Enam Ali (; 1 December 1960 – 17 July 2022) was a Bangladeshi-born British businessman who founded

The British Curry Awards The British Curry Awards is an annual awards dinner dedicated to the British curry industry. It was established in 2005 by Enam Ali and has continued to this day. Each individual award is split for geographic purposes — regional splits of Scotla ...

, '' Spice Business Magazine'', and ''

Ion TV Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented ente ...

''.

Early life

Ali was born in

Sylhet District Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট), located in north-east Bangladesh, is the divisional capital and one of the four districts in the Sylhet Division. History Sylhet district was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Bengal Pro ...

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

(now Bangladesh). In 1974, he went to the United Kingdom to study law but decided to pursue a degree in hospitality and management. While studying he worked part-time for the Taj Mahal restaurant group.

Career

He opened restaurant Le Raj in 1989. In 1990, he became a fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. In 1998, Ali launched '' Spice Business Magazine'', a quarterly trade publication featuring articles in English and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

with information on the restaurant sector as well as community news. The magazine's average quarterly readership was more than 100,000. In 2005, Ali founded

to recognize excellence in the UK curry industry and raise awareness of top British curry restaurants. In 2012, the restaurant he founded, Le Raj, was selected as one of the official food suppliers of the 2012 London Summer Olympics. It supplied Bangladeshi

halal ''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with ''haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification kno ...

curry and

iftar Iftar ( ar, translit=Iftar Ramadan, إفطار رمضان), also known as (from , , 'breakfast'), (), is the evening meal with which Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset. They break their fast at the time of the call to prayer (a ...

during

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

for 17 days during the Olympics. Ali became a director and president of the British-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce, which was created in 1991. He was a contributor and consultant for the hospitably industry, focusing on curry cuisine. In 2016, Ali expressed plans to launch Le Raj Academy, a catering academy, in partnership with North East Surrey College of Technology. He launched a 24-hour TV channel, ION, to strengthen the British curry industry. In late 2020 Ali launched the inaugural British Curry Day to support the pandemic curry industry and commemorate the elderly "curry pioneers" being lost to the Coronavirus. It raised large sums for local charities around the country. Under the slogan of ‘Back the Bhaji’, many restaurants donated money for each onion bhaji sold. Eaten by the million in Britain each week, with origins in the UK's native onion rings, the dish is symbolic of the unique British curry culture.

Personal life

Ali died from cancer in London on 17 July 2022, at the age of 61.

Awards and recognition

In 2009, Ali was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2009 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2009 were announced on 31 December 2008 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Christopher and Nevis,Saint Christopher. to ...

for his services to the Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant industries. In 2008, he was a member of the Home Office Hospitality sector advisory panel, which ensures fairness in the treatment of the restaurant industry, by that department and by the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

. In 2011, Ali became the first Muslim and the first representative of the British curry industry to be granted

Freedom of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

, in recognition of his contribution to the hospitality industry. In the same year, he was awarded Best Business Personality of the Year by his local area of

Epsom and Ewell Epsom and Ewell () is a local government district with borough status and unparished area in Surrey, England, covering the towns of Epsom and Ewell. The borough was formed as an urban district in 1894, and was known as Epsom until 1934. It was m ...

at their Business Excellence Awards, in recognition of his contributions hosting charitable events, raising more than £1.02 million over the previous 26 years. In January 2013, Ali was nominated for the Arts and Culture Awareness award at the

British Muslim Awards The British Muslim Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours the success and achievements of British Muslim individuals, groups and businesses. It was established in 2013. Overview The British Muslim Awards was founded by Oceanic Consulti ...

. In August 2018, Institute of Hospitality recognised contribution made by Mr Ali to the Industry and among the most prominent British Asian personalities and the man behind revolutionary change in the curry industry.

References

External links