Ambassadors

“Mosaic is supported by inspirational role models and by hundreds of dedicated volunteers, who have been motivated by HRH The Prince of Wales’ mission for Mosaic. Mosaic’s efforts are making a significant impact in helping young people in deprived communities to make the most of their potential, contributing in a very real way to improving social mobility. I am proud to support Mosaic’s work.”

Sadiq Khan was elected Mayor of London in 2016. Previously he was the Member of Parliament for Tooting, where he has lived all his life. In October 2010 he became the first ever BAME politician to be elected to the Labour Party’s Shadow Cabinet, and was then the youngest member of Ed Miliband’s Shadow Cabinet. He is Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice. He was previously Shadow Secretary of State for Transport and served in various ministerial roles in the last government. In 2009, he was appointed to the Privy Council. He was the first Asian and the first Muslim to attend Cabinet. He was also the first ever MP of Islamic faith elected in London, the first Muslim minister, as well as being the first British Minister to go on Hajj. He is a winner of various awards including ‘Newcomer of the Year’ by the Spectator Magazine Parliamentarian of the Year awards 2005, runner-up in Channel 4’s ‘Rising Star’ award, been described as ‘one to watch’ by both The Independent and The New Statesman. Before becoming an MP Sadiq was a leading human rights solicitor, Chair of Liberty, and a visiting lecturer at the University of North London. He was also an elected Councillor in Wandsworth for 12 years. In 1994 as a 23 year old he was the youngest councillor in London. He is the Governor of two  primary schools, including the primary school he attended as a child. He is married with two lovely daughters.

“The seeds of Mosaic were sown a few years before the official launch in 2007, when I was amongst several people invited to listen to an idea. HRH The Prince of Wales wanted to find a way of getting young British Muslims, often living in disadvantaged areas, to fulfil their potential by achieving their goals, aims and ambitions. The idea sounded great and so the challenge was set to make it a reality. During a long series of discussions and meetings, I was always impressed with the personal input of The Prince through his ideas, comments and questions.

Months later, Mosaic was born and I had the honour of hosting the launch. We didn’t know what the future would hold, but after five years it is now obvious that there was always a need for British professional Muslims to give others a helping hand in life. After building a firm foundation, Mosaic is now in a position to continue offering young British Muslims the skills and confidence needed to grow as individuals, enrich the lives of communities and strengthen Britain as a whole.”

Asad is an award winning reporter and presenter for BBC London Television News. His path into journalism was unusual, working as a Foreign Exchange Dealer  in the City at the age of 18, before working at the House of Lords and then studying Law. Later, the BBC’s News Trainee Scheme paved the way for a new career in journalism and a long list of enjoyable challenges. These have included being the BBC’s Scotland Correspondent, a Political Reporter and presenting BBC Breakfast and Newsnight Scotland.

Asad has travelled widely with his work. His reports from Pakistan after the earthquake in 2005 won him a Royal Television Society London Reporter of the Year Award. He also helped BBC London win a Royal Television Society Programme of the Year Award with his coverage of London’s Olympic winning bid in Singapore. Asad was involved in some of the earliest discussions with HRH The Prince of Wales about forming Mosaic and he presented the charity’s official launch in 2007. He passionately believes in helping young people achieve their huge potential by unlocking untapped and hidden talent.

“Mosaic has, since its inception, done exemplary work in raising the aspirations and building the confidence of young people. Role models and mentors are crucial to success and I have seen at first-hand the difference Mosaic’s programmes make in the lives of those involved.”

Pinky Lilani OBE is a food guru, motivational speaker and internationally acclaimed champion for women. She is the force behind the annual Women of the Future Awards, the Asian Women of Achievement Awards and the Global Empowerment Award. Founder and Chairman of the Ambassadors Programme, the Inspirational Women’s Network and the Women of the Future Economic Empowerment Summit.

Patron of Development in Literacy (DIL) and the Westminster Educational Society, she is also a trustee of the Halo Initiative. A board member of Blitz Communication Limited and on the advisory board of Global Diversity Practice and Sapphire Partners.  She is a member of the Court of Brunel University.

She shares her passion for food through Spice Magic, team-building seminars and by travelling globally accompanied by her wok. Her greatest joy is when those round her dinner table ask for more.

