AN ASIAN businessman has been appointed the president of His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for the UK.
Naushad Jivraj took over the role on July 11 and will serve a three-year term.
Jivraj is the CEO of Queensway Group, a family business founded in the 1970s with interests in the real estate and franchise sectors.
The company are franchisees of the Starbucks brand in the UK with 14 stores and the KFC brand in Austria and Slovakia where they operate 10 stores.
They also own and operate seven Point A Hotels in London, two in Scotland (Edinburgh and Glasgow) and one under development in Dublin.
Recently, Queensway Group acquired The Sloane Club, a private members’ club, in London Chelsea in partnership with Clearbell Capital.
In his new role, which is a voluntary position, Jivraj’s remit includes the UK as well as Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
He will be responsible for the welfare of 18,000 Ismaili Muslims and the council whose teams focus on education, economic planning, legal matters and health, among others.
Local councils now face four “nationally significant” cyber attacks weekly, putting essential services at risk.
Cyber-attacks cost UK SMEs £3.4 billion annually, with the North West particularly affected.
Experts recommend proactive measures including supplier monitoring, threat intelligence, and an “assume breach” mindset.
Cyber threats escalate
Britain’s local authorities are facing an unprecedented surge in cyber threats, with the National Cyber Security Centre reporting that councils confront four “nationally significant” cyber attacks every week. The escalation comes as organisations are urged to take concrete action, with new toolkits and free cyber insurance through the NCSC Cyber Essentials scheme to help secure their foundations.
Recent attacks on major retailers including Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Jaguar Land Rover have demonstrated the devastating impact of cyber threats on critical operations. Yet councils remain equally vulnerable, with a single successful attack capable of rendering essential public services inaccessible to millions of citizens.
The stakes are extraordinarily high. When councils fall victim to cyber attacks, citizens cannot access housing benefits, pay council tax or retrieve crucial information. Simultaneously, staff are locked out of email systems and case management tools, halting service delivery across social care, police liaison and NHS coordination.
Call for cyber resilience
According to Vodafone and WPI Strategy’s Securing Success: The Role of Cybersecurity in SME Growth report, cyber-attacks are costing UK small and medium-sized enterprises an estimated £3.4 billion annually in lost revenue. Over a quarter of SMEs surveyed stated that a single attack averaging £6,940 could force them out of business entirely. This financial impact is particularly acute in the North West, where attacks cost businesses nearly £5,000 more than the national average.
Renata Vincoletto, CISO at Civica, emphasises that councils need not wait for legislation to strengthen their cyber resilience. She outlines five immediate priorities: employing third-party continuous monitoring tools to track supplier security compliance; subscribing to threat intelligence feeds from the NCSC and sector experts; engaging with regional cyber clusters supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration ( UKC3) establishing standardised incident reporting processes aligned with NCSC frameworks; and adopting an “assume breach” mindset to stay vigilant against inevitable threats.
“Cyber resilience is not a single project or policy it’s a culture of preparedness,” Vincoletto states. “Every small step taken today reduces the impact of tomorrow’s inevitable attack.”
By clicking the 'Subscribe’, you agree to receive our newsletter, marketing communications and industry
partners/sponsors sharing promotional product information via email and print communication from Garavi Gujarat
Publications Ltd and subsidiaries. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the
unsubscribe link in our emails. We will use your email address to personalize our communications and send you
relevant offers. Your data will be stored up to 30 days after unsubscribing.
Contact us at data@amg.biz to see how we manage and store your data.