Asian Rich List 53= Ajaz Ahmed Digital marketing £80mp£35m AJAZ AHMED dropped out of university, cit- ing it as “crushing the entrepreneurial spirit” and worked at Apple and Ocean Software, an- other Silicon Valley enterprise with an office in Berkshire. He did all this in his teens, before setting up AKQA and developing it into one of the world’s largest digital advertising agencies. In 2012, Sir Martin Sorrell, from WPP, the global advertising agency, bought an 80 per cent stake in the company. Ahmed, who turned 40 last year, had creat- ed a global company with more than 1,000 people on his books. Success had come from working with some of the biggest names out there, including Nike, Gap and McDonald’s. It was Ahmed and AKQA (which comes from his initials) that the firms turned to when they wanted to launch online cam- paigns. Ahmed entered the market just as on- line advertising was beginning to take off and his agency has won a clutch of awards. He himself comes from a software background and has written software programmes. With a business book under his belt and in- creased exposure, Ahmed is a voice for a new generation. With sale of shares to WPP, we in- crease Ahmed’s value at £80 million this year. 53= Paul Bassi Property 53= Thembalath Ramachandran £80m p£20m WELL-CONNECTED and awarded a CBE in 2009, 51-year-old Paul Bassi made his fortune in property and is one of the country’s top es- tate deal makers, according to experts. He sees value where others see risk and un- known deliverables. The chief executive of Re- al Estate Investors plc is a property magnate in the Midlands and has his pulse very much on what commercial properties are doing in the region in contrast to large institutional in- vestors who are based in London. Chief Executive of Real Estate Investors PLC, Bassi was born in Birmingham. He set up his own property company in 1983, creat- ing Bond Wolfe, focusing initially on West Bromwich town centre before branching out in the region. Bassi has substantial interests in the prop- erty market, with directorships in over 30 companies. His extensive interests include es- tate agents Bond Wolfe Commercial, Paul Dubberley Residential and CP Bigwood char- tered surveyors. More recently, Bassi has ex- panded into the food and drink sector, ac- quiring the master franchise in the UK and Ireland for Asha’s, an Indian eatery brand. Both Bond Wolfe and Real Estate Investors have a strong asset base. Taking into account his substantial private assets, which include a 130 acre farm in the Midlands, past salaries and dividends, we value Paul Bassi at £80 mil- lion this year. Pharmaceuticals £80mp£18m FORTUNE favours the brave they say, and perhaps there’s no more apt way of describing Thembalath Ramachandran’s success. His company is just over 15 years old, em- ploys 300 people and has a strong position in the generic medicine market in the UK. Increasingly, it is looking abroad, having started in Spain last year and entering Germa- ny only this year, further European and possi- ble US expansion is all part of a 2020 vision. Added to this is the search for a second fac- tory location. Policy makers please note: with the British government keen to attract one- time foreign entrepreneurs just like Ramach- andran, he says there are things a government can do to attract business. “It can help with land ac- quisition or with infrastruc- ture creation. I want another manufacturing unit but it could be in Spain or Germany or even India. If I get UK government support, why should I go anywhere else? We can expand more here,” he told the Asian Rich List. His beginnings suggest Britain did some- thing right in 1997 and recognised there was a talented business mind at work. The Indian- born entrepreneur spent nearly three decades as a top pharmacy executive for an Indian firm before taking the plunge in the UK. “I wanted to take up some challenges, look for something new; that’s how I thought about coming to Europe. I’d been coming to the UK for the Indian company on and off and I’d been studying the market,” he explained. That year, Ramachandran spotted a failing pharmaceutical factory in Luton and felt the time was right to make the move from Mum- bai to Luton. Originally from Kerala, he had spent almost his whole working life in India’s financial capital. Bristol Laboratories was born, and the name was chosen because Ramachandran wanted something that sounded intrinsically British. “It was one of two or three names that came up. I liked the sound of it and it stuck.” Raising money through a business partner and a bank, he had a company and a factory, saving jobs at the Luton unit. There were a couple of tough years for Bristol Laboratories but Ramachandran remained determined. “It was very hard, the first couple of years we were losing money and there was a prob- lem of attitude and organisation,” he recalled. “The workforce had so many previous owners coming and going, people were not accepting you and they were not delivering what they were supposed to.” He was new to the country, the working practices were different and he was learning. “I had to take a firm stand on certain occasions, but today these same people are my friends. It took me some time. They could see this was a serious company and it was going to grow.” Now the company has some 250 market authorisations and is very strong in cardiac medicine and conditions associated with dia- betes and high cholesterol. What most excites Ramachandran about his business is creating a new product. Though generic medicine is derivative, a new way of putting a medicine together can yield benefits for both producer and consumer. “It’s a very competitive market, there are various newcomers coming into the market and there are new products. We are focused on R&D, bringing new molecules, improving generic production and developing 20-30 products every year; that’s all part of the en- trepreneurial drive.” Innovation has kept Ramachandran at the forefront of the growing generic pack and there are no plans as yet to lessen the pace and let his children take over. One daughter, Priti, is a British-trained pharmacist who works in Bristol Laboratories, but still he stresses is doing her own apprenticeship. His oldest daughter is a biotechnologist who works in the field, while his youngest daughter studies Business Management at Ox- ford University and shows some interest. He said: “I let them do what they like. If they want to join they can; if they don’t, that’s okay.” Expect to hear more about Bristol Labora- tories in the near future. “By 2020 we will have spread across the European market and be in- volved in more countries; that is our ambi- tion. The 2020 vision is already there and peo- ple are on the job.” Turnover at Bristol Labs rose to £71.5 mil- lion for the year ending June 2012, with an EBITDA of £8.3m. We value Ramachandran and his family at £80m. ‘The 2020 vision is already here. We’re on the job’ Thembalath Ramachandran March 2013 | Eastern Eye Asian Rich List | 61