Thursday May 10th 2007

Following story courtesy of;-

Bags to Riches for Abdul

By Duncan Tift, Business Staff

Birmingham-based packaging magnate Abdul Majid Alimahomed and his family have been ranked 12th in a list of the top 20 richest Asians in UK.

The family wealth, estimated at £150 million, is established on the success of Euro Packaging, which Mr Alimahomed runs with sons Afzal and Shabir. The company makes paper and plastic bags and sells to clients including Tesco, Asda, Woolworths, Argos, WH Smith, IKEA, and Sainsbury's.

The wealth list, compiled by Success Magazine, was published to coincide with the 11th Eastern Eye Asian Business Awards.

The awards, attended by the Duke of York, the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, took place at The Hilton Hotel in London on Tuesday.

The rich list profiles the most powerful Asians in law, media, sport, politics, food and property.

Also featured are Smethwick husband and wife Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan, who own chicken processing firm Boparan Holdings. The couple are included in the Top 10 Asians in Food index with an estimated fortune of £80 million.

The firm supplies leading retailers, food service and food manufacturing companies and is ranked as one of the largest chicken processors in the country.

The eldest son of a Black Country foundry worker, Paul Bassi is executive chairman of Bond Wolfe, the West Bromwich based property investment and auction company. He has an estimated fortune of £65 million, a figure making him eligible for inclusion in this year's Top 10 Asians in Property.

Mr Bassi has built one of the largest privately owned property portfolios in the Black Country and Birmingham, through active management and redevelopment of vacant and part vacant properties. The auction business, still run by Mr Bassi and original partner Rory Daly, acts for all the major local authorities, British Waterways and the banks and building societies.

Mr Bassi has also diversified into commercial property and recent acquisitions include the purchase of Construction House, the Carillion headquarters in Wolverhampton and stage one of the £17 million West Plaza Hotel and office complex.

Labour MP for Perry Barr Khalid Mahmood and Salma Yaqoob, the only female British Asian councillor in Birmingham, feature in this year's Top 10 Asians in Politics.

Surinder Arora, aged 47, from Hayes, Middlesex, who started his career as a wine waiter and now owns a string of hotels, was presented with the KPMG Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Born in India, he came to England in 1972, and worked as an office junior at BA and wine waiter in his spare time. He now owns 14 five-star hotels, including purpose-built hotels at Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester, after investing family savings in property.

Other winners were Shamir Shah, from Harrow, Middlesex, PricewaterhouseCoopers Young Achiever of the Year; Arti Poddar, from Glasgow, Hamptons International Newcomer of the Year; Sital Punja, from Ruislip, Fortis Bank Community Award; and Kishore Lulla, from Totteridge, north London, who won the BDO Stoy Hayward Business of the Year.

The awards were presented at a star studded gala dinner attended by more than 1,000 guests, who included public figures, MPs and millionaires.

In attendance were last year's Business of the Year Award-winner, Mike Jatania, Tom Singh of New Look, Lord Waheed Ali and Lord Paul.

Entertainment featured 24-year old singing supremo and protégée of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Keedie, and classic Bhangra outfit and veterans of the International Asian music circuit, Heera. Hosts of the event were GMTV presenter Clare Nasir and actor Nitin Ganatra.

She's Simply The Best!


South Devon starlet Keedie Babb will prove she's simply the best when she sings alongside music legend Tina Turner at a one-off star-studded charity show next week.

The 24-year-old classical singer, from Marldon, is the only other performer who has been invited to join the diva for her first live appearance in seven years next Friday.

Tickets for the concert, called The Bedrock Ball in aid of the charity Caudwell Children, are selling for a minimum donation of £10,000 each.

And it looks set to be an A-list only event with celebrities such as Orlando Bloom, Kate Winslet and David Gest already confirmed.

Keedie enthused: "Tina Turner is the legend of all legends. Everyone knows who she is and respects her. I never thought in a million years I would ever sing with her. My manager put me forward for it and they wanted me straight away. To get this event, and perform alongside Tina Turner, really is quite endearing."

And the exciting prospects don't stop there, with Keedie having been invited to sing before David Beckham's first match in the LA Galaxy stadium next September.

In the immediate future, the former Whiterock Primary pupil has been booked for a private party in Cannes for George Clooney and is jetting off to Moscow for a charity event organised by Nelson Mandela.

Preparations are already underway for her big night with Tina Turner, with new hair extensions.

