Poonam Gupta

Poonam Gupta OBE (born 1976 in Delhi, India) is a Scottish-Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist who emigrated to Scotland from India in 2002. Poonam Gupta was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to the business and charity in the 2017 New Year Honours.[1][2][3][4][5] She completed her early schooling years in Delhi at Lady Irwin School and Delhi Public School where she got admission on merit to complete her high schooling. She went onto complete an Honours Degree in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi before gaining an MBA in International Business and Marketing at FORE School of Management, Delhi and Maastricht School of Management in Holland. She arrived in the west of Scotland after marrying Puneet, a Belfast-born pharmacist of Indian descent. Together they have two daughters, the first born in 2005 and the second two years later in 2007.[6][7][8] During her second pregnancy, Poonam suffered from a rare form of bone tuberculosis which left her in a wheelchair for 18 months.[4][7]

Poonam Gupta OBE

OBE
Personal details
Born (1976-08-17) 17 August 1976
New Delhi, India
NationalityBritish (Indian)
Spouse(s)Puneet Gupta
ResidenceScotland
OccupationBusinesswoman
Known forFounder of PG Paper Co., Ltd

Charitable

Gupta's charitable contributions are focused on women issues, underprivileged children, animal conservation, cancer, gender equality and helping young girls in India to get an education.[6]

She has been actively supporting Action For Children charity as a main sponsor and organizer of annual dinners with hundreds of thousands of pounds raised.

In 2009, Gupta founded The Scottish Circle in aid of Oxfam along with Annie Lennox. The charity focuses on providing support for underprivileged women in Scotland and around the world.

In 2015 and 2017, Poonam and her husband Puneet Gupta took part in a rickshaw race to raise funds for Elephant Family, a charity that was founded by the conservationist and Duchess of Cornwall's brother, the late Mark Shand to conserve the Asian elephants.[9][10][11][12][13]

In 2017, Poonam formed Women's Business Mentoring organization which aim to help Scottish women become successful by providing mentoring schemes across the country.[14]

Poonam continued her charitable efforts to help victims of child trafficking and slavery by contributing to the Virat Kohli Foundation when she placed the winning bid on a painting donated to the cause by the artist Sacha Jafri.[15][16][17]

Career

Poonam launched her first business - PG Paper Company Ltd in 2003 from her family house in Kilmacolm, Scotland.

The business initially specialised in salvaging and reusing products that were often destined for landfill. PG Paper imports and exports goods from over 53 countries around the world and is considered to be the fastest growing paper companies in the United Kingdom.[18][19]

Since 2015 the official headquarters were moved from the family home to the Custom House in Greenock, Scotland.[20]

Gupta is now involved in several other business ventures including PG World, SAPP Holdings, SAPP International, SAPP Property, EnVisage Dental Health, Punav.

2015 The official Headquarters of PG Paper Company Ltd. Custom House, Greenock, Scotland.

Awards, honours and appointments
Year Awards/Honours/Appointments Accomplishments
2020 Entrepreneurial Recognition award of the University of Dundee Award
2019 Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 UK - Ernst & Young[21][22] Winner
2019 Entrepreneur of the Year for Scotland - Ernst & Young[23][21] Winner
2019 Scale up of the Year Award - Ernst & Young[24] Winner
2019 No.1 Magazine Amazing Business Achievement Award [25] Winner
2019 Director, Merchants House of Glasgow Appointment
2018 Director, Scottish Chambers of Commerce[26] Appointment
2018 Scotland Businesswoman of the Year[27][28][29] Winner
2017 CEMVO Ethnic Minority Impact Awards - Business Female Award Winner
2017 100 Vibrant faces of British Economy[30] Honour
2017 Board member of Enterprise and Skill Strategic Board - Scottish Government.[31] Appointment
2017 Women Enterprise Scotland[32] Ambassador
2016 Officer of the Order of the British Empire[1][5][3][2] An honorary medal
2013 Deloitte Female Entrepreneur of the Year[33] Finalist
2011 Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist
2009 Scottish Asian Businesswoman of the Year[34][35] Winner
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References
  1. "New Year's Honours list 2017 - Publications - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  2. Glaze, Ben (31 December 2016). "Revealed, the New Year's Honours 2017 in full". mirror. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  3. "Queen's New Year Honours list 2017". Scottish Government News. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  4. "From preparing to die to building a £20m global commodities group". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  5. "Inverclyde businesswoman's delight at OBE honour". Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  6. Brocklehurst, Steven (25 April 2017). "The paper queen who refused to fold". BBC News. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  7. "Meet the husband and wife team behind £10m success". Asian Image. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  8. "From preparing to die to building a £20m global commodities group". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  9. "Asian entrepreneurs help raise funds for Action For Children - Ethnic Now". www.ethnicnow.com. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  10. "PG Paper Team Up With Action For Children - Ethnic Now". www.ethnicnow.com. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  11. "Inverclyde firm's charity fundraiser was a knockout success". Greenock Telegraph. Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  12. Francis, Jo. "Honours For Notable Industry Women". Print Week. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  13. "Scots couple survive near misses in jungle on way to winning charity rickshaw race". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  14. Gates, Philip (1 June 2017). "Scotland's top female executives back new Women's Business Mentoring initiative". businessInsider. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  15. "Virat Kohli painting goes for impressive 23.7 crore rupees in charity auction". hindustantimes.com/. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  16. Rebello, Maleeva (4 July 2017). "The CEO, who paid £2.9 mn for Virat Kohli painting, says cricket is like running a business". The Economic Times. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  17. "Virat Kohli Painting Bought For 290 Thousand GBP". Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  18. Insider, Business (19 June 2017). "Insider regional review: Inverclyde". businessInsider. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  19. "PG Paper closes in on international deals". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  20. "PG Paper moves to Greenock's Custom House". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  21. Symon, Ken (8 November 2019). "Two Scottish businesses win at UK-wide entrepreneur awards". businessInsider. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  22. "Scottish leaders win duo of titles at EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  23. "PG Paper boss Gupta named Scotland's top entrepreneur". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  24. Symon, Ken (14 June 2019). "Entrepreneur of the year is named". businessInsider. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  25. McEachern, Megan. "No. 1 Magazine Amazing Women Awards - The Winners". Sunday Post. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  26. "SCC Board | Welcome to the Scottish Chambers of Commerce website". www.scottishchambers.org.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  27. Kemp, Kenny (5 November 2018). "Business Women Scotland and Women's Enterprise Scotland Awards winners revealed". businessInsider. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  28. "Head of a Greenock-based company has been crowned Scotland's top female entrepreneur". Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  29. "Business Women Scotland and WES Scotland Awards 2018 Winners | Business Women Scotland | BWS magazine | Business network events". bwsltd.co.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  30. "Poonam Gupta OBE - Faces of a Vibrant Economy - Grant Thornton". Faces of a Vibrant Economy - Grant Thornton. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  31. "Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board: members' biographies - gov.scot". beta.gov.scot. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  32. "Women's Business Mentoring | Home". Women's Business Mentoring | Home. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  33. michael (12 May 2013). "Aberdeen represented well in The Scottish Business Awards, Scotland's biggest business awards event". SBNN. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  34. "Meet the husband and wife team behind £10m success". Asian Image. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  35. "Welcome to The Scottish Asian Business Awards". www.theasianbusinessawards.info. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
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