Editorial

One of the last duties of any Lord Provost is to present their own awards and the city’s Loving Cup at a grand civic dinner. Bob Winter who has been Lord Provost for the past five years took great delight in hosting the chosen individuals who have brought honour to the city in many categories.

It is precisely that positive outlook that gives new energy to Glasgow and to its citizens. The place needs people who are DOING good things – often unknown outside their own circle of expertise or interest.

So it will be interesting to see what new energy the councillors who succeed in being elected in May, bring to the job and to the Council Chambers. They are, after all, the elected representatives who steer the Dear Green Place through good times and bad.

Let’s hope that the LOVING CUP is one they can all drink from together.

Thumbs up for the wee shops

 

Four Glasgow businesses have been recognised as among the best independent retailers in Scotland. At the United Wholesale Scotland awards ceremony on Thursday 13 October, Rox Diamond, Priceless Computing, City Dry Cleaners and icafe all stepped up to the podium.
More than 4000 votes were received from all over Scotland from independent retailers.

Said Asim Sarwar, director of the sponsor company United Wholesale Scotland: ‘I’m very proud to be associated with this event. The foundation of my business is working with small independent retailers to help them succeed. So I’m very pleased to recognise the achievements of those who particularly excel.’
Irfan Younis, Director of Creative Oceanic, the event organisers, said: ‘All the winners and nominees are excellent examples of the wonderful range of independent retailers we have in this country. I truly believe Scotland has some of the best retailers in the world and that is something we should celebrate.’
Accessories Retailer of the Year went to Rox Diamond. Technology Retailer of the Year went to Priceless Computing. Service Provider of the Year went to City Dry Cleaners. Eatery of the Year went to iCafé.

Awards as Sports Council goes distance

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The Sports Council for Glasgow breasted the tape at their 30^th anniversary recently with a family gathering and awards dinner at St Andrews in the Square.

Twenty-one sports and more than 30 clubs were represented, with the evening compered by veteran Herald athletics journalist Doug Gillon.

Attended by 140 people,  59 of them, who have been volunteering in Glasgow sports clubs for 30 years or more, received a special plaque and certificate recognising their long service.

Two founder members of the Sports Council also received special awards. Bob Stephen and Dick Rafferty from athletics and boxing were elected to the very first executive committee of the Sports Council in May 1979.

Colin Atkinson, chairman of the Sports Council for Glasgow, said: ‘The evening was a great success and was enjoyed by all. Too often, the tremendous work done by volunteers goes largely unrewarded. I hope that by organising these awards and this presentation ceremony, the Sports Council for Glasgow has recognised the importance of volunteers to sport in the city and helped to express to the recipients how valuable their commitment has been over the last 30 years and more.’

 

Scottish Asian Business Awards spotlight for Maq Rasul

The achievements of tycoon Maqbool Rasul have been recognised with a lifetime achievement gong at this year’s Scottish Asian Business Awards (SABA).
The retailing entrepreneur, who arrived in Scotland from Pakistan in 1964 and who over the years has built a business empire that included grocery shops, video rental chains and now a property and investment portfolio, received his award from Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy.
The event, at the Crown Plaza in Glasgow, turned the spotlight on the cream of the Scottish Asian business community. Guests included First Minister Alex Salmond and Shadow UK Communities Minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.
The Business of the Year Award went to Deepak Poddar’s Little Einstein’s nurseries chain, which now employs 250 people across seven sites.
Arshad Ali was named Businessman of the Year for building his Scottish Centre for Dental Excellence. The highly-regarded practitioner is the driving force behind the £3m operation in Govan which has been shortlisted for this year’s Private Dentistry Awards.
Businesswoman of the Year is Poonam Gupta, who started waste management company PG Paper in 2003 and has driven it to a £10m turnover in the face of an economic gale.
The Small Business of the Year Award went to Lets Direct, a property management firm which operates in the UK and the United Arab Emirates.
Still in the property industry, the husband-and-wife team of Bobby and Preet Sandhu scooped the Young Achievers of the Year award for their Happy Lets company, which manages a portfolio worth £60m and has ambitious expansion plans in the pipeline.
Alex Salmond presented the Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Yasmin Khanam of DPI Investments, which looks after overseas interests of high net worth clients.
The Franchisee of the Year Award went to Azeem Arshad of Baguette Express, who runs two outlets in Glasgow and who plans to expand operations into Northern England.
The Community Award went to Nari Kallyan Shangho, health and welfare organisation based in Edinburgh.

Glasgow leads the way Asian awards

This year’s Scottish Asian Business Awards will take place at the Crowne Plaza, Glasgow on November 11.

The awards, which pay tribute to the work and achievements of Asian-led businesses of all shapes and sizes and the entrepreneurs who lead them, will feature guests including First Minister Alex Salmond, Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy, Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action, Baroness Sayeeda Warsa, and Glasgow entrepreneur Charan Gill.

The awards fall into eight categories, and Glasgow businesses are well represented in this year’s competition.

