Woodbourne Group owner Tani Dulay is crowned Entrepreneur of the Year
Birmingham businessman Tani Dulay has been crowned Entrepreneur of the Year at a national awards ceremony, recognising the best and brightest individuals in the UK today.
Tani, Chief Executive Officer at property investor and developer Woodbourne Group, received the accolade at the Asian Achievers Awards in Park Lane, London.
He is best known for his ground-breaking vision to create the world’s first mixed-use net zero ready carbon development which will transform a key gateway to Birmingham. The plans took a massive step closer to becoming reality recently when city planners unanimously granted approval in April.
It has been heavily supported by Birmingham City Council, MPs, and other politicians including West Midlands Mayor Andy Street.
The £360 million waterfront ecosystem, known as Curzon Wharf, has become one of the most talked about UK developments since it was first announced in 2021 and sets a landmark for the built environment.
Tani formed Woodbourne Group in 2019. He took on the legacy blueprint of his family business to become one of the UK’s most important regional developers, with a £450m pipeline of development and recently posted an EBITDA of £7m. He was already a successful entrepreneur and had several other business interests including during his time at university prior to starting Woodbourne Group. Tani was recently invited by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to celebrate Vaisakhi at 10 Downing Street, acknowledging the significant past and present contributions of the Sikh community to Britain.
This award stood as the highlight of the evening, and notable past recipients of the Entrepreneurs Award included luminaries such as Rishi Khosla, co-founder and CEO of Unicorn, OakNorth Bank, and Adarsh Radia, co-founder of Dishoom Restaurants.
The Prime Minister said: “The Asian Achievers Awards provide a great opportunity for us to recognise the outstanding accomplishments of British Asians in the UK. It is good to celebrate the positive impact and contribution all the nominees have made in creating a more modern, dynamic and globally-facing economy in the UK.”
This renowned ceremony is highly regarded for celebrating the remarkable achievements of distinguished individuals within the South Asian community and their contribution to building British society. It gathers an impressive array of A-list celebrities, television personalities, movie stars, musicians, and entrepreneurs from around the globe. The event was hosted by Eastenders actor Nitin Ganatra alongside Pakistani Balu Mahi actress Ainy Jaffri Rahman. Other winners included popular Indian singer Kanika Kapoor, heroes from the National Health Service and Indian-origin high achievers.
Businesses led by ethnic-minority entrepreneurs contribute many billions of pounds a year to the UK economy. Minority businesses make up a sixth of the six million businesses registered in the UK and employ around three million people.