Sukhpal Ahluwalia awarded Asian Business Person of the Year

Serial entrepreneur Sukhpal Ahluwalia has been awarded Business Person of the Year at this year’s prestigious Asian Achievers Awards. The award recognises Ahluwalia’s role in building many of the country’s largest businesses, including Euro Car Parts, Dominus and, most recently, GSF Car Parts.

Now in its 22nd year, the Asian Achievers Awards celebrates the outstanding work of individuals within the South Asian community across politics, business, and civil society. The Business Person of the Year award was sponsored by Andaria.

The awards ceremony, which took place at London’s Hilton Park Lane, attracted more than 500 distinguished guests from around the world and was hosted by former EastEnders star Nitin Ganatra and ITV newsreader Anila Dhami.

Sukhpal Ahluwalia said: “It is a great honour to receive this award. I’m hugely thankful to all my friends, team members, and partners who have contributed to the success of my businesses down the years. I’m proud of the role I’ve played in creating jobs and businesses across the length and breadth of the country.”

Sukhpal founded Euro Car Parts in 1978 from a single store, and it was continuously ranked as one of the UK’s most successful businesses by The Sunday Times Top Track 250.

The business grew to more than £1.2 billion in revenue by 2018, with a branch network of 350 locations and 11,500 colleagues. The business was sold to Nasdaq-listed LKQ Corp in 2014, with Ahluwalia staying on as Executive Chairman of LKQ’s businesses in the UK, Ireland, and India until 2018.

In 2011, Ahluwalia founded Dominus, which has since become one of the UK’s largest privately-owned property developers and operators, with super-prime sites across London and other major cities in the UK. He serves as Non-Executive Chairman.

Today, Dominus has one of the largest pipelines of student living projects in the UK. Alongside student living, it is active across residential, mixed use and hotel schemes, with a combined total of more than 4,000 units under construction with a GDV of £2.4 billion.

More recently, Ahluwalia acquired GSF Car Parts in 2023, which has since become the UK’s fastest growing car parts distributor. Over the last 12 months, the business has expanded rapidly, opening 15 new stores to reach a total of more than 200 across its network.

The business plans to add a further 15 branches over the coming year, which will create hundreds of new jobs. GSF also inked a multi-million mega-deal on a new 500,000-sq-ft National Distribution Centre in the Midlands to support the explosive growth of the business.

Sukhpal is also active in business and charity work in India, having committed to invest up to £10 million in the state of Punjab alongside seeking to back tech entrepreneurs across the country. In recent years, he has also supported the construction of a new school in Faridabad and plans to continue to scale up his activity in India in advance of his long-term aspiration to return to the country.

Sukhpal Ahluwalia added: “I love driving businesses from the front, and I’m very lucky to have been given the opportunity to do what I love, founding and building businesses, almost every day of my life. I’ve never really considered it a job! I’m going to give GSF every ounce of energy that I’ve got before I start to think about hanging up my boots to return to India.”

Nirav Patel, CEO of Andaria, said: “We are honoured to sponsor the Business Person of the Year award and to celebrate the achievements of outstanding individuals like Sukhpal Ahluwalia.

His remarkable journey from a refugee to a successful entrepreneur embodies the spirit of resilience and innovation that we champion at Andaria. We are committed to supporting communities and fostering financial inclusivity for all.”

Sukhpal is also a serial investor, whose investments include wealth manager VAR Capital, VC firm Concept Ventures, and fitness supergroup United Fitness Brands.

Sukhpal originally arrived in the UK in 1972 as a refugee from Uganda, fleeing persecution under Idi Amin. Upon his arrival in the UK, his family spent more than a year in temporary accommodation.