Princess Sophie with Hopton, among others at the QBBF event.

Qatar British Business Forum (QBBF) named the winners of its inaugural annual awards ceremony to reward business excellence and Qatari partnering in the British community, at a dinner in the British Embassy Residence Gardens on Monday.
The event was held in the presence of The Countess of Wessex, Princess Sophie and British ambassador to Qatar, Nicholas Hopton. The Countess of Wessex, who is spending the week in Doha with global blindness prevention charity Orbis UK, presented the awards to the winners of the various categories.
The awards are part of ongoing events and activities to promote business opportunities in Qatar and in particular on how to encourage trade between the two countries.
QBBF aims to help nurture local economic diversification as part of Qatar’s National Vision 2030.
The winners of the QBBF awards were as follows:
l QBBF businessman of the year – Anthony Podmore, Serco
l QBBF business woman of the year – Ali Longmate, Ali Fit Club
l QBBF organisation of the year – LuLu Group International
• QBBF start-up business of the year – Apton Partitioning
l Work in the community – Houssam Weiss, Etihad Airways
l Qatari partner of the year – Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hassan al-Thani, Pro Partnership
In addition, special recognition awards were presented to:
l Dr Steffan Sommer, Doha College
l Amanda Owles, Pro Tem
l Naveed Iqbal, Pheonix School
l  Mohamed Althaf, LuLu
Hopton said, “The work of the QBBF is important to the British community in Qatar and far more widely too. This award ceremony is a positive initiative and I commend the achievements of its members and Qatari partners.”
QBBF chairman and CEO of the Rumaillah Group, Emad Turkman said: “Each of the winners tonight have performed extraordinarily in the business community in Qatar and are well-deserving of these awards. They exemplify the values we have as an organisation in terms of high business entrepreneurship and commitment to their community.”   
Members of the organisation, which works closely with the UK Trade & Investment office at the British Embassy, nominated QBBF individual and corporate peers for awards in six categories.