Sir Gulam Noon

Sir Gulam Noon ran the family food business in India for ten years before leaving for the UK in 1969 with £50 in his pocket. His first company, a confectionery business called Bombay Halwa Ltd (Royal Sweets), grew rapidly from a single shop in Southall, London. He moved into ready meals in 1988 after trying a supermarket curry which he thought was ‘unattractive, insipid and badly packaged, a million miles from authentic Indian food'. His first factory had a workforce of eleven people. Today, between his two companies, he employs more than 1,250 staff and works closely with the UK's leading supermarkets. Noon products was bought out by Kerry Foods in 2005.