ABCONNEXIONS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman and Founder of Asian Business Connexions
Ammar Mirza CBE is a sought after leadership & business management consultant, and a serial entrepreneur with interests and investments across a number of sectors. Over a 15 year period he has helped establish several hundred new businesses within the North East.
As chairman and founder of Asian Business Connexions, Ammar has helped make a significant social and economic impact across the Globe.
In 2016 Ammar has helped launch the Primary Inspiration through Enterprise (PIE) Project Charity introducing enterprise activities into Primary Schools and represented the Private Sector on various Local Strategic Partnerships including the Learning Challenge and City Deal within Newcastle.
His other positions include board member on the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP), chair of Newcastle Progression Forum, chair of governors at Tyneview Primary School, and founder of the SME Centre of Excellence.
Newcastle welcomed Anu at the age of 21 post completing her Business & Finance degree at Salford University. Since Graduation she applied her academic skills to the Banking world where she has recently earned a successful long service recognition for working within the RBS/NatWest Group for 20 years.
Her 20 years' service enabled for her to work in various roles within the Bank which has given her an insight into Personal Banking, Business Banking and now her current role within Corporate Banking. Having been with Corporate Banking for c11 years, Anu‘s main role consists of servicing high net worth entities with the most complexity & broadest range of needs, via an understanding of her client's strategy.
Born and raised in Newcastle, Cyrenne graduated from Northumbria University in 2004 with a degree in International Business Studies and French. Following University, she moved to London to embark on a career in Finance.
Following a successful few years in the Corporate industry she decided to move into business and joined the family run Bourne Capital - an independent property and leisure operator in London as their Financial Controller where she gained a wealth of hands-on experience operating and managing the finances of the group achieving promotion to Financial Director in 2014.
In 2018, following the birth of her second child, she and her husband Nigel made the move back to Newcastle and join the family business Gainford Group. We had both gained a wealth of experience in various sectors which could only compliment the Group's success so far.
Dr. Doc Anand arrived at Heathrow Airport in 1978 with a MBBS Medical Degree worth about £250,000 and £3.50 in his wallet. Since then, he has been a very successful doctor, serving the NHS and Elmfield Heatlh Group after finishing his Vocational training and MRCGP, all while tutoring in Newcastle Medical School.
After modernising "GP's attitude to Psychological Illness", and retiring at the top of his surgery in 2013, Doc ran a unique accredited course for 4th year student electives - "An In-Depth Experience of Complimentary Therapies and using them in a NHS GP Practice" for 14 years.
Doc has also made a feminist film, has wrote a book and is making a second, was the treasurer of the Tyneside Speakers Club, was and is a vivid member of community radio SpiceFM, and started the Afghan Community Trust.
Since retiring from medicine, realising he missed the face-to-face contact with his community, he joined the Conservative Party officially, and is currently the Gosforth Activist for 5th May 2022 and Membership and Social Secretary of the Newcastle Conservative Association.
Fatima Patel is Managing Director of publishing group, RF Media & Publishing Ltd, who publish the country's leading Asian news titles: Asian Sunday Newspaper, Asian Standard Newspaper and Asian Style Magazine.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Animal Welfare Board of India
Geeta Seshamani is an active senior wildlife conservationist and animal rights activist. For over three decades, her life has been centred on the profound belief that man can coexist with animals and forests. She is the Vice President of Friendicoes SECA and also the Co-Founder and Secretary of Wildlife SOS.
Having witnessed the cruel treatment of stray dogs in New Delhi, she felt compelled to become their voice and champion their cause. In 1979, she became a part of Friendicoes SECA (Society for the Eradication of Cruelty to Animals), an animal rescue and welfare non profit, and currently serves as its Vice President. Friendicoes SECA began as a shelter for sick, injured animals or abandoned pets and has gradually grown into Delhi's largest shelter for domestic animals. To- day, it has a hospice, outpatient department (OPD) and ambulance services, an animal sanctuary in Gurgaon and a mobile clinic for horses and donkeys. The organization runs five municipal corporation hospitals for spaying, neutering, and vaccinating stray dogs in Delhi and Gurgaon, to control stray populations of animals in a humane and scientific way.
