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Jewel in the crown

1/ 4/2002

A COPPICE jeweller was the proud winner of the Oldham's Asian Business of the Year award.

Shahid Jamal of Jamal Jewellers received his honour at a ceremony held at the Pennine Hotel in by the Asian Business Association which is part of the Oldham Chamber of Commerce and the Business Link.

Jamal opened his first shop in 1999. Since then he has expanded into other sectors and also owns an insurance shop.

Other award winners were Geeta Chudasama of the 'Precious Beauty' shop who was named Asian Businesswoman of the Year,

Guest speaker at the awards and member of the Government's ethnic minority business forum, Adeeba Malik, urged the audience to seek help from government-backed organisations like the Asian Business Association.

She said: "Asian Business share several key features. Over 90 percent are small businesses. They like to set up in their own community, follow in the footsteps of other successful Asian businessmen/women. They don't see the benefit of using professional help which is why the growth rate of Asian business is six percent annually.

"Asian businesses do need professional advice on how to set up, about business management, advice on expansion. The advice can only help a business not hinder its process and that's why specialist organisation like ABA are very important."