Pictured: Nasir Awan (IAB), Manjeet Kumari Lal (Walsall
College),Nadim Iftikhar Choudary and Malik Karim (Keynote
Speaker)
A Northampton-based pizza entrepreneur has scooped two out of
the three awards up for grabs at this year's Institute of Asian
Businesses (IAB) annual dinner.
Nadim Iftikar Choudary was named 'Business Person of the Year',
and his company, Nas Manna Ltd, won 'Business of the
Year'.
Nas Manna operates 11 Pizza Hut franchises in the Midlands,
Nottingham and Greater Manchester, and employs 450 staff.
The company began life when it opened its first franchise in
2005, in Stourbridge, when Nadim was just 18.
Nas Manna's real growth has come in the past year, during which
time it has acquired eight sites, with turnover rising from
£1.4m to £4m in the same period.
The third award winner, 'International Trade', was won by
Walsall College, for its impressive efforts in building up the
number of overseas students it has attracted since 2006.
Then, it had 100 overseas students, compared to 322 in
2010/11.
Runners up in the three categories were Sukhdev Bajwa and Anita
Champaneri ('Business Person of the Year'); Electro Centre and
Chana Catering ('Business of the Year'); and Perfection Foods Ltd
and Firstpress Plastic Moulders Ltd ('International Trade').
IAB president Nasir Awan said: "We had an overwhelming number of
entries this year which we were quite surprised about - we were
slightly disappointed that some potential winners didn't give us
sufficient data and proof to support their applications, but on the
whole the quality of entrants was high.
"Nadim Iftikar Choudary was an inspiring winner in two
categories - when you take on a franchise you still have to make
quite an outlay and franchisors can be quite demanding, and we were
impressed by how he met those conditions.
"Walsall College made an impression on us because they have been
prepared to look outside a small area of the West Midlands to
attract students and they are an inspiration to other businesses to
look outside their locality and country."
Guest speaker at the awards was leading City financial adviser
Malik Karim.
During his career, Mr Karim has advised leading financial
institutions and governments on more than 50 transactions worth 40
billion US dollars.
In 2004, he was appointed as independent investment banking
corporate in relation to Ernst and Young's successful defence of a
£3.6 billion claim from Equitable Life.