Shelim Hussain (born 20 February 1973) is a Bangladeshi-born British entrepreneur, and founder, chairman and managing director of Euro Foods.

Early life

Hussain was born in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and was brought to the United Kingdom by his uncle and aunt in 1985. After a year of living in London, his uncle moved to

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in 1986, when he was 11, and he was enrolled at

Cathays High School Cathays ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: officially ''Cathays'' but also , 'the constant meadow') is a district and community (Wales), community in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is ver ...

Career

At the age of 17, Hussain started working as a waiter at the Indian Ocean restaurant in

Gabalfa Gabalfa (, ) is a district and community in the north of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is characterised by a four-lane fly over road at the Gabalfa Interchange, where the A48 road meets the A470 road (North Road) which leads from Car ...

. Around 1991, at the age of 18, when the local prawn supplier went out of business, having seen a gap in the market, Hussain took £20 worth of fuel and the money to buy six cases of prawns – and sold them on. He started his business while working evenings as a part-time as a waiter in the restaurant and studying at college for his

A Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

Coleg Glan Hafren Coleg Glan Hafren, formerly Rumney College (and before that Rumney College of Technology), was a Further Education college based in Cardiff which merged with Barry College in September 2011 to form the new Cardiff and Vale College. Background ...

. He saw an opportunity in the market for

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten. The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...

supply and started off by selling a few boxes of frozen prawns with his friend, delivering them at night while continuing with his education during the day. He started the business with an initial capital of only £20. The annual turnover for his business is around £80 million as of 2010.

Euro Foods (UK)

In 1993, Hussain formed

Euro Foods (UK) Euro Foods (UK) Ltd is a UK-based food distribution company, which makes and supplies ethnic food. The company was founded in 1993 by Shelim Hussain, its headquarters is in the town of Cwmbran, South Wales, and has over 2,400 employees. Histor ...

and the company has grown rapidly since. He employs over 200 staff and has food processing units in

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. Hussain is the chief executive of Newport-based Euro Foods which has an annual turnover of £80m, as well as a £20m subsidiary empire in Asia. He also has a new plant and four factories in

, and has started a subsidiary in New York City. He also has invested in property development business in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. At present he is founder, chairman and managing director of the following companies: Euro Foods (UK) Ltd, S & B Developments Ltd, SRS Poultry Ltd (commencing late 2003), Eurasia Food Processing (BD) Ltd (Bangladesh), Euro, Linen Service (UK) Ltd, Horizon Seafood Ltd, Saidowla Enterprise, Euro Foods (BD) Ltd & Rosemco foods Ltd (BD). All of factory setup by latest machine and as per HACCP rule.

Awards and recognition

In 2003, Hussain 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

2003 New Year Honours The 2003 New Year's Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British monarch's honours system, where 1 January is marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of ot ...

for his services to business in Wales. In 2003, he won the ''

Eastern Eye The ''Eastern Eye'' is a British weekly newspaper. It was created in 1989 and was first published by ''The Guardian'', before becoming a standalone newspaper. History Sarwar Ahmed Sarwar Ahmed ( bn, সরয়ার আহমেদ; bor ...

'' Young Achiever Award that was presented by Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, and he was nominated for Young Achiever at the Asian Jewel Awards. In 2005, he won the AoC Gold Award for Further Education Alumni. In 2011, he was awarded the Personality of the Year at the

British Curry Awards The British Curry Awards is an annual awards dinner dedicated to the Curry#United Kingdom, 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 — regi ...

, presented on video message by

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

References

External links