Staff

Sadiya is EMpower's Director of Development in the UK. She leads the UK development team, driving income generation and fostering strategic partnerships to create opportunities for youth in emerging markets.

Sadiya is an accomplished fundraising professional with over 20 years’ experience in the international charity sector. She has driven transformational growth, raising up to £10 million for small to medium-sized organisations focused on the Sustainable Development Goals. Her expertise spans institutional and foundational fundraising, corporate partnerships, and traditional philanthropy, with a thematic emphasis on youth and female empowerment, inclusion human rights, and peacebuilding. Previously, Sadiya served as the Director of Partnerships and Philanthropy at the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, where she established a successful high-net-worth regular giving programme, enabling youth throughout the Commonwealth to design and deliver solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues.

Sadiya is passionate about leveraging impact data to challenge dominant power structures and build more equitable communities. She combines her practical experience within the sector with a Master’s degree in NGO Management from Bayes Business School (formerly Cass). She is a strong advocate for locally-led development solutions and is particularly excited about equipping and empowering young changemakers of the future to create lasting impact.

In her free time, you’ll either find Sadiya curled up with some ethnic fiction, trying to document her family’s history, or finding time to see the world.