Entrepreneur Tony Deep Wouhra MBE

It was the early sixties when entrepreneur Tony Deep (then Kuldip) packed up his bags and boarded the plane to Britain. He was just 18, he’d never stepped outside his home country and he had a measly £3 in his pocket. “I was a ‘runaway graduate’,” he says. “I was a science student in Delhi but I turned my back on my studies to come to the UK. My father had lost a lot of money and I felt it was my duty to get a job and revive the family fortunes.” He settled in Wolverhampton and met Barbara – now his wife – who helped him find a job as a door-to-door salesman, selling eggs to Asian housewives. Career : Tony Deep MBE. the Chairman of East End Foods Plc (set up in 1972) and a leading UK businessman, has been working with Asian foods for over 35 years. He is passionate about food and has always lobbied against artificial food colouring, preservatives and additives. He adopts a scientific approach and for the last ten years has been engaged in research and development to control aflatoxin and pesticide residues. Over the years, through working with the growers in the country of origin, he has succeeded in producing both chillies and paprika that are virtually aflatoxin and pesticide free. This is certainly a great achievement for East End Foods Plc. Rank 1355 in the Times Rich List 2008 with a worth of £55m. Over 80% of Asian independents stock East End's range as well as all the major UK multiples.