Dinesh Dhamija

Dinesh Dhamija
Speaking at Horasis Global India Business Meeting 2010
Born 1950 (age 67–68)
Australia

Dinesh Dhamija (born 1950) is a British Indian business entrepreneur and politician. He is best known as the founder of the successful online travel agency Ebookers.[1]

Biography

Dhamija was born in Australia, the son of an Indian diplomat.[2] He grew up in India, Mauritius, Afghanistan, Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands.[3] He was educated at King's School, Canterbury and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he attained an MA in law.[2]

He began his professional career working for IBM, but soon left to begin his own business.[4] In 1980, Dinesh and his wife Tani started selling travel tickets from a kiosk at Earl's Court tube station in London.[4] By 1983, the business venture had developed into Flightbookers, a travel agency with three established premises. The firm grew rapidly and, in 1987, was appointed General Sales Agent for Royal Nepal Airlines in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[5] Over the next decade, the company became known across Europe and established offices in 12 countries.[6]

In 1996 Dhamija was introduced to the relatively new idea of the Internet. Realising the potential, he began to raise funds for the development of an interactive branch of Flightbookers. In 1999 Ebookers became the first interactive online travel agency in the United Kingdom.[6] Within a few years, the firm had established itself as one of Europe's leading travel agencies. In 2005, Dhamija sold Ebookers for £209m.[7] He is now one of the wealthiest Asian residents in the UK, with an estimated worth of £100m as of 2004.[1]

Dhamija was awarded the 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year award by the Management Today magazine. More recently, he was the founder and chairman of the Copper Beech Group, a firm involved in residential property development in Romania and education infrastructure in India.[2]

Dhamija currently works as a Board Advisor for serviced apartment provider TheSqua.re.[8]

Politcs

Dhamija joined the Liberal Democrats in 2014.[9] Then party leader Tim Farron asked him to be a business adviser to the party in 2016, and he and is currently the party's Deputy Treasurer.[9] He is seeking to be the party's candidate at the 2020 London Mayoral election.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 "The Andrew Davidson Interview: Ebookers founder plans to go far". The Sunday Times. 2004-05-16. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  2. 1 2 3 "Dinesh Dhamija Member of the Faculty Profile". St. Gallen Symposium. 2010-05-06. Archived from the original on 2010-07-17. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  3. ↑ Adams, Richard (2002-08-31). "All the fun of the fare: Interview with Dinesh Dhamija, chief executive, Ebookers". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  4. 1 2 "Dinesh Dhamija Guest Speaker Profile". Oxford Entrepreneurs. 2007-04-20. Archived from the original on 29 April 2007. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  5. ↑ "London Speaker Bureau Bio".
  6. 1 2 "NRI is expected to earn £85 million by selling travel website 'Ebookers'". NRIinternet.com. 2004-12-03. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
  7. ↑ Griffiths, Katherine; "Travel giant Cendant takes over ebookers for £209m", The Independent, 3 December 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  8. ↑ "Dinesh Dhamija - Board Advisor - thesqua.re". thesqua.re.
  9. 1 2 https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-interview-internet-pioneer-dinesh-dhamija-aims-to-claim-city-hall-for-lib-dems-on-a3948341.html
  10. ↑ https://www.standard.co.uk/news/ebookers-founder-dinesh-dhamija-bids-to-be-liberal-democrat-mayor-a3947651.html
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