12:17pm Friday 12th March 2010
Manchester entrepreneur wins Rising Star Award at annual awards ceremony.
Esmail Patel, founder and managing director of the Deaf Education Advocacy Fellowship (DEAF) has won the Rising Star Award at the Ethnic Minority Business Forum Awards 2010.
The awards took place evening at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.
The 27 year old was nominated for Young Entrepreneur of the Year, as well as a Rising Star Award nomination for DEAF and was fortunate enough to take home the latter.
Winning the awards is an incredible honour for Patel, who was born deaf and strives to break down communication barriers for hearing impaired people.
Esmail Patel, Founder and Director of Deaf Education Advocacy Fellowship (DEAF) said, “It is such an honour to be awarded with the Rising Star Award for my work with DEAF.
"I already feel privileged to be in a position to be able to benefit my community and work towards a more understanding future for the hearing impaired. I am so proud to see that my work, as a deaf person, is being recognised on a larger scale by the business community. I am very proud of being an Enterprise Ambassador for the Northwest and this award really shows what benefits it can bring”
DEAF is a community interest company that provides a first class advocacy service for deaf and disabled people by signposting them towards education and employment opportunities.
As well as providing this support, Esmail Patel works with organisations throughout the Northwest to encourage understanding and break down any communication obstacles that occur in the workplace.
Esmail continued: “Having grown up as a member of the Deaf community of the North West, I have witnessed many of my friends become disenfranchised from mainstream society.
"These were intelligent, motivated people who were being ignored as potential customers, students, and business people because of their language and the associated stigmas that went along with being “deaf”.
I established DEAF after seeing the negative effect this unnecessary segregation was having on hearing impaired people. I wanted to do something proactive that would contribute to greater understanding as well as the dismissal of discrimination with our communities.”
Sarah Bevan-Fischer, Head of Northwest Enterprise for the Nation’s enterprise charity, Enterprise UK said: “We are so pleased for Esmail’s and his fantastic and well deserved achievement at last night’s awards ceremony. He is a wonderful Northwest Enterprise Ambassador and he is always on the look out for new ways that he can contribute to his community and the wider region.
“Esmail epitomises the entrepreneurial talent that is housed within the Northwest. He has established a powerful business from which he can service the business communities need for education as well providing a gateway to training and opportunities for haring impaired people.”
The Ethnic Minority Business Forum Awards 2010 saw over 25 individuals and businesses nominated over 7 categories that encapsulate the best of Northwest entrepreneurialism in the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) sector.
Sarah Bevan-Fischer continued, “The contribution made by black and ethnic minority businesses in the Northwest is invaluable to the economic, social and cultural development of the region.
"The EMBF NW Awards are designed to recognise and reward outstanding achievements made by black and ethnic minority entrepreneurs and businesses in the Northwest.
"From dynamic young entrepreneurs to well established, successful companies, these businesses are making a significant impact to the prosperity of the Northwest.”
Patel has also been nominated for and won a number of other awards previously, such as the Diversity Awards that he was presented with by the Manchester Metropolitan Police for his outstanding contribution to promoting deaf awareness and equality.
More recently Esmail Patel was honoured with an award for Diversity and Enterprise at the Bolton Diversity Awards that recognised the contribution DEAF had made to businesses in the local area.
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