James Caan:The Pakistani Dragon
By Dil Nawaz • Oct 30th, 2009 • Category: Features • 16 Comments
James Caan published his autobiography, The Real Deal: My Story from Brick Lane to Dragons’ Den, in November, 2008.
The title received generally positive reviews and subsequently became a British bestseller. In early 2009 Caan released an cheaper paperback version of his book. This coincided with the relaunch of his new official website, which received rave reviews by New Media Age magazine in May 2009 - a fitting tribute to Caan’s investment in people and entrepreneurialism.
James Caan (formerly Nazim Khan; born 28 December 1960) is a Pakistani-British investor, entrepreneur, television personality, and philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of Hamilton Bradshaw, a UK-based private equity company. He also founded Alexander Mann, a multinational recruitment company, and co-founded Humana International, a multinational headhunting firm. Caan joined the fifth series of BBC2’s Dragons’ Den in 2007.
His father was Abdul Rashid Khan, a leather worker; brought the family to the East End of London in 1962,] when Caan was two. The family settled in a home just off Brick Lane (an area with a Bangladeshi majority) and Abdul started a business making leather jackets.
A quote from from his Website http://James-Caan.com
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At an early age, James learned two very important lessons while watching his late father work long hours, seven days a week to make a success of his textile business. He quickly concluded that nothing can be achieved without, first and foremost, dedication and effort. He also realised that there was little point in working hard if you can’t find the time to enjoy the fruits of your labour and, where possible, be able to give something back. James’ passion remains in building successful businesses and investing in people rather than just their ideas. He has always demonstrated ability to spot talent, and subsequently takes great pleasure in seeing those he invests in, grow and achieve their ambitions. |
In his youth, Caan worked for his father, but he left school without qualifications at the age of 16, and left home shortly afterwards to pursue his ambitions of founding a business. He says his father took a while to offer his full support.
My father never understood why I didn’t join the family business. When I opened the 100th global office of my company he said it maybe was the right thing for me to do.
Caan got his first job in the recruitment industry at the age of 18, when he joined Holborn-based Premier Personnel as a trainee interviewer. Within the year he moved to the larger City Centre Staff Bureau as a branch manager, before being headhunted by Alfred Marks, where he became manager of their Oxford Street branch. Finally, Caan settled down in the recruitment department of Reid Trevena, an incentive-driven financial services company.
He is calm and calculated the cool assassin, multi millionaire venture capitalist. age 48 live in London.step forward dragon james caan(born Nizam khan in Lahore Pakistan).Spice and colour of bored millionaire dragon club.
Global recruitment giant Alexander Mann was sold for millions and he founded venture capital firm Hamilton bradshaw. Caan set up London-based Hamilton Bradshaw, a mid-market private equity company. The Company’s portfolio contains firms in all sectors of industry, although it lists its interests as buyouts, development capital, and turnarounds. In 2007, Hamilton Bradshaw bought public and private sector recruitment specialist Eden Brown with revenues at over £180m. The company has already increased profits by 70% through a combination of investment and greater efficiency in the first six months of ownership. At present, Hamilton Bradshaw manages 41 companies, with a combined yearly turnover of £400m, and a real estate portfolio valued at £35m.
In October 2007, James Caan joined the panel of BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den; to date he has starred in three series. Caan has been characterized in the British media as both the calmest and most sincere of all the Dragons.
To date, Caan has invested in 14 companies spanning multiple sectors; however, he and Duncan Bannatyne have become best known for their investments in the hardware industry, after building successful companies from three Dragon investments, ChocBox, Rapstrap, and MagnaMole. Both ChocBox and Rapstrap made £30m+ international deals within a month of investment.
Recently, it has been rumoured that James Caan was originally a second choice for the show after Scottish millionaire fellow British-Pakistani Shaf Rasul, who is now a star of the BBC’s online series.
Caan operates his own charity, the James Caan Foundation, which lends aid to the needy in the UK and Pakistan. Caan’s current and past schemes have focussed on helping disadvantaged children get a quality education. Caan originally visited Pakistan on a humanitarian aid trip in 2005, when he built his first independent school in partnership with The Citizens Foundation (TCF) in Lahore. The school currently educates 420 disadvantaged children between the ages of 5 and 11 for free. The Foundation continues to fund the institution and operates a teacher training programme in its premises.It is rumoured that Caan is in discussions with the British government to launch a multimillion pound project to aid Pakistan’s struggling education system.
