Alexander co-founded RSe Consulting, a public sector consultancy specialising in Local Government. He sold RSe Consulting to Tribal Group in 2008 and continued there for a year as a Director for Local Government specialising in supporting public sector organisations to work effectively in partnership and cut costs.
Alexander is currently writing a book about the unique challenges faced by public sector managers and works with several start up organisations in areas including carbon off-setting, Chinese credit data and public sector cloud computing. Alexander became a Trustee of The Young Foundation in March 2010. At The Young Foundation he has been working closely with the Wellbeing project to explore ways of spreading their work more widely and has been an Uprising mentor for the past three years. He is also a trustee of Fight for Peace. Prior to setting up RSe Consulting Alexander worked at the Financial Times Group in a number of roles.

Sheikh Aliur Rahman

Aliur currently works as the Chief Executive of the London Tea Exchange and acts as a Senior Advisor to Capital Media and Consultancy. He is currently advising a number of high profile clients on major developments across London and recent projects include delivering three of the tallest towers in Europe. Prior to joining the London Tea Exchange he worked for a leading investment company in the City and has extensive senior management experience. Aliur has been at the forefront of working with large investment projects and has worked extensively amongst the private, public and third sector. Aliur currently holds various third sector advisory roles at a local, regional and national level and remains active in urban regeneration programmes across Europe and Asia.

He has been prominent in representing investment companies in many of the leading emerging countries and has been involved in major projects in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia. Through his travels Aliur has developed a passion for tea. In 2003 Aliur founded the London Tea Exchange and invested a significant amount of his time in collecting some of the rarest teas in the world. Today London Tea Exchange has one of the largest collection of rear and premium teas in the world and is renowned amongst tea connoisseurs and collectors from across the globe.

A successful career in Commercial and Investment Banking including former CFO of the Global Debt business of NatWest Markets. Recent experiences have included the Executive lead in the restructure of a leading UK Bank into core and non core bank and the successful deleveraging of non core activities. Providing strategic advisory and execution to large Institutions in their transformation of their transaction banking businesses. Corporate Advisory work in structured and project financing for Sub Sahara Africa. Now leading the development of an innovative and disruptive FinTech venture, ZymPay, which has a vision to deliver a seamless global digital payments service working with strategic banking and Institutional partners to deliver diaspora payment services and serve the under banked sector. Sub Sahara Africa being core to its solution delivery.

Zympay won recognition recently at the Paris Fintech Forum, where we pitched with 50 companies and ZymPay was awarded the Paris Fintech Start Up Award for Innovation and Financial Inclusion. ZymPay has pioneered a world leading solution to enable Emerging Markets Institutions to market their services for products such as insurance (e.g. funeral and health plans) and investment savings products through digital channels with ZymPay managing all global collection and FX management in the countries where diaspora work. This service removes the need for expensive money transfer by diaspora to their home countries and reduces significantly the customer acquisition and service costs for insurance and investment management groups.

Jon is Chair of the Social Innovation Exchange, which brings together social innovators worldwide. He has also chaired All Out, the global campaign for LGBT equality; Khulisa, the crime prevention charity; the
Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration; and The STOP AIDS Project in San Francisco. Jon advises social enterprises and social innovators globally, including Nesta, the Wikimedia Foundation, and the Open Society Institute. He is member of the National Leadership Council of Social Ventures Australia, and Fellow of the Young Foundation. Jon was a Partner with The Bridgespan Group in San Francisco and New York. Prior, he was a Partner with Bain & Company in Johannesburg and Toronto. The Guardian, Stanford Business and other journals around the world have published his writing.

Kevan has worked in public service for over 30 years and became the first Education Endowment Foundation Chief Executive in October 2011, having previously been Chief Executive in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Prior to this role he led a distinguished career in education – starting off as a primary school teacher, leading the Primary Literacy Strategy as National Director, and then serving as Director of Children’s Services at Tower Hamlets. Kevan also gained international experience working in Mozambique and supporting the development of a national literacy initiative in the USA. He completed his doctorate focusing on literacy development at Leeds University in 2005. He was knighted in 2015 for services to education.

