My proudest moment is being the architect behind the Asian strategy for the Lloyds TSB Group. We weren't really reaching out to the customer, or understanding the culture. As a bank, I wanted us to do it properly. So that it was a long-term strategy, not just to win business quickly. 

The landscape for ethnic minorities, let alone women, was totally different in banking [30 years ago]. It took me several years to break the glass ceiling, but also to understand why I was different. I needed to look at my cultural background, my behaviour. I'm proud to say I was the first Asian bank manager for TSB, but it took me nearly 10 years to get there.

I come from a strict Indian Sikh community. As a woman, you're brought up to be respectful of your elders, not to raise your voice, be feminine. When you get into the corporate sector, those behaviours are sometimes translated as "she's not hungry enough, assertive enough, or doesn't challenge the status quo". There's a bit of a conflict.

You need different culture, colour and thinking right across an organisation. My chief executive is a woman, and she brings a different element to her leadership. As the world is shrinking, more women are getting into powerful positions. That includes ethnic minorities. Doing business with India and China, unless you understand the culture, you won't appreciate the impact that those countries will have.

We've been sponsoring the [Asian] Jewel awards for seven years. At the beginning, the sectors were retail or manufacturing—the corner shop entrepreneurs. Now, women are getting into the frame and Asian entrepreneurs are building up their own brands. You've got 99p Stores, that's a High Street brand set up by an Indian entrepreneur.

There's a DNA, the determination to succeed is part of our make-up. The founders have passed on the baton. The third generation are more educated and they're seeing the opportunities of this climate. They are prepared to take a bit more risk than their parents did. They're really diversifying into all sorts of sectors.

This year and next year, we're committed to lending £11bn to businesses. That's a huge amount. I know what the press are saying, that we're not lending any money, but we have committed. We'll lend it in the same conservative way that we've always done.

It does frustrate me. Despite what everyone says, we're keen to help businesses survive this. If people are exiting a space, then this is an opportunity for an entrepreneur to grab it. At the end of the day we're here, we want to survive and we want our customers to survive.

If you're a niche market, and smaller, it gives you the opportunity to be quick and take the advantages that big players can't take. This is the time to be creative. Get your staff on board; keep them engaged.

The pharmaceutical sector is something that the Asian community is doing well in. From pharmacists and pharmacies, they're now going into pharmaceutical research. It's not just a business for themselves but a business that will impact on humanity.

Solid companies are being formed. Individuals who lost their homes, and made the UK their home, are building the brands of the future.