GSF’s Ahluwalia honoured in Asian Achievers Awards

GSF Car Parts’ executive chairman Sukhpal Ahluwalia has been named business person of the year at this year’s Asian Achievers Awards.

The award recognised his role in building businesses in the country, including the ongoing transformation of GSF.
 
Now in its 22nd year, the Asian Achievers Awards celebrates the work of individuals within the South Asian community across politics, business, and civil society. The awards ceremony was held in London on September 20.

Ahluwalia arrived in the UK in 1972 as a refugee from Uganda.

He founded Euro Car Parts in 1978 from a single store that was continuously ranked as one of the UK’s most successful businesses by The Sunday Times Top Track 250.

The business grew to more than £1.2 billion in revenue by 2018, with a branch network of 350 locations and 11,500 colleagues. The business was sold to Nasdaq-listed LKQ Corp in 2014, with Ahluwalia staying on as executive chairman of LKQ’s businesses in the UK, Ireland, and India until 2018.

Investment

In 2011, Ahluwalia founded UK property developer and operator Dominus and serves as the firm’s non-executive chairman.

He acquired GSF in 2023. The business has expanded rapidly over the last 12 months, with plans to add a further 15 branches over the coming year. A new 500,000 sq ft national distribution centre is set to be opened in the Midlands.

In India, Ahluwalia is committed to invest up to £10 million in the state of Punjab while seeking to back tech entrepreneurs across the country. In recent years, he has also supported the construction of a new school in the country.

Ahluwalia said: “I love driving businesses from the front, and I’m very lucky to have been given the opportunity to do what I love – founding and building businesses – almost every day of my life.

“I’m going to give GSF every ounce of energy that I’ve got before I start to think about hanging up my boots to return to India.”

Photo: Ahluwalia (right) with awards organiser Pratik Dattani