Zareen Roohi Ahmed

Zareen was born and bred in the West Midlands, UK and has led a varied and successful career across a variety of sectors, spanning over 25 years. Doctorate: Zareen’s PhD in Multiculturalism from the University of Aberdeen Scotland examines: ‘How the role of Muslim women in British society has changed from the period of 1995 to 2011 as a result of the 9/11 and 7/7 bombings and government’s PVE agenda’. Zareen has delivered several lectures, trainings and papers on this subject including her chapter ‘The Role of Muslim Women in Relation to the Government’s Prevent Agenda’ that was recently published by Palgrave Macmillan in the book ‘Islam in the West, Key Issues in Multiculturalism’. Gift Wellness Ltd: With the intention of establishing an ethical business, that would be known both for its outstanding products and humanitarian work, Zareen established a
company called Gift Wellness Ltd in June 2012; which produces natural sanitary care products. With a brand name ‘Gift’, alongside sales, around 1 million sanitary pads have been donated to women in crisis through food banks, homeless charities and refugee camps. The Gift Wellness product range is a best seller in Holland & Barrett stores in the UK and is rapidly gaining momentum. At the same time, other natural sanitary products are being developed to diversify the product range. Gift Wellness has won several awards and has been featured in several Natural Health
magazines. Website: www.giftwellness.co.uk The Halimah Trust: Zareen is Chair of The Halimah Trust, a charity set up by her family after the passing of her daughter Halimah in 2007. Halimah had just started University to
study International relations and her ambition was to work in Third World Countries to alleviate poverty through education and environmental projects. The charity was established to fulfil Halimah’s objectives, with a special focus on orphans. The charity’s first project was the completion of a state of the art secondary school in Wazirabad, Pakistan for orphan and needy girls, which was inaugurated in April 2011. In 2012, The Halimah Trust partnered with Oxfam and UNICEF to fundraise for work in South Sudan providing clean water and sanitation; and in Pakistan, building flood proof schools and campaigning for girls’ education. www.halimahtrust.org.uk 21st Century Citizen Ltd: Zareen is the Founder and Chief Executive of 21st Century Citizen Ltd (21CC), a consultancy working with private sector companies, national government departments, local authorities, community organisations and international agencies. Projects undertaken focus largely on diversity training, citizenship, leadership
development & integration of hard to reach communities and communication. During 2012-14, work focussed on developing diversity projects, capacity development of community organisations, SME’s and statutory sector agencies. Zareen’s leadership and development skills, training abilities and business planning enable her to deliver bespoke services that are creative and innovative. Brit Writers Ltd: From 2009 – 2012, Zareen was company director and Head of Operations at Brit Writers Ltd. Initiated in 2009, the initiative had two overarching
objectives; to encourage and inspire budding writers of all ages; and to work with the publishing industry to make it more accessible to writers from all walks of life. Brit Writers was about harnessing the support of every sector of society to encourage creative writing, raise literacy and discover new writing stars by supporting budding authors. British Muslim Forum: For two years prior to this, Zareen was Chief Executive of the British Muslim Forum – the first woman to head up a major UK Muslim organisation where she worked tirelessly to establish the organisation and initiate a range of projects designed to improve the position of Muslims in Britain. One of the main areas of work was a Mosques Capacity Development programme where a team of officers were recruited and trained to work within British Mosques, improve governance capabilities and delivery of activities. The organisation was regarded highly by government and partner organisations and became an important channel between the Muslim community and government. Much of Zareen’s role involved travelling and working with international governments on
behalf of the British government, lecturing, speaking and chairing conferences across the world, including in the USA, Brussels and the Far East. In addition, Zareen represented the organisation in the media and was featured several times on the BBC Politics Show, Radio 4 and 5 Live. During this time Zareen was the only woman on the Executive Steering Committee of the MINAB; the Mosques & Imams National Advisory Body, an independent group, set up to develop a set of standards and a system of accreditation for Mosques and Imams in Britain. Previously: Zareen’s previous roles included being the National Operations Director of The Experience Corps – where she led teams across the UK to recruit 250,000 people over the age of 50 into volunteering. Zareen was Regional Marketing & Fundraising Manager at the NSPCC for 5 years and prior to that was Project Manager at Derby Pride Ltd, a regeneration project delivering the City Challenge in Derby. The mother of two, who is a keen visual artist, has exhibited a number of her works over the years and in 2003 she founded a community arts organisation called Silverleaf Arts which continues to promote integration and cross cultural dialogue through a range of