Family values and success
ENTREPRENEURS DISCUSS ROLE OF CULTURE AT BUSINESS EVENT
THREE British Asian business leaders – Anil Agrawal, Simon Arora and Dawood Pervez – imparted valuable nuggets of wisdom during their panel discussion with Nihal Arthanayake during the Asian Business Awards (ABAs) last Friday (19).
The event was held in The Londoner, Jasminder Singh’s “super boutique” hotel in Leicester Square.
Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta Resources and ranked third in the Asian Rich List with an estimated wealth of £7.5 billion, urged everyone to “do what you love”. I couldn’t agree more. Arora, who with his brothers Bobby and Robin, runs the B&M retail group, is ranked sixth in the Asian Rich List, with an estimated net value of £2.4bn.
He dealt with the tricky question of whether Asians should relinquish 100 per cent control of family businesses in order to bring in both talent and equity from outside. Arora was educated at Cambridge University, where both his daughters have also studied.
He described the experience of the Arora brothers as a “classic, second-generation immigrant story”. His father’s family found refuge in Delhi after the Partition of India.
“My father came to the UK in 1968,” Arora recalled. “He was a market trader, like a lot of people of his generation. He and his wife, my mother, put their money towards their kids’ education, rather than holidays and nice cars. And that education allowed me to progress. Here I am today, blessed to be running an organisation of 36,000 people.”
As he reflected on his group’s “modest” success, he concluded that “we’ve taken what I think of as the best parts of our parents’ values, but we’ve dismissed those that we see as being a hindrance.
“So the best parts are clearly hard work (and) ambition. And a little bit of humility as well. I think that’s part of our value system.”
But what worked for his generation was “a willingness to delegate, (and) not to have a value that said, ‘Our business has to be 100 per cent owned by us.’”
He added: “I’ve run B&M as a family business. I’ve owned it 50-50 with private equity. I now run it on behalf of institutional shareholders. I’ve enjoyed all three ownership models, and they all require different talents.
“If I had stayed true to my parents’ values, I would probably be running a smaller business because there was some risk aversion (and) there was reluctance to invest in talent around you. An obsession with overheads, rather than growing the top line. So I think you take the best from your culture, but then you push back and challenge what you think doesn’t necessarily work for you.”
The traditional Asian model has given the community resilience, especially during difficult times. But I would encourage Arora to write a book, arguing the case for bringing in funds and expertise from outside.
Pervez’s father, the much-respected Sir Anwar Pervez, founded Bestway. Today they are ranked eighth in the Asian Rich List with a net value of £1.9bn.
He spoke of how small Asian retail and grocery shops served their local communities during the pandemic: “What you saw happen in that first lockdown is communities reconnecting with their local retailers, local retailers stepping up to the mark, stepping up to the plate, serving their communities. And, actually, putting themselves on the line.” Pervez is spot on. What I found especially moving at the ABAs was the section remembering some of the British Asians lost during the pandemic. Even so it was a tragically long list which included not only doctors and other NHS staff, but also those who ran small retail and grocery stores. I am glad they were not forgotten.