Ismail Amla is a partner at Capco. He is the North America regional business leader and a member of Capco’s Global Executive Management Team. He is responsible for Human Capital worldwide, and for Capco’s offshore operations in India.

Ismail has long-term experience in the financial services industry and in managing large teams across the globe. Ismail is often invited as a visiting fellow to lecture at Manchester Business School.

Prior to joining Capco in 2010, Ismail was Managing Director at Accenture responsible for the outsourcing business in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. He was also the delivery lead across all service lines for Accenture’s largest global client in financial services and, for the last five years, a member of the Accenture UK leadership team, leading a range of Human Capital initiatives.

Before joining Accenture, Ismail was a Vice-President and UK Board member of CSC, where he led the financial services business in the UK and Ireland. His roles at CSC included the CEO role for Vybe, the CSC UK division focused on e-business and innovation.

Ismail was a founder Board member of Mosaic, having also been founder Chairman of Mosaic’s North West region.

“I support Mosaic because I want to help kids with backgrounds like mine to see the wealth and breadth of opportunities that are out there.”

Amjad Hussain was born in a village in Pakistan, came to the UK at the age of 5 and was raised in London. Keen to travel, develop as an engineer and avoid an office job, he surprised by joining the Royal Navy, something he describes as “an odd choice for an 18 year old Muslim first generation immigrant”.

He has sought variety in his subsequent career. Sea jobs have ranged from inspecting fishing catches in UK waters to operations in an aircraft carrier in the Gulf, whilst postings ashore have included training, buying missile systems and Whitehall strategy/finance positions.

More recently he was the Naval Base Commander Portsmouth and then the Director General Weapons, responsible for all UK missiles, ammunition and artillery. This was followed by 3 years as Controller of the Navy, an executive member of the Main Board of the Royal Navy and responsible for planning all future warships, submarines, combat jets and missile systems. He was made a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in the New Years Honours List of 2011 and awarded an honorary doctorate by Durham University the same year.

With more challenges to explore, he left the Navy this Summer and is currently an executive director of a technical services company and about to take up two non-executive chair roles in small technology start-ups. He also aims to develop further his charitable interests and, with his wife, keep up with an active family that enjoys activities ranging from equestrian to alpine…so the golf clubs continue to gather dust.

One of London’s leading photographers of rock musicians in the 1960s, Peter’s work has since focused on followers of Islam.

His first book quickly sold out, and the second work The Art of Integration shows how Muslims have been an integral and important part of Britain for more than a century.

Peter was a founder Board Member of Mosaic.

Mahmoud Atalla is Managing Director, Global Co-Head of Distressed Debt Trading at HSBC. He joined HSBC in 1998 and has worked within the Group’s investment banking, private equity and real estate investment businesses in London, Dubai and New York.

He set up and ran HSBC’s UK Principal Investments business HSBC Private Equity (UK), where he led the buy-outs and boards of successful investments such as TDG, Amtech Power Software, Britton Packaging and Viking Moorings, and was a founding executive committee member of the UK’s £3bn Business Growth Fund.

He rejoined HSBC from Montagu Private Equity, where he focused on UK buy-out and technology investments, such as Dignity Funerals, Vent-Axia, Micro Librarian Systems, Searchspace and Enact Direct Legal Services, and was a founding member of HSBC Private Equity Middle East.

He has played an ongoing role in the development of Shariah-compliant private equity and alternative asset investment as Global Head of Amanah Principal Investments.

Mahmoud has an MSc from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and a BSc from the University of Bristol.

Mahmoud was a founder board member of Mosaic.

“The work that Mosaic undertakes is vital to achieve more understanding between people of different faiths and cultures. Mosaic builds aspirations and hope for so many to achieve their dreams in life. It sets the example for greater social mobility, understanding and opportunity for all in our society.”

Lord (Rumi) Verjee is a highly successful entrepreneur and the proprietor and chairman of Thomas Goode & Co, based in London’s Mayfair. He founded Domino’s Pizza in the United Kingdom and is the Chairman of Brompton Capital Limited and Ipanema Contemporary Living in Brazil. His success is entirely self-made: a fourth generation Indian born in Uganda, much of the Verjee family’s assets were seized by Idi Amin’s regime. Rumi studied Law at Downing College, University of Cambridge where he is now an Honorary Fellow, and after the expulsion of the Asian population from Uganda, made the UK his home.

