Safaraz Ali, founder and CEO of Pathway Group was named in the King’s New Year Honours list for services to diversity and inclusion in business.

Pathway Group was founded in 2000 with an aspiration to change people’s lives through skills and work.

The recruitment firm have been at the forefront of supporting individuals through their journey into and during employment, delivering qualifications tailored to job outcomes, linked to employers.

Safaraz also brings together employers, providers, policymakers and communities through various diversity and inclusion initiatives including the Multicultural Apprenticeship and Skills Alliance, the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards, the Apprenticeship Diversity and Social Mobility Forum, the Apprenticeship Branding Conference and the Festival of Apprenticeships.

These projects comes during a time where various research and reviews conducted has found that exclusion is not only unfair, but economically damaging.

This has led to accelerated progress including greater board-level awareness, increased use of data, and stronger recognition of the importance of inclusive skills pipelines.

Safaraz Ali said: “This is not just my achievement. It also belongs to the teams, partners, employers and communities who have done the real work over many years.

“Everything we have built at Pathway Group, and through MASA and the Awards, has been collective.

“Progress only happens when people commit to doing something meaningful together.”

“I see a key part of my role is to nurture and empower a high performing team that is committed to making a meaningful difference in all that they do.

“I often describe what Pathway do simply as the ABC approach to help people to secure: “A job, a Better job, then a Career”.

Safaraz also thanked stakeholders and partners across the West Midlands Combined Authority, Greater London Authority, East Midlands Combined County Authority, the Department for Education, the Department for Work and Pensions, and local authorities, who work collaboratively to turn shared intent into meaningful outcomes.