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May 2004
Dr.
Lalvani is a British National living in London. As a leading
entrepreneur and highly successful businessman, he
still manages to devote a large amount of time to
many charities and the community.
He
was born in Karachi in 1931. After
graduating in Pharmacy in Ahmedabad in India, he came to Britain in
1956 and after completing a postgraduate degree in Pharmacy at
King’s College, went to Bonn University in 1959, where he obtained
his doctorate in Medicinal Chemistry with Distinction in 1962.
Following this he spent 2 years in teaching at the University. After
working for 10 years in active pharma-medical research, and earning
some valuable patents, he founded Vitabiotics, Britain’s first
specialist vitamin supplement company in 1971.
Today Vitabiotics is a leading nutraceutical company
with national and international distribution of 15 ground-breaking
brands. Five of these are Britain’s best selling supplements and
many of the products have gone through clinical trials
internationally. The
company has seen consistent growth of approximately 30% over several
years with around 50% of production exported to over 80 countries.
Vitabiotics launched its website Vitabiotics.com in 2000 and
received over 20,000 hits per month. Vitabiotics won the EASB
Export Award (DTI) in 2000 for outstanding achievement in export
and the Vision 100 Index Award in 2001 as one of the UK’s 100
Most Visionary Companies. In May 2003,
Vitabiotics Ltd received The Queen's Award, the highest and
most coveted commercial prize that can be bestowed on a UK
business. Her Majesty The Queen approved the Prime Minister's
recommendation that a Queen's Award for Enterprise in the
International Trade should be awarded to Vitabiotics Ltd, which
was formally presented to Dr Lalvani in the presence of His Royal
Highness The Duke of York.
All Vitabiotics products are linked with related charities, e.g.
Osteocare supports National Osteoporosis Society and the English
National Ballet. Pregnacare supports charities such as WellBeing
(the research wing of the Royal College of Gynaecologists and
Obstetricians) and BLISS (Baby Life Support Systems) .
In
addition to Dr Lalvani’s pioneering work in pharma-medical research
and business entrepreneurship, he has made many contributions in the
wider community.
Recent
examples of personal support during 2002 only have included:
South Asian Development Partnership
As a Patron of this charity, Dr Lalvani sponsored
an awareness campaign amongst the South Asian communities,
highlighting their responsibilities in issues such as organ donation
and urging their participation in this. Asian contribution in areas
such as Kidney Transplant is well below the national average yet
their requirement is substantially above the national average. Dr
Lalvani has also sponsored the distribution of strategic research to
key policy makers, Government Ministers, the Shadow Cabinet and
Opposition Leaders. This was done to highlight the needs of ethnic
communities and seek to redress inequalities.
BOOST, City and East London Employment Bond
Dr Lalvani has supported
regeneration initiatives like BOOST, by not only investing in the
purchase of bonds, but also sponsoring an event at the House of
Lords to mobilise support from the Asian business community in Tower
Hamlets.
Assisting the Arts
Through Vitabiotics, Dr
Lalvani supports many arts events and foundations such as the local
community theatre ‘Open for All’.
Dr Lalvani is also actively in the Asian Elephant
Conservation project in Woburn, along with Lord Howland. The Indian
Elephant is threatened in its natural habitat and is approaching the
brink of extinction.
Support of individual causes too.
Dr Lalvani’s commitment to
social justice across all ethnic divides was demonstrated by
underwriting the search costs for Joel Kitchen, a British
citizen who was lost while paragliding in North India. Dr Lalvani
offered help at his own initiative without any solicitation
whatsoever- this was an act of compassion that was highlighted by
national and international media.
Dr Lalvani assisted the Scottish Olympic
skier Alain Baxter seek justice to have his name cleared of the
highly unfair charge of a doping offence. The Alain Baxter Support
Group was set up to provide independent support by raising awareness
of the central issues in this vital case and help provide access to
key scientific research to support the case.
Dr Lalvani is an entrepreneur who’s also interested in promoting
education and history
For example, Dr. Lalvani,
holds a keen interest in the pioneering engineering and industrial
development work by the British in the sub-continent during the 19th
and 20th centuries. He is currently co-authoring a
historic book on this subject, the first of its kind, which includes
the development of telegraph, dockyards, lighthouses, canals, power
generators, roads, coal mines and the monumental task of
establishing 38,000 miles of railway encompassing 136,000 bridges
between 1850 to 1947. This factual account finally gives credit
to those whose great endeavours have been unjustly forgotten until
now.
In
view of his varied contributions to both business and the wider
community, Dr. Lalvani received two coveted Awards in 2003.
At the start of 2004, Dr.
Lalvani was also bestowed with the Award of Asian of the Year in the
UK.
Dr. Lalvani is married
with 2 sons and 1 daughter.
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