Two generations of Asian immigrants have had an extraordinary impact on British business. Who and what exactly has made them rich
BY MONSUR CHOUDHURY | MAY 27, 2009
1) Lakshmi Mittal worth ?45b
Lakshmi Mittal is the fourth richest person in the world. Residing in Kensington Palace Garden, London in a property he bought from Formula 1 chief Bernie Eccleston for ?57million pounds in 2004, which at the time made the house the most expensive in the world.
Lakshmi was born into a humble family. His father Mohan Lakshmi opened up a steel factory in Uttar Pradesh, but later on the family moved to Calcutta where Mohan assumed partnership in a steel business and made a huge profit. Lakshmi obtained a Bachelor of Commerce Business and Accounting degree from St Xavier?s College, Calcutta in 1969. After he graduated he began to work for his family?s steel producing business. In 1976 he sought to invest overseas. Lakshmi decided to venture on his own in 1994 after disagreements with his family; he took over the company?s international wing. Mittal is also the CEO of ArcelorMittal, which happens to be the largest manufacturer of steel in the world.
2) Mike Jatania worth ?850m
Mike Jatania runs the cosmetics firm Lornamead with his three brothers George, Vin and Danny. Topoing the list for the fifth consecutive year. His family came to the UK in 1969 from Uganda when the then leader Idi Amin decided to expel all south Asians.
3) Lord Swraj Paul worth ?750m
After studying in the US, Paul joined the family business in India, Apeejay Surrendra Group, founded by his father. He came to the U.K. in 1966 to seek medical aid for his seriously ill younger daughter Ambika and following her tragic death he decided to stay and work in the UK to be close to her, and founded Caparo. Caparo is best known for its ability to acquire and turn around existing businesses. Today the group?s interests include steel, engineering, materials testing and hotels.
3) Vijay and Bhikhu Patel worth ?500m
Born into poverty in the Western highlands of Kenya, the brothers arrived in the UK with a work ethic and a determination to succeed. To pay his way through Sixth Form College, Vijay took any number of menial jobs. In 1975, he opened his first pharmacy in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex and now is at the head of a company, Waymade Healthcare, which employs over 700 people. His brother Bhikhu is the managing director while Vijay is the chief executive. The business has grown from strength to strength and is on course to be the next mini Glaxo.
4) Guru Lalvani worth ?450m
Guru Lalvani is the chairman of one of the world?s biggest manufacturer of digital cordless phones. He established it in 1958 alongside his brother and named the company Bina, after his sister.
5) Jasminder Singh worth ?360m
Jasminder Singh heads the Edwardian Radisson group, one of the biggest hotel companies in the UK.
6) Tom Singh worth ?350m
New Look was started in 1969 by Tom Singh. Now only Marks & Spencer and Next are larger than them. It is also the second largest women?s footwear store.
7) Ramesh and Pratibha Sachdev worth ?350m
Along with his wife Pratibha, Ramesh started Life Style Care in 1987. 11 years later he decided to sell it, netting ?25m.
8) Sir Anwar Pervez worth ?250m
In 1963 Pervez started out in the catering business, by opening a supermarket in Earls Court. He went on to open more supermarkets and cash & carries, and named the chain Bestway.
9) Firoz Kassam worth ?240m
Firoz Kassam made his fortune in the hotel trade in London, which includes the Holiday Inn in Kings Cross as a major part of his portfolio. In 1999 he bought Oxford United Football Club for ?1. This meant taking over its debts estimated to be about ?18m. In 2000 he started building the now famous Kassam Stadium, a 12,500 three sided stadium at Minchery Farm on the edge of Oxford.
10) Navin and Varsha Engineer worth ?220m
They own the pharmaceutical firm Chemidex.
11) Bharat and Ketan Mehta worth ?200m
Founders of pharmaceutical company Necessity Supplies, which they launched in 1986.
12) Abdul Alimahomed worth ?150m
Launched Europackaging. Europackaging is a company that produces plastic bags for supermarkets. He sold it for ?190m in 2006.
13) Nat Puri worth ?130m
Puri founded the Melton Medes group, which specialises in various materials such as textiles and packaging.
14) Dinesh Dhamija worth ?120m
Initially having worked at IBM, Dhamija started his meteoric rise in business with a small stall in Earls Court station, West London, selling cheap flights to budget travellers. This was followed in 1983 by Flightbookers plc. Dhamija was instrumental in the company's setting up of a fully interactive travel website and was to become Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ebookers.com in 1999. It later became one of Europe's most successful and well known entrepreneurial companies
15) Shami Ahmed worth ?115m
Established in 1985, Shami Ahmed launched the Joe Bloggs brand, it became successful; turning Shami into a millionaire at the tender age of 24. Rarely out of the news, Shami Ahmed?s eclectic mix of businesses, from fashion to property to finance, continues to work as well as ever. And all this from a man who started out as a market trader in Burnley.
16) Rajan and Sanjay Kumar worth ?100m
They are the owners of the distribution chain Rajan fashions. The brothers first ventured on market stalls, and have come a long way since. They also supply fashion stores such as Zara and JC Penny.
17) Harpal Matharu worth ?100m
Harpal owns a hotel business called Global Grange, which he established in 1980.
18) Surinder Arora worth ?95m
After an early career consisting of juggling several jobs Arora, opened the Arora International at Heathrow. It was the first hotel in the UK purpose-built for airline crew. A sister hotel opened at Gatwick in 2002 and now his portfolio is nation wide. He even boasts Cliff Richard as a partner in one of his ventures.
19) Rita and Rahul Sharma worth ?95m
Rita and her husband Rahul run Worldwide Journeys, selling holiday packages and airline tickets.
20) Iqbal Ahmed worth ?90m
Iqbal and his family arrived in Manchester in the 1970?s. Iqbal, along with his brothers Kamal and Bilal, incorporated Iqbal brothers to sell food to groceries. They then decided to sell frozen fish and opened Seamark, drawing in huge profits.
