Judging panel revealed for Asian Business awards

A panel of five judges will have the arduous task of picking nine category winners alongside the Overall Business of the Year in the upcoming Asian Business Chamber of Commerce awards night.

Businesses of all sizes will have the opportunity to be recognised for their accomplishments at The ICC on Saturday, 30 November.

Members of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC), of which the ABCC is part, and non-members are eligible to compete for the awards.

Chair of the awards judges this year will be Raj Kandola (pictured), director of external affairs at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.

Raj will be joined by Professor Martin Levermore, CEO of Medical Devices Technology International Ltd (MDTi), Dee Kundi, CEO and founder of Find Me A Solicitor, general manager of Malmaison Birmingham Emma Morgan, CCO and founder of Word360 Kavita Parmar, and Amer Awan, CEO of Awan Real Estate Ltd and Awan International.

Before joining the Chamber in 2016, Raj worked in communications for a former Shadow Minister and spent eight years in London recruiting staff across the financial services industry.

Dee Kundi is a consultant independent qualified solicitor and heads Find Me A Solicitor, a digital legal tech business which is an independent free service for individuals and businesses looking to find the right solicitor.

She has been a Partner in national law firms and is a multi-award-winning Solicitor with many accolades under her belt, including ‘Best in Litigation’, ‘Outstanding Businesswoman of the Year’, ‘Most Influential in Debt Recovery’, ‘Professional of the Year’, ‘Best in Legal Services’ and has been established within the Legal 500 as one of the market leaders in litigation and debt recovery.

Emma Morgan has been the general manager of Malmaison Birmingham in the Mailbox Complex for 5 years. She also has recently been appointed as the Joint Chair of the Birmingham Hoteliers Association, an organisation driving hospitality as a career and bringing the hoteliers of the city together to share ideas and really bring the community together.

Emma has over 20 years of Hospitality experience working across the main cities in the UK.

Professor Levermore is chair of Medilink Midlands and vice chair for Nehemiah United Churches Housing Association (UCHA). In addition, Martin is also the founder and CEO of Medical Devices Technology International Ltd (MDTi).

He has over 18 years at senior board level in the life sciences sector and sits on the executive board of PIONEER as commercial adviser, whilst chairing the advisory board to HDRUK.

Kavita Parmar is the co-founder of Word360 which won three awards during this year’s GBCC annual dinner and awards night, including the overall Business of Year award.

With a background in Optometry, Kavita made a successful career change into Healthtech and has since been recognised as 'Woman in Tech' and 'Businesswoman of the Year'.

As the driving force behind Word360's continued success, Kavita's passion for innovation and healthcare has enabled Word360 to become the industry leader in developing cost effective delivery models for communication services.

Amer Awan leads Awan Real Estate Limited and Awan International.

The Real Estate arm is a property investment company consisting of both commercial and residential properties. Awan International is a wholesale company selling consumer electronics.

Awan lost his father in 2020 and established The Nazir Awan Foundation in his name. The registered charity helps the poor in Pakistan with water, education, food, medical and housing projects.

He is also on the leadership board of the Institute of Directors – British Asian Business Community, and the ambassador to Birmingham’s Pathway Group and Chutney and Chat. 

Raj said: "I'm delighted to be chairing the judging for these prestigious awards for the second year running.

“As always, we're expecting an exceptionally high standard in applications that represent the best of the Asian business community.

“We look forward to celebrating with these fantastic businesses at the ICC in November."

Sponsorships for this event are still available with headline sponsorship priced at £10,000+vat and award sponsorships priced at £3,500+vat. Other sponsorship opportunities start from £1500+vat.

Tickets are priced at £120+vat for both members and non-members.