Lucy is CEO of UpRising, the UK-wide youth development organisation. She has a career in a charity leadership, income generation and campaigning. She is Vice Chair of Fair for You and also serves on the boards of the Fundraising Regulator and Hope and Homes for Children. She has previously done senior executive roles at BBC Media Action, Diversity Role Models, CLIC Sargent and VSO.

Known for an unwavering commitment to improving standards as a head teacher, Director of Education and, most recently, as Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael has helped to improve the lives of many generations of young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Mike Rann is CEO of Rann Strategy Group based in London and Milan and Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute of King’s College London. He was Premier of South Australia and Minister of Economic Development from 2002 to 2011. He was one of the world’s first Climate Change Ministers. Mike served as Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK and later as Ambassador to Italy. Mike was born in south-east London.

Nicola is a media and strategic communications consultant. She trained as a broadcast journalist in BBC local radio before joining BBC 5 Live in 2002. She was a Special Advisor to the Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Downing Street from 2008 until the 2010 General Election. After the 2010 Election she became Director of Communications for The Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown. She recently worked on Rushanara Ali MP’s campaign to become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

Oli Barrett MBE is a co-founder of social innovation agency Cospa, helping companies and causes to create and grow ventures which make money and make a difference. A good example of this is by helping over 2,000 young people to fix their own youth clubs, with Wickes, the DIY chain. He started Tenner (now run by Young Enterprise), the scheme which has challenged over 150,000 school pupilsto see what they can achieve in one month, starting with £10. He brought speed-networking to the UK and is a regular MC and speaker at events around the world. He has led trade missions to the US, India and Brazil helping British companies (in health, clean-tech and web) to explore business opportunities.
Oli’s entrepreneurial career started as a student and has included an events business in nine cities, an international language practice website (sold in 2008) and a sock subscription website which continues to ship internationally. He is an advisor to the Centre for Entrepreneurs and co-founded the national, business-funded campaign StartUp Britain.

Alvin came across UpRising when he was doing his BA in History and Politics and it changed his life in many ways. UpRising instilled a great sense of duty in his towards his community and country, as well as the value of giving back. Alvin has spent the last decade working on issues of social justice, human rights, and public policy. Most recently he has worked on the UK’s Children and Social Work Bill and drafted an amendment, tabled by a peer in the House of Lords, which stated that care leavers should be “protected from poverty and destitution”. The Government now plans to publish guidance on how local authorities can help care leavers avoid poverty. Alvin advises governments and global corporations on leadership and social impact. He is an advisor to a €5m research project that is examining youth employment in Europe. He has previously advised leaders in Sweden from multiple sectors, and the government of Trinidad and Tobago to support the establishment of its statutory National Youth Commission.

In 2017 he was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe. He has been granted an Impact Fellowship by Singularity University to use exponential technologies to improve global governance, and was awarded a Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship to research how community leaders are addressing social exclusion across the US. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network and is undertaking a strategic review of the City Bridge Trust. Alvin has lectured at the University of Connecticut, has delivered keynote speeches in the House of Lords, and has debated in Cambridge Union. He has also appeared on CNN, BBC, Televisión Española, AFP, and Channel 4 to discuss politics, economics, and social change.

As a community organiser, Alvin led the Citizens’ Inquiry into the Tottenham Riots. This grassroots effort engaged 10,000 local people and helped lead to jobs for young people and the suspension of section 60 stop and searches in the area. Before completing his master’s degree in social policy at the LSE, Alvin ran soup kitchens for homeless people and did research for the think-tank Demos. He has also worked for the social business Catch22 focused on crime, youth justice, and gangs.

