We Are PoWEr Podcast
The We Are PoWEr podcast spotlights voices and perspectives that need to be heard. Our weekly podcast, with listeners in over 60 countries, delivers PoWErful conversations that inspire, challenge, and empower... from personal life stories to business insights and leadership lessons.
We share diverse experiences, bold discussions, and real solutions. Whether you're looking for career advice, topical themes, or stories of resilience and success - this is where voices spark change.
We Are PoWEr Podcast
From Bradford Roots to Global Recognition: Saeeda Ahmed’s Story
The brilliant Saeeda Ahmed joins the We Are PoWEr Podcast – bringing faith, resilience, and a bold vision for building sustainable cities that put people first. As Founder and President of Sustainable Cities Global and a trailblazer named on the global stage, Saeeda is transforming how communities are designed, governed, and grown.
From the inner cities of Bradford to international contracts across Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, Saeeda’s story is one of breaking barriers and rewriting the rules. She shares how missing parts of her early education didn’t stop her from thriving at Cambridge, why her father’s wisdom still guides her today, and how her innovative model rejects “copy-and-paste” development in favour of solutions rooted in healthcare, education, and enterprise.
With honesty and conviction, Saeeda opens up about facing condescension and ridicule in male-dominated spaces, how she reframes failure as the “nuances of life,” and why she believes every single person is a living miracle. Her work is not just about sustainability—it’s about dignity, inclusion, and creating pathways so others never have to face the same barriers she did.
In this episode:
From Bradford to Cambridge: defying expectations and embracing faith
Why no city should ever be “copy-and-paste”
Building tailored, sustainable communities across three continents
Facing ridicule and turning hardship into strength
Reframing failure as life’s nuances, not setbacks
Why “you are already a success today” is Saeeda’s message to the world
Find out more about We Are PoWEr here. 💫
Hello, hello and welcome to the we Are Power podcast. If this is your first time here, the we Are Power podcast is the podcast for you, your career and your life. We release an episode every single Monday with listeners in over 60 countries worldwide, where you'll hear personal life stories, top-notch industry advice and key leadership insight from amazing role models. As we Are Power is the umbrella brand to Northern Power Women Awards, which celebrates hundreds of female role models and advocates every year. This is where you can hear stories from all of our awards alumni and stay up to date with everything MPW Awards and we Are Power. Well, welcome again to this week's podcast, and today I'm joined by the just gorgeously wonderful Zaid Ahmed, powerless 2024. And can I say, right now, the benefactor. The benefactor is that the right word Of this beautiful scarf. Tell us theors of this beautiful scarf, tell us the origin of this.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm actually working internationally on projects which are around sustainable cities, and one of the things that's really important for me is that anything we work on must be inclusive and create opportunities for people. And it was actually one of the partner organizations I work with in Dubai called Orkan, and they work and support a lot of women-owned businesses. And they said, saeeda, we have a gift for you. I went over, I didn't realize the gift would be so amazing and they said these are scarves and arts pieces that have been prepared by women in kyrgyzstan and they get together. And they said we actually went there and we chose the silks, the felt, the wool, and each of these are handmade pieces by groups of women that get together, that socialize, and so it's a unique piece. But also it's so in line with what you're doing here, simone, that I felt like it would be the perfect gift and and well deserved, because it carries the story and the legacy of what you're about and that's why when you told me about this and I just thought, gosh, what an amazing.
Speaker 1:So this morning, when I was getting ready, I was like I need to take that. That has a story, absolutely that's a story that needs to be passed on. People need to be aware. Uh, and it is so important and and I think that whole you know you are the founder and president of sustainable cities global. How could you, how do you explain that? Explain what you do? I don't think you can in a couple of sentences, but let's give it a try yes, well, I've can in a couple of sentences, but let's give it a try.
Speaker 1:Well, I've never done a couple of sentences.
