KOCHI- The Editor-in-Chief of Cochin Herald and noted entrepreneur Ansif Ashraf, 37, died on Wednesday morning in Sharjah, UAE. The date and venue of the funeral are yet to be finalised.
An award-winning businessman, eCommerce savant and media entrepreneur, Ansif joined took over the reins of Cochin Herald in 2012, which had been founded by his father in 1992 as a weekly newspaper, and he remoulded it into an English business magazine published once in two months. He was also instrumental in instituting the Kerala State Business Excellence Awards, which fete industry leaders and trailblazers in domains such as business, politics, media, philanthropy, governance and entertainment.
On June 30, 2018, he was appointed Secretary General of the Kerala Chapter of A P J Abdul Kalam International Foundation. Ansif has also penned several articles in English and Malayalam in journals and magazines and has authored a book in the vernacular titled ‘Vyaparathinte Puthiya Natappukal’. His Insan Charitable Trust conducts a whole range of philanthropic activities by tying up with recognised and acknowledged organisations.
In 2017, he acquired the intellectual property rights of UK-registered British Herald and launched it as an online news and information delivery platform. The following year, he also launched a bi-monthly e-magazine with the same moniker, featuring prominent world leaders on its cover. Ansif, who is a member of the London Press Club, maintained very cordial ties with House of Peers member and millionaire entrepreneur Baron Ranger CBE, who is also the patron of British Herald.
Ansif was an entrepreneur who took eCommerce as the promise of the future into a global business and it fetched him the World’s Top e-Business Champion of 2008 award by APEC. In 2013, he was chosen by the Times of India as its Brand Icon.
Born on November 15, 1983, in Thane, Maharashtra, he began his career as a graphic designer in 2000 during the initial years of the dot com revolution in the country. He later went on to establish Paradise Group in 2006, a trading firm dealing with rubber and carbon black. Two years later, he founded AGI Holdings, which was engaged in selling centrifuge separators.
Ansif is survived by his wife, Ramzeen Ansif and two children; mother, Naseem Ashraf, and brother Arshad Ashraf. His father, Dr S A Mohamed Ashraf, died in 2016.
