On International Women’s Day, we’d like to say how proud we are of our female CEO, Ghazala Baig, and to tell you a little more about her.
As well as being a proud Mancunian, Ghazala is of Pakistani heritage. Her father was one of the first Asian entrepreneurs in Manchester, arriving in 1923 aged just 17. Eventually his achievements in community integration earned him tea with the Queen!
Born at Withington Hospital, Ghazala attended schools in Burnage and Whalley Range. Her first job was in the buying office at Kendal’s, followed by a 20-year career in the public and charity sectors. For the last six years she has been Chief Executive of MedEquip4Kids, and since our offices are now next to Kendal’s on Deansgate, she has returned to the heart of the city where she started out.
Ghazala is passionate about children’s healthcare and is committed to supporting it in all its aspects. For nearly 35 years MedEquip4Kids has provided medical equipment, sensory equipment and play facilities not available from limited NHS resources. Under Ghazala’s leadership our work now has a positive impact on over 117,500 children a year in hospitals across the North West and throughout the UK.
In the past year we have branched out into delivering mental health education for schools with our Hummingbird Project. Ghazala was instrumental in taking this new initiative forward, working in partnership with expert psychologists at the University of Bolton.
About the Hummingbird Project, Ghazala says: “We firmly believe it will help equip children with the resilience they need to prevent them developing mental health issues. I am sure it will make a tremendous, positive difference to many youngsters’ lives.”
