Arfah Farooq
Founder of Muslim Tech Fest
Arfah Farooq
Founder of Muslim Tech Fest
London Area, United Kingdom
Overview
Work Experience
Founder
2022 - Current
Founder of Europe's biggest gathering of Muslim Techies.
Scout
2018
Ada Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in overlooked founders and markets. As a scout, I'm part of a community actively supporting the mission by connecting them to founders from my own community.
Angel Investor
2020 - 2022
Selected as part of the Ada Ventures Angel Programme. Over the next year I'll be investing in 5 startups! Maybe more. I've been given access to both capital (£50,000) and support to help find and invest in talent from our communities. Personally interested in minority and women founders. I'm interested in Community products, the Edtech, Healthtech, Fintech space and the Islamic economy. So please get in touch with me if you are raising! You can email your pitch deck to arfahfarooq@gmail.com
Co-Founder
2016
Co-Founded the Muslamic Makers Community. Muslamic Makers is a meetup and networking group to get muslim makers (involved in tech startups, design and development) together to discuss and share their thinking and work. We exist because there is huge (but often hidden) talent in the Muslim community, which lacks a space to network, inspire and showcase their work. Ultimately our goal is to help grow the Muslim tech startup community, nurture more confidence and impact in the startup scene. We aim to diversify the startup world and encourage more Muslims to work in diverse environments, being proud of who they are and respecting other people’s views. Muslamic Makers is not just for Muslims, anyone can come along to any of our events and we encourage it to help build more dialogue and generally develop more awesome things in tech and business.
Consultant
2020
Alongside my day job, I also do freelance work which includes speaking and workshops around community building, diversity+Inclusion, and careers and organizing events. More on my personal site: arfahfarooq.com
Community Manager
2023 - 2024
ImpactVC exists to unlock venture capital’s ability to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. This is founded in the belief that venture capital can deliver transformative positive change in outcomes for people and planet – if VCs focus effectively on intentional positive impact in their investments - and that doing so can unlock significant commercial value in parallel. ImpactVC is currently being incubated within Big Society Capital (https://bigsocietycapital.com), the UK's leading investor in impact venture funds, but over time it is designed to spin out to be led by the community in the UK, Europe, and beyond.
Community Lead - Artificial Intelligence Labs
2021 - 2021
I was bought in on a 6-month loan from the Cabinet Office for my community expertise to create and build a Community for Artificial Intelligence practitioners in healthcare. - Conducted a 6-week of discovery research to understand the needs of the community - Managed and build a community of 1000+ interested in the AI and Healthcare space - Connected different NHS trusts together to build capability in AI - Worked closely with the Skunkworks team to take proof of concepts delivered in one trust and help share GitHub code and resources to implement elsewhere in the system - Developed a 6 week AI Deep Dive Workshop educational series to help the NHS system develop a series of practical workshops designed to increase confidence, trust, and capability of implementing AI within the NHS. - Organised a Virtual Hub Community Week to connect members and organizations to share best practices. Had over 150 attendees from many different backgrounds come together to learn from other members - Organised an in-person meetup for the first time since the pandemic for 50+ community members - My work with the community then led to putting together an events strategy for 2022 for the Lab - Built out the virtual hub community strategy - Created community tools and documentation to help carry the community forward
Number.10 Innovation Fellowship Programme Lead
2020 - 2021
Leading the flagship Innovation Fellowship Programme, a newly designed prestigious and innovative programme that seeks to increase DDaT capability and knowledge across Government by attracting the top digital and tech talent from across the UK and from overseas. - Working in partnership with the Head of Resourcing, Talent and Inclusion and Number 10 to design, implement and manage the successful delivery of the programme. - Engaging confidently with key stakeholders both internally and externally to position the programme and gain interest and support. - Working with providers to use the latest thinking in talent acquisition and management to attract a diverse group of Fellows for this high profile programme. - Engaging with departments across the Civil Service to identify high quality assignments for the Fellows to complete. -Challenging the status quo and encouraging innovative ways of working across the team. - Promoting diversity and inclusion in the programmes selection, design and delivery. - Line managing and support aProgramme Coordinator and managing the budget of the programme. - Presenting the Government Digital Service and the wider Digital, Data and Technology profession in government as a destination of choice for high quality candidates. -Producing regular reports and presentations to communicate progress, impact, and success stories of the programme.
Communities Lead for Digital Data and Technology
2020 - 2020
Research: Discovery research into cross-government communities of practice Strategy: Create an overall community strategy and align CoP to GDS business Community Development: Create best practice, guidance and support for community managers in government
Community Development Manager - Product and Delivery Communities
2019 - 2020
Government Department part of the Cabinet Office, leading digital transformation in government. - Managing community of 1,500+ Product and Delivery professionals across Government with different initiatives such as events and shadowing schemes. - Developing the Product and Delivery Communities to be exemplars across Government. Fostering a network of support, culture of knowledge, sharing best practices. Creating better guidance for other communities across Government so they can thrive and attract and develop. - Designing various community initiatives, including product management shadowing scheme, community meetups and cross-government collaborations. - Organised and managed over 20+ in-person and online events so far for the PM/DM Community, including two national conferences of 150 PM/DM professionals. Facilitated many events in-person and online including community away days. This involved planning, budgeting, recruiting internal / external speakers and designing workshops. - Supporting PM/DM community members to develop their skills and careers. Launched the ‘Introduction to Product Management’ course through training 18 PMs across Government and scaled it nationally so that the course could be delivered to over 80+ people. Currently working on developing the online course. - Creating onboarding processes for new community members. - Working with various stakeholders to update content on Gov.uk and working closely with Heads of Product from various departments on initiatives. - Conducting user research for initiatives and surveys across communities to constantly improve processes and initiatives. - Co-founded ‘Muslims at GDS’ network and current chair. Arranged events and mentored Muslim school girls. Wrote several blog posts highlighting the importance of Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace.
Creative Business Strategist
2018 - 2018
A strategy consultancy to help businesses solve problems. - Worked and implemented strategies for a range of clients, from a worldwide breakfast brand, which included incubating and testing a new breakfast product, to launching a tech app for an entrepreneur and recruiting parents for the initial launch. - Built a community of parents for a tech entrepreneur and a community of young people for the (Young) Braves program. - Managed various projects including website updates, design work and getting collateral ready for an annual general meeting for a global hedge fund. - Built and maintained good client relationships with weekly updates and calls. - Generated leads, wrote proposals and pitched for work. - Re-built the business website, which led to an increase in engagement by +22.85% and a decrease in drop offs by -28.9%. Worked on B2B Marketing content to generate more leads.
Winston Churchill Fellow 2017
2017 - 2018
I am a 2017 Fellow researching Muslim Women in Technology in USA, UAE and Pakistan. The aim of the research project is to showcase diverse Muslim Women working in the technology field and empower more Muslim girls and minorities in the UK to consider a career in technology. You can view my research, vlogs and interviews on inclusivetechworld.com
Marketing Consultant
2017 - 2017
Adventure stories helping kids code. A Bright Little Labs product, a children's media company. - Created and implemented a marketing strategy including content and email. - Built and executed PPC campaigns, reducing customer acquisition cost. - Sourced and reviewed client proposals. - Hired and on boarded a new employee. - Made sure adverts represented the diversity of the stories.