Among successful business people, James continues to stand out from the crowd in that he prefers a more hands-on approach to archetypal charitable work. Not content with writing out cheques for worthy causes, James has spent time in Bosnia and Kashmir as well as poorer areas in Pakistan, where he has used his time and money to focus on ways of helping people whereby allowing them to retain their human dignity.
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If James Caan remained Nazim Khan, he would not have become a James Caan!
His weakness is quite obvious through his complex of adopting the name of celebrity.
Not he only but he has given christian name to her daughters which strongly reveals his inferiority complex about his origin.
He is not self made man.
He married to Indian born talented and rich woman Aisha cann who transferred her assets to him.
He was also fined heavily on some fixed price scams and penalized too.He took heavy loans from UK sources and for tax evasion such people start social works in different third world country for securing them from high returns and this way help to transfer money to other countries too,
All glitters are not gold sometime.
Nazia please no bull *&£$
Aisha & James started with a Pakistani clothes chain Aisha fashions. He didnot have any money when they met neither did she.
James stated Alexander Mann Co from a little cupboard office in central London.
Where did you get the rumour of Scams? what the hell you talking about, and property loans are called mortgages in UK USA for your information and getting loans from banks is perfectly legal.
Tax evasion?
what? Are you jealous becoz a Pakistani is a role model?
Obviously you haven’t got a clue, you donot know James and have not read his book and seen BBC Dragon’s Den.
Please educate yourself and them accuse others.
@3
You people just see on side.No doubt he is born business man and got and availed all opportunity to fly high and high.
I was just telling some facts of his life as reality and nothing more than it.
He himself is not interested of calling him as Pakistani and one of link below would show his intentions about his birth place.It was not his fault as he is naturally business minded people who always stick and own that land or culture which gives them money.
There is nothing to jealous because trust me I am never impressed or idealize rich people as I know very well that horrible stories have hidden behind their success and in their family lives.
While working in Karachi as consultant in a engineering firm I found that how people got break to touch peak in years.I quit this job as I couldn’t misuse my links but who utilized it is now running industries or high profile business in Karachi Dubai area.I am very content on my decision which was based on my ethical and professional principle.
Charity organizations are sometimes requirement of business tycoons to under cover their illegitimate activities and this is very common in UK and Pakistan in the field of education, recruiting agencies,immigration services and in share market so don’t try to portray him like angel.
try to read below links that each business man has some dark areas which they have an ability to cover up timely and this is one of secret key of a a successful business man.
http://owainthomasnews.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/dragon-caan-price-fixing/
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Office-Of-Fair-Trading-Fines-Six-Recruitment-Agencies-Including-Hays-40M-Pounds-For-Price-Fixing/Article/200909415395272
http://www.aishacaan.com/profile.html
http://www.macdarabutler.com/?p=31
darling
conspiracy theories aside,there is nothing substantial you are saying in these web links.
sky news of Rupert Murdoch is notorious for anti muslim propaganda. others sources are blogs and not news websites.
Your anger at things should not be taken out on poor JC. Aisha’s parents are indian muslims so what? UK is a free country and JC doesnot want political office in Pakistan or UK. Go to youtube and search James Caan, he is proud of his roots as Pakistani and millions of pounds that he has put in businesses and schools in Lahore and Islamabad is evidence of his commitment. Not just James but his brothers and sisters are also running IT outsourcing companies and super market chains in Pakistan.
JC advises governments world over including UK because of his honesty and integrity.We suggest you go his website and contact him with your questions if you must.
We have noticed you have habit on commenting your opinion on every post.Get a life and
if an honest decent Pakistani does some good, be proud.Please donot criticise for sake of paranoia.
We won’t be replying to your Yehudi Sazhish theories any more.
What exactly Mr. Caan has done for Pakistan? I would like facts before accepting him as hero.
@5
Criticism is always considered as Yehudi sazish in your little mind.
I have no interests what he earns or how he spent his life ,
I am just showing his colors of life which you are avoiding.
Why you are in pain if I comment on different topics.
You are not interested or jealous of my prompt responses then dont be panic as it would lower down you BP which will create further problems for you.
You are free to praise some decent Pakistanis who even feel shame of using their real name as true identification.
I know lot of characters like him who are passing such successful lives in Western countries and helping Pakistan in much better way.
