Board

Shabir is an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the Chairman of DCD Group. His background is in Finance, Commercial Real Estate, Venture Capital and Banking. He is the Deputy Chairman of Al Baraka Bank South Africa and the ex-Chairman of EIIB Bank plc and founder director at IBB Bank plc. He has served on the UK Government’s Asia Task Force (11-14) and the Ethnic Minority Business Task Force (07-09). In the charitable and voluntary sector, Shabir joined the Prince’s Trust Council in July 2016 and is the Chair of Mosaic (founded by HRH Prince of Wales). He is also Chair of Governors of Westminster Academy, a Champion of the Three Faiths Forum and ex co-chair and mentor for the YPO-LBS London Business School program ‘Growing Your Business’. Shabir also joined the Board of YPO International in July 2016 and was appointed Trustee of The Woolf Institute UK. In 2013 Shabir was awarded a CBE in recognition of his services to both business and education, as well as for his philanthropic support of charitable causes.

Yasmin Waljee is a solicitor and full time Pro Bono Manager at international law firm Hogan Lovells LLP. Yasmin’s appointment in 1997 was the first of its kind by a City law firm. Since then she has worked with partners in the firm to develop an international pro bono programme providing free 15,000 hours of legal advice to over 200 charities and individuals a year unable to afford legal advice.

She is an immigration lawyer but now regularly works on human rights cases including compensation for the July 7 victims, Article 2 issues and compensation for British victims of crime and terrorism abroad.

In May 2005 Yasmin was short listed for the Asian Women of Achievement Awards and in April 2000 Yasmin was awarded The Times Woman Solicitor of the Year. Yasmin was awarded an OBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2010 for her services to the Muslim community.

Saker Nusseibeh is Chief Executive of Hermes, chair of its Executive Committee and an Executive Board Director. Saker was appointed CEO in May 2012, having been acting CEO since November 2011. Saker joined the firm in June 2009 as Head of Investment and Executive Board Director. He is responsible for leading the firm’s growth strategy and ensuring that Hermes continues to deliver excellent long-term investment performance, responsibly. Under his leadership, Hermes has achieved outstanding year-on-year growth in sales, revenues and profitability, while contributing widely to the debate about how to improve the contribution of financial services to society. Critically, long-term investment performance has remained at outstanding levels during his tenure.

Prior to joining Hermes, Saker was Global Head of Equities at Fortis Investments USA, having initially been appointed to the firm as CIO Global Equities in 2005. Before this he was CIO of Global Equities and Head of Marketing for SGAM UK. This role followed SGAM’s acquisition of Trust Company of the West (TCW), where Saker was Managing Director, running global and international strategies, as well as managing TCW’s London office. He started his career at Mercury Asset Management in 1987.

Saker is a regular public speaker, writer and commentator, appearing at leading industry conferences, on television and radio. He is the founder of the 300 Club, which he chaired from its inception in 2011 until early 2014. The 300 Club is a group of leading investment professionals who seek to challenge investment orthodoxy and improve the contribution of financial services to society. Saker is a member of the CFA Institute’s Future of Finance Advisory Council, a member of the IIRC Council, and was a public member of Network Rail for three years until November 2014. He was recently invited to join the Banking Standards Board, which aims to restore trust in the UK banking industry, as a practitioner member. Saker also sits on the advisory board of Mosaic, the charity that seeks to improve the chances of young people and to bring communities together; the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing; and the steering committee for the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative.

In 2015, Saker was named CEO of the Year at the Global Investor Investment Excellence Awards. Saker has a BA and PhD in Medieval History from King’s College, University of London.

• Founder & CEO, Emergent Telecom Ventures
• Founder, The Amersi Foundation
• Member of the Board, Timeturns Holdings
• Chairman, Inclusive Ventures Limited
• Member of the Governing Council and Audit Committee of the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, United Kingdom

Mohamed Amersi is CEO and co-founder of Emergent Telecom Ventures, a Dubai based Emerging Markets Consulting, Advisory and Asset Management firm specialising in Telecoms, Media & Technology. Prior to co-founding Emergent Telecom Ventures, Mr. Amersi ran Gramercy Communications Partners, a communications merchant bank, based in the United States that he co-founded with Telefonica. Prior to co-founding Gramercy, Mr. Amersi was one of Europe’s leading Corporate Finance and M&A lawyers.

