"There are a lot of strong, influential and powerful people whose hard work goes unrecognised."
Youth and female power reside at the top of the GG2 Power 101 List, showcasing the most powerful Asians in Britain.
Comprising of a mixture of business, media, entertainment and political figures, the list uncovers those Asians who have made the biggest impact on British society. It is perhaps no surprise that 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai has topped the 2014 list.
Formerly of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, Malala has been a resident of Birmingham for the past two years following a narrow escape from Taliban gunmen who shot her in the head while she was riding in a school bus with friends.
Since her miraculous recovery at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, Malala has continued her social and political activism in an attempt to spearhead education for all.
Attending a number of high profile human rights events, conferences and summits both here in the UK and America, Malala has swiftly become one of the most influential teenagers on the planet.
Complied by the Asian Media and Marketing Group (AMG), Malala is a new addition; the only female in the Top 10, and taking the top spot from Labour MP Keith Vaz who now sits in second position.
Industrialist Lakshmi Mittal and the Hinduja brothers take third and fourth place respectively. One Direction star, Zayn Malik has also proved that his global success alongside his non-Asian bandmates has been truly worthwhile as he ranks at number 7.
Kalpesh Solanki, Editor of the Power List, says: “It’s fantastic to see so much ethnic success in Britain. There are a lot of strong, influential and powerful people whose hard work goes unrecognised.”
“These awards ceremonies are highly significant as it’s incredibly important for us to keep recognising and rewarding ethnic achievements in the country.”
The full list is an interesting one to explore as it indicates how younger generations of Asians are making a significant impact on society, and in many cases are now giving the established Asian veterans of the UK a run for their money.
In particular, through the likes of Malala and Zayn, Naughty Boy, Jay Sean, Imran Khan, Amir Khan, Riz Ahmed, Jameela Jamil, Adil Ray and Radio DJ Nihal, all of whom have made the list.
Here is the full GG2 Power 101 List for 2014:
- Malala Yousafzai (Activist)
- Keith Vaz (Politician)
- Lakshmi Mittal (Industrialist)
- SP and GP Hinduja (Businessmen)
- Sajid Javid (Politician)
- Anshu Jain (Businessman)
- Zayn Malik (Musician)
- Sadiq Khan (Politician)
- Dr Yusuf Hamied (Businessman and Scientist)
- SP Lohia (Businessman and Philanthropist)
- Shailesh Vara
- Baroness Sayeeda Warsi
- Alok Sharma
- George Alagiah
- Amartya Sen
- Priti Patel
- Paul Uppal
- Rakesh Kapoor
- Lord Navnit Dholakia OBE
- Mishal Husain
- Lord Paul and Angad Paul
- Lord Rumi Verjee
- Sir Suma Chakrabarti
- Meera Syal MBE and Sanjeev Bhaskar OBE
- Ranjit Boparan
- Sir Anish Kapoor CBE
- Rajesh Satija
- Ameet Gill
- Sir Anwar Pervez
- Shami Chakrabarti CBE
- Trustees of Neasden Temple
- Sudhir & Bhanu Choudhrie
- Nazir Afzal OBE
- Anil Agrawal
- Ivan Menezes
- Rabinder Singh QC
- Prof Tejinder Virdee
- Baroness Sandip Verma
- Ravi Chand OBE
- Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
- Archie Panjabi
- Lord Dolar Popat
- Kishore Lulla
- Akeel Sachak
- Harpal Kumar
- Sonny Takhar
- Jameela Jamil
- Krishnan Gurumurthy
- MIA
- Dr Kartar Lalvani and Family
- Ashok Vaswani
- Sir Salman Rushdie
- Naughty Boy
- Nirj Deva
- Adil Ray
- Riz Ahmed
- Amol Rajan
- Cecil Balmond
- Akram Khan MBE
- Amit Bhatia
- Ritula Shah
- Ruby McGregor-Smith
- Rushanara Ali
- Amir Khan
- Nitin Sawhney
- Amal Pramanik
- Kuljinder Bahia
- Arun Batra
- Nihal Arthanayake
- Manish Bhasin
- Jay Sean
- Sanjay Shabi
- Jasminder Singh OBE
- James Caan
- Dr Rami Ranger
- Imran Khan
- Yasmin Alibhai Brown
- Dr Chai Patel
- Surinder Arora
- Dipankar Bhattacharjee
- Asif Kapadia
- Cyrus Todiwalla
- Janan Ganesh
- Ruby Hammer
- Farah Ramzan Golant
- Anas Sarwar
- Dr Kailash Chand
- Virendra Sharma
- Lord Gulam Noon
- Manoj Badale
- Lord Meghnad Desai and Kishwer Desai
- Anita Anand and Simon Singh
- Sailesh Mehta
- Gurinder Chadha OBE
- Indu Rubasingham
- Lolita Chakrabarti
- Cyrus and Priya Vandrevala
- Lord Karan Bilimoria
- Shabana Mahmood
- Lord Ajay Kakkar
- Prof Sugata Mitra
The Power 101 list was revealed at the GG2 Leadership Awards on November 27, 2013. Numerous personalities from politics attended the London event including Nick Clegg and MPs Alok Sharma and Paul Uppal.
DESIblitz were also there for some exclusive Gupshup with all the winners and stars. You can check out our special highlights of the GG2 Leadership Awards 2013 very soon.
Loading ...