In 1995, when Geeta witnessed a sloth bear being forced to dance while its owner begged for money in Uttar Pradesh, she joined forces with Kartick Satyanarayan to launch a 30 month long investigation to understand the problem and later that year Wildlife SOS was born. In a historic moment in 2009, Wildlife SOS was successful in bringing an end to the ‘dancing bear' practise by taking the last dancing bears off the streets of India, while rehabilitating the Kalandar communities through education and alternate livelihoods. Today, nearly 40% of the Wildlife SOS staff comprise members of this community, who opted for a more sustainable future. She is now focused on tackling Bear conservation issues through biodiversity conservation, protecting sloth bear and black bear habitat and creating bear conservation and education programs to mitigate human-bear conflict in India.
Geeta has been a Member of the Animal Welfare Board of India, Central Zoo Authority, Govt. of India and has received several lifetime achievement awards and felicitations for
her work in the field. Geeta has been felicitated with the prestigious "Pehal Award" by Zee News (2004), the Planman Media Award for Environmental Activism (2009), the Karamveer Puraskar Award (2009), Limca's "People of the Year" Award (2014), and is a two-time winner of The Elisabeth Lewyt Award for Disaster Management and Planning. Geeta received the Wockhardt Foundation prize for Human Rights Popular Award and she was featured amongst the ‘Women of Pure Wonder' in the Vodafone 2016 book of the same title. She also received the San Diego Zoo Global Conservation Medal for "Conservation in Action" (2018) and was felicitated with The Maharana Udai Singh Award, 2019, for conservation, and community rehabilitation work. She is the co-author of ‘Dancing Bears of India' and ‘Trade in Bears and Their Parts in India: Threats to Conservation of Bears.' A lauded guest speaker at innumerable global conferences, Geeta demonstrates her lifelong devotion to the protection and well-being of all living things tirelessly.
Kainat is now a non-practising barrister after spending her early career practising in criminal and employment law in some of the country's most high-profile cases. She has worked with several women's rights organisations locally and nationally.
Ranjana has over 35 years' experience in the field of Equality and Diversity. She has been a teacher for children with special needs; a Race Equality Officer for a local authority; an Equal Opportunities Officer for a university; a Non-Executive Director for a design company and has held the position of Director for her own company, rba Equality & Diversity since 1998.
She has been on many Boards and committees and is currently Chair of the Northumbria Police SIAG; PCC Independent Member for Police Misconduct Panel and Chair of Young People in Conversation. She was a government appointed Commissioner for the Women's National Commission for 4 years and Co-Chair of the NE CPS Scrutiny Panel for Racist and Religious Hate Crime. She has been a Lay Member of Employment Tribunals since 1999. She has also been a Board member for The Cyrenians (Changing Lives); SAHELI and The Angelou Centre.
In 2009, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to Equality and Diversity by CULTURES CIC; in 2012 she was shortlisted for an Asian Women of Achievement Award for her contribution to public service and in January 2014 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Honours for her work with the police and BME communities in Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.
Reshma is the FSB Development Manager for the North East of England, working with volunteer members and staff teams, both locally and nationally, to deliver and manage FSB activity across the area to ensure local businesses are well supported and represented.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Director of Ideas for Change Consulting
Sanjee is Founder and Director of Ideas for Change Consulting, an economic development consultancy operating across the North East. In 1993, after graduating from Brunel University with an Economics degree, Sanjee moved from London to Newcastle to start her first job a North Tyneside Council. The intention was to stay until the end of her contract and return to London, however Sanjee fell in love with Newcastle and the North East never left!
Over the past 25 years, Sanjee has worked in senior management positions within Local Authority, Business Link and the former regional development agency, leading on several business support and enterprise schemes, skills and inclusion projects. She has worked with the nicest of people and found that building strong working relationships and collaborating with others is the key to getting things done.
Sanjee now works with the region's universities, colleges, businesses and charities, always looking for creative and innovative solutions to persistent economic and social issues.
"I have been very luck in life to have had some amazing women in senior positions as mentors and role models leading the way and lighting the path and I continue to be inspired by the work that many women do both in public and private life to make sure we all succeed."
Sanjee is a strong believer in the North East being open and having an international outlook, having been born in Sri Lanka, grown up in Zambia and Kenya and lived in the UK for most of her working life she is fully aware how important this is in bringing out the best in people.
Shamin is an Assistant Solicitor working in the Private Family Department for Tilly Bailey & Irvine Solicitors where she specialises in Matrimonial and Financial Remedy in family law. Shamin has practised exclusively in family law since qualifying in 2005 and have worked in niche family law firms.
Very much a people person, Shamin is passionate about securing the best possible outcome for the clients she works with. Working in the legal profession has its challenges and being a family lawyer can be stressful but equally rewarding.
