Unitas Communications

Unitas wins political communications contract with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:20:14 +0000

Unitas Communications has won a contract to provide political consulting services to the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia as part of a UK and EU wide engagement strategy.

Unitas CEO, Muddassar Ahmed said ‘we are delighted to be helping the Transitional Federal Government achieve stability in a region that desperately needs it. I feel sure Unitas will add significant value to the Transitional Parliament’s attempts to develop a sustainable strategy dealing with its long term regional challenges.’

Financial Secretary to the Treasury visits the Unitas Communications team

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:26:29 +0000

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister for Digital Britain, Stephen Timms MP visited the Unitas team on the 29^th January 2010.

As Labour Party Vice Chair for faith groups, Stephen Timms MP expressed a long standing interest in understanding the trends and challenges facing the UK and European Muslim communities.

Also present were Unitas Chairman Stephen O’Brien CBE and Director for International Liaison Joseph Connolly. Unitas CEO Muddassar Ahmed said ‘It is deeply encouraging to find policy makers like Stephen Timms interested in issues around BAME and Muslim community integration and social inclusion that Unitas are engaged in.’

Unitas appoint Reputational Risk specialist, Arif Zaman as Unitas Associate

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:20:36 +0000

Unitas have appointed Arif Zaman as its most recent Associate. Arif compliments Unitas’ existing Associates with a strong experience in reputation management. He is currently a Principal Consultant in the Reputational Risk Practice at the Reputation Institute and an advisor to the Commonwealth Business Council on Corporate Governance. Arif was previously Global Market and Industry Analyst at British Airways. Arif’s work has also included taking up numerous positions within organizations interfacing with UK Muslim communities, including being a founder Steering group member of HRH The Prince of Wales Mosaic initiative, a member of the Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry’s Committee on CSR and a Vice Chair of the Muslim Council of Britain Business and Economics Committee.

Unitas CEO Muddassar Ahmed said, ‘we are delighted to have someone with as rich an experience within the field of reputation management and Muslim community engagement as Arif to be a part of the Unitas team.’

Unitas wins communications contract with the United Nations

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:23:28 +0000

Unitas Communications has won a communications contract with the United Nations ‘Alliance of Civilisations’. Service provisions will include media consulting, event management and press positioning.

Unitas CEO Muddassar Ahmed said, ‘we are thrilled to be assisting a body whose aims have so much in common with our own. Helping to strengthen relations between communities and cultures in the Islamic and Western worlds is exactly what Unitas was set up to do. We are delighted to be helping the UN Alliance of Civilizations work towards this same goal.’

Unitas Communications organise the pre-launch reception for the All Parties Parliamentary Group of the Arab League (APPGAL)

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:09:51 +0000

Unitas Communications successfully organised the prestigious pre-launch reception for the All Parties Parliamentary Group on the Arab League (APPGAL), bringing together a list of highly distinguished guests including prominent dignitaries, esteemed Ambassadors and MPs and Peers from all three major political parties.

The reception was hosted by the Conservative Shadow Minister, Baroness Morris of Bolton and included speeches from the Secretary General of the Arab League, HE Mr Amre Moussa, and the Head of the Arab League Office in London, HE Dr Adel Babesail.

The APPGAL is being created to strengthen relations between the Arab League and the UK Houses of Parliament, and signifies a new phase in the Arab League’s engagement with Britain’s political mainstream.

Unitas Communications work alongside the Arab League to help coordinate and promote common positions on issues of mutual interest and develop long term channels of communication to serve that purpose.

Unitas Communications incubates leader retreat and non- profit initiative ‘The Concordia Forum’

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:15:53 +0000

Unitas Communications has successfully managed and incubated the launch of an Annual Leaders Retreat dedicated to strengthening networks and leaders that promote greater Pan-European integration and greater social inclusion for minority groups within Europe.

Unitas Communications successfully co-ordinated this year’s event held in October 2009 at a leading European conference centre in Andalucía, Spain. Unitas Communications also secured the participants, delegates, speakers and also managed logistical preparations on behalf of The Concordia Forum. This remit also involved brokering a sponsorship deal and media training program with the United Nations ‘Alliance of Civilisations’.

Unitas Communications remit also included on site event management. All workshops were jointly administered by Unitas Communications and The United Nations Alliance of Civilisations.

Chaired by Unitas CEO Muddassar Ahmed; The Concordia Forum bought together 40, senior and emerging leaders from corporate, political, media and non-profit backgrounds.

Chief Operating Officer of Unitas Communications, Shiraz Ahmad said “Being non-ideological and non-profit, the Leader’s Retreat provides a platform for debate that strives to engender social change and collective responsibility”.

