The Indian entrepreneur Dr Richie Nanda won the Entrepreneur of the Year award at the Asian Achievers Awards (AAA) 2014.
This accolade is his 65th award in his career. At a gala at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on September 19, Keith Vaz, Labour MP and Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee and Lord Navnit Dholakia presented Dr Richie Nanda with the award. The chief guest at the event was Phillip Hammond, Conservative MP and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
Dr Nanda is the Executive Chairman of TOPSGRUP, the Indian security company, and The Shield Group, the UK security company.
He said afterwards: ‘I am so humbled, overwhelmed, and extremely honoured to have been presented with this prestigious award for entrepreneurship. I would like to thank the judging panel and to all those who have contributed to our success. As I always say, my achievements are as much down to the talent, dedication and hard work of my entire team. This award is as much theirs at it is mine, as they have worked tirelessly to develop and grow our companies to the success story that the brand has become today. We have tremendous plans for the future of The Shield Group and our aim is to make it the UK’s number one business security solutions provider.’
The Asian Achievers Awards recognises the achievements of those from various professions within UK’s Asian community. Hosted by Asian Business Publications Ltd (ABPL), publishers of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, the event is now in its 14th year. The evening saw a guest list of luminaries from the Indo-British community, including industry captains from business, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, entertainment and sport, high-level decision makers, Parliamentarians, community leaders and professionals.
Other winners included Hanif Kureshi CBE for Media, Arts and Culture; Mahmud Kamani, co-founder of boohoo.com for Business Person of the Year; and Wasim Khan MBE, the first British-Pakistani to play professional cricket in England, for Achievement in Community Service. The chosen charity partner was the Cherie Blair Foundation For Women.
Speaking at the event, Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond said: “There is much to celebrate in the contribution of British Asians made to our national life – be it in sports, in culture, in academia, in public service and in community life. But perhaps most strikingly and most dramatically in business and the professions where the British Asian community punches well above its weight and produces some outstanding successes … the PM has asked me specifically to add his congratulations to all of you.”
