Team QCT

Stephen has served as CEO, Vice Chairman and Member of the Boards of Directors of Global Financial Institutions, Multinational Companies and leading Professional Services Firms. He practised law in the UK and USA with Slaughter and May and Linklaters before moving into Investment Banking in Asia-Pacific, the GCC and Europe.

He has been awarded The Freedom of the City of London; Euromoney rated him as one of ‘The World’s Leading Banking Lawyers’; The Lawyer ranked him as one of The Hot 100 Lawyers in the UK, describing his strategy as ‘making legal history’.

Stephen attends The United Nations, advises on The UN Sustainable Development Goals, The World Economic Forum in Davos and The Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. He is the General Editor of the book Hedge Funds published by the European Lawyer, winner of the Queen’s Award to Industry. He writes on Hong Kong, ASEAN, High Frequency Trading, Dark Pools, HLT’s and derivatives.

He serves on the Board of Trustees of Asia House, the think tank and is Chair of the Audit, Risk and Finance Committee. He has served on the Board of Governors of The English National Ballet and Advisory Boards of The Victoria and Albert Museum and The Royal Albert Hall.

Abdullahi leads the World Economic Forum’s network of emerging young leaders, formally known as the Global Shapers across Africa and the Middle East. He works with thousands of young changemakers at the frontlines of tackling systemic injustices and reimagining a truly equitable post-Covid world order.

He is widely cited as a thought leader on the role of young people in systemic reform and his essays have been published by the likes of Foreign Policy, Forbes, CNBC and The Huffington Post.

To his credit, Abdullahi was conferred the Queen’s Young Leaders Award by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. He was also the WA Young Australian of the Year.

Ameer is His Majesty’s Consul General in Ekaterinburg, heading up one of Britain’s two diplomatic missions in Russia. He represents the UK and its interests in the Urals and Siberia. He started his career at an African social impact investor, AgDevCo, before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2015. As a diplomat, he has served to date in London, New York, West Africa and Hong Kong.

Outside of his day job, Ameer has a strong interest in food and drink. As well as cooking, he writes regularly, with a column in The Spectator. He is the author of the official Platinum Jubilee Cookbook, published in 2022 by Jon Croft Editions and with all proceeds going to charity. In 2021, having come up with an idea to create a new dessert as a lasting tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, he co-founded the nationwide Platinum Pudding Competition.

Ameer is a Liveryman of the Merchant Taylors’ Company and a Freeman of the City of London.

Aneeta is an international development and humanitarian advocate with a passion to prevent abuse, violence and exploitation and bring about justice for vulnerable victims and witnesses. Called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, Aneeta practised law for a decade while she completed her Master’s in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law followed by a Master’s in Child Studies at King’s College London.

She is a former Trustee of Keeping Children Safe, an international coalition of INGOs focussed on strengthening child safeguarding. She is fully committed to her work as a certified SEAH Investigator and Trainer with the CHS Alliance, a Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative Expert with the FCO working on conflict-related sexual violence and as an active member to the Independent Reference Group with DFID’s Safeguarding Unit.

She is currently Executive Director of Bridging Worlds Consulting Ltd, providing international aid agencies strategic consultancy services on safeguarding, gender, improving organisational culture and programme quality.

Samantha is Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC) and Co-Chair of Cool Earth. Prior to this, Sam was Private Secretary to TRH The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. For 8 years, Sam was Assistant Private Secretary to HM The Queen and also served as Her Majesty’s Press Secretary.

She has been involved with QCT from its inception in 2016.

Janette is a partner at KPMG where she has worked for over 30 years, firstly in the audit practice and then in tax. She has a broad base of experience, having advised charities and family-owned businesses as well as listed international companies.

Janette has worked with the Royal household for a number of years and was involved in the organisation of the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations. Throughout her career, she has been passionate about mentoring young people and empowering them with the confidence and tools to excel. She is also actively involved with raising awareness of mental health issues in young people and supporting charities that help young people and their families campaign for change.

Janette joined QCT in May 2019 and in her Trustee role provides support with Treasury and financial matters.

With a previous background in international finance Julie has over twenty years’ experience in the charity sector in a variety of roles leading on finance, HR and operations. Specialising in situations where charities are in a period of change she now works to provide interim management solutions.

