Graduations 2024: University honour for Prima Cheese's Nagma Ebanks-Beni MBE

Published on 11, July, 2024

Nagma Ebanks-Beni MBE – co-CEO of Seaham-based Prima Cheese – has been awarded the conferment of an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration by the University of Sunderland.

Nagma was born in Iran and moved to the UK when she was four-years-old with her parents Behroz and Essmat Beni.

Nagma’s entrepreneur parents owned takeaways and cafés in County Durham and from there expanded into different affiliated ventures.

At 12-years-old, Nagma’s first ever job was selling ice cream from the family café in Durham. Although Nagma’s parents never pressured her to join the family business, they instead urged her to chase her own dreams.

Driven by her natural creativity, Nagma initially set her sights on architecture. However, a detour led her to Manchester to study fashion design and marketing.

After moving from Manchester to London in pursuit of her fashion aspirations, Nagma found herself feeling lost and after a conversation with her parents, realised her calling lay closer to home.

Venturing into the hospitality industry, Nagma embarked on a new entrepreneurial chapter of her own at just 24-years-old – launching her own fusion restaurant – The Angel of the North – in Islington.

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As well as running a successful city restaurant, Nagma got engaged, married and fell pregnant with her first child. So, after almost 10 years in the capital, Nagma felt it was the right time to return to her roots in the north-east.

And it was there, she embraced a new challenge: joining the family business – Prima Cheese – in 2004.

Recognising its untapped potential, Nagma spearheaded the company's expansion into international markets, a pivotal move which propelled Prima Cheese to global recognition.  

Nagma’s brother, Nima, joined the business in 2007 and the siblings started to create processes and an organisational structure which transformed Prima Cheese – not just into one of the country’s largest cheese processors – but into a recognisable global player, supplying grated, diced, shredded and block cheese to more than 50 countries around the world. 

Nagma has since moved back to Islington and set up a new marketing and commercial office to support the company’s continued commercial and operational expansion, working in tandem with Prima North.

Whilst London is now Nagma’s home, her links to the north-east will forever remain and she is regularly at Prima’s home in Seaham.

Nagma is active in the North East Chamber of Commerce as Chair of the Race, Ethnicity and Discrimination Committee, the North East Chamber of Commerce International Trade Champion, and standing Vice President.

Prima Cheese is also recognised as Export Champion of the Department of International Trade and achieved the Kings Award for Enterprise and International Trade.

In 2019, Nagma was awarded an MBE for her outstanding contributions to international trade, and in 2022, she and Nima won The International Ambition Award at LDC’s Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders programme.

Nagma received her honour at the Stadium of Light today (Thursday 11 July) during the University’s Summer Graduation Ceremonies, which she attended with her family.