Speaker 2:So I actually created Sustainable Cities Global, primarily because I've spent the whole of my life in the UK designing projects and solutions that help not just society but the economy and climate, and over the years, I found solutions that worked, that could actually be transferred to other countries, and they were like sponges. You know, they wanted to know what we were doing in the UK. We have so much innovation and fantastic work that goes on over here. But some of the things I learned from the UK was that, first of all, no one city is the same as another. No one person is the same as another. We're all individual and our needs are unique, our challenges are unique and, as a result, if we take a copy and paste approach, it means it's like we're copying and pasting so nobody gets what they need.
Speaker 2:So I took the models from the UK of the work I'd done and we were very fortunate. We were working with some of the top social entrepreneurs in the UK. Some of them were working internationally. We looked at what was working in the UK, but also some of the things that a lot of really phenomenal social entrepreneurs were struggling with and thought, ok, how do we tackle this in a way where it works and we eliminate those issues before they even become problems. So, sustainable Cities Global, I was approached by UN-linked foundations, a number of governments internationally, and they said we've heard about your work and we'd like you to come and create solutions for us and, at that time, for the UK. I think the way one of my best friends has described me is that, saeeda, you walk into a room and you literally destroy it like a hurricane.
Speaker 2:She goes you go in and nothing feels the same. But she said there's a clarity that comes after you've been in there and I think partly it's because I don't work to hierarchies and structures, I work to getting things done. So Sustainable Cities Global internationally creates sustainable cities. We work to the model that the experts are all out there already in healthcare, in education, in micro enterprise programs. We need to get those experts together to create tailored solutions for those cities. So we're working in Latin America, in Southeast Asia, across Africa. We're signing government contracts and it's like crazy because when I look at it, I'm a woman that had a vision that nobody could see until everybody could see it and they're like wow, where where did you think of this from?
Speaker 1:so, but to your friend, you're the calm after the storm. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I mean she said that if things have been done in a certain way and they've just been kind of going along step by step, she said, when you're finished, actually you create the clarity, but it undoes the old hierarchies and in a way that reminds me of one of the first contracts I'd won. I was doing a European co-finance project with Jobcentre Plus and I designed it with some of my team members and it was called Women Winning Work and I'd sat there and I thought what is it that women face as problems accessing the labour market? And they had two particular target groups that they wanted to engage. One was single mums and the other was women that were from minority backgrounds or returning to the labour market. So there was all these women that they just didn't know how to work with. I designed a programme that looked at their first of all, their mental and emotional needs. Then I looked at their first of all their mental and emotional needs, then I looked at their personal circumstances, then I looked at their career needs, etc. And we designed a solution where we brought all these experts together and that program.
Speaker 2:I still remember Jobcentre Plus telling me at the time that, saida, you know, we do know you've taken this project on and it's really ambitious, but you know, if you don't achieve, it's OK.
Speaker 2:It's really good that you've taken this project on and it's really ambitious, but you know, if you don't achieve it's okay. It's really good that you've tried. And I remember that within two months I was going to hit my two-year targets because it was designed for women and with women's needs in mind rather than designed for hierarchies and structures. And I still remember that the job center um auditor at that time came and she said well, this model, it just doesn't fit with our in, like our national auditing standards and how I said, because it wasn't designed for that. It was designed for women and it was designed to get them into work. And we ended up with grandmothers who who were training to become joiners and in in uh, there was people that wanted to become social workers and teachers and set up their own businesses. And it was a really simple programme. There was nothing complex about it, but it was just designed for people and just eliminating barriers. And that's just one example of many.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll be a box at this podcast now, clearly, but you describe yourself as an abundant giver of ingredients to lots of pies. Yes, I love that. Tell me what your special ingredients are to bring. So you're clearly somebody who is successful and passionate about making things successful, but with purpose.
Speaker 2:Yes, and with sustainability. But what is that secret ingredient of ingredients? It primarily comes from the fact that many women and many people out there who give to organisations, they give their time on a pro bono basis or volunteer, etc. I've often heard people say, oh well, you've got your fingers in lots of pies. And I look at it and I think, well, actually I don't even claim my expenses, so I don't know where that pie is and I wouldn't mind a slice out of it. So I thought, you know, in some instances I thought, well, actually let me turn it on its head, because my ingredients are making pies happen and they're making factories happen and pie factories happen and there's many people like me who actually give so much. So I turned it on its head as a positive rather than a negative, and I actually it. It was somebody I was, I was speaking to even yesterday and they said, well, it looks like you've got a lot of um, your fingers in a lot of pies. I said, no, it's our ingredients that make the pies happen. They join it together, otherwise it's just flour, eggs and whatever else that goes into a pie. So it's the passion in you. It's the passion.
