Judges named for Asian Business awards
A panel of leading business figures will review applications for this year 's Asian Business Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards ahead of the awards ceremony in November.
This year 's digital awards ceremony will recognise the remarkable achievements of businesses and professionals over the past 12 months and will be streamed live on 18 November from 7pm.
The deadline for awards entries is Friday 24 September at 5pm. Apply here
During the event, eight businesses will scoop coveted awards and one of the category award winners will be crowned Overall ABCC Business of the Year 2020.
Among the judging panel this year will be Monica Shafaq and Jabbar Khan.
Monica Shafaq (pictured) has been involved with the charity sector for a number of years and has been the chief executive of the national health and wellbeing charity, The Kaleidoscope Plus Group since 2010.
Under her leadership the charity rebranded from Sandwell Mind into The Kaleidoscope Plus Group and has obtained a place on the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For every year since 2015.
Committed to promoting the role of women and Black and Minority Ethnic individuals in leadership roles, Monica has chaired the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisation 's national Black and Asian Leadership Special Interest Group and has also been involved in a national group addressing Governance in the Third Sector.
She has also held a number of non-executive roles and is the winner of the 'behind the scenes ' category (2020) Asian Sports List award, is included on the Top BAME 50 under 50 Entrepreneurs of 2020 list for supporting BAME communities and is a finalist in the Sports category of the Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2021.
Monica said: “It 's a real honour to be asked to be on the judging panel. The region has a whole host of successful businesses and organisations who have been doing some tremendous work and I am sure that the panel will have a really difficult time in selecting the winners. ”
Jabbar Khan opened his first restaurant Lasan in 2002 at the age of 25 and established himself as a hugely successful high-profile entrepreneur, as well as a highly respected business commentator and hospitality industry campaigner.
Jabbar 's achievements and contributions have been recognised and endorsed by the Institute of Directors, which presented him with its prestigious 'Young Director of the Year ' award, and he 's often touted as a role model for young, aspiring professionals.
He was also named as one of Britain 's best-performing young businesspeople, having been included in the Who 's Who of Britain 's Young Business Elite, and was also a finalist in the Young Restaurant Manager of the Year, Most Outstanding Young Business Person of the Year and Restaurant Personality of the Year competitions.
Jabbar has also previously scooped the Institute of Asian Business 's Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and was included in the Birmingham Post 's Power 250 and also British Bangladeshi Power 100 in the UK.
Jabbar said: “The ABCC Awards have been around a long time and there 's been a lot of prestigious names that have taken part in the past, so it 's a real honour to be invited to judge these fantastic awards."
Jabbar and Monica will be joined on the judging panel by ITV News broadcast journalist Suzanne Virdee, Awan Marketing Plc director Amer Khan Awan and Nylah UK founder and director Kam Davies.
Chair of the judges is the Chamber's international director Mandy Haque.
This year 's awards will be headline sponsored by Aston University, Doug Wright (T/A McDonald 's), Lioncroft and Inspired Energy.
For more information and sponsorship opportunities, click here
Book your free place for the virtual event here.