LORD OF THE GOLDEN MILE

Lord Rana

A Key Figure in the Regeneration of Northern Ireland from a land of curfews and conflict to its present day prosperity, Lord Rana has lead a challenging and intriguing life. He tells Jill Acheson about his All-island optimism for the future

Born in the Punjab region of India in 1938, Diljit Rana migrated to England in 1962, before moving to Belfast in 1966. In the last forty years he has witnessed Northern Ireland’s transformation from a place of religious bigotry and social division into a peaceful and prosperous country.

In 1966 Lord Rana set up the city’s first Indian restaurant, and by 1969 he had three restaurants in the city centre. When the violence of the 70’s erupted, the effect on the city’s economy was catastrophic and in 1971 his restaurant chain was destroyed by terrorist bombings leaving him in deep debt with a young family to support. A very encouraging bank manager allowed Rana the funds to purchase property and he was able to set up a number of successful boutique outlets with his wife. His next move was to purchase the Andras House building on Great Victoria Street. Here he set up two restaurants in the one building, which were a great success, initiating the birth of Belfast’s Golden Mile.

FORGING LINKS

In a city of curfews and conflict, Lord Rana’s businesses were targeted by violence on twenty six occasions. He relished the challenge of regeneration, it enabled him to think outside the box and throughout the 80’s and 90’s he set about the regeneration of Northern Ireland’s hotel industry, setting up, what would be his flagship business, Andras House Ltd in 1981. In 1991, he opened The Plaza, the first hotel to be built in Belfast in over twenty years. Since then, Andras House has gone on to develop numerous international hotels including Renshaws, Ramada, Express by Holiday Inn and most recently Days Inn. At present Andras House is active in the development of further hotels in Northern Ireland and currently employs over 300 people, with extensive commercial property holdings throughout Northern Ireland.

ALL ISLAND VISION

In 1991, Rana and the Belfast business community met to discuss and implement all-island business development, and in 1998 the government took up the initiative and set up InterTradeIreland. Envisaging the all-island future in business, Rana says that its progression is not helped by the differing tax rates and separate currencies. He says there is no organisation to facilitate incoming trade delegations to Ireland as a whole and is adamant that the British and Irish governments need to come to an agreement to provide an all-island visa. “Ireland is a small place and we need to work together. We need to present the island as one economic unit,” explains Lord Rana.

Recently, the business community has been meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown regarding the introduction of a lower corporation tax in Northern Ireland. Rana firmly believes this will create a level playing field between the North and South. “I’m very confident that Southern Ireland will keep on progressing at the rate that it has for the last few years and has the potential to continue to thrive for the next ten years and beyond.”

POSITIVE POLITICS

Lord Rana is very encouraged by the positive mindset of Ireland’s politicians within the last few years and believes that in order to truly cement the peace process the economy needs to continue to grow. “We need to create 140,000 new jobs in the next ten years. It will take quite an effort; we need money spent on infrastructure, skills, the right type of education and also tax incentives to protect foreign direct investment,” he explains.

Lord Rana has held numerous high-ranking positions and was President of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce from 2004 to 2006. His regeneration efforts were rewarded with an MBE in 1996 and he was appointed to the House of Lords in 2004.

Clearly this is one business man whose vision and enthusiasm for development has placed Northern Ireland firmly on the map for all the right reasons.

Published in the December 2007 / January 2008 Issue of Irish Entrepreneur