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Asian Business Connexions

Chairman's Update 1st October 2023

Including: YABA Gala Dinner 2023, Airview Park and Newcastle Uni.

This week our Chair and founder connected, supported and promoted globally. Hosting various international visitors speaking at the YABA celebrations in Bradford and meeting with various stakeholders across the Northern Powerhouse showcasing the strengths and assets of our North East.


Monday:

  • Ammar spent the morning interviewing potential new recruits with Laura Barker as we scale the operations and look to support more inclusion activities through ABC and Yohlar.

  • Followed by a strategy meeting with Yatin Gupta Head of ABC, further developing the #Inclusionbydefault campaign to address some of the health inequality issues ABC community have been experiencing and also address wider health challenges including diabetes and heart disease.

  • In the afternoon Ammar met with Jody Nichols of AHSN to further develop the CDRC plan which will help improve health outcomes for primary care and patients.


Tuesday:


Wednesday:

  • The Yohlar and ABC team spent time together to further develop the Inclusive Innovation Framework and broader support programmes for regional organisations looking to make their organisations more inclusive.

  • Ammar then met with Hamid Motraghi MBE inclusion Lead for the NHS North East and North Cumbria, where they explored collaboration, discussed the ABC Awards and Spice FM Radio show to promote the work of the Integrated Care Board. Watch out for Hamid featuring on Spice FM next Friday 6th October between 10-11am.

  • Catching up with Fozia Saleem from Magnitude Biosciences. Ammar invited Fozia to join the AWEsome Campaign and help lead on some of the #Inclusionbydefault activities to inspire and encourage future generations and other female professionals to consider Life Sciences. Fozia is one of the very few Asian Females leading a scaling Life Science organisation from within the North East, globally.

  • Ammar then met with Jordan Dargue CEO of Tees Valley Business Hub, a sister organisation of SME Centre of Excellence and business partner Kate Copper-Fay of KNOCO_. Jordan and Kate are supporting a number of high growth companies become investment ready and are keen to offer that support more broadly aligned to the Airview Trade Centre growing global plans.

  • The day ended with Ammar hosting a roundtable with community leaders to discuss enterprise education opportunities for future generations. As chair of the progression forum Ammar is keen to showcase the education and training opportunities to all communities, especially those harder to reach.


Thursday:

  • On Thursday Ammar facilitated a business planning session with CPD Match who have developed a platform for clinicians to access CPD training opportunities. CPD Match have a single portal for all CPD opportunities that also addresses sustainability challenges when considering training opportunities. Ammar has been supporting CPD Match on behalf of AHSN NENC, the lead innovation organisation for the NHS.

  • At lunch Ammar met with Mo Miah and Abu Ali from Williams Ali Corporate Finance. Abu and Mo are leading Asian corporate finance experts and are planning to refresh and relaunch the ABC Professional Network to further support ethnic minority communities, sharing their inspiring story alongside offering mentoring and coaching. They also spoke about the launch of the ABC #InclusionbyDefault Recruitment Platform that will enable organisations to access diverse ethnic talent for jobs and voluntary opportunities across the public and private sectors.

  • Ammar then jumped on a train to Bradford to celebrate the YABA dinner, staying at ABC Supporter Gainford Group, Great Victoria Hotel. As a key note speaker Ammar highlighted the importance of Inclusion, Internationalisation and Innovation through the joint work of ABC and YABA, alongside congratulating the immense effort and impact from the work of Sharon Jandu OBE and the YABA team.

  • Whilst in Bradford Ammar joined the North East LEP virtual Board meeting. Ammar is chair of the Business Advisory Board and SME Representative for the North East Region. Ammar fed back to the Board on the session he chaired and facilitated by Colin Bell where all regional trade bodies and sectors came together to develop an engagement plan for the Devolution Deal.


Friday:

  • An early train back on Friday alongside a working meeting with Sharon Jandu OBE further developing the global links for the International Trade Centre at Airview Park Newcastle Airport. Followed by a visit to the Cosmetic Dental Clinic in Newcastle which Ammar helped establish over 15 years ago and is now recognised as one of the best cosmetic dental practices in the world, nipping into and supporting the Costa Coffee team who were raising money for Macmillan's Cancer.



  • Ammar then met with the owners of Fattoush and leaders of the Persian community within the North East to discuss business support and community cohesion. Ammar had helped establish Fattoush restaurant in the Metro Centre which is now a thriving business providing the finest middle-eastern cuisine.

  • In the afternoon Ammar facilitated a planning session for Kynobi a clinical health automation platform offering AI integration within primary care.

  • Following on with Ammar and the Yohlar team developing further toolkits for the Inclusive Innovation Framework.

  • The day ended with Ammar attending the Entrepreneur Forums Awards Ceremony at the Hilton, where he joined regional partners and leading businesses to celebrate entrepreneurship.


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