Outstanding British Pakistanis

Zara Mohammed is a Law & Politics graduate. She is currently a third sector consultant. In 2018, she was the Assistant Secretary General at the Muslim Council of Britain as well as the head of Media and Communications for the Muslim Council of Scotland. In January...

Muhammad Ali is a British professional boxer who made history on 9th May 2018 after becoming worlds first type one diabetic to be granted a professional license by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBOfC). He is an ambassador for Diabetes UK, JDRF, IDF...

Lord Sarfraz is a Member of the House of Lords. On his nomination, he became the third youngest Peer in parliament. He was previously a Treasurer of the Conservative Party and an advisor to the party leadership on outreach.  His career has included roles in private...

A former Youth Member of Parliament and GE19 Parliamentary Candidate, Atifa is a renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist who combines a successful management consulting career with active community involvement at local, national and international level. Beginning her...

Born and brought up in the Lozells neighbourhood in Birmingham, the area he represents, Councillor Waseem Zaffar is the Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at Birmingham City Council. This brings together the responsibilities for: sustainable transport policy...

Ali Farid Khwaja is the Chairman of KASB Securities, a leading stock brokerage in Pakistan. He is based in London and lives with his wife Mubashira and daughters Mashal (10) and Manahil (7). He also works for the Asian...

Akhtar is an ex-partner at Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC), who has worked in numerous global offices such as London, New York. He was previously the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Dabbagh in Saudi Arabia and co-founded Dabbagh Information...

Zahra is the Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Seers – UK’s leading privacy and consent management platform for companies worldwide (https://www.seersco.com). She has a background in Management Consultancy with over a decade of...

Major Naveed Muhammad MBE joined the Royal Corps of Signals Army Reserve in December 1987.  Trained as a Communications Systems Operator, he held a normal mix of Squadron roles up to the rank of WO2.  Commissioned in 2007, he embarked on the first of his Full Time...

Dr Suhail Chughtai FRCS, Orthopaedic Surgeon & Medico.legal Examiner, ​​Microsoft Certified Specialist & Tele-health Expert (Pakistan, UAE, KSA, USA, UK), Masters in Telemedicine & e-Health (ongoing), P​rofessor, Faculty of Health...

Hira Ali is author of the renowned book: Her Way to the Top: A guide to smashing the glass ceiling which has received international awards and outstanding testimonials worldwide. She is also an inspiring and well-recognised leadership expert and career coach who has...

Ebba is an accomplished campaigner with qualified experience of working in the Public Relations, Communications sector as well as developing high profile events. She is the founder and CEO of FemGames, where she aims to implement structured PE lessons for girls’...

Bilal Bin Saqib is the founder and director of BBS&Co, a digital marketing agency with clients in the UK and overseas. When Bilal is not travelling for work, he dedicates his time to fundraising for Tayaba.org a non-profit organisation he founded that has changed...

Farmida Bi has more than 20 years of experience in capital markets and Islamic finance transactions, advising on English and New York law. She is the EMEA Chair & European Head of Islamic Finance at Norton Rose Fulbright and is based in London. Farmida is named as...

Dr Yarjan Abdul Samad, PhD is a Senior Research Scientist and a Teaching Fellow at Cambridge Graphene Centre, The Department of Engineering at The University of Cambridge. He is the first Space Scientist from Pakistan at the University of Cambridge. His research work...

Formerly one of the youngest ethnic female politicians in the country, Rabia Bhatti is a young leader of leading vision and inspiration with a reputation of excellence. With a background in politics, Rabia is a college governor for the largest educational institution...

How did you get started in your career? When I completed my (non-law) undergraduate degree I faced a choice: to study law or undertake a Phd in management. Law appealed because of the US TV show LA Law and because my dad told me it did! I started my career at Herbert...

Why did you choose Public Health? I trained as a doctor and am currently a consultant in Public Health, more specifically, a Consultant in Communicable Disease Control. I work in the health protection team at Public Health England (PHE) East Midlands. Throughout my...

Mohammad Shoaib Memon is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Europe Arab Bank plc and a director of a number of companies of the Group in Europe. He was also the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Bank during 2018 responsible for management of the Bank’s...

How did you get started in your career? Wow, ok, let me see…..which career shall I start with?! I think when I look back I actually started acting at a very early age, actors are spontaneous and have to be able to adjust to situations quickly and I used those skills...

How did you get started in your career? I graduated as a doctor in 1995 and have been working in Psychiatry since 1997. I’ve always had a keen interest in the human psych and how we operate on a day to day basis from a psychological perspective. I became a consultant...

How did you get started in your career? Graduated in comp sci...but back in 2005, Finance and trading was the hot sector to be in, so I applied for an internship at Morgan Stanley in trading....and Alhamdullilah got my first (and only job) after that!  I rose up the...

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Outstanding British Pakistani of the Month: Hashim Bhatti CEO of HB Capital A short bio: Hashim Bhatti is a corporate lawyer by background with a Masters in Economics, Politics, Philosophy and Law. He is the CEO of HB Capital, which operates from the...

Barrister & Director of Advocacy DWF Advocacy Ltd How did you get started in your career? In truth it began when I was asked to read a match report of my school’s football team at assembly in front of a couple of hundred people. I was six. The...

Amjad Pervez: Chairman of JumpStart Pakistan What has been a highlight of your career? The highlight of my life was the moment I decided to leave my  secure job in financial services and take the plunge to start our very humble family business,a  typical...

