Media advisory  
Advance Notice Friday 6 July 2001
British Asians: Building Leadership for Corporate Citizenship

In the new agenda of corporate citizenship, it is no longer enough for businesses to simply make a profit and pay taxes; they must act responsibly, be accountable and benefit society as a whole. In Britain there are more then 1.7 million people of South Asian origin contributing more than £5 billion to the economy. How are British Asians squaring up to this challenge? Are they demonstrating corporate citizenship? And what forms of assistance are needed for British Asian business to take leadership on corporate citizenship at home and abroad?

The Centre for Social Markets is launching an initiative, supported by the RSA, to promote leadership by British Asians for greater social, ethical and environmentally responsible business practice. The British Asian Leadership for Corporate Citizenship (BALCC) is launched at a conference British Asian business - stereotypes, realities and challenges on Friday 6 July from 2pm to 6pm at the RSA, 8 John Adam Street, London WC2.

Exploring the contribution that British Asians make to Britain's cultural, commercial and public life are: Mr Gulam K. Noon MBE, Chairman, Noon Products Plc; Mr Karan Bilimoria, Managing Director of Cobra Beer and member of The Indus Entrepreneur (TiE) and Baroness Usha Prashar CBE.

Notes to Editors:

The launch conference is the first in a series of four roundtables that continue on Thursday 30 August, Friday 12 October and Thursday 20 December 2001. Proceedings will be published as a consolidated report in Spring 2002 with major conclusions and recommendations leading to Phase II of the BALCC initiative.


The launch conference and roundtables will bring together leading British Asians from business, professions, voluntary sector, media and government for facilitated discussions on these issues. Good practice case studies - including those from South Asia itself - from market leaders will also be discussed. Each roundtable will place emphasis on networking, information exchange and building a practical forward-looking agenda.


The Centre for Social Markets (CSM) is an independent non-profit organisation, with offices in India and the UK, dedicated to making markets work for the triple bottom line - people, planet and profit. It recognises that markets are social institutions and should reflect changing norms and standards to meet economic, social and environmental goals. The British Asians: Building Leadership for Corporate Citizenship (BALCC) initiative is part of CSM's strategic programme to draw more ethnic minority and diaspora communities (especially from India and China) in the UK into the debate on corporate social and environmental responsibility.


The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) is an organisation with a mission to encourage creativity, innovation and good practice. Working through its 23,000 Fellows (all men and women of achievement) the RSA seeks to educate and agitate for change in all its fields of interest: business, design, education, the arts and the environment. Visit the RSA's website at www.rsa.org.uk

For more information on the origins and objectives of the initiative, please contact :

Malini Mehra, Director, Centre for Social Markets on 020 7407 7625 or
email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For a press ticket to the conference contact :

Henrietta Sitwell at the RSA Press office
on 020 7451 6842 or
email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it