A respected and highly decorated businessman has opened up about the severe racism he and his family endured growing up in the North East.
Tyneside entrepreneur Ammar Mirza has revealed the extent of the racial abuse he faced in Newcastle, recounting incidents where he was targeted with racial slurs from the age of five and had dogs set on him by some local residents.
Appointed a CBE in 2014 for his outstanding contributions to business and the community, Mr. Mirza shared his experiences on the PRsonal podcast. He recounted his childhood in poverty in Newcastle’s West End, where he and his family were frequently harassed by skinheads.
“Some of my earliest memories were of my parents having a gazillion bolts on our front door – there was literally a metal bar that went across the front door and there were bolts from top to bottom,” Mirza said, likening their home to “Fort Knox.” He described drunken individuals shouting abuse at their house on Friday and Saturday nights, with people yelling, “P**** go home,” even before he turned five.
Although these incidents didn’t happen all the time, they were a significant part of his childhood. Raised on Beaconsfield Street in Arthur’s Hill, Ammar Mirza defied the odds to become one of the West End’s great success stories, earning numerous accolades for his efforts in promoting trade across the UK. In 2019, he was named British Asian Entrepreneur of the Year.
As an angel investor and organizational growth expert, he has helped establish thousands of businesses globally. Currently, he is spearheading the Inclusion by Default Campaign, which aims to make the North East and Tees Valley the most inclusive regions in the UK by the end of 2025.
On the show, produced by North East PR agency Harvey & Hugo, Mr. Mirza admitted that growing up in an Asian household during the 70s and 80s posed significant challenges. “There were a couple of individuals who lived on the estate opposite, in Stanhope Street, who had an Alsatian and they would regularly set the dog on us,” he recalled. He remembered having to climb trees in Leazes Park with his elder brother to escape the dog. While he has always experienced racism, he noted that more recently, it has manifested as bias. Although less overt, this bias still persists today.
Mirza also expressed his sadness that his late parents did not live to see many of his achievements. He spoke about his charity work and the challenges of having a premature baby. However, he also shared a recent experience where he was mistaken for Habib Rahman, Newcastle’s first non-white Lord Mayor, at a civic event.
Despite his successful career, he still encounters unconscious bias. “Even working with colleagues on certain projects, as soon as there are two Asian individuals involved, they’ll regularly call me their name. That isn’t racism, but it is that unconscious bias that exists that there can’t be two Asian people in that role.”
Despite these challenges, Ammar Mirza remains optimistic about the North East, believing it to be the best region in the world and is dedicated to making it even better.
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