The grand jury of the Asian Business Awards Middle East (ABA ME) presented by Al Barari has selected three finalists in various categories.

The three finalists were selected from thousands of nominations that poured in online for the biggest Asian business award event of the region.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of world's leading business advisory services and the ABA ME event architects Indian Expressions - Axis International Group & Real Media- Zee Network collated all nomination details captured exclusively through the event's dedicated website www.abameonline.com across the vibrant four week campaign and presented them to the high profile ABA ME Grand Jury for their consideration.

The grand jury, after discussions, detailed background reviews, confidential notes on employee comments, corporate and public opinion notes on each of the nominees, selected the three finalists in the six public nomination categories.

The ABA ME 2007 finalists represent some of finest business talent and minds in the Middle East. The criteria and parameters for the ABA ME do not depend on commercial performance alone.

With corporate social responsibility initiatives, sustainability development - social, economic and environmental, contributions to the new and emerging knowledge based corporate interface, being a catalyst of positive change and upholding traditional Asian values & honoring the Asian culture being key areas of focus in these considerations.

The following is the list of the finalists in various categories:

The ABA ME 2007 Outstanding Asian Business Woman of the Year: Renuka Jagtiani - Director, Landmark Group; Reema Shetty - Executive Director, NMC Group; Ritu Bhandari - Green Gifts Concepts.

The ABA ME 2007 Outstanding Asian Business Man of the Year: Joy Alukkas - Chairman, Joy Alukkas Jewellery LLC; Sunny Varkey - Senior Partner and Chairman, GEMS; Yusuf Ali - Managing Director, EMKE Group.

The ABA ME 2007 Asian Rising Star of the Year: Abdulla Ajmal - Director, Ajmal Perfumes; Nilesh Ved - CEO, Apparel Group; Ramesh Prabhakar - CEO, Rivoli.

The ABA ME 2007 Young Asian Achiever of the Year: Ashish Punjabi - CEO, Jacky's Electronics; Madhu Koneru - CEO and Managing Director, Trimex / RAK Minerals; Rihen Mehta - Director, Rosy Blue.

The ABA ME 2007 Outstanding Asian Contribution to the ME Development: Abdul Razzak Yaqoub - CEO, ARY; B.R. Shetty - CEO and Managing Director, NMC Group; Syed M Salahuddin - Managing Director, ETA Ascon Star.

The ABA ME 2007 Asian Business Leader of the Year: Micky Jagtiani - Chairman, Landmark Group; Syed M Salahuddin - Managing Director, ETA Ascon Star; Yusuf Ali - Managing Director, EMKE Group.

The ABA ME polling module is designed to be 100 per cent public vote based using both the online facility and SMS. Voters are requested to exercise their vote judiciously and responsibly.

The Global Asian of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Awards have been decided on by the ABA ME Grand Jury to recognize international global Asian achievers who have dissolved national and regional boundaries with their spectacular achievements in the business world, their humanitarian contributions and their commitment to sustainability development, will be announced shortly.

'The jury selected the finalists after considerable discussion and debate, as the quality of the nominations was of the highest caliber. What set the finalists apart, were their outstanding contributions to business within the Middle East,' said partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nitin Khanna.

Al Barari, one of the UAE's leading luxury real estate developers and the prime sponsor of the ABA ME further supports the entire process of the nominations and applauds the 18 nominees and is aware that the awards will create greater awareness of the role of the Asian business people. Trade Arabia News Service