Qatar British Business Forum (QBBF) is delighted to announce the winners of its second annual awards ceremony organised to recognise business excellence and those members of the Qatari community, who have made outstanding contributions in the British community.

The awards ceremony was held at the Oryx Rotana Doha on Wednesday evening before an audience of valued guests, dignitaries and VIPs. The event was convened under the authority of His Excellency the British Ambassador to Qatar Mr. Ajay Sharma.

The awards are a part of an ongoing series of events and activities designed to promote business opportunities in Qatar and to strengthen commercial ties between the two nations. In particular, these initiatives focus on enhancing trade relations between Qatar and the UK. QBBF’s mission is to support local economic diversification as a part of Qatar’s National Vision 2030.

In 2016 for the first time the Awards committee presented winners in two new categories, the Lifetime Achievement Award, denoting an individual who has made enduring and outstanding contributions to the Qatar British Business Forum and to its mission; and the Sabri Thawabi Special Recognition Award, bestowed on a finalist who has demonstrated exemplary commitment and is awarded at the discretion of the QBBF committee. The latter award was named after a British Embassy staff member who moved to Qatar from Palestine in 1960. He joined the British Embassy in Doha in 1963, marking the start of over 40 years of service to the British government.

When speaking of the awards recipients Ambassador Sharma said: “I am delighted to host the Qatar British Business Forum’s second annual awards ceremony. This is a great opportunity to recognise business excellence and the British business community’s partnership with Qatar. I would like to thank the QBBF team and its business network for the important role they play in promoting business and contact between our two countries.”

QBBF Chairman and CEO of the Rumaillah Group, Emad Turkman MBE said: “The QBBF awards were introduced to recognise those individuals and companies making tremendous contributions to the business community and in furthering the trade between the UK and Qatar. This year the caliber of nominees was exceptional and we received an overwhelming number of nominations. In the end, although it was challenging to choose, we conferred these awards on an outstanding group of individuals and organisations.”

Members of the QBBF, which works closely with the UK Department for International Trade at the British Embassy, nominated QBBF Individual and Corporate peers for awards in seven categories.

The winners of the 2^nd Annual QBBF awards were as follows:

• QBBF Business Man of the Year – Stefan Lindberg-Jones, Ginger Camel

• QBBF Business Woman of the Year – Dr. Sarah Aalders, the British International Dental Practice & Dr Sarah’s Dental Practice

• QBBF Organisation of the Year – Turner and Townsend

• QBBF Start up Business of the Year – The Royal Grammar School, Guildford in Qatar

• Work in the Community – Quantum Global Solutions

• QBBF Lifetime Achievement Award – Hilary Bainbridge, Editor at Marhaba Information Guide

• Sabri Thawabi Special Recognition Award – Gordon MacKenzie, Radisson Blu

This year’s event was sponsored by Emirates Airline who provided two return airline tickets and hotel accommodation as part of the evening’s raffle prizes. Mr Tariq Almutawa, Country Manager in Qatar presented the final award of the evening, QBBF Organisation of the Year, that recognised Turner and Townsend. Commenting on the event, Mr. Almutawa said: “We have just introduced two new services onto Doha, offering more choice to our customers through increased connectivity. We have just launched our flagship A380, and we will begin offering travellers from Qatar to the UK seamless A380 connections to key business and leisure gateways like London, Manchester and Birmingham. We are supporting the local economy by opening lanes of trade and tourism with Qatar and beyond with 122 weekly flights to our 6 gateways in the UK.”

For more information on QBBF visit http://www.qbbf.com/.

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