º£½ÇÊÓÆµ

Oops.

Our website is temporarily unavailable in your location.

We are working hard to get it back online.

PRIVACY
Enterprise

Award in memory of much-loved North East businessman given to equality campaigner

Asian Business Connexions has created an award in honour of former Jennings owner Nas Khan

Shuley Alam (right) has won an award in the name of the late Nas Khan

An award created in memory of one of the North East’s best loved businessmen has been awarded posthumously to an equality campaigner.

Nas Khan arrived in Britain from Pakistan at the age of 14 unable to speak English, but worked his way up through Jennings Motor Group before becoming its owner in 2005. He was also known for his philanthropy both in the North East and overseas, but died in 2018 shortly after selling Jennings.

Now, the Dr Nas Khan OBE Award has been established as part of the Asian Business Connexions (ABC) Awards, which acknowledges the outstanding efforts of those who are dedicated to supporting their own communities.

The inaugural winner of the award will be Shuley Alam, founder and CEO of Compact in Race Equality in South Tyneside (CREST), who died in July at the age of 46 after suffering with cancer.

Ms Alam, a former civil servant, founded CREST in 2004, since then it has won widespread praise for its work in helping BAME communities in South Tyneside.

Nas Khan’s Sohail Khan said: “I am honoured that my father’s work and dedication has been remembered through the creation of the Dr Nas Khan OBE Award.

“As a community champion and an advocate of equality, tolerance and cohesion, I know he would be so pleased that the outstanding efforts of others are being rewarded in his name.”

Ammar Mirza, chairman and founder of Asian Business Connexions, said: “Nas was a fantastic man who was loved and respected in equal measure for the huge contribution he made to the North East community. By creating this award in his memory, we are ensuring that outstanding efforts and commitment to achieving fundamental values will always be associated with the work of Nas Khan.