Baguette Express franchisee Azeem Arshad, 23, is a finalist in the Young Achiever of the Year category. Azeem has two franchises in the city, with a number of others in the pipeline. In the summer, he became the master franchisee for north-east England.

Joining Azeem as candidates for the young achiever award are husband-and-wife team Bobby and Preet Sandhu, who manage a £60m property portfolio in Glasgow and Lanarkshire under the Happy Lets banner. Bobby, 27, and Preet, 26, are looking to grow their business from 800 to 5000 properties in five years.

Edinburgh-based Shiriram Shrikumar was 18 when he began building websites in his bedroom. A decade later, he leads Kraya, which employs 22 people and has a projected annual turnover of £720,000.

Glasgow dominates in the Small Business of the Year category. Lets Direct, established in 1989, is one of the city’s oldest and largest professional property management firms with teams in both the UK and the United Arab Emirates.

Adding a taste of Asian food to the competition, Strawberry Gardens was established in 1990 in Pollokshields. A leading employer in its field, the company is the biggest provider of Asian foods in Scotland and has a staff of more than 25 people.

Splash arrived on the city’s car valeting scene in 2007 with a flagship outlet in Dalmarnock. Two years later, there are five Splash branches in the city and more in the pipeline for 2010.

Business of the Year finalists demonstrate the diversity of talent within Scotland’s Asian community.

Deepak Poddar’s inspirational Little Einstein’s nurseries are among the country’s top five private providers of childcare, looking after more than 750 youngsters daily at seven sites. Enjoying a turnover of some £5m the company has a staff of 250.

Supinder Puhja and Nisha Enterprises were on the acquisition trail recently, adding Golden Cross snacks, a manufacturer of corn snacks, to a packaging business that specialises in confectionery, nuts and ethnic snacks.

The Scottish Centre for Excellence in Dentistry, under the guiding hand of Arshad Ali, was unveiled in April of this year. The £3m surgery at Watermark Business Park has been shortlisted in the prestigious Private Dentistry Award to be held in London. The practice has 37 members of staff and a turnover of £2.8m in the last financial year.

Azeem Arshad is vying with with Nabeed Ramzan of Subway and Ishaq Khan of Chicken Cottage for the title of Franchisee of the Year.

Nabeed has two stores in Scotland and won the company’s Franchisee of the Year for the UK and Ireland for sales performance, community involvement and brand building.

At 35, Ishaq is a veteran of the fast food business. In early 2009, he took over Chicken Cottage in Victoria Road. A unit in Shawlands and the Chicken Cottage Southside territory was acquired.

Glasgow – The Caring City is a Community Award finalist for its humanitarian relief work. Also entered in the category are Sam and Sunita Poddar, who purchased Little Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde and established a five-star Pranayan Yog and Ayurved medicine retreat there, the first outside of India.

The Poddars run the UK branch of the Patanjali Yog Peeth Trust, a registered charity and sister organisation to Guru Swami Ramdev’s Indian organisation.

The third finalist is Nari Kallyan Shango, a health and welfare organisation established in Edinburgh 22 years ago that works to improve the well-being of South Asian women and children.

Businesswoman of the Year finalists are Jinder Padda, Sarah Ali Khalid and Poonam Gupta.

Jinder has run establishments including the Elms Court Hotel and the Balbirs restaurant chain. Her current projects include the Rebel Rouge hair and beauty salon business.

Sarah has exhibited an entrepreneurial streak from her secondary school days, when she sold her father’s knitwear to fellow pupils.

After a year of research and planning, she set up Honey Boutique this summer with the help of Business Gateway and Scottish Enterprise.

Poonam Gupta started PG Paper in 2003. PG seeks solutions to industrial waste problems and has secured many business partnerships around the world. In 2008-09, turnover almost doubled to more than £10m, despite the challenging economic conditions; turnover is expected to grow a further 50% in the next two years.

PG’s Puneet Gupta is a final for Businessman of the Year award. He joined his wife in the company in 2005 and helped drive PG to new opportunities and increased turnover. Despite challenging economic conditions, PG’s turnover is more than £10m in 2008/2009 and expected to grow by 50% in the next two years.

Also in the running for Businessman of the Year is Arshad Ali of the Scottish Centre for Excellence in Dentistry.

Shaf Rasul, who has recently become a ‘dragon’ in the BBC Online version of the Dragon’s Den television series, is the third nominee.

Shaf, already a high-profile businessman, established E-Net Computers in 1999. A decade on, he has grown the company into the largest storage media distributor in Europe and one of the world’s leading buyers of optical storage products.

Shaf also has a strong venture capital investment portfolio focussed on internet, asset management and property.

Alongside Deepak Poddar of Little Einstein’s, Yasmin Khanum of DPI Investments is a finalist for the Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Yasmin started DPI five years ago to provide high net worth clients a vehicle for overseas investments.

The Scottish Asian Business Awards will announce its lifetime achiever on the night.