2007 shortlist

Superna is the remarkable founder of Manhattan Properties, a business that originally focused on financial services and mortgage advice. Under Superna`s dynamic leadership, it expanded into buying properties in prestigious areas in central London, moving from buying, renovating and selling £30,000 properties to properties worth more than £2.5 m. Today the business specialises in high-quality seven star properties with celebrity clients and is currently planning to develop an apartment block in Mayfair, using Superna`s design flair to turn it into penthouses worth upwards of £15m.

Ushrat Sultana is the parliamentary manager for the MP Margaret Moran and assisted her to a record third term in Parliament in the 2005 General Election. That same year Ushrat successfully bid for £126,500 from the Home Office to help confront the issue of forced marriages and, as a result, the first ever national forced marriage working group in the UK has been set up. Ushrat was also appointed Justice of the Peace and is the youngest serving magistrate in Bedfordshire.

Masayo joined the Red Cross in 1964 when the Crown Princess Michiko asked her to join the volunteers for the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Since then she has worked for the Red Cross around the world and set up the Momiji charity, which takes sick young people on an exchange to Japan. Masayo has also been a staunch supporter of Abbeyfield International, the provider of housing and care for the elderly, establishing the first Abbeyfield House in Japan in 2006.

Dr Ujwala Samant is the director of Learning for Life, a charity that assists local partners in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan to provide education and teacher training to remote areas and impoverished communities. Examples of the much-needed work in these countries include catch-up programmes for girls under the Taliban, to educating slum children in Lahore. Dr Samant was able to secure the charity’s first major grant from the Big Lottery Fund £410,000 and a further Lottery Fund for £765,000 and she led a campaign that raised £350,000 for the Pakistan Earthquake Appeal in 2006.

Women and Young People’s Services of Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust led by Geetha provides some of the most sensitive and important services to the local communities and she has built them up from scratch in the 20 years that she has devoted herself to the population of East London.

Dr Lee is an outstanding scientist and inventor who left her very successful career in industry to dedicate her working life to improve the health of those living in developing countries. She formed the Diagnostics Development Unit and over the past decade has developed rapid tests for the detection of chlamydia and trachoma, a disease rife in the poorest countries causing three million cases of blindness each year. In order to develop the technology for large-scale production, Helen set up the Diagnostics for the Real World in 2002. This company produces these life-saving tests for resource- limited countries.

Lucky has worked professionally in the Asian media for more than 20 years. In 1996 she set up her own company and produced two original programmes, including Amrit Vela which was a phenomenal success for Spectrum Radio. It was the first ever programme to transmit daily from the Golden Temple and the show has now been going for more than ten years. Lucky previously played a crucial role in the creation and development of Sunrise Radio, the first independent UK radio station specifically for the Asian community.

Sharon Kaur founded her company Sahara Homes Ltd in 1998 to provide residential care for women with learning disabilities in Britain. Over the last nine years the company has grown to incorporate three residential homes across London, with a fourth home under construction. Sharon employs locally trained staff in order to give her care homes a community feel.Once the fourth home has been completed, Sharon will employ a total of 90 people from local areas. Her most recent project has been to set up a dedicated foundation for local entrepreneurs, gifted children and young people with special needs.

Romana joined HAS in 2001, helping to transform the 80-year-old company. Romana`s team has successfully acquired seven businesses and what started out as a one-product organisation is now a community healthcare business called Simplyhealth Group. Within five years the turnover has increased by 111 per cent, customer numbers by 56 per cent and reserves by nearly £99m, as well as making the Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For list five years running.

Anurekha launched the Anurekha Ghosh Company in 2001 and her group have performed at prestigious festivals all over the world including the UK, the US, Canada, Europe, Estonia, Morocco and Pakistan. Anurekha combines ‘tradition and modernity’ in her dancing style and draws influences from the Indian classical dance Kathak, Sufism, martial arts, Indian classical music and Western contemporary dance and music. Anurekha herself has performed on the BBC, Channel 4, French TV and Indian TV.