Mohammed Nurul Islam — Founder of Premier Insurance (1940–2021)

Mohammed Nurul Islam was born in 1940 in Churain, Bengal, the eldest of six siblings. His family had once been connected to the Press of India in Calcutta — a respected printing business lost during the communal violence around Partition. In 1964, at twenty-four, he travelled to London with around £5 in his pocket.

The years nobody sees

He worked in factories, on the railways, and selling ice cream six days a week. He studied insurance at night. On his one day off, he put on a suit and walked from office to office asking for an opportunity. He nearly died from a misdiagnosed illness, alone in a country with no family beside him. He was betrayed by a friend over a property he had saved years to buy.

Lloyd's of London

He became a Chartered Insurance Practitioner and entered the Lloyd's market — a world dominated by accent, school tie and family name. He faced racial discrimination and a clear ceiling on how far an Asian Muslim immigrant would be allowed to rise.

Premier Insurance, 1983

In 1983 he founded Premier Insurance Services Ltd (company number 01724188), turning the knowledge they had tried to deny him into a business of his own. He married Syeda Yasmine Islam in 1978 and raised two sons, Anik and Nabhan, both of whom went on to build careers in insurance. He died from COVID-19 on 13 January 2021. The company he founded still carries his name and his standards.