The 20th annual Asian Business Awards (ABA), which honours outstanding business leaders in the UK, took place tonight in London’s Park Plaza hotel. The night also saw the launch of the 2017 Asian Rich List, which profiles the top 101 highest earners in the British Asian community. The compilation is the definitive guide to Asian wealth in Britain and a window to the economic achievements of a community.
Surinder Arora, founder and chairman of the Arora Group collected the prestigious Asian Business of the Year award. The Arora Group is one of the UK’s largest private owner operator of hotels. Other winners on the night included Young Entrepreneur of the Year Aly Esmail, CEO of SME Group; Entrepreneur of the Year Subodh Agrawal; Chairman of Euromax Capital and the Business Personality Award winner Sri Prakash Lohia, Founder and Chairman of Indorama Group. It was a double celebration for Lohia who also ranked highly on the Asian Rich List, which was launched on the night. Lohia remained in 3rd position on the list of the UK’s wealthiest Asians, behind the Hinduja Family and Lakshmi Mittal at numbers 1 and 2 respectively.
This year, the Asian Business Awards welcomed Chief Guest, The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. During a keynote speech, Mr Khan said: “London is home to one of largest, and most diverse South Asian communities in the world, which contributes a huge amount to our city’s success – socially, culturally and economically. Nowhere is that clearer than in the business community. From retail and pharmacy to tech and innovation, the UK’s Asian business leaders are at the forefront of their respective industries. The Asian Business Awards recognises the incredible success of these leaders and I was delighted to join them and the Asian Media and Marketing Group for another fantastic evening.”
The evening was hosted by BBC Radio Five Live presenter Nihal Arthanayake and welcomed politicians, celebrities, influencers, entrepreneurs, business leaders and philanthropists to celebrate the diverse spectrum of Asian business and the significant impact made to British economy and society. Guests included Lord Tariq Ahmed, Lord Navnit Dholakia, Lord Jitesh Gadhia, Naughty Boy, Gurinder Chadha, Amrita Acharia and Riz Lateef.
Kalpesh Solanki, Group Managing Editor of AMG added: “All of the winners tonight have shown incredible business leadership and management over the last 12 months. The Asian Business landscape in the UK covers a wide range of industries and once again our winners have proved to be industry leaders at the forefront of their relevant fields. Congratulations to all of the winners and we look forward to observing their continued future success.”
Shailesh Solanki, executive editor of AMG, commented: “The Asian Rich List once again proves to be one of the most powerful compilations of business leaders in the country. This year’s list is dominated by some of the most successful entrepreneurs who have had a massive impact on the overall UK economy. As well as some familiar faces, we are delighted to see some new entries in this year’s list, showing great promise for future business leaders.”
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