Top Asian business leaders honoured

Dubai: A number of businessmen were honoured at the first Asian Business Awards Middle East (ABA ME) held at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi on Saturday evening.

The ABA ME has been instituted to recognise and award business excellence within the Asian community and nurture economic relations between Middle East and the sub-continent.

The public had a clear and definite participatory role in the ABA ME awards process. The debut award year had 200,000 registrations. While the grand jury finalised the three nominees in each of the six categories, the public were once again imperative in the choice of winners.

The awards process this year had some of the prominent business personalities of the region on the grand jury panel. These include Michael J. Stevenson, senior partner Middle East region, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Abdul Aziz Sager, chairman, Gulf Research Centre, and president of Sager Group Holding in Saudi Arabia; Alex-ander John Andrakis, executive director, sales & marketing, Emaar Properties; Sultan Saoud Al Qasimi, managing director of the Al Qasimi group of companies and chairman of Barjeel Securities and Dr. Fatima Saeed Al Shamsi, secretary general, UAE University, Al Ain.

List: The winners

• Lifetime Achievement Award: N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman of the board and chief mentor, Infosys Technologies.
• Global Asian of the Year: Lakshmi N. Mittal, president of the board of directors and chief executive officer, Arcelor Mittal.
• Outstanding Asian Businesswoman of the Year: Renuka Jagtiani, chief executive officer, Landmark International.
• Outstanding Asian Businessman of the Year: Sunny Varkey, chairman, GEMS Education and Welcare World.
• Asian Rising Star of the Year: Ramesh Prabhakar, managing director, Rivoli Group.
• Young Asian Achiever of the Year: Madhu Koneru, managing director, RAK Minerals and Metals Investments.
• Outstanding Asian Contribution to the ME Development: Syed M.Salahuddin, managing director, ETA Ascon and Star Group.
• Asian Business Leader of the Year: Yousuf Ali, managing director, EMKE Group.
  
  The Arab Honour Awards
  
• ABA ME The Arab Rising Star Award: Salah Salem Al Shamsi, president, Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce.
• ABA ME The Arab Business Excellence Award: Mohammad Abdul Jalil Al Fahim, honorary chairman, Al Fahim Group.
• ABA ME The Arab Lifetime Achievement: Obaid Khalifa Jaber Al Merri, chairman, Al Jaber Group.