Zameer Mohammed Choudrey, Baron Choudrey ( ur, ضمیر چوہدری; born 23 March 1958) is a British

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman who is the chief executive of Bestway, the UK's eleventh-largest privately owned business. Bestway, founded by Choudrey's uncle, Sir Anwar Pervez, is the ninth-largest family-owned business with a turnover in excess of £3.4 billion. According to the Sunday Times Rich List UK, in 2020 his net worth is £1.53 billion (US$1.85 billion); which makes him the second-richest Pakistani in the UK. He was appointed

Commander 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 ...

(CBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to the wholesale industry and charity. On 23 March 2018, the President of Pakistan awarded him Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) SI Pk, in recognition of his contributions to advancing Pakistan through his services and the wide array of philanthropic work. On 10 September 2019, he was nominated for a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

age in ex-prime minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

’s

resignation honours list The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours in the United Kingdom are honours granted at the behest of an outgoing prime minister following their resignation. In such a list, a prime minister may ask the monarch to bestow peerages, or lesser honours ...

. He was created Baron Choudrey, of

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

in the London Borough of Barnet, on 9 October 2019. He formally joined the House of Lords on 5 November 2019.

Early life

Choudrey was born in March 1958. His parents hail from a remote village of Thathi in Gujar Khan, Pakistan. He moved to UK at the age of 12 with his family. He graduated from the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

in 1981.

Career

In 1984, Choudrey qualified as an accountant with Simmons, Cohen, Fine and Partners (now Simmons Gainsford LLP). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and is also a member of the

Institute of Directors The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...

in London. In November 2014 he received an honorary doctorate from the

. He joined Bestway Group in 1984 as Financial Controller; he played a key role in the expansion of the Group's wholesale business through the acquisition of Bashin Cash & Carry in 1984, Crown Crest Limited in 1987 and Link Cash & Carry in 1988. In 1990, Choudrey was appointed the finance director of Bestway Group. During the mid 1990s he was assigned the task of business diversification by the board of directors and in 1995 he was appointed chief executive of Bestway Cement. In October 2002 having led the acquisition of United Bank Limited (UBL); he was appointed to the board of UBL. Since then he has been a director of UBL Insurers. In July 2014 under his leadership Bestway Group acquired the Co-op's pharmacy business for £620 million or US$1.06 billion. Co-op pharmacy is the UK's third largest independent pharmacy business and the largest in Wales. At the time of acquisition, pharmacy business was expected to increase the group's annual turnover to over £3 billion and the group's global workforce would increase to 33,600 people, with over 11,900 people employed in the UK. In October 2015, he was declared the winner of the Grocer Cup for outstanding business achievement.

Philanthropy

In 1987, Choudrey was a founding Trustee of Bestway Foundation – a charitable trust of the Bestway Group that works exclusively in the health and education sectors. In 1997 Bestway Foundation Pakistan was established and he was appointed Chairman of Bestway Foundation Pakistan. Between 2008 and 2010 he served as Chairman of NGBF Trading Limited – the trading arm of

GroceryAid GroceryAid is a registered (1095897) benevolent society for people from all over the United Kingdom who have worked, or are working in the grocery industry, and who find they need extra support to get by. Founded in 1857 the National Grocers Benevo ...

. In April 2009 he joined the Board of Trustees of Crimestoppers UK. Between March 2010 and April 2019, he served as a trustee of GroceryAid - the trade industry's flagship charity. In May 2010, he was appointed as

Deputy chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the Pakistan Britain Trade & Investment Forum. He became a member of HRH Prince of Wales Pakistan Recovery Fund International Leadership Team in 2011. In April 2013 he was invited by the British Asian Trust to join their UK Advisory Council. In January 2018 he was appointed UK Chair of the British Asian Trust's Advisory Council. In June 2019, Choudrey joined the Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council's Advisory Council.

Politics

Choudrey is a long-standing supporter and donor to the UK

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, and in August 2013 was appointed the co-chairman of the Conservative Friends of Pakistan. He made his maiden speech in the House of Lords on the 29th of January 2020; when he participated in the House of Lords debate on the Sutton Trust's Mobility Manifesto, published in November 2019, and the recommendations of the Social Mobility Commission's 2019 State of the Nation report. In June 2020, during the House of Lords debate - the economic lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures necessary to repair the UK economy - he asked if the Government intended to expand the life insurance scheme to the SME sector, and specifically to BAME individuals employed in the SME sector who have been defined as key workers but are not covered by the current scheme. In May 2021 - whilst participating in the debate on Her Majesty the Queen's Speech, he highlighted the issues being faced by community pharmacists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudrey, Zameer 1958 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) life peers British Muslims Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Pakistani chief executives Pakistani industrialists Wholesalers of the United Kingdom Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Life peers created by Elizabeth II British businesspeople of Pakistani descent British billionaires Pakistani billionaires British politicians of Pakistani descent Conservative Party (UK) donors Alumni of the University of Kent

Early life

Career

Philanthropy

Politics

See also

References