From 1997 until 2002, Mr. Amersi was a senior advisor to Telefonica and led a number of their strategic initiatives in South America and Europe and from 2008 until 2013, Mr. Amersi was a senior advisor to the TeliaSonera Group and led all of their M&A and strategic initiatives including the IPO of Kcell and Megafon and unlocking, in the process, in excess of $5billion in value.

Previously, Mr. Amersi has been a member of the Board of various Rothschild Banking Group entities, Motorola entities, Megafon and has chaired the Board of Mi-Fone.

Presently, Mr. Amersi and Emergent have been lead Advisors and Partners to a number of Emerging Market Telecoms Operators in Russia, Central Asia, Middle-East, Africa and Emerging Asia on significant M&A initiatives and license purchases. Likewise, on the principal side, Emergent has successfully acquired, managed and exited from a number of Emerging Markets Telecom assets.

The Amersi Foundation was incorporated in 2012 and has actively supported causes and charities in Education, Poverty and Religion in Africa and Asia.

Inclusive Ventures focuses on social impact investments in Africa & Asia.

Mr. Amersi has been a featured speaker at various forums including the Milken Institute, Super Returns, Doing Business in Africa and TMT Finance on topics relating to telecoms, internet, media, private equity and international corporate finance.

Aaqil is Head of Commissioning – Religion TV and Head of Religion and Ethics at the BBC. Aaqil has been in post for close to five years. He joined from Channel 4 where he was the Commissioning Editor for Religion and the Head of Multicultural Programming. Currently Aaqil combines commissioning the religious TV output with managing the in house multimedia Religion and Ethics Department and being the BBC’s overall Head of Religion.

Over the past four years Aaqil has commissioned projects as diverse as The Life of Muhammad, The Preston Passion, The Ottomans and Pilgrimage with Simon Reeve. He also lead the in-house teams coverage of the Papal visit and the award winning 50th anniversary of Songs of Praise and Heads a department that also delivers radio output such as Thought for the Day and the Moral Maze.

At Channel 4 he commissioned award-winning and genre-defining projects such as Inside The Mind of the Suicide Bomber, Saving Africa’s Witch Children, Priest Idol and The Qur’an. Prior to joining Channel 4 in 2003, he spent over ten years in production at the BBC working on a rich mix of programming from Panorama to Everyman.

He is a Professor at The School of Media and Performing Arts, Middlesex University; a regular speaker and writer on the Media and Cultural Diversity and has contributed as a group member or chair to various educational and work related groups from formerly being a trustee of the Runnymede trust to being a steering group member of the a religion and society programme.

Aaqil is currently a board member of Mosaic (Muslim mentoring organisation set up by Prince Charles), Chair of the Creative Diversity Network Commissioning Group, a patron of the Curriculum For Cohesion and the President of the BBC Black and Asian Workers Forum.

Uzair is the Managing Partner of Fairway Search Partners.  He graduated from the University of Kent, Canterbury with a degree in Business & Finance.  In Jan 2003, Uzair orchestrated an MBO of Contact Recruitment, and grew the business from a single London office with eight people, to an International Group in four countries that employed 110 staff globally with additional offices in Singapore, India and Ireland.  The Group provided consultative recruitment services for banking operations, finance, technology and support services.  The Group turnover at its peak was approximately £15 million – five times larger than when he acquired the business. He had grown the business through organic growth as well as acquisitions. As the business moved to a more commoditised model, Uzair sold this business in November 2011 to focus on the Search practice. Uzair set up the firm to focus his efforts, working at MD and Director Level.  Fairway Search Partners was set up and started trading in February 2009.

In 2008, Uzair started working with Mosaic as a mentor in the schools. In 2010, Uzair took on the role of a Lead Mentor, helping new mentors in schools and was then invited to the London Regional Group (RLG) to contribute in the shaping and steering of the London region. Subsequently, in June 2011, he was invited to Chair the London RLG and has formed a strong committed team who are focused on ensuring London delivers its’ business objectives.

Up until the sale of Contact, Uzair was serving his third term as Vice-Chair on the Board of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo). APSCo focuses on bringing together staffing firms with strong morale principles and a commitment to always work to a high service charter.  The exec team focuses on ways to raise the bar amongst our peers and industry in general and it mainly made of members in the banking ops/finance and IT recruitment space.

Uzair also sits on the Executive Committee for the East London Business Alliance. ELBA’s work focuses on helping businesses to implement long term positive change in East London through the community, employment and legacy programmes.