Shamin has started "Professional Women on the Go", which started off as a blog to empower women , giving advice on Health, Beauty and Fitness. She have also ran a few "Professional Women on the Go" workshops on beauty and wellbeing with the aim to empower women to be the best version of themselves.
Job Titles:
- Head of Corporate Connections and Internationalisation at Newcastle University Business School
Sharmishta Chatterjee-Banerjee is Head of Corporate Connections and Internationalisation at Newcastle University Business School. With extensive experience in the UK higher education sector and travel, retail and advertising industries, in her current role she is responsible for developing a portfolio of strategic partnerships with high quality institutions, professional bodies, and commercial organisations and leading on the award winning Global Experience Opportunities programme.
Sharmishta holds a BA (Hons) in Political Science and International Relations from Jadavpur University, India and a MA in Marketing Management from Nottingham Business School. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, an alumna of the Santander UCLA W30 leadership programme and has recently completed Advance HE's Aurora Women in Leadership programme.
Sharmishta is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion, and serves on the University's Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic (BAME) Advisory group.
7 years ago, Shazia was a at a low point in her life feeling as though she had not achieved anything in her life. She remembered seeing other successful women and thinking how could she ever do anything successful. One morning she got up and decided to change her life.
7 years on she has established Nur Fitness with a small work force and are currently working with partners such as Public Health, Steps Forward Tees Valley and also now have our own centre.
Her main aim in life is to help women reach their full potential using health & fitness as a catalyst. Developing new innovative opportunities for women all the time and her aim is to help women become fitter, into either volunteering or employability. She is especially passionate about improving women's mental health and breaking down barriers by talking about taboo issues such as mental health.
Job Titles:
- Senior Partner at Sweeney Miller Law
Surbhi Vedhara is a Senior Partner at Sweeney Miller Law, a Newcastle based law firm renowned for providing quality legal services to clients across the country.
She grew up in Mumbai, India, a place that is very close to my heart. In 2002, She moved to Newcatle with her husband Ashish.
Following her move to the UK, She studied Law at Northumbria University and went on to qualify as a Solicitor, eventually becoming a Partner in my firm. Now specialising in Commercial Property
She says Life has been kind to her, but she knows that a lot of women, particularly Asian women, do not have the same opportunities that she was fortunate enough to have. She therefore wants to use the platform that she has to do her bit to empower Asian women to achieve their true potential.
"If I can change just one life, it will be my proudest achievement"
As the mother of a teenage Asian daughter, She thinks it is truly inspiring to be a part of AWEsome, a campaign that promotes diversity and reduces barriers to inclusion but she looks forward to a day when such a campaign won't be necessary because we will have achieved everything that we set to achieve.
Veena arrived in England in the 1960's after a three-week boat journey from India, her mother had packed all their possessions in a small case. With no knowledge of the English language and culture they took a massive leap of faith.
As a teacher her aim was always to ensure that all children had opportunity, confidence and support to reach their full potential. She set up learning programs for mothers as she felt they spent more time with their children, however, in many cases they often felt they were not capable of supporting their children. Education for Veena, was not about the child but rather the whole family.
Over the last 30 years Veena feels honoured to have advised guided and supported many people who have gone on to be successful in their fields and upstanding member of society. The programs she developed have helped thousands of people and she is truly humbled when people reach out to me to tell her how much these programs have positively impacted them.
Born in Sri Lanka Zoë Hingston has lived in the North East for most of her life. After originally pursuing a path to be a Solicitor she decided to change career direction and become a Police Officer which she has done now for 16 years working in a variety of roles within Northumbria Police. Currently she is the Force lead for Positive Action where she continues to make a significant impact by accelerating the equality agenda. Zoë consistently dedicates her time to empowering, supporting and inspiring others to realise their true potential. Through her work she has championed the removal of barriers for those from under-represented groups coming into the public sector and has challenged her organisation to be the best it can be. Her leadership has transformed how the Force recruit and retain those from under represented backgrounds in particular from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background with a significant increase over the last few years. Her scope is far reaching and she is keen to tackle the most challenging of issues.
As Chair of Northumbria Police's Ethnic Minority Association and General Secretary of the National Black Police Association, she influences both the regional and national policing agenda to provide a strong platform for the voices of her members as well actively working to improve the wellbeing of staff, officers and volunteers. Through her collaborative approach, Zoë strengthens relationships within community groups and other local organisations often bringing people together to showcase what the North East has to offer.
Zoë is a true visionary leader, with a forward thinking attitude who has made positive and lasting changes in her organisation and importantly to the communities she is so very passionate about and committed to.