Business: Pak Butchers
Established: 1992
The Business employed a local work force and in it's first year it secured work for 9 people, the shop was given a face lift and new equipment was put in, after 3 years the shop was bought from the owner the turnover was increasing and the space was running out to employ more people to meet the demand so in 1998 Abdul acquired a new premises on St. Marks Road, in Easton and introduced different types of Halal meats including a frozen ready made meal range and snacks etc, this business also grew and a further 4 people were recruited.
In this time Abdul gained the respect from all communities and he reinvested his time and money within the locality, working with BEST (Bristol East Side Traders) to regenerate the local area with new shop fronts and traffic calming systems, he was very active in meetings and earned more respect, he joined the local Mosques and other religious organizations and helped build bridges between different communities he also set up a Muslim Funeral Committee to help repatriate deceased Muslims to their desired countries of burial, in 2002 he won the BEST best business award and was nominated for the Inner City 100 Financial times awards. Abdul has helped set up grass root organisations and was elected the first ever Asian Councillor on Bristol City Councillor, in 2007 just 2 years after being a city Councillor his party nominated him to be Lord Mayor of Bristol, missing it by a whisker, Abdul was proud to be considered for the role.
Abdul has been shortlisted and won numerous awards and accolades including 'Man of the Year 2014 and 2015', 'Business personality of the year 2007', 'Entrepreneur of the year 2016', he has been nominated for 'Lord Mayor of Bristol's Medal' and will receive this in March 2016, he is featured as one of sixteen people who have made Bristol, Bristol.
The business, Pak Butchers, now has 7 outlets and Abdul is looking to develop a franchise model very soon.