About Atif

A builder of fairer systems

Across Palestinian fair trade, disability justice, social enterprise, technology and workplace change, I turn values into practical structures that widen participation.

Atif Choudhury

What I learned to notice

I grew up on Thamesmead, one of London's largest council estates, as the child of Bengali immigrants. I am dyslexic and have ADHD. I spent time in foster care. None of that is the point. The point is what it taught me to see.

My childhood taught me to see what systems often miss: the possibility in people pushed to the edges. That insight has shaped my life's work, turning solidarity into enterprise, inclusion into infrastructure and good intentions into practical change.

The question that connects everything I have built is simple: who is prevented from participating, what creates those barriers, and how do we change the conditions around them?

Solidarity made practical

When people wanted a practical way to stand with Palestine, we built one. In 2004, I co-founded Zaytoun, the world's first Fairtrade Palestinian olive oil social enterprise. We turned solidarity into trade, connection and sustainable livelihoods for farming families.

Zaytoun proved that values could become commerce without losing their meaning. It won Consumer Facing Social Enterprise of the Year in 2025 and continues to support hundreds of Palestinian producers.

Read Zaytoun's story (opens in new tab)

Participation made practical

I founded Diversity and Ability, a disabled-led social enterprise that proved lived experience could drive system change. Over fourteen years, we supported more than 250,000 individuals and worked with over 200 organisations on digital inclusion, workplace accessibility and social equity.

D&A showed that participation is not a favour to be granted. It is a design question. If you build the right structures, people do not need to fight their way in.

Inclusion made infrastructure

Today I lead Calling All Minds as CEO. We build practical tools that help organisations move from reacting to expecting difference. The Anticipatory Welcome is not a slogan; it is a design principle backed by technology.

AXS Passport removes barriers before they become problems. AXS Toolbar makes digital content accessible across reading, language, focus and comprehension. AXS Audit identifies and repairs barriers at source, with reporting and accountability.

Learn about Calling All Minds

The work now

I speak to audiences around the world about systems change, social enterprise, neuroinclusion, disability justice, race, poverty and the future of work. I advise leaders who want to move beyond intention. I co-host a podcast with Pasha Marlowe exploring neuroinclusion across cultures and continents.

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Advisory & board roles

  • WHO Rapid Assistive Technologies BoardAdviser
  • NHS England ADHD TaskforceLead Voice
  • Disability Rights UKFormer Trustee & Board Member (2019–2025)
  • Neurodiversity in BusinessAdvisory Board Member
  • Shaw Trust Disability Power 100Judge
  • War on WantFormer Board Member

Awards & recognition

  • Honorary Doctorate, to be conferred by SOAS
    September 2026
  • Diversity Power List
    2025/26
  • Disability Power 100
    2025
  • Inspirational D&I Leaders List
    2024
  • National Diversity Awards, Finalist
    2023
  • Global Equality and Diversity Award
    2018
  • ADSHE Assistive Technology Good Practice Award