Caption: Ranjit Sohal, chair of the Black Country Asian Business Association, with Gurshinder Ark, Paresh Metha and Karn Khera of the main award winners, KTC (Edibles) ltd.

Caption 2: All the winners of the Black Country Asian Business Association Awards.

Inward investment and the links with India will be crucial for the economy of the West Midlands, Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, head of Warwick Manufacturing Group, told the Black Country Asian Business Association Awards ceremony.

But if we wanted other countries to believe in Britain then Britain had to believe in itself.

And he was full of praise for those in the Black Country who were trying to lead from the front.

The Main Business Award along with the International Trade category went to KTC (Edibles) ltd.

KTC (Edibles) ltd has been based in the Black Country for over 30 years. The successful edible oil business is still privately owned and recently disclosed a turnover of more than £185 million.

It has a further site in Liverpool and produces a vast array of products for many industries, such as foodservice, manufacturing and retail.

The product portfolio includes foods from around world serving the Asian, Caribbean and African consumer. The company also exports to Europe, North America and Australia under its own “KTC” brand. It has some 250 employees.

Other winners were – Business Start-up, Honeymoon Dreams; Young Entrepreneur, Jessey Singh; Community Excellence, Ambur Radio; Enterprise, Cornpoppers; Young Leaders, Blakenhall in Bloom; and Regeneration, R and R.

Addressing a 350-strong audience of leading Black Country business executives at the Copthorne Hotel in Brierley Hill, guest speaker, Lord Bhattacharyya, said the Government was now moving to try and rebalance the economy back in favour of manufacturing, but it was inward investment which held the key.

Noting that China was growing at eight per cent a year and India at 6.7 per cent, he cautioned: “We cannot survive unless we can get inward investment going.”

Indian company Tata was now Britain’s largest private sector employer through Corus, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Tea and Jaguar Land Rover – JLR was now seeing sales moving again in China and the United States and would be back in profit “in a few months”.

And Britain still had the deregulated environment which attracted overseas companies.

But Lord Bhattacharyya, a Government adviser and campaigner for science and technology to play a greater role in the country’s future, warned: “We must believe in ourselves and not look back to the past.”

The Midlands still had great companies like aerospace giant Rolls-Royce and digger manufacturer JCB, and so long as the Government now started encouraging manufacturing, after ignoring it for so long, we could in five years be back to being among the best in Europe.

BCABA chair Ranjit Sohal also urged business to look forward.

He said: “There are communities and individuals out there wrapped up in the past. Some are doing positive harm rather than good. The challenges of poverty, language, isolation, new culture, inequalities, and racism are gradually being overcome.

“However, there is still profound hypocrisy in Britain. What we really need is more real engineering and less financial engineering.

“There are still people out there who doubt our capacity. Should we care? I think not.  There are many cynics. They fear and doubt us. They fear our achievement. They fear our success

“These are difficult times, but times that present great opportunities to our local businesses.”

It was the eighth BCABA Annual Awards Dinner – previous speakers have included Lord Paul and Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester.

Sponsors took in Sandwell Council’s finditinsandwell initiative, KTC Edibles, Walsall College, Mercedes Benz of Wolverhampton, ACAS, HSBC, West Midlands Minority Business Forum, Prospects, Expression Print, Business Link, Johnnie Walker and Black Country Chamber of Commerce.

Host was Tommy Sandhu of the BBC’s Asian Network. Entertainment was by Jaz Dhami. The evening’s charity was Walsall Hospice.

The BCABA, part of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, was established in 2001. Its aim is to provide a strong voice for lobbying and a platform for Asian businesses.

Ends

(words 630)

Notes to editors: The BCABA acts as a consultative advisory group that helps and supports Asian business in terms of the business use of premises, land availability, international trade, e-business and training, and offers an opportunity to network and share experiences.

For further information please contact:

Ranjit Sohal, chair, Black Country Asian Business Association