PLANS for a new 'club' to help East Lancashire's growing Asian business community have been given a huge vote of confidence.

More than 100 businesspeople backed plans for a special forum at a major conference held in Blackburn.

Leading figures from the community including Lord Patel of Blackburn and Time Computers managing director Tahir Mohsan have joined forces to spearhead the formation of the Asian Business Forum which is back by ELTEC.

A meeting to discuss the plans was staged at Jan's Conference Centre in Blackburn.

Mr Mohsan told the audience that as far as he was aware the only similar organisations were general ethnic minority business support groups and a Jewish business club elsewhere in the country. He added: "This unique Asian Business Forum will belong to you; it will be your voice. Initially it will represent you in East Lancashire, but there is no reason why it should not become a club for the whole North West, and then one day a national body.

"There are ways of communicating with the indigenous business community. There is no prejudice, but they do communicate differently from us.

"They look for business plans and so forth. We can help each other work better and communicate better, to grow our businesses."

Lord Adam Patel told conference delegates: "We know what it takes to run our businesses, often working seven days a week, for 12 to 16 hours a day. Many businesses are a family concern. We find it hard, therefore, to fit into our day, the management development initiatives that other businesses take for granted."

He added: "It is the skills of the people who work in businesses which make a difference.

"We consider and explore new avenues and use technology that is available to us, and learn and equip ourselves for a better business future."