Speaker 2:The other thing is, is that it's the ability to see past the old way of doing things. Unfortunately, if you look at the education system, if you look at the labour market, if you look at industry, we've had a lot of innovation but we've also not. So if you look at the education system, you know you've got September, october starts. People miss that. They're kind of having to wait months before they can start their life again, and so forth.
Speaker 2:You look at the way businesses are set up and even just today, you know, I met some gentlemen that come over from London and he started laughing. He goes. You're so passionate and he goes. I can promise you that when I'd seen you originally he goes I didn't think that you would have so much drive and so much vision. And so I think that for me it's vision, it's the big picture and it's courage. It's vision, it's the big picture and it's courage. I'm not scared of going out there and trying to go and make a big difference, rather than what I was sort of trained through school and the early part of my career, where it was like, oh, you need to start small and prove yourself. And I'm thinking that's their comfort, that they're projecting onto me.
Speaker 1:Do you think that's the thing it's underestimating? Yes, even the guy today. When I first met you, I didn't think, yes, what would you say?
Speaker 2:Don't underestimate me. Well, the thing is that because he was so nice about it, he didn't say it in a way which was negative. But the last few years I've had everything where people's stereotypes of me have meant that they framed me in a certain way. I mean, I've had instances where I'm working on international projects, with family offices, with international banks, working on utilising carbon markets and climate finance to create solutions for countries and cities. So I've developed a model that works and I've got phenomenal people around me.
Speaker 2:It's not me on my own, it's like I represent a whole ecosystem and it's global. They've watched firsthand some of the people I'm working with. They've watched firsthand some of the people I'm working with, how I've sat in places where people may really try to condescend me, patronize me, ridicule me, even, at times, tell me to be quiet because they feel that their opinion is stronger. And I've been lucky because in those conversations, while some of them have become openly nasty, there's also been people in the room that said, well, actually that's not a respectful way to talk to somebody and we're not going to let you speak to her like that. So I think that you know for me, I'm quite used to people not knowing what I'm going to be like. It's the intent that comes behind it and generally it's nice people and they're just genuinely surprised because they've just seen a stereotype of all the countries.
Speaker 1:You've talked about the different countries that you've signed agreements with brazil, papua new guinea, saudi arabia, africa. Is there a country that has left the the biggest or deepest impression on you?
Speaker 2:All of them do in their own way and you know there's a beauty in the people of every country you go to and each of their traditions are different. And I think when I've gone there, trying with my British head on and trying to think, oh well, you know, I want my cup of tea first and I want this like I go there with this thing of expecting to, for it to be my life over here, then you're going to be disappointed. But if you go to another country and you start seeing things from their perspective and the why, it's phenomenal, like, for example, when I'd gone to Malaysia, there was a gentleness in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. When I went to Brazil, the kindness of the people.
Speaker 2:I think one of the funniest ones was when I went to Tunisia and I went there with my formal clothes because I was going to go and meet a farmer's union over there and I went with my formal clothes and the farmers turned up with their kind of farm trailer and the moment the door opened and the dust fell on me, I thought, okay, that wasn't very smart of me. But then they took me to the mountains. We were picking pomegranates and we were looking at sustainability and and regenerative farming to help these farmers and many women who are working in those fields, as a way of creating sustainable livelihoods. So so each one of them has, they leave their mark, but that's the whole point is that no two are the same right that's the whole point?
Speaker 1:we're not. You're not creating a cookie cutter model here, isn't it? But let's take it, let's put a focus on you. I know you want to go out and do and you're a forever optimist as well, but you went from missing much of your early education, didn't you? To Cambridge doctorate. What is the one thing that has kept you going, even when you think sometimes the odds are against me here?
