With her book, Making a Fortune – Learning from the Asian Phenomenon, recently published, author Spinder Dhaliwal writes to tell of the entrepreneurs who inspired it.

by Spinder Dhaliwal
Author

At the cutting edge of the British entrepreneurial community are Asian businesses. Asian wealth in the UK now is more diverse and crosses from first through to second and third generations.

This emerging and evolving Asian business community spans manufacturing, entertainment, fashion, hotels, property, food and pharmaceuticals.

Whilst programmes like the Apprentice and Dragon’s Den have popularised the brash go getting entrepreneur, in reality it is hard work, perseverance and true grit that has seen the Asian business community flourish in the UK.

But unlike Alan Sugar or Duncan Bannatyne, a lot of the Asian owned businesses are more famous than their owners. For example, not many people associate ebookers.com with its founder Dinesh Dhamija or Vitabiotics with Dr Kartar Lalvani or even the Vijay and Bhikhu Patel with the enormously successful pharmaceutical group Waymade. Key players in the community but perhaps less well recognised outside.

So how did it all start? The first generation Asians arrived in the UK in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Asian entrepreneur was held up as a role model highlighting the ‘rags to riches’ story.

They transformed the UK from an 8 hour working day to 24 hours seven days a week. Indian cuisine and restaurants became a key part of the British lifestyle and are responsible for the success of many Asian enterprises. Gulam Noon, for example, credits the restaurants for opening the doors for his range of Indian chilled and frozen foods to be found in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose amongst other stores.

The same is true for the success of Karan Bilimoria and Cobra lager.

The emergence of more Asian female entrepreneurs illustrates the potential for achievement despite cultural, social and economic barriers. Increasingly we are seeing and hearing about women who have ‘made the grade’ and are pushing forward with new ideas.

Perween Warsi of S&A Foods showed her determination in getting her Asian food range on the shelves of the major supermarket chain Asda. However, there is still a paucity of women identified but this masks the true involvement of female entrepreneurship in Asian enterprise. Women play a pivotal role in the business but are rarely given the limelight.

It will be interesting to see the pace and direction of the next generation of Asian entrepreneurs. Do they have the drive their parents had, or has education hindered repeating the entrepreneurial success story. They may be too quick to purchase their first Mercedes but, I suspect, they still have much to offer.

Whilst they are more integrated, more educated and more IT literate, they lack the family backing and access to ‘subsidised’ family labour that the first generation enjoyed.

It is, no doubt, a community built on the principles of hard work and family values but it is also a community of people who are not afraid to embrace change, who create the wealth on which the economy is built and who make major contributions to the society in which they have prospered.

Asian entrepreneurs illustrate globalisation as a positive force where these businesses draw on both India and the UK and beyond for their success. Ebookers, Caparo and Cobra illustrate this so beautifully. Asian wealth represents solid foundations, good business practice, commitment to community, openness to change and a massive contribution to society. They provide excellent role models for other migrant groups and everyone can learn from the Asian Phenomenon.

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Dr Spinder Dhaliwal is the author of Making a Fortune – Learning from the Asian Phenomenon. She has compiled Britain’s Richest Asians for the past five years and also wrote ‘Silent Contributors – Asian female entrepreneurs and women in business’
www.makingafortune.co.uk