Uzair has strong thoughts on the year ahead and the needs of business to adapt to a different business landscape. He believes many businesses have still not woken up to the reality of what may happen. He has recently been quoted in various trade presses with his thoughts on views on the year ahead.  He is often quoted as saying ‘when you think something could happen.. it often does, so take the action now when you can manage the change’.

Harris was appointed as Mosaic’s first honorary patron and was awarded the prestigious Beacon Award for Philanthropy Advocate 2013 for raising £1m within 12 months for various charities working in deprived communities in the UK, becoming the youngest and first Muslim to receive this honour. He now serves as a judge for the awards.

Harris is the co-founder of the Naz Legacy Foundation, which aims to enhance educational excellence and positive integration. It was established in memory of his late father, Naz Bokhari OBE, the first Asian/Muslim head teacher in the UK. The Foundation was honoured to be awarded the Big Society Award 2014 by the Prime Minister. Harris is also an ambassador for the British Asian Trust.

Harris’s interfaith work has included organising the first ever engagement event between national community, women and youth leaders from the Jewish and Muslim communities meeting with the new Chief Rabbi in Finchley Kinloss Synagogue.  Harris was one of the first Muslims to be invited to the Chief Rabbi’s installation ceremony and was selected to be an Ariane De Rothschild fellow, in partnership with Cambridge University’s Judge Business School and King’s College.  Harris also organised the first youth interfaith iftar at Lambeth Palace, which brought together the Archbishop of Canterbury, Chief Rabbi, Mayor of London and over 100 youth leaders from each of London’s boroughs – representing all faiths and none.

Harris was awarded an OBE in Her Majesty’s Birthday Honours List for services for young people and interfaith relations;  named as one of 40 people in finance who goes further for good causes by Financial News Extra Mile List; and named as one of London’s most influential figures by the Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 list.

Property specialist and international active asset manager Tariq Shah is an executive director of the Vigo Group, managing a portfolio of assets ranging from landmark capital city investments to starter units for small businesses.

Consistently driving a wide variety of projects from concept to completion, Tariq focuses on establishing strong partnerships to optimise and develop assets and ensure lasting positive impacts. The third generation to enter this family business, traditional values of honesty, integrity and trust are at the centre of Tariq’s philosophy. These core principles, supported by a focus on excellence and a dynamic response to change have ensured the group has succeeded and developed across sectors and through market cycles.

Tariq was educated at St Peter’s School, York and holds a BSc in Economics and Politics from Birmingham University. He remains involved in politics and is also a Trustee of the AHS Foundation.

Farouq Sheikh is one of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs, philanthropists and community figureheads. His business interests encompass healthcare, private equity, property investment and development. He is best known as co-founder, along with his brother Haroon, of CareTech Holdings PLC, a respected national provider of specialist services to adults and children with learning or physical disabilities or mental health problems which now supports over 1800 service users and employs more than 3500 staff. After initiating the successful equity investments they oversaw the subsequent exits of 3i Group PLC (in 1996 and 2002) and Barclays Private Equity (in 2002 and 2005) culminating in a successful listing on the AIM market at the London Stock Exchange in 2005. Under their stewardship, their intimate knowledge of the marketplace, commercial and negotiating expertise, CareTech’s earnings per share grew significantly from 4.1p in 2005 to 26.47p in 2012. Farouq remains the Executive Chairman. Although principally concerned with strategic management, Farouq has never lost his fundamental belief that a successful company looks after its staff properly, maintains a commitment to quality and manages expenditure carefully.

Farouq’s most recent business enterprise is as Director of a property and equity investment group, Sheikh Holdings Group (Investments) Limited, which incorporates a property development division (Locksbridge Developments) that has several substantial on-going property developments that have a GDV in excess of £125m and a serviced office division.

In 2007 Farouq became Entrepreneur of the Year in the prestigious Laing and Buisson business awards and has presented widely at healthcare conferences, raising awareness of the learning disability sector. In 2008, both Farouq and his brother Haroon were winners of the highly valued Coutts Family Business Prize and widely applauded for the quality and social integrity of the company they created. They were both finalists in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards in 2009.

They established the COSARAF Charitable Foundation to benefit communities and individuals in the UK and abroad. As Patrons and Enterprise Fellows of the prestigious Prince’s Trust, they support young people by passing on their experience and expertise to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Mrs Bushra Nasir was a secondary headteacher with 20 years’ experience at Plashet School in the London Borough of Newham before retiring in December 2012. She was the first Muslim female headteacher of a secondary school in the UK.

