London: Two Keralites have been named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2020 in the UK.
Ajitha Sajeev, who works as the street population manager of the Newham Council in London, and Jacob Thundil, the founder of Cocofina, are chosen for the top British honours.
Gujarat-origin billionaire brothers, Mohsin and Zuber Issa who bought the Asda supermarket chain, are also on the prestigious list.
As many as 1,495 people, including 400 health workers in the forefront of the COVID-19 battle, have been chosen for the British Empire awards this year.
Ajitha has been honoured with the British Empire Medal (BEM) for her services to rehabilitate the homeless. Incidentally, Ajitha got the recognition for her work on World Homeless Day, October 10.
A native of Varkala in Thiruvananthapuram, Ajitha arrived in Britain from Singapore along with her parents when she was just seven years old. She has been working for the Newham Council for 30 years now. Along with her job, Ajith was involved in social services from the age of 22.
Ajitha also strived to provide safer accommodation for refugees and foreign students, who were stranded during the COVID-19 crisis, by coordinating with the local associations, charities and places of worship. Her efforts had garnered widespread attention and were reported even by the BBC.
Jacob has been honoured with the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his contributions in the international trade and exports sector.
A native of Kollam, Jacob launched Cocofina, the coconut experts, in 2005. The 32 organic-certified products of Cocofina are exported to 28 countries. He is also the first Keralite to win Dragons’ Den, the BBC's reality show.
After his schooling at the Infant Jesus School in Kollam and Pallikoodam in Kottayam, Jacob joined the TKM Engineering College. He then completed his MBA from London.
Jacob worked with the British Telecom, HSBC and Accenture, before starting his own business.
Two Keralites, Roy Stephen from Swindon and Pratibha from Croydon, had been the recipients of the top awards three years ago.
