21st Asian Achievers Awards – Commemorates Strong Women

PRESS RELEASE

The shortlist for potential winners of the 21st Asian Achievers Awards, the UK’s most prominent and longstanding celebration of British Asian achievement across multiple fields, are announced. This year’s Awards will take place on Friday 15th September 2023 at the prestigious London Hilton on Park Lane. Nearly 700 people are expected to attend. These high-profile guests include celebrities, senior ministers, global stars and influencers. Pakistani actress/model Ainy Jaffri Rahman (Balu Mahi) will be the evening’s co-host.

In the upcoming edition, more than 500 nominations were received across all the categories. These include: Arts And Culture, Business Person Of The Year, Community Service, Entrepreneur Of The Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, Media, Professional Of The Year Sports Personality Of The Year, Uniformed And Civil Service and Woman Of The Year. Judges were chosen to represent a wide cross-section of society from charity, public services, business, entrepreneurship and politics. Among them is Curzon PR head, Farzana Baduel. Baduel is also a trustee and serves on the board of the British Asian Trust, founded by King Charles III to tackle poverty in South Asia.

This year’s shortlist includes accomplished female personalities across various fields, with some major trailblazers across various fraternities. Arts And Culture nominee Filmmaker and activist Pratibha Parmar is a globally recognised filmmaker and human rights activist. Her works Warrior Marks and Khush helped gain pivotal rights for women and girls as well as contributing to the visibility of marginalised LGBTQIA+ communities. Business Person Of The Year nominee Nisha Katona MBE is the founder of Mowgli Street Food restaurants and the Mowgli Trust charity. She had a successful 20-year career as a child protection barrister before pursuing her passion for food. Recognised for her contributions to the culinary industry and was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire). Professional Of The Year candidate Lubna Shuja holds the distinction of being the 178th President of the Law Society of England and Wales, making her the first Asian, first Muslim, and seventh female to hold this position since the establishment of the Law Society in 1825.

In the same category as Shuja, Bina Mehta is the Chair of KPMG in the UK. She holds the distinction of being the first woman to hold this position in the company’s 150-year history. With over 30 years of experience, Bina has worked globally with businesses, providing advisory services for complex M&A transactions and cross-border restructurings. As the Chair, she is responsible for leading the Board, ensuring its effective functioning, setting the tone from the top, overseeing strategy, and holding leadership accountable. Mehta plays a pivotal role in guiding KPMG in the UK and fulfilling its responsibilities.

HHJ Anuja Ravindra Dhir QC is acknowledged for her contribution to the Uniformed And Civil Service. Dhir is a British circuit judge who achieved a significant career milestone as the first non- white judge appointed to sit full-time at the Old Bailey, one of the most renowned criminal courts in the United Kingdom. Sports Personality Of The Year nominee Naomi Dilip Dattani captains Middlesex Women. In 2020, she was one of 25 players awarded regional retainer contracts by the England and Wales Cricket Board. She started playing cricket at the age of 10 for a local cricket club, Perivale Phoenicians Cricket Club. She has hit over 2,000 career runs to date and taken 97 wickets in 50 over and T20 cricket.

Media nominee Anila Dhami is a presenter and producer who has worked for the world’s leading media companies including Channel 5 News, the BBC, ITV News, The Telegraph, ITN and Zee TV. Now, on board as the Broadcast Journalist for LBC. Her breaking news credits include some major stories including the extensive coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, how Sikhs celebrated Vaisakhi during lockdown on 5 News, and secured an exclusive interview with one of India’s biggest spiritual leaders Sri Sri Gurudev Ravi Shankar.

Woman Of The Year Nominees

Dr Lalitha Iyer: Chief Medical Officer of the NHS Frimley ICB and the board (the sole ‘Asian’ person on the board) lead for reducing health inequalities. Lalitha is also the Senior responsible Officer for the local maternity system and is leading the work on driving down inequalities in outcomes, access and experience for women from BAME communities. Bestowed the Queen’s award for voluntary work in Slough where she continues to work as GP with a special interest in women’s health. A role model of many staff in her organisation particularly from ethnic backgrounds as living proof of the fact that career progression to board level is possible.

Ridwana Wallace-Laher: Since February 2023, she has served as the CEO of Penny Appeal, the first Muslim-woman to leader a major British Muslim charity. With a distinguished career spanning over two decades, Ridwana has continuously demonstrated her exceptional leadership skills, drive for positive impact, and innovative approaches to addressing complex challenges.

Rukshana Kapasi: The first Director of Health at Britain’s largest children’s charity, Barnardo’s. Kapasi has developed and led Barnardo’s health growth strategy, value proposition, capabilities and capacity across all directorates. In year one alone, she reached 24,303 more at-risk children, via new health offers, with an overall reach of 277, 968, achieving income of £52m and growth of £5.471m. Rukshana has also secured 12 new key strategic partnerships, including with renowned health inequalities campaigner Sir Michael Marmot.

Saloni Bhijwani and Samira Ann Qassim: Samira Ann Qassim’s is a venture capitalised who co- founding Pink Salt Ventures, a micro-VC firm dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs. Saloni Bhojwani, an investor at Founders Factory has partnered up with Samira to launch a new fund that invests in female founders, which will be run alongside Pink Salt Ventures, which currently has six female-led companies. The new fund and will invest in a portfolio of 12 pre-seed and seed female-led companies in the UK. It plans to write invest on average £350k for a 5-15% stake in each business.

Speaking about this year’s programme, Liji George, Commercial Director, Asian Achievers Awards says: “We see in the Shortlist that the Awards represent the best and brightest in South Asian excellence across the country. We have community leaders, innovators and job creators that have added to the social, cultural and business fabric of the UK. Congratulations to all the shortlist and best of luck for the Awards.”

South Asians in the UK today occupy leadership positions across a range of fields, including politics, business and civil society. The Asian Achievers Awards continue to recognise the outstanding work of such individuals within the South Asian community. The event is organised by global advisory firm EPG, supported by Market Financial Solutions (MFS), Axiom DWFM, Asian Voice, Gujarat Samachar and others, with expected funds of upwards of £150,000 expected to be raised for charity partner One Kind Act on the night.

Over the last few editions, the net worth of the room has consistently been over £40 billion. Tickets and full nomination list for the event will be available at: asianachieversawards.com.

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