In 2003, she was awarded a CBE for her services to education and in 2005 won the ‘Asian Professional Woman of the Year’ award. She served on the General Teaching Council from 2000 to 2005 and was president of the Muslim Teachers’ Association for six years. In 2006, Mrs Nasir was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of East London for her services to education; in 2007 she received a Fellowship from Queen Mary College London.

Plashet is an 11–16 comprehensive girls’ school with 1,355 students, 90 per cent of them from ethnic minority backgrounds and a high percentage with free school meals. Plashet is a high-achieving school with GCSE results above national average; the 2012 GCSE results were the highest achieved by the school at 74% 5 good passes including English and Maths compared to 28% in 1993.

Plashet gained Beacon status in September 2000, Leading Edge status in 2004 and Science Specialist College Status in September 2007. The school was ‘outstanding’ in its Ofsted inspection in March 2005 and March 2008. It was featured in a national report produced by Ofsted entitled ‘12 Outstanding Schools – excelling against the odds’.

While working in Newham, Mrs Nasir chaired Secondary Heads’ meetings and led a Leading Edge Partnership. She has also mentored ten newly appointed Head-teachers.

She has been trained and accredited as a mentor by the Institute of Education and has completed the Consultant Leaders Programme. She is an accredited School Improvement Partner (SIP) and has supported schools in Essex. She is currently on the Education Advisory Panel for Mosaic and is a coach for the NCSL BME headteacher internship programme. She is a Council member of Queen Mary University and the Chair of the Education Committee of the Migration Project.

Mrs Nasir has spoken at a wide range of conferences and events related to educational issues for parents, head-teachers and educationalists.

Mrs Nasir is co-author of a book called Breaking Stereotypes, which aims to provide positive role models for ethnic minority young people. In 2009, she was named in the top 10 list of Muslim women in the ‘Muslim Power’ list produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and published in The Times.

Mrs Nasir was awarded TES Headteacher of the Year in summer 2012.

Sarah Khan-Bashir MBE is a proactive, adaptable and conscientious solicitor, highly committed to putting something back into the community. Sarah established Shire Solicitors in 2007. This civil practice specialises in family law, property law and immigration law.

After qualifying as a solicitor, Sarah joined the Office of the Force Solicitor for West Yorkshire Police. Sarah led an initiative to create a protocol to be followed by the courts and partner authorities to case manage civil applications brought by the police to the magistrates’ courts. This model was adopted by several police forces.

Sarah has also delivered training in respect of cultural awareness programmes to Police Officers and Local Councils and presented a paper on the evidence required to successfully apply for sexual offences prevention orders to the British Army.

As Patron of the Minorities Police Liaison Committee in West Yorkshire, she acted as Chairwoman of a sub group of the committee looking specifically at the issue of Forced Marriages.

Sarah was nominated for a Lloyds TSB Jewel award and was one of the finalists for the Professional Excellence Award.

Sarah joined Mosaic in 2007. Princes’ Trust Mosaic was founded by HRH The Prince of Wales to connect young people from disadvantaged Muslim communities to relatable role models to help increase their confidence and improve their chances of fulfilling their potential. She is currently the Chair for the Yorkshire Regional Leadership Group and was awarded the MBE in 2014 for her services to charity.

With the Baroness Warsi Foundation, a social mobility charity, Sarah has co-written and is currently delivering an employability workshop to students from local schools in Bradford. The two day workshop seeks to equip young people, aged 16-18 years old, with essential employability skills.

Sarah is married to Leeds based lawyer Nadim Bashir and they have three daughters.

Professor Fortune is Professor of Medicine in relation to Oral Health in the Centre for Clinical and Diagnostic Oral Sciences (CDOS). She graduated in both Dentistry and Medicine from University College, University of London. In 1992 she obtained her PhD in University of London. She is on the specialist register for Oral Medicine in Dentistry (GDC), and Immunology in Medicine (GMC). She was appointed Senior Lecturer in Immunology and Honorary Consultant in Oral Medicine at UMDS (Guys and St Thomas Hospital). In 1998 she was conferred the title of Professor of Oral Medicine at Leeds University.

In 2002 Professor Fortune was recruited to the position of Professor of Medicine in Relation to Oral Health at Queen Mary. She had previously held the positions of Head of Oral Medicine at Leeds University and Senior Lecturer in Immunology and Honorary Consultant in Oral Medicine at the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals.