Keedie will be singing four songs at the start of the evening. After her set guests will sit down for a five-course meal before enjoying Tina Turner's unique performance of such classics as What's Love Got to do With it and Private Dancer.

The event is so star-studded that hundreds of police and security guards have been brought in.

Keedie and hair stylist Sasha Perkes, from newly-opened The Boudoir on Babbacombe Road, will even have to take their passports to ensure admission.

Keedie first shot to fame locally after winning Stairway to the Stars before being spotted by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Her duet with former Blue star Duncan James in October 2004 saw her placed firmly in the national spotlight when I Believe My Heart reached number two in the charts.

But bigger and better prospects are on the horizon for her as she revealed she's on the verge of signing for a big record label in the States.

She said: "People think I've been quiet for the past year but I've been really busy working on this big deal with an American record company.

"It's all really quite amazing how it's all coming together now. I've been over to America about 20 times in the past year and my music's been going down quite phenomenally."
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Friday 11th May 2007

Extra feature Courtesy of 
Torquay Herald Express

KEEDIE'S BIG BREAK

There are those who think of South Devon as something of a cultural desert.

They look back through the history books and struggle to find too many international stars hailing from this neck of the woods. That search may soon be coming to an end.

Herald Express readers will have followed the career of local lass Keedie Babb with interest over the years, right from the days when she first sang at school fetes.

She reached number two in the charts back in 2004 singing with Duncan from the boy band Blue, and she has since been named as one of the most promising classical singers in the country.

But despite the best wishes and the CD purchases of all her fans in South Devon, she is not quite the household name we might wish.

Now she has been chosen to sing alongside music legend Tina Turner at a star-studded charity show in front of A-list celebrities, and she will be the only other singer on the bill.

Keedie has been working round the clock on new material and has a fresh album of songs coming out.

All her local fans will be hoping this is the big push that elevates her to the level we all hope she will achieve.

Then maybe it will be Keedie who is simply the best.

Westcountry singer Keedie Babb is to sing alongside music legend Tina Turner. The 24-year-old classical singer, from Marldon, near Paignton, is the only performer invited to join Turner for her first live appearance in seven years next Friday in London.

Tickets for The Bedrock Ball, in aid of the charity Caudwell Children, are selling for a minimum donation of £10,000 each. Celebrities such as Orlando Bloom, Kate Winslet and David Gest have already been confirmed.

Keedie said: "I never thought in a million years I would ever sing with Tina Turner."

The former Whiterock Primary pupil has also been invited to sing before David Beckham's first match for Major League Soccer team LA Galaxy in September, at a private party in Cannes for George Clooney, and a charity event in Moscow organised by Nelson Mandela.

In the meantime, Keedie is also on the verge of signing for a major record label in the US.

By Eleanor McGillie

Singing sensation Keedie Babb and her younger sister Nadine will turn the clocks back to the Swinging Sixties for charity.

The singing pair will visit South Devon's own nostalgia museum Bygones to sign copies of a unique music album 'KN21' which has been specially created to raise vital funds to help children with life limiting illnesses. Bygones, based in Fore Street, St Marychurch, will let visitors in for free on May 23 but ask for kind donations for the Children's Hospice South West in lieu of an entry fee as part of it's 25th birthday celebrations.

In 1993 Keedie and Nadine, when Keedie was 11 and Nadine 10, began belting out sixties pop music in fantastic fashion to capacity audiences all over Devon.

The name they chose for their act was 'KN21' which was a mix of their initials and combined ages at that time. Also, Keedie and Nadine were born on the 21st day of different months so 'KN21' was very appropriate to launch their musical careers.

During 1993 their pulsating Swinging Sixties show was recorded live at the Great Western Hotel, Paignton, as a rare personal keepsake for the proprietors.

Some of the songs that Keedie and Nadine sang on that special occasion have been put on to CD to create the album 'KN21'.

Also on the album are two stunning bonus tracks by Keedie which she recorded in 2005.

Both these tracks, 'Would I Know' (original track penned by Diane Warren) and 'Nessun Dorma' are recordings that can only be found on this charity CD.

The album will be officially released and sold at Bygones on May 23 with all proceeds going to Children's Hospice South West.

The album can also be purchased at the Yelloway Mobile Motor Coach Museum (which will be visiting Bygones on their birthday). It is also on display at the Livermead House Hotel, Torquay from May 24 until June 3 as part of it's 'Swinging Sixties Seaside Holidays' event.

Admittance to the Yelloway Museum is free but donations for Children's Hospice South West will be gratefully accepted.

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