Olympic great Mo Farah won praise from across Britain's political spectrum Tuesday after the shock revelation that he was illegally trafficked as a child to the country and forced to work in domestic servitude.
The 39-year-old distance runner, one of Britain's best-loved and most successful athletes, told a BBC documentary that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin.
Rather than moving to the UK as a refugee from Somalia with his parents as previously claimed, Farah said he came from Djibouti aged eight or nine with a woman he had never met, was given a false identity, and then made to look after another family's children.
In fact, he said, his father was killed in civil unrest in Somalia when Farah was aged four and his mother, Aisha, and two brothers live in the breakaway state of Somaliland.
"The truth is I'm not who you think I am," Farah said in the documentary, explaining that his mother wanted him far removed from Somalia's civil wars.
He said his children had encouraged him to tell the truth about his past.
"That's the main reason in telling my story because I want to feel normal, and don't feel like you're holding on to something."
The admission could have raised questions about Farah's UK citizenship, but the interior ministry said he was in the clear.
"No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong," a Home Office spokesperson told AFP.
The ministry's guidance absolves children of blame if parents or guardians are later found to have obtained their immigration status under false pretences.
'Heartbreaking'
Popularly known as "Sir Mo" after he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2017, Farah completed the 5,000m and 10,000m double at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics.
The London Games in particular catapulted him to stardom in Britain. Finance minister and Conservative leadership candidate Nadhim Zahawi said Farah remained "truly inspirational".
Zahawi, whose Kurdish family fled Iraq for Britain when he was 11, told BBC TV that hearing Farah reveal his life story made him feel "heartbroken, painful".
"All I can say is I salute Mo Farah," he said.
Lisa Nandy, a senior member of the opposition Labour party, said Farah's decision to speak out could be a "gamechanger" for other victims of trafficking.
"I spent a decade working with children who were trafficked to the UK and everything about this is heartbreaking," Nandy tweeted.
London's Labour mayor Sadiq Khan said: "Everything Sir Mo has survived proves he's not only one of our greatest Olympians but a truly great Briton."
"We must build a future where these tragic events are never repeated," he added, at a time when the UK government is trying to send asylum claimants to Rwanda under a scheme to deter cross-Channel migrants.
'Get out and run'
Farah's wife Tania said in the year leading up to their 2010 wedding she realised "there were lots of missing pieces to his story" but she eventually "wore him down with the questioning".
When he arrived in the UK, Farah said the woman who accompanied him took a piece of paper from him that had his relatives' contact details and "ripped it up and put it in the bin".
"At that moment, I knew I was in trouble," he recalled.
Farah said he was forced to do housework and childcare "if I wanted food in my mouth", and was told: "If you ever want to see your family again, don't say anything."
"Often, I would just lock myself in the bathroom and cry," he says in the documentary.
His life was transformed for the better when he went to live with Kinsi Farah, the sister-in-law of the woman who is alleged to have brought him to England.
He started regular schooling and Farah's physical education teacher, Alan Watkinson, noticed how the troubled youngster's mood changed when he was on the running track.
"The only language he seemed to understand was the language of PE and sport," says Watkinson.
Farah eventually told Watkinson the truth about his status, and the teacher informed social services.
It was Watkinson who applied for Farah's British citizenship, which he described as a "long process" that finally reached fruition in July 2000.
Farah revealed in the programme that he had since spoken to his now namesake and said he was "proud" he knows what he has achieved.
(AFP)
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Anurag Bajpayee's Gradiant: The water company tackling a global crisis
In a world increasingly defined by scarcity, one resource is emerging as the most quietly decisive factor in the future of industry, sustainability, and even geopolitics: water. Yet, while the headlines are dominated by energy transition and climate pledges, few companies working behind the scenes on water issues have attracted much public attention. One of them is Gradiant, a Boston-based firm that has, over the past decade, grown into a key player in the underappreciated but critical sector of industrial water treatment.
A Company Born from MIT, and from Urgency
Founded in 2013 by Anurag Bajpayee and Prakash Govindan, two researchers with strong ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Gradiant began as a scrappy start-up with a deceptively simple premise: make water work harder. At a time when discussions about climate change were centred almost exclusively on carbon emissions and renewable energy, the trio saw water scarcity looming in the background.
Their insight was that some of the world’s largest industries—semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food and beverage—were facing acute water-related challenges long before the general public grasped the issue. “Without water, these industries don’t just slow down; they stop,” Bajpayee has often remarked. What Gradiant offered was not just a way to save water, but a way to rethink how it is used, recycled, and valued.