She has extensive experience in teaching within both the undergraduate and postgraduate sector. Her expertise is in curriculum development, assessment methodology and quality assurance. She works in these areas both in the UK and abroad. She chaired Royal College of Surgeons examination committee for a number of years. She has being seminal in the reintroduction of the LDS RCSeng., which was the first licensed examination in Dentistry. She is one of the founding members of Interprofessional Education Network of Royal Society of Medicine 2013. Member of (UKHEAC) UK Healthcare Education Advisory Committee.

Nationally and internationally her strategic focus has been on widening access and increasing uptake into higher education. In London she and works with several schools to develop aspiration in schoolchildren from the earliest years. She chairs London Healthcare Education Widening Access Committee. The focus abroad has been to build capacity and increase uptake using nontraditional models. An example is in-community and community outreach programs for teaching and training. The evidence shows that these approaches are a productive, dynamic and efficient use of resource to deliver high quality teaching and training. She has played a major role internationally in health and education initiatives and remains committed to global collaboration to enhance health and education. Her current focus is to embed health and education within the contextual focus of national and societal cultures, and economics. Ongoing programs in Africa are with Global Knowledge Education Network, SCiEH, and Goonhilly Space station to deliver affordable access to health and education, through UN 2015 Sustainable Goals.

Her clinical expertise in Oral Medicine, Clinical Immunology and Oral manifestations of Systemic Disease is well recognised. Professor Fortune’s standing within Oral Medicine is reflected by her election to the Council of the British Society of Oral Medicine in 2004 and to the role of President in 2007 and as President of Odontology section of Royal Society of Medicine in 2011. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2007.

In 2012 Professor Fortune played a leading role in the organisation, implementation and the delivery of three separate dental facilities for oral healthcare at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The organising medical team was awarded the prestigious Nursing Times award 2013. The Team of the Year Award celebrates new projects that demonstrate the value of teamwork in the UK health care sector.

Professor Fortune’s main research focus is epithelial biology, including mucosal disease and oral cancer, on which she has published extensively. She has a particular interest and expertise in Behçet’s disease and is a member of the medical advisory panel to the Behçet’s Syndrome Society. Recently, together with Behçet’s Society they secured funding to set up three dedicated Centres in England for the management of this condition. She is the Scientific Advisor to the International Society for Behçet’s disease 2012-14. Further to this, she is a member of the Research Grants Committee (Hong Kong) – Biology and Medicine panel 2012-17

In 2004, she was awarded a CBE for services to dentistry. In 2012, she was awarded prestigious Colyer Gold Medal for significant contribution to the profession through their research, teaching and clinical work.

Managing Director of We-Q Collaborative Intelligence

Varinder has been a mentor with Mosaic since 2012 and became chair of the London & South East Regional Leadership Group in 2016. His principles align strongly with the values Mosaic promotes of success through diversity, confidence and innovation.

Varinder is the Managing Director of We-Q Collaborative Intelligence, which works with leadership teams to improve their collective effectiveness and build robust organisational culture.

Previously, he has lead a strategic planning and project management group in Marks and Spencer and also has experience across diverse industries and complex international environments as a business operations leader.

He is an alum of the London Business School with a general interest in increasing competitive advantage through the integration of more sustainable processes into an organisation.

Wakkas’s first involvement with Mosaic was as a mentor on Mosaic’s Young Muslim Offenders Mentoring Programme at Her Majesty’s Prison Forest Bank. He is a member of Mosaic’s North West Regional Leadership Group, providing support and advice to Mosaic’s North West regional management. Wakkas is a member of the Mosaic Associates.

Wakkas is an award-winning community organiser, social entrepreneur and dental surgeon. He qualified from the University of Manchester in dentistry in 2004 and is currently a general dental practitioner based in Cheshire. Wakkas’ passion is to make a positive contribution to people’s lives. He has dedicated much of his life to working to try to bridge gaps in understanding and encourage dialogue, interaction and mutual appreciation.

Wakkas currently sits on the General Dental Council, the regulatory body of UK dentistry. The GDC is the most senior body in UK dentistry and as such has the responsibility for overseeing the protection of the public as well as the regulation of the dental team. Within his role at the GDC, Wakkas has sat on the Audit Committee and currently sits on the Remuneration Committee. Wakkas also takes a deep interest in international development and was involved in raising money for the flood victims of Pakistan with the Pakistan Recovery Fund, a charity founded by His Royal Highness, Prince of Wales.

