Business News


of Greater Birmingham at the sixth Future Faces Awards, run by Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, for her work as a social entrepreneur and campaigner. She has also become vice-


president of the Asian Business Chamber of Commerce. She has fought against the odds


– and difficult physical constraints – to establish herself as an articulate advocate for the rights of the disabled, founding and leading three organisations, Diversability, the Asian Disability Network and Asian Woman Festival. She has also worked with the likes


of Google, Virgin Media and Viacom while starring in a national TV advertisement for LinkedIn's “In It Together” campaign. Shani may be small in stature, but she’s a rising star in the world of disability activism, fighting for recognition and equality on behalf of the 14 million-plus disabled people in the UK.


S


hani’s growing national profile is a far cry from her school- days when the words of a


career adviser brought home to her a harsh reality. “When I was given careers advice, I was told to get a job at the local council – all I could see was a box-ticking exercise. “That brought home to me that


life was going to be really difficult. I thought “Will I ever leave home?


Will I ever have my own money? Before that at school, you were protected. That was my first experience of the big wide world.” Shani, who was born in West


Bromwich and grew up in Walsall, had ambitions beyond pen-pushing at her local Town Hall. After her GCSEs, she worked as a nursery nurse before going to Wolverhampton University to study Event Management, graduating in 2011 with a BA (Honours). She eventually landed a job with the Royal Institute of British Architects, working for six years as a project manager. “I had already set up my own


freelance events company, organising gala dinners and other fund-raising events. My profile was growing as a disability activist.” But Shani, raised by her Sikh


parents in a close-knit family along with a sister and brother, was also increasingly aware of the difficulties facing disabled members of the Asian community. “You faced even more cultural barriers. Disability is viewed as a negative thing. “The South Asian community do


not know what disability discrimination is, they deal with it themselves at home. When I was growing up, I never saw a disabled person of colour in a book or on a screen.”


And her work, particularly with


the Asian Woman Festival, is also helping close a cultural generation gap which had previously been overlooked and has affected the lives of tens of thousands of Asian women.


‘We encourage and empower women to be activists of their own futures to live an authentic life’


She said that the Festival had


explored perceptions that could be outdated among Asian communities in modern Britain. South Asians are the largest ethnic group in the UK, at almost five per cent of the total UK population with an annual spending power of over £150bn, but the community often feels underrepresented, according to Shani. “Being of South Asian origin and


living in the UK means not only are we a more socially conservative community due to our traditional and cultural beliefs but we are constantly bridging two cultures. This can mean that there are often times in our lives when we feel conflicted and even guilty in our efforts to juggle our dual identities. “Until now, there hasn’t been an opportunity to talk about how


living in contradiction becomes second nature. But we live in different times, we have social media, we have opportunities that our parents didn’t, they were just in survival mode. We encourage and empower women to be activists of their own futures to live an authentic life.” Shani, at 33, is nothing if not


authentic, describing herself as a “change-maker” with a mission to improve the lives of the disabled – and she has the business world firmly in her sights. “I want to use business to be a


catalyst for change, charities and Government can't do it alone. If you had told me as a kid that one day, I would be advising the Government on their disability policies, I would never have believed it.” Meanwhile, Shani is justly proud


of her new role as Future Face of Greater Birmingham. “I was in shock for a good week when I won....it means the world to me.” But she is not one to rest on her


laurels, and is determined to improve the lot of disabled people nationwide and get many more into the workplace. “I believe in this country the


perception of disabled people is either they are benefit scroungers or paralympians - those are the two extremes. Employers are overlooking a huge pool of talent.”


November 2020 CHAMBERLINK 21


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72