Speaker 2:There's something that my father and may God bless his soul. He passed away just over two and a half years ago and I actually nearly didn't apply to Cambridge because I grew up in the inner city areas of Bradford and I missed a lot of my schooling and I thought that, well, at that time I thought, well, I missed so much, there's no way I can even get into university. And I did do a degree. I kind of scraped through my first degree but then, through my social enterprise work, I was getting a name for myself because I won't give up. And also there's something about if you've gone through hardship in life. So there's something about if you've gone through hardship in life, you always gain something out of it if you're willing to reflect and see what it is that you're learning. So the fact that I missed a lot of schooling meant that my education wasn't structured like in a lot of other children's ways of thinking. So I was going there and I mean the only way I describe myself is like I was a proper alien. I would go to places and think I wonder how that works, being let me try it being, you know, and in that kind of like that, that square, peg round hole scenario. It made you think the other thing was that my parents were poor. They were not. You know my. My dad was struggling. You know my mum, all of us, we. We didn't have a lot of money, so the little bit that we had, it had to go a long way and I was very, very fortunate that my parents, my parents, instilled in me, and my father particularly because I think it's really important to emphasise that my mother was the spirit, but my father was the confidence and he was the shield that said to people that my daughters will have an education and they will go out there and they will succeed.
Speaker 2:And I didn't apply to Cambridge University originally. My father said to me at that time that, saida, you're not applying. And I said, well, yes, dad, you know they're not going to accept someone from the heart of Bradford who's hardly even got good GCSE grades. And he said to me he said, saeeda, you're a believer in God. I said yes, and he goes. You know, our faith teaches you that you try your best and you wait for the decree of the Almighty and whatever it is. Be grateful with that, but also know that you have a piece, that you tried your best and I applied.
Speaker 2:And then I got the interview and I thought, okay, I can't leave anything to chance here. So I actually Googled or checked on the internet at the time Every single person that was on the course. I rang them and I said what's this course like? Person that was on the course, I rang them and I said what's this course like? And also, what about my, um, what about my experience? Do you think I'd meet the mark? Well, I. They were having this executive master's program at Cambridge. So they said, oh, one woman rang us from the north and they said what she rang me.
Speaker 2:I got in and I succeeded through my master's, but it was hard because it was a total. It was like a fairy tale from someone who'd had barely the basics of an education to having to go to an institute like that and then to join the pieces together.
Speaker 1:You've been named on the independence happy list and you say you laugh at most things, but what was the last thing that really made you chuckle?
Speaker 2:Well, I think I laugh every single day at something stupid or other. Sometimes well, a lot of times, I laugh at myself because I think if you take yourself too seriously, you end up feeling like you're a failure. So I laugh. I look at certain things and think, oh, that didn't go that well, did it Like? I mean, just today, you know, as I was putting perfume on and I left the house, I thought, ok, that stained my scarf. That looks really good, doesn't it? I had like laughing about it. I was like it is what it is. But I think that's the thing, because if we start taking ourselves too seriously and if we start seeing that we're these fixed structures that can't make mistakes or we can't get it wrong, we close the learning off.
Speaker 1:That's one of the beauties of life. Looking ahead, there's a headline about you. What would it say? What would you want that headline about your legacy, my legacy? It can only be a short headline, because it's not a big paper, right?
Speaker 2:It's not an essay exactly.
Speaker 1:She dared to dream and she worked her dream, and it's happened when you've had those moments where things have possibly been in the way or been against you. What is it? Faith is it?
Speaker 2:I think about what you talked about your parents, the shield and the spirit yeah, is that what carries you through that, but also I mean this you know the projects I'm doing are immensely hard.
Speaker 2:You're working with financial institutions that have got hundreds of years of systems and those systems haven't been designed, often, for people who are suffering in society, whether that's in the UK or internationally. They're designed to safeguard money and profits and institutional accountability. So the thing that keeps me going is that my hardship can save a lot of other people from hardship. And if I was fortunate enough to have an education, to have supportive parents, etc. Then there's so many other people that deserve that right too. And the thing about rising up to become leaders and to stand in the firing line is being able to say that we have to take some hits for others so that they don't have to take them Because maybe they haven't got the courage, maybe they haven't got parents that support them. So if we do it and create a path that others can walk on, then one day, you know, the world lifts by us collectively rising.
