Kishore Lulla wins Asian Business Award 2007

LONDON:  Kishore Lulla, co-founder of the Eros International's UK office in London, has been chosen for the Eastern Eye Asian Business Award for 2007 for providing Indian cinema an international platform.

At a glittering ceremony held at the Hilton Park Lane on Tuesday night, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, presented the coveted award to Lulla in the presence of over 1,000 distinguished invitees from various walks of life.

Other award winners were Surinder Arora (KPMG Entrepreneur of the Year), Shamir Shah (Pricewaterhouse Coopers Young achiever of the Year), Arti Poddar (Hamptons International Newcomer of the year) and Sital Punja (Fortis Bank Community Award).

In his brief address, Prince Andrew said the Asian business community is hugely important and has a vital contribution for UK's prosperity and economy. "You not only do it here, but also at the international level," he said.

Recalling his visit to India last year, Andrew said he was highly impressed with the rapid progress India was making.

"We are hugely indebted and impressed with the activities of the Indian business and the Indian community in this country," he said and wondered whether it was necessary to have a separate category as Asian business since the Asian business is part of the UK business."

Lulla played a key role in the growth of Eros International which now operates in over 50 countries with worldwide offices in India, UK, USA, Dubai, Australia, Fiji and Isle of Man. The company controls content through productions and co-productions, long-term output deals with production houses and talent, and by globally distributing content across all multimedia formats.

Throughout Lulla's tenure he has been instrumental in evolving Eros international from a Bollywood film distribution company into a vertically integrated studio model. The company has become the world's first Indian cinema studio and has a market share of over 35 per cent.

Eros International has played an intrinsic part in redefining the notion of Bollywood and taking it to global shores and audiences be it through securing multiplex cinema chain distribution, finalizing global television syndication to widen the TV viewership of Indian films, or by representing Indian content within major international film festivals.

Winner of the Entrepreneur of the year Award, Surinder Arora was born in India and came to Britain in 1972 at the age of 14 and started his career as a wine waiter earning 1.50 pounds a day.  Later he served as a hotel waiter, office junior at British Airways and a salesman at Abbey National, before becoming its branch manager. Today he owns 14 five-star hotels in England.

Young Achiever Shamir Shah from Harrow, was fascinated with sales process right from the beginning. As a child Shamir always looked for ways to make money which carried on into secondary school where he and his friends would sell perfumes
and aftershaves at discounted prices.

At University, he supported his income by becoming a scout for Arthur Andersen and helping to persuade top undergraduates within his department to apply to the Accountancy Firm.

He established The East India Tea House with the goal of providing customers with premium quality loose leaf teas.

The company is one of the market leaders in terms of supply of leaf tea, and works with a number of well-known brands, supplying to the likes of Conran Shop, Habitat, Harvey Nichols and Yo! Sushi.

Capitalising on his experience within the food sector, in 2004, Shamir set up two coffee shops in Hatfield. More recently the company has diversified into the packaging and distribution of nuts, seeds and dried fruit products.

Clients include brands such as Itsu, Everyman Cinema Group and Lo vejuice. East India Tea House is looking to expand its private label and branding services and open another three coffee shops this year.

Volunteering with elderly care home activities at Lambhil Court Ltd before commencing part time work at the young age of 16, Arti Poddar of Glasgow has been able to continually evolve and develop with a changing care industry.

She has been Operations Director of Lambhil Court Ltd where she is directly responsible for about 250 service users and 250 employees within the company.

Winner of the Community Award, Sital Punja, entered the world of social entrepreneurship in November 2002 as founder of Sari (UK) Limited, following her poignant visits to India where she would take old saris for the poor. Later she launched Sari as a project recycling saris into accessories to raise money for children in developing countries.

She became the first Ethnic Minority female to be voted onto the board of Social Enterprise London and is a regular panel speaker at seminars hosted by Women and Equalities Unit of the Cabinet "Ethnic Minority and Social Enterprise".

Gurmeet Khangura, Chairman of Ethnic Media Group, publishers of Eastern Eye, said, "We are proud to celebrate 11 years of honouring the Asian men and women in the UK business market. They have not only established themselves as important
contributors to the nation's economy, but their innovation and hard work have further inspired younger entrepreneurs striving to achieve the same levels of success for themselves."