Julie has recently joined the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT) as the Chief Operating Officer (Interim)

Mujtaba is an education and organisational development professional with over 10 years of experience in developing and implementing strategic plans and building and managing partnerships.

He brings to QCT consulting experience in the field of project management, strategic planning, and network engagement. He is a member and a founding chair of various national and international social entrepreneurial networks that engage with thousands of young social entrepreneurs from around the world.

He holds an MPhil in Educational Leadership and Management from Beaconhouse National University Pakistan. His social and entrepreneurial work has been recognised with numerous grants and awards such as The Queen’s Young Leaders Award 2018 by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II.

He is excited about the opportunity to work at QCT because it is a renowned organization that shares his passion for empowering youth to become effective agents of change.

Benedict Bryan is an avid advocate for social justice and sustainable development, and has over ten years of experience in community development, programme management, and volunteering  within the Caribbean region. He is the founder of the youth-led Humanitarian Association of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (HARTT), and has worked with his university and other NGOs to implement initiatives geared towards empowering others.

Benedict is working at QCT as the Programmes and Network Engagement Coordinator and he is also a part of Youth Advisory Group for the T&T United Nations Populations Fund. Benedict holds a BSc in Political Science and a Post Graduate Diploma in International Relations. He continues to collaborate with several NGOs in Trinidad and Tobago addressing key thematic issues: youth peace and security, refugee rights, women’s rights, and sexual and reproductive rights for all.

Zeinab Badawi was born in Sudan. Her family moved to the UK when she was two years of age. She has a BA Hons degree from Oxford University, where she is an honorary fellow, and an MA awarded with a distinction from SOAS, London University.

In addition to a long broadcast career that includes an epic 20 part BBC TV series on the history of Africa, now available on BBC YouTube – The History of Africa with Zeinab Badawi”. Zeinab holds several positions including eg President of SOAS, she is a member of the high-level group of the Africa-Europe Foundation, The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Royal Opera House, she is a member of the advisory boards of Afro-Barometer and MINDS – the Mandela Institute for Development Studies, and sits on the Council of the UK’s Arts, Humanities and Research Council. Zeinab has received many awards such as Broadcaster of the Year awarded by the Association of International Broadcasters, the Sir Brian Urquhart Award for distinguished service to international journalism and the UN, the British Academy’s President’s Medal for services to international broadcasting and female education and the Royal African Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award for services to Africa. She has received several honorary doctorates. Her book “An African History of Africa” was published in April 2024 and became an instant bestseller reaching the number one slot in The Sunday Times best hardback non-fiction category. It has been translated into eight languages and is being used as a teaching resource in British schools. It has been shortlisted for British Book of the Year and the Nero Book Award. Zeinab has four children. She speaks Arabic and has a good knowledge of French and Russian.

Dr. Rasha Saïd is the Founder of The Toucan Project and Co-Chair of The Saïd Foundation, dedicated to fostering innovation and supporting creative entrepreneurs. With a background in Psychiatry and Cognitive Science from Brown University, she furthered her education at Oxford and Cambridge before embarking on a career at Condé Nast and Christie’s. Identifying a gap in the market, she launched Toucan Ventures to help emerging creatives scale their businesses by connecting them with influential leaders. Her passion for nurturing talent extends through her involvement with UKBAA, the RCA, the CFE advisory board, and the development and strategy board of ZSL.

Beyond entrepreneurship, Rasha is deeply committed to philanthropy and leadership, serving on the Oxford Global Leadership Council, the board of The Oxford Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a Founding Ambassador for The King’s Trust #WomenSupportingWomen Council. She actively supports UNHCR, Save the Children, and the International Rescue Committee, while also volunteering at her local NHS hospital. Recognized for her contributions to business innovation, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bolton, where she also serves as Pro Chancellor. An adventurous traveler, Rasha continually seeks new challenges, including summiting Kilimanjaro in 2023.

