Wednesday February 8, 2023
By Nicola Lloyd
Mohamed Mire has made a positive impact on his community
AWARD WINNER: Nick Knowles, Mohamed Mire and Jo Delbridge
The founder of a domiciliary care provider in London was among 29 individuals from around the UK who were recently awarded the prestigious British Citizen Award for their exceptional endeavours.
On Thursday, January 26, Mohamed Mire from Tower Hamlets received the BCA for Services to Healthcare.
The British Citizen Award, in partnership with One Stop, is now in its ninth year and recognises an elite group of exceptional individuals in January and July each year. The January 2023 cohort of medallists have collectively been responsible for over £7.25m in fundraising, have impacted over 272,000 individuals, and have been committed to their chosen causes for over 395 years.
Each person selected to receive the BCA Medal of Honour as a legacy for their achievements richly deserves the right to use the letters BCA after their name in perpetual recognition of the nation’s gratitude.
Mohamed was presented with his Medal of Honour by Jo Delbridge, corporate reputation director and director of PR from long-term sponsors Specsavers, and TV presenter and patron of the BCA, Nick Knowles, who hosted the event.
Mohamed is the founder of Care Solution Bureau, a culturally sensitive domiciliary care provider in Tower Hamlets. One of Mohamed’s biggest impacts is the provision of free training in English and job skills to help the Somali community to improve its overall prospects.
He provides college courses teaching business-based skills such as health and safety that make them more employable. When Mohamed spotted a gap in the care market for Somali-focused support, he decided to set up his own.
He made a commitment to fully support the Somali community in Tower Hamlets and ensure that the many women in the care sector would no longer experience issues with their pay or a lack of regular work. Care solution is now a diverse agency that reflects the local Tower Hamlets community with over 10 languages spoken by the office staff alone.
Mohamed is still dedicated to his land of birth and has built a health centre in a Somaliland village where no health care existed for the community. He self-funded the building of the centre and two NHS staff to get it up and running and continues to fundraise with the goal of creating more health centres in remote villages.
Immediately following the formal presentations, the medallists and their families boarded an open-top bus for the Lap of Honour Tour courtesy of Big Bus London. After taking in some of the iconic sights of the capital, they disembarked at Church House in Westminster for a Certificate of Honour presentation.
The certificates, presented by representatives from One Stop, Specsavers, Places for People and P&G, completed the official BCA proceedings. Each of the organisations associated with the BCA reflects the community spirit and care for the community that the medallists are recognised for.
The British Citizen Award was established in 2015 to recognise exceptional individuals who work tirelessly and selflessly to make a positive impact on their communities and society. The BCA recognises true community heroes who would otherwise likely be overlooked.
Dubbed ‘The People’s Honours’, the BCA has so far recognised over 450 exceptional individuals for their divergent endeavours, making them a very exclusive group of the nation’s favourites.
Anyone with an MBE, OBE or Knighthood is ineligible for a BCA having already been deemed to have received recognition, however, anyone receiving the BCA can still be nominated for the other honours.