ABCC
Updates and useful information from the largest ethnic support organisation in the UK
Contact: Anjum Khan T: 0845 6036650
Committee Profile
Name: Ambreen Khan Company: Big John’s
Company URL:
www.mybigjohns.com
Social media handle (Twitter): Facebook - bigjohns
Position: HR Manager
How long have you been a member of the ABCC? Two years plus.
Why did you want to be a part of the executive committee? I wanted to become a part of the EC at ABCC as it is a branch of a fantastic business network that thrives to bring businesses together through connecting professionals
Bringing people development skills to ABCC
In the last of a regular feature to introduce the newest members of the ABCC executive committee, Philip Parkin profiles Ambreen Khan, who is human resources director of fast-food chain Big John’s and has a keen interest in people development
food chain with 500 employees, she is also single-handedly bringing up two young children, aged 10 and seven. That might be enough for most people, but in addition Ambreen is a key member of the organising team of the famous Birmingham Mela, or to give it its official title, the Big John’s Birmingham Mela. Big John’s is actually where Ambreen works, although she was part of the Mela organising team before she joined the Birmingham-based company. The Mela is a huge cultural, arts and diversity event which takes place at Cannon Hill Park every
T 58 CHAMBERLINK December 2019/January 2020
o say that Ambreen Khan leads a busy life is something of an understatement. Not only is she the HR director of a busy fast
summer, and next year will be its 20th. The event attracts huge audiences, and this year saw some 70,000 visitors attending throughout the day. Not surprisingly, the Mela – which translates
as ‘religious service’ but in practice means Hindu festival – is the largest outdoor Asian event in the UK. Ambreen, who was born in London but grew up in Birmingham, has been a member of the Mela organising team for three years.
‘This was about personal development and developing my executive skills’
On the work front, she began working in the
banking sector in Birmingham while studying at Birmingham City University, where her chosen subject was construction. She graduated from BCU in 2008, and
unfortunately began her job search at the same time as the last world-wide recession was in full swing. As a result, construction everywhere ground to a halt – and it clearly wasn’t a good time to try and launch a career in this sector. As Ambreen puts it: “It was very difficult to
find a job in construction, because of all the lay- offs that had happened – the whole market had crashed.” So, Ambreen stuck with what she knew, and
began working full time in banking, and she spent the next six years in a number of business development manager and corporate roles. However, banking was not a career that was
going to keep her interested for her whole life – she increasingly became interested in the subject of people development, and in 2014 left her job and went on a variety of courses dealing with this subject, orientated towards such subjects as
and entrepreneurs to develop in their business goals through building relationships.
What do you hope to achieve as an executive committee member? As an executive committee member I hope to become a medium to connecting business and see ideas grow.
How can the ABCC help support businesses, and why should they join? ABCC can help support business through the extensive benefits available and by far a vast range of events. Any operating business in Birmingham should join to enhance their presence, connect and grow with other business, uniquely within the Asian community.
What do you think is the most important issue facing businesses in Greater Birmingham? At present the most important issues facing businesses at present would be Brexit, access to finance and diversity.
emotional intelligence and neuro-science. She was also focused on bringing up her two
children, which also necessitated a return to work. This came two years ago at Big John’s, a fast food operation that has a number of outlets in Birmingham and Solihull. By this time, Ambreen knew Big John’s
through the Mela, and more importantly, they knew her, and her strengths, in terms of her knowledge of people development. She was also given the opportunity to join the
ABCC committee and said: “To me, this was about personal development and developing my executive skills. I was looking at ways I could develop my leadership skills through it. “Also, because I am a working woman it was
more about using the opportunity to encourage more females from Asian community to get into business, however small it may be. “My legacy would be to have a positive impact
on more women, to help them understand that there are opportunities for them to get into business and develop themselves, because that’s the journey that I went on.” Ambreen wants to focus on helping Muslim
women who, as a sector, tend to experience high unemployment levels. She said: “There needs to be more awareness
about opportunities – that will come through other people being role models and sharing their journey – definitely there’s room for motivation for Muslim women. “As for the ABCC itself, I can see it growing
stronger – we need to attract more members, and not just from the Asian community. We need to attract members from all communities, which will lead to an increase in opportunities. It’s a priority challenge.”
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