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