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Our Team
Jasvir Singh – Co-Founder
Jasvir Singh CBE is a prolific activist within the British South Asian community. He is an established family law barrister who has been in practice for over 17 years and is based in London. He is a trustee and patron of several regional and national charities within the faith and minorities sector, including City Sikhs, the Kaleidoscope Trust, and the Faiths Forum for London. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day, listened to by over 7 million people. In 2017, he organised grassroots events across England to mark the 70th anniversary of the events of 1947 in the Subcontinent. He was awarded an OBE in 2017 and a CBE in 2023 for his extensive community work, and he was given the prestigious Alumnus of the Year award by King's College London in 2023. He is a co-founder of South Asian Heritage Month.
Binita Kane – Co-Founder
Dr Binita Kane is a Consultant Respiratory Physician in Manchester. She was a contributor to the BBC1 Documentary ‘My Family Partition and Me’ which aired in 2017 for the 70th Anniversary of the Partition of India. Her personal journey led her to Parliament in 2018 to campaign for a formal ‘Partition Commemoration Day’, which has since been declared 17th August (the day the Radcliffe line was published). She has gone on to create ‘The Partition Education Group’, bringing together multiple stakeholders from across the UK to campaign and create material for the inclusion of British-South Asian and Colonial history on school curricula. She went on to co-found South Asian Heritage Month.
Natasha Junejo – Literary Lead/ Trustee
Natasha Junejo has written under a pseudonym for ten years. Through her writing she has spoken on BBC Woman’s Hour, Lena Dunham’s Women of The Hour, BBC Asian Network, City Radio, and Europe & Me. She is a freelance Communications and D&I consultant committed to creating access and opportunity for the marginalised. In 2016, she co-founded two social justice movements focused on exposing and fighting racism and xenophobia that gained worldwide press attention and influenced government policy. She is the founder of South Asian Writers, a hashtag that went viral in 2017, inviting writers of South Asian descent to introduce themselves and their work. She leads the Literary arm of South Asian Heritage Month
Laks Mann – LGBTQ+ Lead/ Trustee
Laks is a Metropolitan Police Officer, a Met LGBT+ Network Member specialising in Intersectionality and Community Engagement, and the National LGBT+ Police Intersectionality Working Group Secretary. He is a Mayor of London appointed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor to City Hall, advocating through an intersectional lens of race, ethnicity, faith, LGBTQ+, and working class lived experiences. He is Founder of Gaysians UK, a community-based organisation he built to celebrate the UK’s South Asian queer diaspora. He is listed in the UK’s Top 30 BAME Leaders of 2020 by University of Oxford, House of Commons, and OBV. He is a PrideLife Global Inclusion Advocate.
Umran Ajaib – Operations Lead
Umran Ajaib joined the South Asian Heritage Trust in June 2022, leading events delivery. He combines his professional skills with a passion for promoting South Asian heritage. Umran is an accomplished professional with a strong technical background and a commitment to community engagement. He has qualifications as a Software Engineer and is an Informatics graduate. Post graduation, Umran was recruited as a Senior Analytics Lead by a Fortune 500 company, becoming the youngest and only South Asian person at the board level. Throughout his career, he has worked closely with major global brands and made significant contributions. Umran also devotes time to volunteer work, engaging with schools, prisons, charities, communities, immigrants, refugees, and the homeless. He has organised a delivery soup kitchen and participated in aid distribution efforts abroad. As of 2023, Umran became our Operations Lead.
Harvinder Poonian – Events Lead
Harvinder champions the celebration and preservation of cultural diversity. She is hands on involved in supporting charitable organisations with her expertise in marketing and fundraising. As a connector, she passionately brings people and organisations together through collaborations and partnerships that drive impactful change. Harvinder joined the South Asian Heritage Trust in 2022, starting a personal journey of self-discovery and cultural exploration. This experience deepened her understanding of her own heritage and also instilled in her a profound appreciation for the vibrant and diverse array of South Asian culture. "By embracing and understanding our differences, we can create a more inclusive society that thrives on the strength of its unique traditions and stories."
Numan Azmi – Manchester Coordinator
Numan Azmi is a social entrepreneur. He is the Managing Director of a multi award winning social enterprise and Founder, Non-Exec Director and Chair of other social enterprises, supporting the minority communities in a range of different areas. He has served as a Board Member of several local, regional and national organisations and Govt Advisory Board. He is a Member of Manchester Museum’s South Asia Gallery Community Curators and GM BME Network Leadership Forum. He founded Manchester South Asia Centre to promote South Asian history, heritage and culture and has helped to set up South Asian Language Centre UK to focus on the diverse languages spoken within the diaspora.
