Bernard Ginns: The opportunities that Yorkshire gave to migrant entrepreneurs

IT WAS a cold, dark and wet night in the early 1960s as two brothers traipsed along a cobbled backstreet in Bradford.

The weather was a harsh reminder of how far they were away from their home in South Asia, which they had left just a few weeks ago to find work in the factories in Yorkshire.

They were homesick, tired from their labours and feeling a little miserable.

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“Do you know, people they don’t even work after five o’clock,” said the older brother.

“Yes and on Saturdays they only work half a day,” replied the younger one.

“And Sundays they don’t even work at all,” said the elder.

The brothers looked and each other and in unison said, “We are going to be rich” and burst into laughter.

This is one of many migrant stories that can be found in Yorkshire and on Friday night there was a timely celebration of the contribution that they have made to the UK economy.

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The Yorkshire Asian Business Association annual awards heard Asian business leaders pay tribute to “the splendid country of Yorkshire” for giving them the opportunity and motivation to succeed in business.

Rajeev Dewedi, of Rajeev Accountants, told the audience: “From Vikings of York to Akbars of Bradford or Mullaco of Dewsbury, the face of Yorkshire has changed over the years and so has the landscape.”

Amjad Pervez, the founding partner of the Seafresh food group, said: “I’m from the second generation of Asians and I must pay respect to the founders, the original pioneers, the first wave of immigrants my father’s age, who couldn’t speak a word of English, didn’t understand the culture or the economy but they were focused on one thing - to better their family.

“Those are the people who regenerated the economy of Yorkshire and Bradford. My generation and the next generation that are coming, we stand on their shoulders.”

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Mr Pervez said successful people have a wider responsibility to help the poor in the community and lend their hand to new arrivals to the country. It’s a message that bears repeating.

* ONE of the most overused business words of the moment is ‘disruption’. Virtually every new technology business promises to ‘disrupt’ the incumbents of whatever industry it is entering as the founders dream of becoming tech billionaires and everyone else rolls their eyes.

It is true that we are living in an age where long-established industries and institutions are being disrupted, largely through the rapid advance and widespread adoption of mobile technology.

Some of this process has been painful, especially for those sectors that are large employers such as retail as consumers migrate their shopping habits from the expensive high street to the cheap and easy smartphone.

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But some disruption can’t come too soon, particularly for industries that have long taken their customers for granted and treated them as things to be exploited.

The insurance industry is one obvious example of a sector that is in dire need of a shake-up, certainly from a consumer experience perspective and probably from a shareholder perspective as well.

Large insurance companies are so weighed down by creaking infrastructure, rising regulatory costs and pressure to deliver margins that they cannot hope to provide good value for money.

It is easy to see these big lumbering beasts as prey for deadly new market entrants that can harness big data to accurately price risk and use scale to deliver products that people want to buy in the most convenient and effective way.

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The sector is ripe for someone to come along with the 21st century technology-enhanced version of the 17th century City of London coffee houses that brought together the merchants and entrepreneurs of the day and gave rise to the marine underwriting industry and towering giants such as Lloyd’s of London.

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