Growing up in care in Bolton, Saeed was acutely aware of how young people from disadvantaged backgrounds can be overlooked when it comes to learning valuable life skills and having a voice in their future. His experiences led him, at the age of 15, to set up the charity Youth Leads UK which has to date supported more than 12,500 disadvantaged young Greater Mancunians to access volunteering opportunities and skills development programmes.
His work was recognised in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours 2019 when he was the youngest person to be awarded an MBE for services to young people and the community in Greater Manchester. Later that year, Saeed was also the youngest person to be appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant in the UK.
Saeed is a Non-Executive Director of social housing group, Bolton at Home; an Associate Non-Executive Director at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust and Vice-Chair of Governors of Ladybridge High School, Bolton. He served as one of the Government’s Social Mobility Commissioners between 2017 and 2022.