Aftab was born on the riverbanks of Bangladesh and forged in the north west of Birmingham. He set his life goal at the age of 19, and it was simply ‘to help’ – and for the last 35 years, he has remained true to his goal. Aftab started volunteering at his local youth club in Lozells and also started managing the Lozells Strikers football team, which he continued until the age of 36.
Throughout his life, Aftab has stood up against injustice and developed youth empowerment movements. Presently, he is the founder and CEO of Legacy WM, a charity that focuses on heritage, well-being, arts, young people and community cohesion.
Aftab has witnessed the injustice of funding being swept up by large White institutions and has therefore focused his attention on building power and partnerships, and as a result, Legacy WM have become an anchor organisation.
“An anti-racist city is where equality is in place. Right now, it doesn’t look that way. The largest ethnic minority group, other than White, is the Pakistani community. Then there are Indians, African Caribbeans, Bangladeshis, and newer communities like Somalians, Eritreans, and Eastern Europeans. But they’re not reflected in positions of power.”