CEO of Unitas Communications leads workshop at prestigious International Media Conference in Berlin

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:04:36 +0000

Unitas Communications CEO, Muddassar Ahmed attended the M100 Sanussouci Colloquium held at Potsdam in September 2009. The M100 is a conference that annually brings together 100 of world’s leading Media figures –it has been dubbed by some as the Media ‘Davos’.

Participants this year included: Hans- Dietrich Genscher (German Foreign Minister) Anne Mcelvoy (Columnist-The Evening Standard UK) Sir Ronald Grierson (Co-Chair-The Blackstone Group) Peter Kellner (President-YouGov UK) Wadah Khanfar (CEO-Al-Jazeera Global) and Octavia Nasr (Editor CNN).

A full list of this year’s participants can be found here: http://www.m100potsdam.org/M100/Sanssouci_Colloquium/2009/teilnehmer/start_en.php

Unitas Communications CEO, Muddassar Ahmed chaired the first session of the conference entitled ‘Mainstream media and diversity issues: Comparing approaches’.

The session focused on minority representation in mainstream media and compared mainstream media across Europe in addressing diversity issues. Other Panellists included Senior Executives from European Policy Centre, Panos Paris and WDR TV Germany.

Unitas Communications CEO Muddassar Ahmed participates in the United States International Visitor Leadership Programme

admin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:58:27 +0000

Unitas Communications CEO Muddassar Ahmed participated in the highly prestigious US State Dept IVLP Programme.

Previous UK IVLP Alumni include: Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and many leading UK Political, Corporate and Media Figures.

Over a 3 weeks period, in August 2009 Mr Ahmed was an official guest of the US government and held one to one meetings with over 100 Political, Media and Corporate figures in 5 Major US Cities, beginning with a week in Washington DC.

Muddassar Ahmed said ‘The IVLP visit was an incredibly useful experience, I have a much better understanding of how the US works and have also made some incredible friends and contacts. I am honoured to have been one of the 5 UK people picked annually for the individual IVLP visit’

More information on the IVLP Programme can be found here:

http://exchanges.state.gov/ivlp/alumni.html

Unitas provide PR support for launch of UK Islamic advice line

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:06:20 +0000

Unitas have provided media management and community engagement support for the launch of the Islamic Hotline - an Al Azhar University linked UK Islamic advice line. Part of Unitas’ remit has involved organising and facilitating consultations with key UK Muslim organisations including; the Islamic Society of Britain, City Circle, the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB), Muslim Youth Helpline, Young Muslims UK, Radical Middle Way and others.

Unitas successfully positioned the Islamic Hotline in both mainstream and niche ethnic media, including; a special report by the BBC‘s religious correspondent on the service in Cairo and UK (www. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8078344.stm), the Breakfast Show, the Guardian, Sky News, Times Online and ethnic media including: Al Arabiya, The Nation (UAE), Talk Islam, Euro Islam, Islam Online, Islamic News and many others.

Guest speakers at the launch included the Grand Mufti of Damascus - Sheikh Abdel Fattah El Bezem, Professor of Jurisprudence at Al Azhar University - Dr Rafaat Osman, Advisor on interfaith issues to leader of the Liberal Democrats – Fiyaz Mughal and Islamic Hotline spokesperson Abeer Almudaris. Unitas CEO, Muddassar Ahmed chaired proceedings.

Unitas CEO, Muddassar said ‘we are delighted to have helped the Islamic Hotline receive the positive media coverage they deserve and facilitated their interaction with the many Muslim community organisations that can compliment their work.’

Unitas organise annual League of Arab States Day diplomatic reception

admin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:02:18 +0000

Unitas Communications has successfully organised the prestigious 2009 League of Arab States day diplomatic reception.

With the Reception designed to commemorate the 64th year of the existence of the Arab League and held at a distinguished London venue, Unitas were able to bring together attendees from the political, corporate, media and academic spheres.
Attendees included, Shadow Conservative Minister for Women Baroness Morris of Bolton, Shadow Conservative Minister for International Development Lord Astor, Conservative Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons Shailash Vara MP, Tony Baldry MP, Labour MP John Grogan, Lord Hylton, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Lammont, UK film Director Mike Leigh as well as media professionals from Forbes, Channel 4, Sky TV and the Guardian. The event also drew Ambassadorial guests from various European, Asian and African Nations.

Unitas CEO Muddassar Ahmed said, ‘Unitas are honoured to have built on the success of past Arab League Day receptions. This year’s reception has continued in the steps of previous years by bringing together an ever more extensive cross section of industry leaders supportive of the League of Arab States.’