Business migration has transformed the UK’s economy in ways that no one could have foreseen. According to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), businesses started by immigrants contributed £6.6 billion to the UK’s economy in the year 2019 alone. The ingenuity, diligence, and vision of immigrant entrepreneurs have resulted in significant contributions to the UK’s economy and culture, showing that business migration is the way of the future. One businessman who embodies this is British-Bangladeshi entrepreneur Md. Luftar Rahman, the Founder and CEO of the immigration and HR-tech service WorkPermitCloud (WPC).
Rahman was born in 1973 and grew up in a small village with no electricity or modern resources in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Despite his humble beginnings, Rahman had his sights set on a career in law. He became a voracious reader, reading texts by the light of a hurricane lamp, and in 1996, he immigrated to the UK with just £3 in his pocket. He pursued his dream by working at restaurants in the morning and studying legal texts at night. He was eventually licensed as a barrister after earning his degree from the University of London.
With his experiences as an immigrant fresh in his mind, Rahman became both a Chartered Legal Executive and an expert in UK immigration law. Because of his own personal experiences, Rahman developed a passion for helping immigrants navigate the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of coming to a new country. As an immigration practitioner at the Universal Legal Centre in London, Rahman helped over 3,000 individuals successfully immigrate to the UK through the sector-based immigration scheme instituted under Prime Minister Tony Blair’s administration.
After his work as an immigration practitioner at multiple law firms, including C.K. Solicitors and Malik & Michael Solicitors, Rahman founded WorkPermitCloud in 2020. WPC’s stated purpose as an organization is to make the immigration process as easy and hassle-free as possible for immigrants and the businesses they run. WPC combines Rahman’s interests in law, immigration, and tech to create jobs for immigrants and empower immigrant-owned businesses in the UK. As both a legal firm and an HR tech company, WPC has equipped itself to play a role in the ongoing challenges related to business migration and compliance. To date, WPC has created over 20,000 new jobs and supported over 10,000 UK businesses through the work it has done and the support it has received from its subsidiaries, such as WPC Lawyers, WPC Global DMCC, WPC HR, and WPC Accountants.
In addition to his legal and business work, Rahman has also found other ways to fulfill his mission of serving communities in the UK and abroad. He has supported multiple medical organizations in Bangladesh and medical research institutions in the UK, such as the Tafida Taqeeb Foundation, which specializes in providing support for children diagnosed with serious brain injuries. He has also supported the building of schools, mosques, and water wells in his birth country of Bangladesh. He has contributed aid to organizations addressing humanitarian causes such as the Rohingya refugee crisis and the COVID-19 vaccine trials. He is also a donor and lifetime member of Cambridge Central Mosque, known for being the world’s first mosque designed according to eco-friendly principles.
As an example of one of the many immigrant entrepreneurs who have played roles in the UK’s business ecosystem, Luftar Rahman will continue serving as an advocate for other aspiring entrepreneurs who have dreamed of making a new life for themselves on the shores of a new country. Through his efforts with WPC and his advocacy for policies that will uplift the immigrant population, Luftar Rahman is one of the individuals who are illustrating to the larger population how diversity can be a country’s greatest strength.