As he is more sharp who knows the tool of media to project his accomplishments so he is getting fame.Nothing more than it.
In Pakistan you create a Scandal and people take notice,so no more useless chatter! please
@6
Faryal thanks for asking a decent question
JC thru pioneering work in field of IT recruitment and venture capital has started firms from scratch and developed them into multi-millionaire concerns.
BBC Dradon’s Den is a concept now being copied in almost all English speaking countries.
For Pakistan,he working in earthquake in 2005 and now adopting schools and colleges and one day up to university level.
We are not at liberty to disclose the names of their Pakistani business ventures,needless to say one of the top IT firms of Pakistan based in Lahore is run by Adam Khan James brother.
Other interests include fashion,IT recruitment and software development and super market chain.
If you want to search more
youtube james caan documentary Dragon’s Den and James Website james-caan.com
Thanks
@ 8
I wish and pray what you say about him like that his projects in Pakistan but people with such dubious identifications and reaching to its height at an early age always pass double and triple standard of living.
I know very well that Kashmir earthquake had brought prosperity to many groups who were directly handling aide packages.
Every body is claiming that he or she had done marvelous job in Kashmir but if you go you hardly find some master pieces of extraordinary work mostly done by foreign groups rest are sill living in search of normalcy which they lost in this natural disaster.
I know few business men of sialkot and Gujarat who are running such kind of businesses to show the world but reality is that they are involved in human trafficking, money laundering and fake property deals.
Sooner you would hear the corruption details of Khursheed Kusari.
That family always showed that his wife and family is running the biggest chain of Pakistan education system but in internal accounts they took lot of govt lands through their political contacts to establish their highly paid buildings.Only in Lahore premises they grabbed 16 lands which the town planners had left for govt schools.
Same they earned billions by approving educators like chain in which they sold education like peanuts.
They took the charge of railway schools in the name of giving them quality standards but reality is far behind what they claim.
So their investigation has been started and it is heard that all necessary papers have been taken our form inquiry files.
So lets see how this group is trapped in the list of professional white collar criminals.
I would to thank everyone for such a heated debate,it would be fair to say nazia like to play “devil’s Advocate” before anyone one jumps the gun let me tell you its a English expression which means someone who questions every idea because of skepticism.
So its not a bad thing nazia that you have time and energy to question things and debate vigorously.Keep up your hawkish attitude.
My ideas was to write about James because I am reading his book and find it interesting in terms of management studies.May be another time and place.
Sufficient to say James has put his own money in schools and hospitals in Lahore and elsewhere and did not take any donations for charity.
Alls well that ends well
God Bless you all
One for snub
One for encouragement
one as back fire
one as flying high
what a game plan for creating scenes.
Nazia, I am from the US. What you are saying about how people become rich is true.
They use their contacts and government to game the system. It doesn’t come through hard work or more hardworking honest people would achieve such riches. Venture capitalism, or business reconstruction is vulture capitalism. They are ways to suck the value out, and it is at the expense of the people on the bottom of the food chain. No one gets rich without denying others. It’s nothing but a well hidden form of theft. If there are no goods that are are produced, it is a no-good business.
It is important that others buy into the fantasy, or because it is based on con games. so it is projected in the media a a wonderful rags to riches story.
Sooner or later, tnese games are exposed but you have to be willing to face the truth.
JCFan - look at his internet handle for example.(James Caan Fan) If he chooses to believe you it would destroy his idol. He will defend his state of emotional denial. Another name for this is cognitive dissonance. Rather that put men like this James-Caan up on a pedestal, honest people like you should be there. You are trying to help people become of aware. Good for you.
@!2
thanks for projecting my point of views.
Hi,its great to know about james khan,how he built his umpire in a limitted sources,i am very happey
he is belong to pakistan although he change his name,i wants that he do something for pakistan
what indian businessman did for india,god give him health and luck.
shahid khan
For some of the People GRAPES ARE SOUR in this blog. Jeo Illitrate Mentality of the Third world Nation.
Nazia is right…JC fan is stOooopid…..listen first of all why dont you explain this why your so called rich busynessman chnaged his name???forget really pakistan, who is he following?i mean being called by an english name doesnt make you english…I will ask him to look at the mirror every morning and ask himself how can i change this color of my skin because i look Pakistani…..and then he sucks…trying to negociate the price of sombodies else kids……