North-east business networking plan praised

Nov 18 2009 by Jez Davison, Evening Gazette

A NEW network launching today for Asian businessmen and women in the North-east has been welcomed by one of Teesside’s best known entrepreneurs.

Mohammed Bashir, founder 27 years ago of Middlesbrough Borough Cars (MBC), said Asian Business Connexions, a social enterprise organisation which aims to create business opportunities across different racial communities, share best practice, and tackle discrimination in the labour market, was an “excellent” initiative that would help young people from his community in particular.

“I’m a fourth-generation Asian in Britain and one of the things we are good at is doing business,” said Mr Bashir.

“A lot of first-generation Asian people in Britain were not very well educated but made it by sheer hard work.”

Mr Bashir, who launched MBC when he was 18 and now presides over a £3m headquarters and 600 drivers, said young Asians today were likely to have good degrees but still did not network enough with existing organisations.

A high proportion worked in family firms.

Asian Business Connexions said many were poor at accessing entrepreneurial support.

It aimed to improve that by sharing information across business communities and providing a dedicated networking group for Asian business people.

Research conducted for Global Entrepreneurship Week in 2008 showed that twice as many British Asians were self employed compared to British whites.

Jamie Martin, managing partner for North-east law firm Ward Hadaway and a patron of ABC, said the Asian business community could teach others a lot about entrepreneurship.

“Our Asian community is highly enterprising and very willing to share its knowledge and experience.

“Combining this expertise through the networks created by ABC should creation a regional powerhouse that will open up market opportunities for all,” he added.