Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth to award young person from Pakistan

Lahore: Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth will present the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Awards to a young person from Pakistan at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Monday 22nd June.

Salman Ahmad is among 60 exceptional young people from across the Commonwealth who have been recognised by The Queen for taking the lead in transforming the lives of others and make a lasting difference in their communities.

Twenty-seven year old Salman Ahmad from Lahore, Pakistan is co-founder of the GADE Foundation, which aims to encourage and support entrepreneurship among students. He has been selected in recognition of his work to champion disability rights. After gaining a Commonwealth scholarship to study at the University of Liverpool, where he was named International Business Student of the Year, Salman returned home determined to improve the lives of other disabled citizens. He plans to campaign for schools to become inclusive, by providing facilities for people with disabilities.

Salman Ahmad received his MSc. International Degree from University of Liverpool, UK and honored with “STUDENT OF THE YEAR” award.

He is co-founder of GADE Foundation and elected as President in 2011. His development experiences range from working as International Students Ambassador for University of Liverpool, policy development and project implementation.

In 2012, his work for Youth Development was recognized through special notification of acknowledgement form Punjab Assembly (Government of Punjab). He has also received many international awards, including Commonwealth Scholarship and nominated for Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development Work.

All these achievements were not so easy for him because he is one of millions of children affected with Polio in very young age, but he has accepted this as a challenge and overcome his physical deficiency with his continual efforts.

Before receiving their Award at Buckingham Palace the winners will meet the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron at 10 Downing Street, visit the headquarters of global social networking company, Twitter and meet with senior executives at the BBC World Service.

Salman Ahmad said: “I am so happy to be one of the first recipients of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award. To be recognised for my work and be presented with an Award by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace is such a huge honour. I can’t wait to meet all the other Award winners in London and get involved in all the exciting activities that are taking place throughout the week.

This year’s Award winners are aged between 18 and 29 and are working to support others, raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of different issues including; education, climate change, gender equality, mental health and disability equality.

Following the ceremony on the 22^nd June, Award winners will spend four days in the UK to take part in a residential development programme as part of the Award prize. The programme includes workshops at Cambridge University, meetings with UK businesses leaders, and visits to life changing social action projects.

To see a full list of Award winners and Highly Commended runners up, and read more about their stories please visitwww.queensyoungleaders.com.

If you or someone you know is doing inspiring work like this year’s Queen’s Young Leaders, from 7pm on Monday 22nd June you can apply or nominate someone for a 2016 Award at www.queensyoungleaders.com.