A BUSINESSMAN has won a prestigious Asian Business Leaders Award for his Bolton-based online furniture chain.

Asad Shamim, CEO of Furniture in Fashion, won the award for ‘Successful Application of Digital Media’ at a presentation in Manchester.

He was also nominated for two further awards, making him the only finalist to be nominated in three different categories.

The award was presented to Mr Shamim by Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Andrew Gwynne MP along with Mohammad Pervaiz.

Furniture in Fashion started in Bolton and was a store before moving online in 2006.

The business now has a major warehouse and showroom in Farnworth which occupies over 60,000 square feet, as well as a call centre in India, which Asad says it to meet their incredible demand.

As he explains, the award was won because of his social media orientated mindset: “With over 20 years of experience in retail business, I have gathered abundant experience in retail industry as a serial retail expert.

“I am a social media specialist and try to attract and interact with targeted virtual communities and network users. One of my many goals is to gradually achieve superior customer engagement and intimacy, website traffic and revenue by strategically exploiting all aspects of the social media marketing roadmap.”

While Mr Shamim has seen his business flourish, he has remained grounded and has said he will “never forget his past.”

He said: “I belong to a very humble background and certainly will never forget my past. My journey first started standing on the outdoor markets with my father at the age of 10 years old in the bitter cold.

“I am truly thankful to Almighty God for what he has given me in life and hope the strength remains within me to continue serving the most needy in the world.

“I am absolutely overwhelmed and humbled to receive this prestigious award. I am proud to say it’s an accomplishment of my sheer hard work and efforts.”