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Letters |
Enterprise corner
February 2013 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 11
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
ENTERPRISE CORNER
OPPORTUNITY
KNOCKS
Successful entrepreneurs offer a valuable lesson
in grabbing life’s chances, says
Amar Lodhia
Seema Sharma is an entrepreneur
, dentist and
Channel 4’s
Slumdog Secret Millionaire
who
lives in South East London. Seema was born in
July 1967 and set up her first practice in 1991,
at the age of 24. She now owns a small group
of dental practices trading as Smile
Impressions Ltd. She is also a partner in an
innovative William Place NHS Dental Practice
in East London.
At 40, with daughters aged ten and eight,
and a dependable practice management team
akin to her second family, she cut back her
hours at work, participating in a children’s oral
health education project in East London, to
pursue her dream to help deprived children.
That dream really came true two years later, in
2009, when she was part of a winning team
that secured a coveted tender to run an NHS
dental practice for underprivileged residents in
Bow, and she was invited to India to be the ‘real
slumdog secret millionaire’ in the popular
Channel 4 philanthropy series.
Seema took time out of her busy schedule to
speak at our flagship self-employment
programme being run at the Guildhall and co-
funded by City of London. Her talk centered on
her journey from starting her business in a
male-dominated industry at a young age and
what she did to become a multi-millionaire at
the age of 45. Seema inspired all of the
participants and moved some to tears
describing her work on the Channel 4
documentary. She also spoke to the TSBC
participants about ‘boarding the bus of
opportunity’, explaining that it is up to us as
individuals to either take the leap or stand still
and do nothing.
Seema believes her success has been due to hard work, luck and an element
of being in the right place at the right time. She shared something her father
once told her: ‘First you learn, then you earn, and then you return.’ Seema plans
to continue her journey into her heritage, and to further her charity work with
underprivileged communities in India and East London. She also spends time
building links with others who, like her, were satisfied with their personal
achievements and wanted to do more to help those less fortunate.
To enquire more about our new service or our work in general please
contact me at ceo@tsbccic.org.uk and follow me on Twitter @amarlodhia or
@tsbclondon. Don’t forget to use the #tag DDNews when tweeting!
Amar Lodhia is chief executive of The Small Business Consultancy CIC (TSBC)
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possessing small amounts of drugs
and also just for possessing drug-
taking paraphernalia.
Peter Simonson, by email
NO CONSPIRACY
Planning for the 5th UK Recovery Walk
is underway, this year hosted by
Birmingham. With the support of the
UK Recovery Federation, the steering
group committee has been formed and
planning groups are meeting regularly.
There is a lot to be done of course,
and we are looking for people and
services from across the UK to
support the event.
This year we would like to extend
the welcome not just to those affected
by dependency on substances, but
also to make the walk inclusive for
people to celebrate their recovery from
other forms of addiction, and related
health conditions such as HIV and
mental health – all of which lead to
stigma in society.
There will be entertainment for all
ages on the day and we’re looking to
see how we can show off the great
skills and resources there already are
within the recovery community. We’re
open to all ideas so please engage
with us on our social media pages
below. We’ll be promoting to the walk at
the
DDN
conference on 14 February, by
which time the September date and
route should be confirmed.
Building on the success of previous
years we hope to be able to continue
the legacy and make 2013 brilliant in
Brum! You can see the event on
Facebook (search ‘The 5th UK
Recovery Walk’) and follow the updates
on Twitter @UKRW2013
Stacey Smith, communications lead,
The 5th UK Recovery Walk,
@StaceInspire
‘Seema
explained
that it is
up to us as
individuals
to either
take the
leap or
stand still
and do
nothing.‘