Who We Are

We are currently engaging multiple stakeholders to help realise our vision with a sustainable strategy. Groundswell is a long play not a flash in the pan, therefore we are engaging with the best across the board from experts in Tech, Media, Academia and Activism to make our vision a reality.

Hadiya Masieh

Founder and Executive Director

Hadiya Masieh has a wealth of experience and expertise in the area of community cohesion, interfaith relations, counter extremism, and women’s involvement in radicalisation. She has been a counter extremism consultant for various governments and NGOs around the world for the past 22 years. She has also worked closely with big tech players such as Google and Facebook in order to develop innovative counter-extremism approaches.

Hadiya is:

Part of the UK Government’s “National Muslim Women’s Advisory Group” advising UK Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers.

Her work has featured in the Guardian, New Statesman, BBC News, ITV, Radio 4, CNN, BBC World, BBC Asian Radio, Times of India, Times of Israel and others.

She is the co-author of the report “Radcalisation and violent extremism-focus on women” and UN women report Gendered Pathways to Radicalization and Desistance from Violent Extremism.

Hadiya was UK Ambassador for Women Without Borders promoting counter extremism narratives and a board member of the internationally renowned and award winning peacekeeping organisation The Bereaved Families Forum based in Palestine and Israel

Board of Trustees

Erik Hersman

Erik was raised in Africa - specifically Sudan and Kenya - and is now a celebrated technologist, blogger and commentator. He co-founded Ushahidi, a mapping technology that helped to map incidents of violence during the 2007-8 Kenyan Crisis, and this technology has since been used to report violent incidents in Madagascar and monitor elections in Afghanistan. He has been a PopTech social innovation fellow since 2008 and was named a Senior TED Fellow in 2010. He has run and co-founded a number of technological start-ups and is now the CEO of Gridless, which deploys modular Bitcoin mining into stranded renewable energy minigrids across rural Africa.

Hanan Ibrahim

Hanan moved to the UK from Somalia in 1998 following the outbreak of civil war and has been involved in wide-ranging work for social good in the past 27 years. She has worked for the Women Interfaith Network, Sisters Against Violent Extremism and the Women's Federation for World Peace. She founded the Somali Family Support Group in London, which advocates for greater female participation as well as offering important services for people of Somali origin in the capital. She serves as chairperson of the Barnet Muslim Women's Network, and in 2011 was also appointed as one of the Committee of Experts tasked with preparing Somalia's new constitution as part of the Transitional Federal Government. She has been awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2004 and has also been made an MBE for her efforts in 2010.

Freddie New

Chief Policy Officer and Co-Founder of Bitcoin Policy UK, Freddie began his career as a lobbyist before moving into law two years later. He is a valued advisor to the Government on pay technologies and Bitcoin and has worked with HM Treasury, the FCA and HMRC, as well as providing submissions to Parliamentary committees. He also co-founded ICDEF, a cryptocurrency research platform. He attended law school at BPP in London and also has an undergraduate degree from Cambridge.

Iqbal Wahhab

Iqbal founded the popular restaurants Roast and The Cinnamon Club in London and is also the founder of Tandoori Magazine. Having started his working life as a journalist working on several national titles, he set up his own PR firm in the 1990s before selling it and opening a restaurant in the early 2000s. The Cinnamon Club quickly attracted a reputation for great authentic Indian food in London and within two years it was the world's most successful Indian restaurant in terms of revenue. By 2005, he opened Roast - a restaurant based in Borough Market which focuses on using the best British seasonal produce. For the past 13 years, he has been an advisor to the Government on how to reduce unemployment in minority ethnic communities, and has also served on an advisory group aimed at addressing race inequality in the criminal justice system. He received an OBE in 2009 and has also been recognised with several other ceremonial titles.

Sarah Nelson

Sarah works as Group Financial Controller at Sainsbury's and is also the chair of the BAME Network at the supermarket giant. She has actively input to Sainsbury's diversity and inclusion agenda and wants to help them become the most inclusive retailer in the UK. She mentors and coaches a number of Sainsbury's staff from minority ethnic backgrounds and also regularly speaks at external events to share her experiences, views and insights.

Meet the Connectors

Angela Ankeli

I'm here to bring communities together! I work with community leaders, support grassroots organisations, connect and amplify the amazing work they do in all our communities.

Sokhara Goodall

Working to connect and amplify local organisations working that are improving the lives of everyone in Lewisham.

Adeel Ibrahim

Connecting and promoting the unsung community champions within Glasgow and supporting the great work and significant difference they are making for the community and its people.

Leela Sule

I’m excited to focus my efforts back onto my home town and have an even wider impact by working with Groundswell Project! I hope to amplify the work of the many amazing organisations in Luton doing good work; especially those focused on mental health and wellness, employability, fighting crime against women and creating brighter futures for our young people.