Thirty years ago this summer, LCCI set up the Asian Business Association (ABA) under the inspirational chairmanship of the late and much-missed Lord Gulam Noon alongside Subhash Thakrar, an equally valued supporter of the Chamber. At the time it was recognised – but not quantified – that the contribution of businesses and businesspeople originating from Asia was a significant one.

Contribution
The ABA – actually a misnomer as the focus is exclusively on the Indian sub-continent – wanted to recognise that contribution as well as providing a voice for the Asian business community to represent their views to the media, local and central government on issues which affect their trade. Moreover it would organise networking and other events to enhance commercial skills and business competitiveness.
It would also facilitate international trade promotion in association with LCCI’s foreign trade programme and increase participation of Asian businesses in LCCI activities.

Flagship
Once established, it was clear the ABA proved immediately popular and had clearly filled a gap. Its events programme grew in popularity and size to the extent that the ABA annual dinner became the flagship event of LCCI, with guest speakers virtually queuing up to address the group. From the world of politics, government and the establishment these have included David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ken Livingstone, Ken Clarke, Boris Johnson, Sir Sadiq Khan, Lord Stevenson, Sir John Stephens and at least two governors of the Bank of England, namely Sir Eddie George and Sir Mervyn King.

From business and journalism, Dinesh Dhamija, Lord Sugar, Trevor Philips, Mishal Husain, Sir Mark Tully, James Caan, Pinky Liliani and Gita Patel made lasting impressions on ABA event delegates.

Fantasy list
From sport, culture and the culinary arts, ABA audiences have been entertained by England cricket captain Alec Stewart, Gurcharan Das, Gurinder Chadha, Shekhar Kapur and Atul Kochar while royal interest has been shown by HM King Charles III (when Prince of Wales) and Prince Michael of Kent.

The venues for such occasions read like a fantasy ‘best of London’ hotel and restaurant list and include the Berkeley, Savoy, Intercontinental, Royal Lancaster, Park Lane, Taj, and Tower Gateway hotels with gourmet food provided by the Bombay Brasserie, Benares, Chatora, Mango Tree, Porte des Indes and Tamarind.

Seasons and religious festivals have been celebrated and numerous charities supported at ABA events from Chance to Shine to Livabilty and Oxfam.

Policy and influence
Events play an important part in the work of the ABA in raising awareness of the Asian business community. However, there are other activities that play to the policy and influence of the group. In 2005, the ABA worked with the GLA Economics in the Mayor of London’s office to produce a report on the contribution of Asian-owned businesses to London’s economy. This revealed the number of Asian-owned businesses (39,000), the jobs they provided (300,000) and their total turnover (£60 billion). It also looked at the self-employment rates, most common sectors and female business ownership.

This report, with subsequent updates, alongside such activities as regular briefings with the Bank of England’s London agent to feed into the Monetary Policy Committee, studies on diversity in the workplace, and the production of a funding guide for entrepreneurs have helped maintain the Asian business community’s vibrancy.

Trade
The ABA have also been active in recognising the important role of the Indian sub-continent diaspora in the UK, especially with regard to trade and investment. This has been evident in the trade missions to India and Sri Lanka over the years which have been ABA/LCCI-led or have taken place with their involvement. LCCI and ABA have hosted dozens of inward delegations from the Indian-sub continent including one with the Bombay Merchants Association which culminated in a two-day conference at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre.

The recent UK-Indian free trade agreement (on which talks have been resumed) should bring trade relations up a number of levels and is keenly anticipated.

Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes doing the thinking and hard work alongside LCCI staff was the committee. Following Lord Noon and Subhash Thakrar, the ABA was privileged to attract such chairs as Tony Sarin, Sunil Ghadia, Nish Kotecha, Vijay Goel and Tony Matharu.

Members of the committee are too numerous to mention – see box below for current members – but special praise must go to Harshad Kothari who has been a tireless ambassador and recruitment specialist for the group while, to the best of our knowledge, Tarun Ghulati is the only one to have stood as a candidate for London Mayor. Meanwhile Rajesh Agrawal has the unique distinction of having been an ABA committee member before being appointed deputy mayor for business under London Mayor’ Sir Sadiq Khan.

Generous
ABA’s current sponsor is the University of Westminster which has provided valuable and highly appropriate support. They follow in the footsteps of a long list of illustrious organisations in that role over the last three decades including Clydesdale Bank, Hugh Cartwright & Amin, HSBC and Rational FX, with Cobra Beer providing a significant proportion of the liquid refreshment. They have all been most generous and deserve thanks and plaudits.

Integral
Thirty years on the question can be asked – has the ABA achieved its objectives and is it still necessary? Certainly the association has evolved and emphases have changed. The Asian business contribution is indeed recognised, not least by successive Mayors of London, the latest of whom is of Pakistani origin – see box titled High office.

It is also the case that the vast majority of Indian sub-continent firms are now an integral part of the business community in London and indeed across the UK. However, there has also been much negativity on immigration from certain quarters, seemingly without a knowledge or understanding of the fuller picture. For this alone the ABA still has a critical role to play.

 

 

High office
When the ABA was set up in 1995, the prospect of people of Indian sub-continent origin holding the great offices of state in the UK was a distant one. Since then, Priti Patel and Suella Braverman have served as Home Secretaries and Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. It would be stretching things to argue that the ABA was responsible for these elevations but the creation of a more effective voice for Asian businesses was certainly an early key objective of the group – and where better to achieve that than through high office?