David Parkin has an ice cream…and learns about condoms

DID you know that Malaysia is the world’s biggest exporter of condoms?

Neither did I until I heard a speech from the Malaysian trade commissioner at the launch of the Yorkshire Asian Business Association this week.

To be fair, I also hadn’t realised that Malaysian entrepreneurs own Cardiff City, QPR and even quintessential British retailer Laura Ashley.

But it was his first fact that certainly got my attention. It reminded me of a publicity stunt done by a now defunct Leeds PR agency a few years ago. They had to come up with a way to promote a new business park built close to the M62 motorway.

One morning senior figures from the Yorkshire business community received envelopes containing a card detailing the benefits of the said business park with a condom pinned to it.

Quizzical looks all round, as you might expect.

However when the recipients turned over the card, on the other side it bore the words: “So close to the motorway you can smell the rubber.”

Classy.

I think that business park is still empty.

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I REALLY enjoyed the launch of the Yorkshire Asian Business Association this week. Given I was having to compere the whole event and introduce eight speakers, it wasn’t necessarily guaranteed to be such fun.

But Sharon Jandu, Zulfi Hussain and Amarjit Singh and the team from YABA deserve huge praise for their hard work in creating an organisation I believe will add serious value to the region’s economy.

The speakers included the Turkish Ambassador (that’s the first time I’ve called someone ‘Your Excellency’ for a while – well since the last time I bumped into Gary Verity).

The event, hosted by BT at its impressive Sovereign House headquarters in Leeds, combined enthusiasm, entrepreneurialism, intelligence, good humour and genuine passion for success.

Asian businesses make up about 10% of the UK’s 4.5m SMEs while the aspiring entrepreneurial British Asian business community generates 10% of this country’s GDP despite making up less than 6% of the population.

I was fortunate to meet a number of Asian entrepreneurs running businesses in Yorkshire. They ranged in age and experience.

One of the older businessmen told me about some of the barriers and prejudices he had to face when he moved to Yorkshire from Uganda.

But rather than dwell on the negatives, he swiftly moved on to recount what Britain and its people had given him and enabled him to achieve.

I complimented him on his striking tie – black, red and tan stripes – and he said it had been given to him by Prince Charles.

Who cares how much dosh you have in the bank, when the heir to the throne gives you his neckwear, you know you’ve made it.

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THE recent sunny weather has led to plenty of al fresco dining, drinking and socialising, and not before time after a lengthy freezing winter and the washout that was 2012.

One other thing to emerge, certainly in our corner of Leeds, has been the proliferation of ice cream vans.

And what has struck me is the variety in the chimes that each van plays.

In the last week we’ve had everything from Greensleeves to Match of the Day and the theme from the Third Man film.

I’ve not heard my favourite for a few years though.

That belted out the James Bond theme followed by a cockerel crowing. Creative juxtapositioning at its best.