Abbey Wemimo is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Esusu, a financial technology platform that reports rental data to build tenant’s credit scores while helping property owners increase revenue and lower evictions powered by differentiated data and insights. Prior to Esusu, Abbey founded Clean Water for Everyone, a global social venture providing affordable access to clean water for 250,000+ people in six countries. He also founded a data analytics company designed to gather machine-readable data on NGOs operating in Africa which was acquired in 2014. Previously, Abbey was a mergers and acquisitions consultant at PwC, where he worked on more than 20 buy and sell-side deals valued at over $50 billion.

Abbey also gained valuable experience working with Accenture, European Commission, and Goldman Sachs. Abbey and his work have been recognised in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Quartz, Fortune, Teen Vogue, Vice, Black Enterprise, and Cheddar. He was inducted into The Royal Commonwealth Society in 2017 and named in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. He speaks at global conferences and has presented at the United Nations, the Vatican, the World Food Prize, and Clinton Global Initiative among others. Abbey graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management. Abbey also holds a Masters of Public Administration degree from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School School of Public Service.

Benjamin Fernandes is an award-winning Tanzanian speaker and entrepreneur. Benjamin grew up in Tanzania, then earned scholarships that took him to America for the first time at the age of 17.

At age 21, Benjamin was the youngest African in history to ever be accepted into Stanford Graduate School of Business. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an Exec Ed from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, being the first Tanzanian to attend both institutions.

Kamel is a NED for TLC Lions supporting over 300 global companies on their inclusion, wellbeing, leadership development and executive coaching. She is on the Lloyds of London ESG Committee across the Insurance market, an Ambassador to Alzheimer’s Society and a Managing Director of her family property business. Kamel is also an international motivational speaker

In the past Kamel was a banker with 40 years’ experience and an architect of numerous initiatives that have shaped the banking industry such as leading Lloyds Banking Groups 250th anniversary and developing local programmes with Business in the Community which is part of the Prince’s Charities group formed by HM The King while he was The Prince of Wales. In recognition of her commitment and purpose around inclusion, Kamel was awarded an OBE for diversity across banking in 2017.

Regarding QCT, Kamel says: ‘I feel so humbled when hearing inspiring stories of these incredible young leaders trying to do good in their local communities with so little. It is their spirit and drive that continuously pushes me forward to be a better version of myself each day’

Senda leads the ESG Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) client proposition at KPMG. She was formerly interim Head of IDE and led the Black Lives Action Plan. Senda is credited for the successful promotion of KPMG’s internal and external Allyship Programmes to foster enhanced inclusive practices in the workplace. Her impactful work has led to her recent appointment as KPMG Gatwick Office Senior Partner where she oversees People, Risk, Clients and Communities. Outside of work, she serves on the EDI Working Group at a local school in Surrey, supporting them to embed an EDI conscious culture at all levels.

In her previous roles, Senda led the East Africa desk in the UK supporting strategic investments decisions of UK outbound clients. She organised a highly successful landmark event at KPMG hosting Kenya’s foreign minister, the Kenyan Ambassador to the UK and leading UK-owned business figures. She was also responsible for project managing the successful execution of the African Philanthropy Forum’s first gathering in the UK in 2017.

Senda is lauded for running transformational change agendas. Driving social value impact with purpose is core to Senda’s passion. She has spent much of her work delivering cultural change giving back to under-served and under-represented communities. This opportunity will provide a platform to amplify her role outside of the workplace.

Naila is a philanthropist, transformational leader in social impact and human rights, global consultant and consummate networker. She builds strategic partnerships by identifying new sources of funding. Naila is a Global Advisor for Cure Violence Global and Chairperson for Womem4Empowerment. Naila’s work focuses on inspiring partners to work towards a world without violence and on engaging communities, youth, women and girls for optimum results in an inclusive world.

Her 28 years of senior management experience in 10 countries enables her to support the Annual First Ladies Luncheon in New York during the UN General Assembly. Naila sits on the Boards of international organisations. She is also a UNESCO Steering Committee Member and International Advisor for G20 C20 India.

Naila is inspired by QCT and its mission aligns with her current work – engaging youth changemakers to be catalysts for change. “Young people are the custodians of our future. My goal is to leave behind a better world for the next generation, and be the source of change.”

