BusinessCloud’s new Northern Leaders podcast will be launched this week to celebrate the region’s most dynamic leaders.
Our first guest is Nazir Afzal OBE, who is best known for being the former Chief Crown Prosecutor in the North West.
The episode is sponsored by Wildbrook Commercial Real Estate and follows the success of our inaugural Northern Leaders list and awards ceremony.
Every week a new podcast will be released with future guests including Dragons’ Den star Sara Davies; Greggs’ CEO Roisin Currie and Matthew Scullion, CEO of Manchester-based unicorn Matillion.
In the first episode Afzal covers a range of issues from his remarkable career including the decisions to prosecute police killer Dale Cregan and the Rochdale grooming gang.
He also talks about two incidents from his childhood, when he was savagely attacked by racists as he walked home from school and the time he cradled the body of his eight-year-old cousin for four hours, without realising she’d died.
Afzal, who is now the Chancellor of the University of Manchester, won the Voice for Good Award at BusinessCloud’s Northern Leaders Awards earlier this year.
During the interview with BusinessCloud’s Executive Editor Chris Maguire, Afzal also spoke about being targeted by Far Right thugs and why he resigned as chief executive of the Association for Police and Crime Commissioners so he could speak out after the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017.
Asked how he’d like to be remembered Afzal said: “I hope my epitaph is that I’ve just listened, and I continue to listen, and then when I’ve heard something that needs to change, I try and change it.”
The podcasts are produced by Manchester-based What Media.
- If you’d like to sponsor future episodes of the Northern Leaders podcast contact [email protected]