Premal Bhatt – South West Region Coord
Premal Bhatt has worked in senior management roles in the charity sector for over 20years, including with Thames Reach and Diabetes UK. He has managed complex volunteering projects in London and across the South West. He is currently working for Marie Curie, leading a national project to improve engagement amongst ethnically diverse communities within fundraising and is also the co-chair of the Ethnic diversity Network at Marie Curie. He also produces and presents a radio show called the Phonic Mango show on Phonic FM and Soundart Radio, both based in Devon. The radio show recognises and celebrates music from artists of South Asian Heritage.
Sujata Thaladi – Wales Region Coordinator
Sujatha Thaladi is an experienced operational director and a yoga tutor. She has a demonstrated history working in the non-profit sector and is founder of Telugu Association Wales, executive member of Aurav Disha , a multicultural group in Wales, and a life member of the UK Telugu Association and on the board of the Hindu Cultural Association Wales. She is passionate about South Asian cultures and tradition. With a passion for improving social cohesion and supporting vulnerable individuals, she is the founder and operational director of The Mentor Ring, a mentoring charity in Cardiff, Wales. Her vision has always been to support the vulnerable individuals with her mentoring, training and teaching expertise in Organic Chemistry.
Mara Hafezi – Sports Co-Lead
Mara Hafezi is a PR professional in the finance industry and sits on her workplace ethnic minority network steering committee, which aims to help create a more diverse talent pipeline at the company. She is also a women’s health coach and personal trainer, working predominantly with South Asian women, using her experience in the corporate world to help them become active and step outside their comfort zones both in their fitness goals and careers. She also works with sports brands and organisations to increase diversity and has appeared on various media, including BBC. She uses her social media platforms to promote diversity in sports, raise awareness of obstacles women face and encourage women of colour to try new challenges. Mara is Sports Co-Lead for South Asian Heritage Month.
Apu Vyas – Sports Co-Lead
Apu Vyas is a podcaster and Chair of BAME Hammers. Two years ago when he mentioned to the Head Scout of a professional football club that his son had a desire to become a professional, he was shocked to hear the response ‘Asians aren’t big enough or strong enough.’ He has always had a deep interest in equality and justice as well as a passion for sport which he has combined since then to produce the Our Game Too podcast focusing on Asians in football and is chair of The BAME Hammers, an officially recognised fan group of his beloved West Ham United. Whether its participation or spectating, sport is for all, and he is doing everything that he can to get that message out there. Apu is the Sports Co-Lead for South Asian Heritage Month
Prashant Kunwar – Nepalese Lead
Prashant Kunwar is an active British Nepalese working to promote UK-Nepal relationship. He is well known personality within South Asian diaspora. He has worked on numerous project including celebration of 200 years of friendship between the UK and Nepal in 2016. He has also championed to raise community issues and supported many charities. Born in Nepal, brought up in India, studied and currently living in the UK, Prashant is a business consultant and advisor with great fortitude, capable of solving complex problems, forming strategic alliances, skilled in providing team leadership and overseeing major initiatives to enhance business opportunities. Prashant is a big fan of cricket and firmly believes that sports bring us together. Sports are an ideal way to build and strengthen relationships among businesses, communities and countries.
Manpreet Dhesi -Advisory Group member
Manpreet is a communications specialist. She has worked as Head of International Communications at Department of Health and Social Care, Director of Communications at The Bartlett, University College London, and runs her own consultancy working with art and design, built environment, charity and government clients. As part of her roles she has always overseen strategy development and delivery of operational projects such as institute and scholarship launches and brings a unique communications viewpoint to these projects. She was the Operational Lead of South Asian Heritage Month 2021, and brought a wealth of experience with her to that role. She continues to provide strategic advice to South Asian Heritage Month.
Tiya Dahyabhai – Advisory Group Member
Tiya Dahyabhai is a curator, material researcher and community workshop facilitator within the museum’s sector. With a drive to connect with multigenerational audiences through storied collections, her research is concerned with the role of material and visual cultures of the British South Asian home, from British Asian youth movements to the diaspora’s wider representation in popular culture. Running alongside her curatorial design practice, she leads interdisciplinary textile workshops in galleries, community centres and studios across London, demonstrating the accessibility of traditional and contemporary textile processes. She was the Museum Lead for South Asian Heritage Month 2021.
Dee Ishani – Advisory Group Member
Dee’s career is currently in a transition phase. Twenty years ago, Dee took her first show to the Edinburgh Fringe and began a career in the arts, culture and charities. She has worked in various capacities, and specialised in digital projects and marketing for the last decade or so, working with clients including the National Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company, Alzheimer’s Society and Royal Albert Hall. In 2019, Dee trained as a yoga teacher and this inspired her to change track. In Sept 2020, Dee returned to university and she is currently training as a physiotherapist. Alongside her work for SAHM, she is working on a project seeking to understand the experiences of BAME physiotherapy students on placement in England.
