London, Dec 04, 2004
NRIpress
Prominent Londoner and NRI was born to a middle-class household
in the North West Frontier Province. Lalls family moved
to India during the partition and settled in Kolkata. He graduated
from St Scottish Church College and took up an insurance agents
job. Later, he joined a paper mill as an apprentice. It was here
that he met an Austrian engineer who suggested he move to Graz.
In 1958, 25-year-old Lall sailed from Kochi to Genoa on the way
to Graz. As luck would have it, Lall could not make any headway
in Graz. When I failed in Graz, I decided to make a life
in England. Finding a job and room to stay was extremely difficult
for Asian immigrants at that time. Shops would have notices that
read, Rooms to let Sorry, no coloureds, no Irish,
no dogs
Lall managed to get an articleship with a Jewish firm in Manchester
and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1964. After working
in various companies including KPMG, Dunlop and PwC in Milan,
he joined the British government as an accountant.
He decided to quit his governement job when denied a promotion.
The rejection left me thinking. I wanted to be a millionaire.
He left MoD to set up his own accountancy firm. In the first
year of practice, I had only five clients. When I sold my business
in 2001 for £200,000, my firm had 700 clients, he
says.
In the early 1980s, Lall ventured into real estate, buying and
selling properties. Now he owns 12 properties houses, flats,
plots of land. Lall lives off £100,000 earnings from rentals.
His assets are worth over £3 million which includes his
lavish £1.5-million house. Today, most of his time is spent
in lobbying, consulting, lecturing and giving legal advice to
would-be entrepreneurs.
Lall was awarded an honorary doctorate in business administration
by the University of East London. He is also the first Asian to
be elected to chair the Newham Chamber of Commerce.
Lalls success story makes one thing clear. You dont
need to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to be a millionaire.
Dream big and work hard to realise it!
"I've always felt that most people who earn a lot of money
don't really seem to enjoy their wealth," said Lall, who
sold his consultancy business about two years ago for one and
a half million pounds.
"I wanted to tell all these people that money making is
not necessarily fraught with so much tension," said the man,
whose company had 700 clients and offices stretched from the Isle
of Man to Dubai.
So the book has special portions on how to relax, where to relax
and methods of planning in a quick relaxation period during a
busy workday.
Drawing from ancient Hindu scriptures, Lall asks his readers
to believe "I am one and I want to be manifold."
In 2001, he published his first book, an autobiographical and
spiritual reflection, How to Grow Rich And Enjoy Life.
The second book Journey to Riches and Happiness is being published
in New Delhi.
Indians, especially Punjabis and Gujaratis, have done very well.
Their business expertise and enterprise is exceedingly superb.
Indians from Uganda have also done very well. But they had money
when they came, unlike most Indians.
Immigrant population is controlling one-third of the Londons
economy. Indians in the UK are doing very well in almost every
walk of life. They are chartered accountants, doctors, engineers,
surveyors, property tycoons, industrialists, and all sorts of
business people. A lot of IT work is now being outsourced to India.
Trade Unions are fighting because the original inhabitants are
losing jobs to outsourcing.
November-December 2004
Indian Mantra
Heart Above Mind
Indian mantras put heart above mind and EQ over IQ and coupling
these with British traits of punctuality and quality control made
Bill Lall a millionaire and a peer.
To use an Indian term, Lall told, my mantra
is believe in karma like a good Indian and also be absolutely
perfect in discipline. The twin combination changed Dharambir
Lall to Lord Bill Lall of Woodlands, chartered accountant, civil
servant, adviser to the British government and self-made millionaire.
Lall was recently in India to promote his
second book Rich Man, Happy Man, a how-to-book on making
money without heartburn. The 200-page book published in India
by Full Circle is replete with advice on how to lead a good life
and keep away the anxieties that come with earning big money.
Ive always felt that most people who earn a lot of
money dont really seem to enjoy their wealth, said
Lall, who sold his consultancy business about two years ago for
£1.5 million. I wanted to tell all these people that
money making is not necessarily fraught with so much tension,
said the man whose company had 700 clients and offices stretched
from the Isle of Man to Dubai.
So the book has special portions on how to relax, where to relax
and methods of planning in a quick relaxation period during a
busy workday. Drawing from ancient Hindu scriptures, Lall asks
his readers to believe I am one and I want to be manifold.
Born in Kolkata, Lall moved to Austria and then Britain to study
management. He has worked for KPMG, Dunlop, the British Ministry
of Defence and PricewaterhouseCooper.
Lall was the first person from an ethnic background to be elected
chair of the Newham Chamber of Commerce and was recently honoured
by the University of East London with an honorary doctorate in
business administration. In 2001 Lall published his first book
How to Grow Rich And Enjoy Life. He said times have become
far easier for new entrepreneurs in the West.
Around 33 per cent of all business in Britain today is
run by people of ethnic origin. So the problems that I faced
like notices on windows saying No Coloured are not
there anymore.
I believe this is the age to be rich and be happy at the
same time. IANS