Abbas Najib - CEO

Abbas Najib, CEO of Better Communities Bradford (BCB), is a standout rising leader whose vision, strategy, and tenacity have transformed a grassroots charity into a cornerstone of community empowerment in just five years. Under Abbas’s leadership, BCB has significantly expanded its reach and impact, securing over £150,000 in grants in the past year alone — a 27% increase from the previous year — from national funders including the National Lottery, Lloyds, and the Henry Smith Foundation.

Abbas’s approach is bold, holistic, and unapologetically community-led. He has introduced and scaled transformative programs such as Empowered Minds, which blends mental health counselling with employment and skills training for BAME women, and Project FAITH, a region-wide initiative tackling Islamophobia through interfaith dialogue and trauma-informed workshops.

Despite rising service demand and sector-wide funding pressures, Abbas has consistently demonstrated financial resilience, strong governance, and innovation in service design. His leadership has not only created tangible improvements in mental health, employment, and community cohesion across Bradford — but has also laid the foundation for sustainable, scalable impact.

A strategic thinker with an empathetic approach, Abbas Najib is a model of the new generation of inclusive, forward-thinking charity leaders making lasting change.