Speaker 1:Now this week, it's the first time on our we are power podcast that we're using our power jar. Now, for those of you who are listening and not watching on youtube um, you will also have missed on the beautiful scarf, but please catch up on youtube or youtube shorts. But we are every week going to ask our guest to pick out a question from a previous guest. So picking it out, not knowing what's coming, and answering it, are you up for it? Of course you are Right. Let's go into the, as the team call it. Thank you, anna and Jasmine. The power jar. Okay, right, let's see what we find while you're dipping in there. It's the first time there we go. What have you got in there? Well, I've got two, so I'm going to take. Of course, you've got two haven't you.
Speaker 2:Why would you not just take one? Well, I'm taking one.
Speaker 1:Why don't you read them out for us? What have you got there?
Speaker 2:So the first one which one failure you're actually grateful for today? Actually, I'm going to avoid the really controversial one, because I think that's going to scare the life out of people. Um, I think many, actually. Every single failure I have taken not as a failure, as the nuances of life, and I reflect upon them and I say, okay, was there something I could have done differently there, or is it what it is?
Speaker 2:And if it is what it is, I just learn from it, draw a line over it and go on and I actually learn, not just from my own mistakes, but actually learn from how things haven't worked. You know, if you think about most of the innovation we see today, the technologies we see today, they are based on hundreds of thousands of hours of multiple people trying to make things work and improve it. If they were going to be so closed and think, oh well, we can't try to make this aeroplane, we can't try and fly, we wouldn't have half or most of the industries that we celebrate today as part of our life. So every failure, I think, is primarily something I welcome and I learn from and I don't see it as a negative. So that's one.
Speaker 1:Okay, and you've got two for one. Of course, of course, but it's the first week you're allowed.
Speaker 2:Well, do you know, because I'm a Northerner and my family always say that I love getting. Buy one, get second free offer 100%.
Speaker 1:I'm with you. I'm with you.
Speaker 2:Okay, so, oh, this is even better. It's a free billboard. So you get a free billboard. There you go Look even better In the busiest spot in your city. What do you put on it? What I'd put on it is it does not matter. Actually, I'd rephrase that you are a success today, and your previous hardships, your challenges, the things you think haven't worked for you, do not reflect on who you are today. The fact that you're standing reading that billboard is your success, and you just remember that you are a living miracle and everything you want. You just have to keep going for it, because, apart from you, nobody else can make it happen and you're going to be nobody else's priority. You have to be your priority, wow.
Speaker 1:That's going to be a big billboard, can I?
Speaker 2:just put that out there yeah, can we have an extension?
Speaker 1:well, of course you can, because it'll be like buy one billboard now and we're going to ask you as well to write a question that we will go into the power jar. So for our next guest, they may read your question. So we will take that the power jar. So for our next guest, they may read your questions. So we will take that from you.
Speaker 2:Well, I know you'll make it.
Speaker 1:We better get like an A3 piece of paper. We'll put that on. Thank you for taking part in our power jar. Thank you for joining me on the sofa today. I have to say, the last few months of hanging out, having such an amazing conversation when we were over at the celebration event in Leeds, feeling your support for me personally, for we Are Power for Northern Power Women Awards you are a generous of spirit human and I am so grateful you're part of this community and thank you so much for joining me today on the couch.
Speaker 2:Well, you're most welcome, simone, and I think I'm only reflecting what you're giving. What you have created here and your wonderful team have created is a phenomenal community of recognising people out there, whether they're entrepreneurs, whether they're working in corporate careers or wonderful people that just want to be uplifted by other wonderful people. So so I'm only giving to what you're you've already created and you're working on daily, so it's my total pleasure, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. I knew you'd have the last word. It's inevitable. Thank you so much for joining me today. I look forward to our ongoing conversations thank you subscribe on YouTube, amazon music, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a review or follow us on socials. We are power underscore net on insta, tiktok and twitter, or we are power on linkedin, facebook and we are underscore power on youtube.