Nazli Imtiaz is a London-based dentist with over 18 years of experience under her belt. We caught up with her on her career journey so far: What sparked your interest in dentistry? I did work experience as a dental nurse in 1989. I kept working as a...

Ahlya Fateh is the Managing Director of Amanda Wakeley Ltd. We caught up with her on her career journey so far: What encouraged you to study French and Russian? My uncle Syed Usama Rafique was a ballet dancer and studied in the Soviet Union at the Vaganova...

How did you make the jump from studying Biology at University to having a successful career in Marketing Organisation? Coming from a scientific background and straight into a marketing consultancy was all to do with being in the right place at the right...

Zeeshaan Shah is the CEO of One Investments. We caught up with him on his career journey so far: 1- What was One Investments born out of? ONE Investments was born out of my desire to offer and deliver innovative property investment solutions to investors...

Dr Robina Shah MBE is the current High Sheriff for Greater Manchester and we caught up with her on her career journey so far. 1- What motivated you towards your career in Psychology? My father studied psychology as a subsidiary subject to his degree and...

BPF recently met up with the young and talented filmmaker Suman Hanif Suman Hanif is a Yorkshire based filmmaker. With the passion for creative storytelling the young filmmaker aims to connect people through the medium of film. Suman's films are dedicated...

BPF caught up with Ali Beg who is the Project Manager of Awaaz FM Mr Beg's family came to the UK from Pakistan in the 1950’s and settled in Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, Reading and eventually Southampton. He is currently working as Project Manager for...

BPF caught up with Mohammad Saleem Latif as our Outstanding British Pakistani this month, who won the Commonwealth Export Champion title in November 2017 as a leading Commonwealth SME. To learn more about the Commonwealth First programme and to apply...

This winter BPF got up close and personal in an exclusive interview with the Programme Coordinator of The VM Centre for Traditional Arts Pakistan.The ZVM Rangoonwala Foundation has just embarked on an incredible journey with The Prince's School of...

This Fall BPF got up close and personal in an exclusive interview with the unparalleled and talented film-maker, writer and director Sarmad Masud. His monumental feature film, 'My Pure Land' was the first British Pakistani feature film to be nominated for...

This September, BPF caught up with candid and brilliantly funny, Asif Majid, CEO and founder of award-winning design and build practice YU Spaces & Partners. He gave us an insight into how the company began and what it is like to advice, design and...

BPF caught up with ShaistaGohir, a leading women's rights activist and Chair of Muslim Women's Network UK (MWNUK), a national charity. Prior to joining the board in 2011, Shaista began volunteering for MWNUK in 2005 when it was an informal group and became the...

"My Pakistani heritage makes me standapart from the crowd and I am so proudto be Pakistani..."   BPF caught up with MasterChef 2017 winner Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed, on her fantastic win and her career as a Junior Doctor, specialising in Gastroenterology...   Given...

ShahidAzeem is an award winning British-Pakistani entrepreneur andphilanthropist, and one of Surrey’s best-known business leaders. In addition to a string of successful businesses, he has been named one of the Top 100 most influential Muslims in the UK by Royal Bank...

BPF caught up with British Pakistani fashion designer Raishma Islam, who worked as anAssistant Designer to Elizabeth Emanuel, famed for creating Princess Diana’s iconic wedding dress, she then was inspired to launch her self- named label in 1998 after much...

"There is nothing we can’t do, we just need to aim high, work hard and go for it ..." BPF caught up with Deputy Senior Disrtict Judge (Chief Magistrate) Tanweer Ikram, the Deputy Lead Diversity and Community Relations Judge and supporter of Lead Judge in projects...

"Entrepreneurs should avoid seeking seed money, and any sort of investment before they have a working prototype..."   Our Outstanding British Pakistani of the Month is our very own Mohammed Ali from Dewsbury, Yorkshire! A 16-year-old tech genius and entrepreneur...

"Do less work but ensure it is quality work that you are producing..."   Our honorary Outstanding British Pakistani of the Month is, non other than, our very own - Sajjad Ali! One of the pioneers of our Pakistani music industry and a well-known household name, he is...

"Use everything that makes you different to your advantage: your language, your background, your community and use it in your creativity..." Shaista Aziz is a freelance journalist specialising on Pakistan, women's rights, gender, race and identity. She is a former BBC...

"I thought that can be my thing, I can be British and be Pakistani, I can be both of those things! It was a big lesson..." BPF caught up with Adil Ray, a British-Pakistani born to a Kenyan mother and Pakistani father in Birmingham, where he was brought up in the late...

This September, we caught up with candid and brilliantly funny, Shamshad Ahmed, CEO and founder of Smart Cells, a private UK stem cell storage company that is changing the way we think about umbilical cords. Once discarded as medical waste, the blood left in the...

This month, we're celebrating the stunning and mesmerisingly sweet Noreen Khan, BBC radio presenter and DJ, as our Outstanding British Pakistani of the month. Hosting Asian Radio Network's most-listened to show, we got up close and personal with Noreen about her...

BPF caught up with Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Pakistani-born Head of Sports Medicine at Crystal Palace FC and first team doctor to the football team – an illustrious career many football fans would love to have. Dr. Iqbal has served as Head of Sports Medicine at Liverpool FC,...

BPF caught up with half-English, half-Pakistani violist, Sarah Sarhandi during Alchemy Festival at Southbank last month. Her work has been described as an “individual story, that of a person with joint British and Pakistani heritage and the experiences, stories,...