Celebrating British Asians ‘Proud’ Contribution
Paul Sabapathy, Lord Lieutenant for the West Midlands, has claimed that British Asians should be proud of their contribution to British life, however, there is more to be done. There were roles at local schools, local colleges and other public appointments where British Asians could still play a greater role. Mr Sabapathy then continued to outline the difficulties faced by the first influx of Asians in the 1950’s and 1960’s but re-iterated that this was no longer the case and that they were participating fully and should continue to do so in British life. He finally spoke about the need to celebrate success and lamented on the fact that very few British Asians and in particular the West Midlands region were being recognised in the honours list. This, he argued, was largely due to a reticence to be recognised for all the good work that happens with Asian communities and in the West Midlands region as a whole.
The inaugural Signature awards celebrated a number of awards included excellence in a number of categories including finance, law, banking, land, architecture and Property development, business, owner practice and finally an award for excellence in diversity. Other awards categories also included Young professional of the year and a final award for the business professional of the year.
List of Winners:
Excellence in Finance
Satvir Bangar (BDO)
Excellence in Law
Narita Bahra (2 Hare Court)
Excellence in Banking
Mandeep Rajput (Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank)
Young Professional of the Year
Sukhjeevan Nat (Santander Bank)
Excellence in Land, Architecture and Property Development
Dean Chudasama (Damson Homes)
Excellence in Business
Rai Singh (Pushkars)
Excellence in Professions for Owner Practice
Kavita Kaur Bachada (PEL Solicitors)
Diversity Award
Manjit Kang (NatWest)
Business Professional of the Year
Naheed Afzal (IT contracts)
The headline sponsor for the event was BooomTV and other sponsors included: Cartwright King, Quick books, Divya Group, East End foods, Printmedia, Winter Palace, Turkish Airlines and Jaguar.
Mr Ninder Johal of Nachural , the organiser of the event and who is also president of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce and a Black Country LEP board member spoke about the positive growth of the UK over the last 12 months but warned about the slowing down of the global economy and in particular the problems surrounding the Eurozone. He also emphasized the need to concentrate on the importance of education and how this will impinge on the ability of the UK to remain competitive in the global marketplace. He warned on the need to have a balanced economy both in terms of sectoral coverage but also from a geographical basis where London was still seen as overheating. He also warned the region to collaborate and work together in order to safeguard funding for crucial issues such as transport infrastructure and local skills development.
Lovebrum was the charity on the night and where over 300 people attended. Host for the evening was BBC presenter Tommy Sandhu and music was produced by Achanak.
PHOTO GALLERY: http://on.fb.me/1NakmMF
