Amir Bhatia, Baron Bhatia

Who is Amir Bhatia, Baron Bhatia?

Amirali Alibhai "Amir" Bhatia, Baron Bhatia, OBE is a British businessman and politician.

An Ismaili Muslim born in East Africa, Bhatia was educated in schools in Tanzania and India. He is married to Nurnamu Amersi and has three daughters. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1972.

Bhatia was Chairman and managing director of Forbes Campbell International Ltd. 1980-2001. He is the chair and co-founder of the Ethnic Minority Foundation and the Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations, and a former trustee of various charitable organisations, including the National Lottery Charities Board and Oxfam, serving as Chairman of Oxfam Trading.

Bhatia received the OBE in 1997. In 2001, he was made a life peer as Baron Bhatia, of Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, one of the first 'people's peers'. He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.

In 2003 Lord Bhatia received the Beacon Fellowship Prize for his leadership role in countering social deprivation and exclusion in the UK and internationally.

In 2006 he was the chair of the British Edutrust foundation, the organisation planning to sponsor Rhodesway School. He stepped down from the post in March 2009.