The Engineers Behind the Mission
Anurag Bajpayee, the company’s CEO, whose academic path took him to MIT, where he completed a PhD in Mechanical Engineering focused on water treatment technologies. It was there that he met Govindan, a fellow engineer and now Gradiant's co-founder and COO, whose expertise complemented his in fluid mechanics and process engineering.
Unlike many founders who drift towards the language of venture capital and corporate strategy, Anurag Bajpayee and his team remained grounded in the technical problem: how to make industrial water treatment more efficient, more affordable, and more sustainable. The company still bears the imprint of its founders’ engineering roots. Gradiant is less Silicon Valley startup and more MIT lab, albeit one that has quietly expanded across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America.
What Gradiant Actually Does
The company specializes in designing and building bespoke water treatment and reuse systems for industrial clients. Its technologies are aimed at enabling factories and plants to reclaim water that would otherwise be discarded as waste, reducing both the amount of water withdrawn from natural sources and the volume of contaminated water discharged.
At the heart of Gradiant’s portfolio are proprietary technologies such as Counter Flow Reverse Osmosis (CFRO), Carrier Gas Extraction (CGE) and Selective Ion Recovery (SIR), developed from the Gradiant founders’ early research at MIT. Unlike traditional methods like reverse osmosis, these systems are designed to handle highly contaminated or complex wastewater streams, enabling clients to extract clean water even from previously unusable sources.
But Gradiant does not sell “one-size-fits-all” machines. Each project is tailored to the customer’s unique needs. For a semiconductor plant in Singapore, this might mean achieving ultrapure water reuse levels of 98%; for a food and beverage factory in Texas, it might be about safely treating wastewater for discharge while minimising energy consumption. The company's approach—sometimes called "solutioneering" internally—is both its competitive advantage and its raison d'être.
Expansion Without the Usual Hype
Gradiant’s growth has been quietly impressive. From its first commercial project in the oil and gas sector, it has gone on to complete over 500 installations worldwide. The company has raised more than $400 million in funding from a mix of institutional investors and private equity firms, achieving so-called “unicorn” status, with a valuation reportedly over $1 billion.
Unlike many green tech firms, Gradiant’s expansion has not been accompanied by flashy marketing campaigns or grandiose statements. Instead, the company has preferred to build credibility client by client, particularly in Asia, where water-intensive industries and growing environmental pressures make its services indispensable. Anurag Bajpayee, never one to speak in superlatives, frames the company’s expansion as a “response to urgent need” rather than a triumph of business.
Inside Gradiant’s Operations
At its core, Gradiant is still an engineering-first company. Anurag Bajpayee and Govindan, both technically trained and heavily involved in the company’s operations, have instilled a culture where R&D is not just a department but the lifeblood of the business. The firm currently holds more than 250 patents globally, a testament to its ongoing commitment to innovation.
But Gradiant’s success is not just about technology. The company has differentiated itself by offering not just equipment but full-service solutions, including project design, construction, operations, and maintenance. This full-stack approach has been particularly attractive to clients in highly regulated industries, who need water management solutions that work seamlessly and reliably without requiring deep in-house expertise.
Gradiant’s clients include some of the world’s largest manufacturers, including Fortune 500 companies in sectors like microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, and energy. Some, like semiconductor producers, rely on Gradiant to help them meet stringent water reuse targets while maintaining ultra-clean production environments.
Navigating a Changing World
Gradiant operates at the intersection of several converging trends: climate change, regulatory pressure, and industrial decarbonisation. In many regions, water scarcity has become the limiting factor for industrial growth, sometimes more than energy availability or supply chain constraints.
While public attention often focuses on domestic water use, it is industries that consume the lion’s share of freshwater. Gradiant's pitch is straightforward: industries will have to do more with less, and Gradiant offers the tools to make that possible.
Anurag Bajpayee is keenly aware of the paradox that water, despite being vital, is often underpriced and undervalued, especially when compared to energy. “We don’t pay what it’s worth, only what it costs,” he told an audience at a recent conference. Yet, the landscape is shifting. Regulators, investors, and companies themselves are increasingly acknowledging water as both a business risk and a social responsibility.
What's Next for Gradiant?
Looking ahead, Gradiant appears poised to play a central role as industries adapt to water scarcity. Yet, Anurag Bajpayee remains cautious about the hype cycle. "The problem we’re working on isn’t going anywhere," he says. "It’s not a question of innovation alone, but of execution—of making sure these solutions actually reach the places that need them most."
In an era where water risk is increasingly material to business, Gradiant’s quiet, technically grounded approach may prove to be exactly what is needed.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Eastern Eye. The publication does not endorse or take responsibility for the accuracy of any statements made by the author.)