Politics
Aamer Sarfraz, The Lord Sarfraz, is a Member of the House of Lords, the upper house of United Kingdom Parliament.
He was nominated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the 2019 Dissolution Honours, and took his seat as Baron Sarfraz, of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in September 2020. He was previously a Treasurer of the Conservative Party, including during the 2019 general election, where the party won a historic 80 seat majority. He also served as an advisor to the party leadership on outreach.
Lord Sarfraz is a Member of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (JCNSS). He previously sat on the AI in Weapon Systems Select Committee, and the Science and Technology Committee. He co-chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sovereign Wealth Funds.
Lord Sarfraz is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) and the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (Royal Navy).
On his appointment to the Lords, at the age of 38, he was the 3rd youngest Peer in the United Kingdom Parliament.
Prime Minister's Trade Envoy
Lord Sarfraz was appointed the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Singapore from 2022-24, and served under three PM's. In this role, he worked to strengthen trade and investment relationships with Singapore, the UK's largest trade and investment partner in Southeast Asia.
Career
Lord Sarfraz’s career has included roles at the Electrum Group (private equity) and 3i Group plc (venture capital). He is a Venture Partner at Draper Associates (venture capital), and an Advisor to NYSE-listed technology companies C3.ai (enterprise AI) and DigitalOcean (cloud computing).
He is the founder of NetZeroAg, an agricultural technology business that works with tens of thousands of smallholder farmers in Asia to increase yields and incomes, while reducing emissions and water usage.
He was named to Silicon Valley Business Journal’s “40 under 40” list, and received the 9th Emerging Leader Award by M&A Advisor.
Philanthropy
He is Patron of The Lord Sarfraz Foundation, which delivers a range of philanthropic activities in rural Pakistan. These include equine therapy for children with special needs (video), welfare for female farm workers, free rural healthcare programs, skills development for micro entrepreneurs, clean water collection points, and prisoners welfare.
Lord Sarfraz's current voluntary board and advisory roles include at Texas A&M University (International Advisory Board), Boston University Pardee School (Dean's Advisory Board), Panthera (Conservation Council), the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (Board), and the Alternative Proteins Association (Advisory Board).
The annual Sarfraz Pakistan Lecture at Wolfson College Oxford is named in his honour.
Education and family
Born in London, Lord Sarfraz spent his early years in New York, before his family moved to Islamabad where he grew up. His family has a longstanding tradition of military service - both grandfathers were officers in the British Indian Army, and fought in WWII. His father was a naval officer, commissioned at the Britannia Royal Naval College, and went on to have a successful career in shipping.
He graduated from Boston University with a BS in Management, and received an MSc in Information Systems (with Distinction) from the London School of Economics.
Lord Sarfraz lives in London with his wife, Maryam, a former investment banker, and three daughters.