Barbara graduated from Queen Mary University of London in 2010 with a degree in Law and, has since, dedicated her time to voluntary work promoting youth entrepreneurship through various platforms. Her voluntary achievements have been widely recognised, especially by the Jack Petchey Foundation, who awarded her with the Jack Petchey Award in both 2009 and 2011 for the provision of excellent voluntary services.

Growing up in Hackney, Barbara was always driven to implement positive change in inner city communities and in 2009 she was accepted onto the UpRising programme where she launched a social action campaign called SNAP! to raise the environmental profile of Tower Hamlets. The confidence, experience, skills and networks she gained from the programme led her to set up Law and Enterprise in 2012 to educate young entrepreneurs about their legal obligations in business and to connect them with law firms who could provide affordable (or free!) legal advice. She was featured in BBC 1Xtra’s 2012 Hackney Dragons show in as one of Hackney’s new budding entrepreneurs and later that year she was also selected to join the New Entrepreneurs Foundation as one of London’s top young entrepreneurs. Alongside her work as a civil servant at the Home Office, she now has two other businesses selling custom-made evening dresses (www.fabricate-this.com) and conflict-free jewellery (www.jewwwl.com).

Daniel Bridgewater is an award-winning business owner, governance practitioner and University of Birmingham first class graduate.

Dan is the founder of Buckt, the UK’s only tickets and activities subscription box. The business – which delivers 5 mystery things to for subscribers to do each month – was recently listed as one of the 50 most innovative businesses in the Midlands. At 19 he founded Fourth Wall, a youth development agency, and has since grown it to an organisation that has worked with over a thousand individuals across the West Midlands. He also spent time as a marketing consultant and workshop facilitator.

Alongside his business portfolio, Dan has spent time sitting on the board of multiple organisations. He is currently on the business sub-committee of the Greater Birmingham Local Enterprise Partnership, and is a former trustee for the leadership charity UpRising and former chair of governors at a Northfield primary school. Furthermore, he has previously sat on the boards of the RSA Academies (the education arm of the world-renowned RSA), the Hippodrome and the Community Development Foundation’s Community First Panel. He is an ambassador for LoveBrum, and fellow of the RSA and Royal Commonwealth Society.

He was recently crowned Birmingham’s ‘Future Face of Entrepreneurship’, and was previously recognised with a prestigious ‘Point of Light Award’ by then Prime Minister David Cameron.

Since starting comedy in March 2014, Eshaan has established himself as an act with exciting potential. A winner of the Piccadilly Comedy Club New Comedian of the Year 2016, Eshaan has been in the finals of other prestigious competitions, including So You Think You’re Funny 2014 and Laughing Horse 2014. He has performed across the UK and in Germany and Bangladesh. In 2016, he supported Dane Baptiste on his UK tour.

Eshaan has also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Latitude Festival, Brownstock and others. His professional career has taken him from private banking through to corporate communications via a career in local government public policy. He has previously written for The Guardian, The Times online, The Observer New Review and The Huffington Post UK. He is a member of the UK Speechwriters Guild and Fellow of the RSA. Eshaan is also a board member of the UpRising Emerging Leaders Advisory Board. He mentors other UpRisers and  young people, offering career guidance and mentoring support. The leadership programme afforded Eshaan the opportunity to consider multiple career paths and subsequently he became more aware of the social impact he could effect within his local community. Born and raised in East London, he is a Manchester United fan (obviously) and has torn cricketing allegiances – he fails the Tebbit test every time. He has previously dabbled in Bollywood dance choreography.

Fayyadh Shamsuddin is a recent graduate from the LSE having completed his MSc in Social Policy & Planning. His background is primarily in International development, having worked on various
community projects in the Philippines, South Africa, Pakistan and China. As a result, he sat on DFID’s Steering Committee advocating for youth development in the Global South. His passion to address poverty, inequality and social mobility in London was amplified by joining the UpRising Leadership Programme. The programme allowed him to develop his skills and experiences to leading social action campaigns in Tower Hamlets and working on grass roots initiatives with local stakeholders and community groups. His committment to UpRising continued as he later joined the UpRising London ELAB (Emerging Leaders Advisory Board) from 2013-2015. He went on to help manage a university tech incubation hub working closely with tech start-ups. He is currently working in digital advertising and marketing for Dentsu Aegis Network as a “creative connector” and has a personal passion for culture, photography and social enterprises.

