Celebrating the commonwealth’s contribution in the West Midlands, some of the region’s leading figures gathered to extol its virtues whilst marking a special book-signing session of the latest release from the award-winning author and business manager, Dr. Christopher A. Johnson.
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A number of noted guests, at CEAL (Community Education Academy of Leadership), in West Bromwich, in the West Midlands, were on hand to emphasize the impact made by people from the Indian sub-continent, and surrounding areas, and their importance to the economy, not just here, in the UK, but worldwide.
Highlighting the impact made by prominent figures of South East Asian descent, Dr. Johnson’s book. ‘The Anatomy of Britain’s South Asian Entrepreneurs,’ profiles the impact of not only Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi business success, but it offers fascinating insights into the wealth creation of Afghanis, Nepalese and Sri Lankans combined, exploring the challenges and opportunities for South Asian firms as well as other Minority Ethnic businesses in the UK.
The symposium, chaired by Councillor Preet Kaur Gill, Sandwell Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health, welcomed the presence of special guest speaker, Neena Gill CBE, MEP for the West Midlands, plus Alfred Williams, Chair of Wolverhampton City Credit Union, who spoke of the importance of creating self-reliance when it comes to finance and savings, Amrick Singh Ubhi Director of the Nishkam Centre in Birmingham, Birmingham BID chair, Dipak Shilat, former Operations Manager at The formerly known Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Harminder Kaur Bhogal Project Manager of CEAL and Councillor Rupinderjit Kaur Wolverhampton City Council presented the S.H.I.E. (Sandwell Heritage Icons Empowerment) Project and Jean-Pierre Melo of the Smile4Africa community organization.
“BREXIT is a concern as the commonwealth has made massive contributions to the UK over the centuries,” said Gill, “and Dr. Johnson’s book is vital in highlighting the cultural exchanges we’ve experienced over time.
It is vital to create dialog within the commonwealth to highlight theses contributions and develop greater links.”
Speaking on the ethos of the book, Dr. Johnson said; “Our collective roles – in war and peace time - have to be recognized. BREXIT has unleashed great intolerance amongst us, so we must cherish our different perspectives. ‘The Anatomy Of Britain’s South Asian Entrepreneurs’ is aimed at doing just that.
Our collective Caribbean-African-Asian entrepreneurship over the century must be celebrated, not ignored. The book, therefore, is for those interested in social cohesion, history, heritage, policy makers, universities, colleges, researchers, professionals, enterprise development, international business management and other business education.”
CEAL launched ‘The Anatomy of British South Asian Enterprise’ in December 2016.