Shomy Hasan Chowdhury is an award-winning Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) activist from Bangladesh and a globally recognized development professional with over 15 years of experience in community development. She co-founded Awareness 360, a non-profit empowering young people in 70+ countries to advance the UN’s global goals. Shomy has been recognized as the first-ever Generation17 Young Leader from Asia Pacific by Samsung Global and UNDP and was listed as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Featured Honoree. She is also a Schwarzman Scholar, McCain Global Leader, and a Specialist of the US State Department’s CEE Program. Her work has earned her prestigious accolades, including the President’s Volunteer Service Award (Gold) from President Barack Obama and the Putra Icon Award.

A sought-after public speaker, Shomy has addressed millions across 50+ countries on six continents, including at the United Nations Headquarters, The White House, Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, COP, Misk Global Forum, and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. She was invited to Kensington Palace to meet His Royal Highness Prince William and has been featured on platforms such as BBC, MSNBC, Nasdaq, Forbes, TEDx, and Hello! Magazine. Shomy also serves in leadership and advisory roles across multiple international organizations, championing youth empowerment, global health, and sustainable development.

After a career in investment banking with JP Morgan, Morgan Grenfell and Lazard, Alex has been involved in a number of early stage businesses particularly in fund management.

He is lead trustee of a family grant giving charity which focuses on education, health and entrepreneurialism. He has a Masters in International Development from Edinburgh University.  Alex is a long standing non-executive director of Synthomer plc a FTSE 250 international chemical company.

Alex and his family have been supporters of QCT from an early stage. The family recognised QCT’s unique ambition to provide funding and crucially a global network to support young Commonwealth entrepreneurs focused on improving lives within their communities.

Millicent is a passionate social entrepreneur specialising in communications design through her business ‘Millicent Designs’ – a service tackling adult illiteracy using structures of traditional oral storytelling to effectively translate and alleviate impediments to development projects, and empowering rural communities in Solomon Islands. This service is the called “Kastom Stori Taem Tool” and has been effectively used for 2 consecutive National General Elections and 2 large infrastructural projects. Millicent’s work led to her receiving the prestigious Queens Young Leaders Award in 2018.

Millicent is also the Chairperson for the Young Entrepreneurs Council Solomon Islands and sits as a Trustee on the Solomon Islands Tourism Development Fund Board (SITDF Inc.).

Yi Jun is Co-Founder & President of Advisory Singapore, a fully youth-led non-profit established in 2016 that has supported over 96,000 young Singaporeans from all walks of life to make informed career choices. He was also Founding Project Leader of the SDG Students Program at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network – Youth Initiative, which has been endorsed by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

For his work, Yi Jun was presented a Queen’s Young Leaders Award by Queen Elizabeth II in 2018. Yi Jun is a Schwarzman Scholar, Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society, World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Climate Reality Leader, and was an Asia-Pacific Youth Representative to the Jury of UN Environment Programme’s Young Champions of the Earth.

Rohit leads Verdentum.org, a technology platform that helps governments, international organisations, and non-profits launch, coordinate, and track impact on development-sector and volunteer initiatives in 45+ nations.

Rohit has a passion for empowering grassroots organisations with the technology needed to collaborate and take an evidence-driven approach to addressing global problems.

Rohit is an Affiliate Fellow at the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession and has been a Visiting Scholar at Columbia Law School. Prior to establishing Verdentum, Rohit worked with White & Case LLP, a leading international law firm, in New York City and served as research assistant to Justice Chelameswar at the Supreme Court of India.

He was named in the Forbes 30 UNDER 30 list in 2017.

Tulsi serves in an honorary capacity, as the Director of the Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council, for Southeast Asia, covering the ASEAN region. CWEIC is a commercial, not-for-profit membership organization with an official mandate from the Commonwealth Heads of Government to facilitate trade and investment throughout the 56 Commonwealth nations. The role of CWEIC is to use the convening power and trusted network of the Commonwealth, which is led by His Majesty The King, to drive trade and investment.

Tulsi is a Founder/Managing Director of Hypower Engineering which has been delivering large infrastructure projects for the last twenty years in the Renewable Energy, Wastewater and Water sectors.  Currently, Tulsi works with Institutional Financiers and international companies worldwide in structuring infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia.

“The late Queen was an inspiration to me for her devotion to duty. She has been a reassuringly constant presence in my life, for her pivotal role in the Commonwealth in Sri Lanka & Singapore.”