Rumi has always shared his success and knowledge through philanthropic work. He is the founder of The Rumi Foundation, a charity focused on humanitarian work through education, innovation and knowledge building. Rumi is a member of the Advisory Board of the British Olympic Association, and in 2009 was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for charitable services. He was made a Life Peer in 2013. 

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

His accolades include:

• Asian Entrepreneur of the Year 2007
• First Non Academic Visiting Fellow at University of Surrey
• Chairman of Woking Asian Business Forum
• Charity Champion of the Year for Jubilee Action
• Chairman of Aldershot FC
• Special Advisor to Sporting Equals
• Surrey Business Personality of Year 2010
• Pakistani Entrepreneur 2010
• Paul Harris Fellow 2011 (the first time this award has been bestowed on any member in the Guildford Rotary’s 35 year history)
• Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey
• Patron of Surrey Law Centre

Shahid puts his success down to a combination of hard work, and a philosophy of doing business in the right and ethical way and treating people as he wished to be treated himself.

Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE is the former Chief Executive of Mitie Group plc, the strategic outsourcing company.

She joined Mitie in 2002 and was appointed as CEO in 2007. She is one of a small number of women holding the position of Chief Executive in the FTSE 250 or FTSE 100 and is the first Asian woman to be appointed in such a role within that group of companies.

Since joining, Ruby has seen Mitie grow its revenue from £0.5bn to over £2.0bn, continuing its unbroken track record of profit and revenue growth.

She qualified as an accountant at BDO Stoy Hayward in 1991 before taking financial roles for Serco, SGI Babcock International and Mitie.

Ruby has a number of other roles and charitable and community interests. She has been an Independent Non-Executive Director of PageGroup since May 2007 and is the Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees.

She is a Non-Executive Director of the UK Government Department for Culture Media & Sport, and Business Ambassador for the United Kingdom at UK Trade & Investment. She is also the Chair of the Public Services Strategy Board and Member of the Presidents Committee at CBI, and a Member of the Board of Trustee Directors at Business in the Community.

Ruby is an ambassador of ‘Raising the Roof’, a Great Ormond Street Hospital charity, and she also chairs the UK Women’s Business Council, a working group that seeks to maximise women’s contribution to economic growth.

She was awarded a CBE in 2012 for her services to business and diversity in business; and was listed in BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour top Power List of the 100 most powerful women in the UK, who have the greatest impact on British politics, society, culture and the economy.

Ruby has been a long-term supporter of Mosaic and has been involved most recently in helping further develop Mosaic’s ex-offender mentoring programme.

Dr Kameel Khan is a lawyer who now sits as a Judge in the Tax Court. He was born in Trinidad, West Indies of Asian parentage and attended both the University of London and McGill University, Canada where he obtained his doctorate.

Dr Khan began his career teaching law. He taught at Reading University and University College, London and was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. He then went into private practice where he was a tax partner at a global law firm. He has always provided pro bono legal advice to people on death row in the Caribbean.

He is married (to a lawyer) and has two children, one a lawyer and the other works in property finance. His interests are cricket and jazz, he leads the Ex-offenders programme at Mosaic.

Javed Ahmed is Chief Executive of Tate & Lyle and has extensive international experience from a wide variety of senior commercial and management roles.

He started his career with Procter & Gamble and then spent five years with Bain & Co. before joining Benckiser (later Reckitt Benckiser plc) in 1992 and held positions including Senior Vice President, Northern Europe; President, North America; Executive Vice President, North America, Australia and New Zealand; and Executive Vice President, Europe.

Javed is a former Mosaic Board Member.

Mr. Khawar Mann serves as a Partner at The Abraaj Group, a leading private equity investor in growth markets with over US$ 7.5 billion in assets. He is a part of the healthcare team at the firm. Previously, he served as a Managing Director and Head of Healthcare. He is the Co-Founder and Chairman at Mosaic, for which he received the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Prior to joining The Abraaj Group, Khawar was a Partner with Apax Partners, the international private equity firm, where he specialised in healthcare investments.  He was also Chairman and President of Medsi Group, Russia’s largest private healthcare company.