Hardy has produced a number of personal short-form documentary pieces and content for social causes such as The Big Issue and St.Mungos. He is currently at advanced stages of post-production on several more projects. While filmmaking is his primary focus, he also works across a variety of other media, from photography to graphic design and web consultancy.

Hardy completed the UpRising leadership programme in 2015 before joining the alumni board to become its chair. He subsequently became involved with One Million Mentors as the videographer and continues to support the organisation.

Henrietta is Director of Policy & Strategic Relationships at the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. When appointed in 2015 at the age of 25 Henrietta was one of the youngest directors in the organisation’s history. She is responsible for leading the organisation’s research, campaigning and stakeholder engagement activity as well as managing the organisation’s Patronage scheme.

UpRising has had the single biggest impact on Henrietta’s career. The experience helped her develop the skills and confidence she needed to get ahead professionally and develop networks. It was through her UpRising Leadership Programme Alumni mentor that Henrietta was first introduced to the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce in 2012. It very much set the direction of her career to date.

Jessica currently lives and works in Birmingham. She graduated from Coventry University with an honours degree in Human Geography in 2010 and, after volunteering with the Community Renewal Team at Dudley MBC, began her career in the social housing sector. After working for over 5 years in a number of roles within Customer Engagement and Community Development at Circle Housing, she now works as a Customer Scrutiny Officer at Midland Heart. Jessica’s role involves managing and co- ordinating the delivery of customer scrutiny and service consultation functions with a clear drive on evidencing value for money. Jessica has tried to embed her passion for making a difference into her career, and giving back to communities through voluntary work is one of the ways she has done this. She previously volunteered as Youth Support Worker with Birmingham Youth Service and took part in the UpRising Leadership Programme in 2011, volunteering on the Birmingham Emerging Leaders Advisory Board since July 2012. Most recently, she has been able to support young people with their career aspirations as a mentor on the Fastlaners programme.

Kelly is a vibrant young voice, who has fused her interests in culture, society, education, and leadership into an ever progressing career. With an extensive background in the arts sector, creativity has been a natural medium Kelly has used towards social change. Delivering and managing a vast range of projects and campaigns amongst diverse communities around Manchester and the UK, with the aim to empower, educate and inspire. In working and collaborating with organisations such as Contact Mcr, Clore Fellowship, Open University, Creative Partnerships, ArtsInAction (Trinidad), Afroreggae (Brazil), Riksteatern (Sweden), and London’s own, People’s Palace Projects, Kelly’s work has crossed both national and international borders.

As an avid believer of continuous personal and professional development, Kelly is now a mature student of Anthropology and Sociology at Goldsmith University College London. Kelly is also an Alumni of UpRising Leadership programme, now sitting on the Board of Manchester UpRising Emerging Leaders Network as Creative Strategist.

Lotifa graduated in BA Politics & East European Studies from University College London in 2011. She is currently the Global Campaigns Coordinator for Islamic Relief Worldwide, the largest Muslim NGO
operating in over 40 countries to alleviate poverty and provide humanitarian relief – none of which, she believes, would have been possible without the confidence, foundations and skills given to her through UpRising.

Lotifa is a trained Global Poverty Project Ambassador and coordinates global campaigns for Islamic Relief on climate change and gender justice, working closely with other NGOs on common issues of social justice. She is also a writer for the Huffington Post and has visited Islamic Relief’s climate livelihoods projects in Bangladesh as well as spoken on several international platforms including at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on a Youth Panel on Global Citizenship. She has delivered training with young people across the UK on global poverty issues and, also completed the highly acclaimed Oxford Young Muslim Leadership Programme.