The first winner of the £50,000 Stelios Disabled Entrepreneur of the Year award was announced last night at the 2007 Chamber Awards.
Founder of easyGroup Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou presented Amar Latif with the award at a ceremony at London’s Victoria and Albert museum, along with a cheque for £50,000 from his personal fortune.
The first ever recipient of the award, Latif, who is registered blind, founded Traveleyes in 2005, the world’s first commercial air-tour operator to provide independent world travel for the visually impaired.
Sir Stelios received a spontaneous round of applause during his speech made at last night’s ceremony before announcing the winner.
He said: “I have set up more businesses than most. When you’re an entrepreneur you make profit by selling goods and services to society, so you owe a debt to society. This is my way of repaying some of that debt.”
He revealed that he decided to set up the award, in partnership with the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity, to help encourage those with disabilities to be entrepreneurial.
He added: “One of the criteria I set for entry to the award was that the businesses had to be start ups, trading for no longer than three years. I wanted to give emphasis to a start up entrepreneur where the £50,000 would make a real difference to the way the business develops.
“Amar’s business is going in the right direction and Traveleyes has a good opportunity to expand within the UK and internationally.”
Potato chip manufacturer Tyrrells won the overall ‘Outstanding Business Achievement’ prize, also worth £50,000, as well as the Green Award for its impressive eco-friendly credentials.
The company has introduced reed beds for waste water, extensive recycling and energy reduction measures and has provided nesting for wildlife.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