Wakkas has been an advisor to a number of government departments. His work in building stronger communities was recognised when he was appointed to the Faith Advisory Panel of Experts to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. As a member of the Government Home Office Task Forces ‘Preventing Extremism Together’, Wakkas’ team presented a number of proposals to the Home Secretary to consider in tackling deprivation, disaffection and disengagement amongst Muslim communities. Furthermore, as part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s ‘Engaging with the Islamic World Group’ Wakkas was invited to visit a number of countries as an ambassador for British Islam.

Wakkas grew up in Manchester and was a community governor of St Chrysostom’s Primary School, the inner city school that he attended as a child. He recently facilitated a mentoring relationship between Mosaic and St Chrysostom’s. Wakkas has also been a governor of the Christie Hospital, one of the largest cancer centres in the world, treating over 40,000 patients a year. He currently sits on the General Assembly of the University of Manchester and is also a trustee of the Manchester Youth Foundation.

Regarding Mosaic, Wakkas said: “I have met remarkable children of all faiths and races and believe that it has never been more important than ever that every child is able to fulfill their God given potential. The greatest success of Mosaic is that it empowers children to aspire, to dream and to believe that the world is theirs too.”

About Mosaic Associates Wakkas added: “The Associates brings together like minded people of success and influence who believe that it is imperative to create as many opportunities for the youth as imaginable, and to put down as many ladders for children as possible. It is this constellation of individuals that are today shaping the world that we will leave tomorrow for the next generation.”

Dr Haseena Lockhat works for Worcestershire Health and Care Trust as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist providing services within a CAMHs team. 

Her current portfolio includes being Chair of Mosaic West Midlands, a Prince’s Trust school and ex-offender mentoring initiative; Vice President of the West Midlands 

Asian Business Chamber of Commerce (ABCC); Member of WM Police Independent Advisory Group (IAG); Partner at the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) which is an independent regulatory body;  Co-developer, Trainer and Supervisor with Approachable Parenting, delivering parenting programs for 0-3; 4-11; and teenagers.

Haseena is regarded as a leading figure both in the UK and internationally on healthcare issues relating to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Her publications include the acclaimed book ‘Female Genital Mutilation: Treating the Tears’, launched by the then Home Secretary David Blunkett, which culminated from groundbreaking research that she carried out investigating the psychological effects of FGM.

Dr Atif Bashir is the son of Bashir Ahmad who emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1962 from the Indian subcontinent. Having initially worked as a street lighter and then going on to to work as a bus driver, shop owner, restaurateur and laterally as a politician.

Dr Bashir was born in Glasgow in 1968 and attended his local school Shawlands Academy. Following school he has spent extensive period studying at the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, Napier and Genoa.

Dr Bashir is now the Clinical Director and owner of Be Dental Ltd, a group of five mixed NHS and Private Dental Practices, located in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Falkirk with a patient list of a round 35,000 patients.

Dr Bashir initially qualified from University of Strathclyde n 1989 with a degree in Pure and applied Chemistry. He then went to work as a Chemist in industry initially whilst further educating himself to the point of qualifying as a Chartered Chemist.

Although he thoroughly enjoyed his work and was considering studying for a PhD, he felt it lacked people contact and he decided to go back to school. Dr Bashir qualified from the Glasgow Dental School in 2000 graduating with commendation.

Whilst at University he took on additional work within the department to improve the research that was being carried out utilising his Chemistry degree in the field of Cariology. He was nominated for the prestigious Colgate Prize for his work and presented that he the International Society of Dental Research.

Since qualifying in 2000 Dr Bashir has worked in dentistry across Central Scotland, initially as an associate and then as a practice owner.

Whilst working, Dr Bashir studied, sat and passed the highly thought of MFDS (Membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgeons) examination with the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh: the world’s oldest College of Surgeons.

At this point, Dr Bashir made the decision to take a special interest in Cosmetic Dentistry, further studies and exams followed including a fellowship in Laser dentistry from the University of Genoa. Dr Bashir now works in partnership with Scotland’s premier award wining Plastic Surgeon Consultant lead Clinic, La Belle Forme as a cosmetic dentist.

As Dr Bashir’s group of practices grew, he found more of his time was dedicated to managing his business and he won the coveted “Best Professional in Business” in 2012 at the Scottish Asian Business Awards.

Dr Bashir has been happily married, and has two children. I n his spare time (of which there is very little) he enjoys fishing and the gym.