Khawar began his career as a lawyer with Linklaters in London specialising in Corporate Finance and Intellectual Property. He then moved to Weston Medical Group PLC as the Commercial Director before joining Apax Partners in 2003.

Khawar earned a degree in Medical Sciences and Law from Cambridge University and an LLM Master of Law. He  received an MBA from The Wharton School, where he was a Fulbright and Thouron scholar. Khawar serves as Chairman of the UK Selection Committee for the Thouron Award.

Nabila Sadiq is currently Commercial Director at Marlin Hawk, an international executive search and leadership advisory firm.

Working with some of the most prestigious brands and companies in the FTSE 250 Marlin Hawk are leading the way – breaking the mould of traditional executive search.

Nabila ensures the strategic development of the group’s people strategy, ultimately,  delivering client satisfaction.

Previously Nabila was Managing Director of Joslin Rowe Temporaries a £40 million contingency recruitment business sold in 2006.

Nabila was recognised for her achievements in 2003 when she was awarded Asian Business Women of the year.

Nabila is a former Mosaic Board Member.

Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) is the celebrated educator, philanthropist, and humanitarian, whose renowned career as a singer-songwriter has earned him the admiration of millions of fans worldwide.

One of the world’s most famous converts, he embraced Islam in 1977 and went on to become an energetic supporter of education and charitable causes. He founded three mainstream faith schools in London which have been running for three decades.

He is the recipient of numerous accolades for his work in alleviating poverty and promoting peace, including the ‘World Social Award’ (2003) presented by Mikhail Gorbachev, the ‘Man for Peace’ award (2004) from a committee on Nobel peace laureates, and the 2007 Mediterranean Prize for Peace as well as the Ivor Novello award for outstanding song collection. For two years in succession in 2005 and 2006 he was named songwriter of the year by the performing rights organisation, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. He holds honorary doctorates from Gloucestershire and Exeter universities.

His performances over the past decade have included the Nelson Mandela AIDS benefit concert, Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Peace Centre concert and as the closing act at the German leg of Live Earth. In 2008, at the invitation of actor Kevin Spacey, he performed at a fundraiser for London’s Old Vic Theatre.

The 2012 Three Faiths Forum Education Awards, London, were presented by Yusuf Islam in recognition of schools and educationalists that have made significant contributions to interfaith work.

His most ambitious project in recent years has been his stage musical, Moonshadow, which opened to packed houses in Australia earlier in 2012.

2013 will see the opening of his interfaith, wellbeing and exhibition centre in North West London, called the Maqam Centre.

Yusuf Islam currently resides with his family in Dubai where he continues to write, record and perform.

Mishal Husain is presenter on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme. Previously, Mishal presented news bulletins on BBC1 and is also known internationally for her work on BBC World News, where she fronted the flagship programme Impact with Mishal Husain. She was one of the main hosts for daily coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games on the BBC and has also presented BBC2’s Newsnight.

“I have long believed in the power of role models and it is heart-warming to see the vital work Mosaic is doing. I hope more young professionals across the country sign up as mentors and see Mosaic as a way to inspire others to follow in their footsteps.”

Mishal has reported from around the world for the BBC and presented live programmes on location including from Pakistan after the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Benazir Bhutto, from Cairo during the Egyptian revolution and from China during the Beijing Olympics. She is also well known for her work from the United States as the BBC’s first Washington-based anchor, where her nightly news programmes developed a keen following.

She has also presented two critically acclaimed BBC documentary series, one on the life on Mahatma Gandhi and the other in 2011 on the use of social media by activists during the Arab Spring. ‘How Facebook Changed the World’ saw Mishal travel to five countries across the Arab world, with the Observer calling it ‘a remarkable history lesson’.

Mishal’s diverse talents have also taken her to a range of other BBC programmes, including ‘From our Own Correspondent’ on BBC radio, and ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’ for BBC television.

Mishal was born in the UK in 1973 but grew up in the Middle East. She was educated at Cambridge University where she read law and went on to complete a Masters in Law at the European University Institute in Florence.

In 2009 she chaired the judging panel for the prestigious Orange Prize for New Writers, and was also named by The Times as one of the five most influential Muslim women in the UK. Apart from Mosaic, she is also an ambassador for the charities Operation Smile and the British Asian Trust.