloyds TSB Southern Jewel Awards are still open and
can be made via a dedicated website: www.jewelawards.tv
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