Sir Iqbal Sacranie born in Malawi, arrived in the United Kingdom for further studies in 1969.  He studied accountancy and then went into real estate and construction business. During the last 4 decades he has been involved with providing voluntary service to community and charitable organisations. Amongst numerous institutions he has worked with in different capacities the following are some of the most important. 

He was elected as the founding Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain(MCB), a national umbrella and representative body of British Muslims. He was re elected the SG in 2004 and completed his 4 years term (maximum allowed under the Constitution) in June 2006.  

He served two four-year term as Chairman of Muslim Aid and trustee for over 25 years. Muslim Aid is one of the most prominent international and relief agency serving in more than 50 countries worldwide. 

He Chairs the Board of Trustees of Memon Association UK.  He led the Committee in raising £1.2 million pounds primarily from the Memon and Muslim community to build a unique Sports and Community Centre in South London.  It was officially opened by HRH Prince Charles in February 2001. 

He was elected Deputy President of World Memon Organisation (WMO) in 2002 and served as Senior Deputy President until 2014. He Chairs the Board of Trustees of Balham Mosque and Tooting Islamic Centre. Both centres provide Islamic education and community services.

He was the Chair of the Al-Risaala Education Trust, which runs five voluntary aided and independent primary and secondary schools in London. Schools have officially been recognised as best performing schools in the country. One of the school was the first purpose built Islamic school in the country.

He has served on the Advisory Council of the previous four Home Secretary’s of the UK government advising them on matters relating to equality and race relations.

Sir Iqbal has also served on the following charitable organisations including British Heart Foundation, National Consultation on Chaplaincy, Interfaith Network, Coroners Review Group and the Prince’s Trust.

In 1999 the prominent Observer magazine produced a Power List of 300 most influential people in the UK and he was numbered at 246. He was awarded OBE in 1999 Honours List and is a recipient of Muslim News Award for Excellence - Good Citizenship presented by the Prime Minister Tony Blair. He was awarded a plaque for Commitment and Dedication to Community work by Memon Association UK which was presented by HRH Prince Charles in 2001. The Guardian newspaper named him in 2002 as ‘The most influential Muslim in the UK’. In 2005 the GQ magazine produced a list of 100 Most Powerful Men in Britain and he was ranked at number 10 as the voice of Muslims in Britain, who plays a vital role as mediator in multi-cultural Britain.

He was honoured with Knighthood by the Queen in 2005. He is the first Muslim in the UK to have been given this honour for services to Charities and Communities. He is a recipient of number of other Awards including from the Middle East Business Leaders Forum and Freedom Foundation - USA in recognition of his dedication and outstanding service to the Muslim community worldwide upholding the ideas of Justice for All.

In July 2006, Leeds Metropolitan University bestowed on him an Honorary Doctorate of Law in recognition of his services to Charities.  In January 2008, Sir Iqbal was appointed as a board member on the Board of Governors for the Leeds Metropolitan University.

In 2004 Sir Iqbal was appointed as a founding member of the International Board of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) and served on the Board until 2015. He was the lead person in organising the 9th WIEF in London, where for the first time 18 Heads of States and Governments from countries around the world attended. It was opened by the then Prime Minister David Cameron.

Sir Iqbal was appointed as a Patron of the Commission on Multi- Faith Britain. The other two patrons are the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord William Rowan and the former Chief Justice of UK Lord Woolf. 

In 2019, Sir Iqbal was appointed a Trustee of the European Muslim Forum whose aim is to bring together Muslim leadership in Europe on one platform.

In 2020 he was invited to be on the Board of International Co-operation Platform the organisers of Bhosphorous Summits in Turkey.

Sir Iqbal is invited regularly as a speaker at various national and international conferences around the world. 

He has been privileged to serve on all these organisations entirely on a voluntary basis – to serve humanity.