In 2025, our beloved sister Bana Gora, CEO and co founder of Muslim Women’s Council, was honoured with the “Here Come the Girls Award” at the Inspiring Women Awards, recognising her extraordinary contribution to empowering women, supporting communities and creating lasting social change.
As we continue to remember and celebrate Bana’s life and legacy, this recognition stands as a powerful reflection of the impact she made through decades of sincere service, visionary leadership and unwavering dedication to others.
The Inspiring Women Awards, now in its 33rd year, celebrates women and organisations challenging barriers faced by women and creating meaningful opportunities for future generations. Bana’s work embodied exactly that spirit.
Through Muslim Women’s Council, Bana dedicated her life to ensuring women felt seen, heard and supported. Her leadership helped establish projects and services ranging from legal advice clinics and emotional wellbeing support to bereavement services, leadership programmes, food projects and community initiatives supporting vulnerable women and families across Bradford and beyond.
One of the projects closest to Bana’s heart was The Women’s Building Project, a pioneering women led space focused on education, wellbeing, enterprise, faith and community support. What began as a bold vision has since become one of the most important parts of her lasting legacy.
Speaking during the awards ceremony, Bana reflected openly on the barriers Muslim women continue to face in wider society, describing the “triple penalty” of gender, ethnicity and faith discrimination. Drawing from her own experiences growing up in Wales, she spoke about the importance of representation, opportunity and creating spaces where women could thrive.
“By 2009, I realised that if change was not happening, we had to start creating it ourselves. So we decided to build a movement rather than simply a charity,” Bana shared during her speech.
She also spoke passionately about building a culture where women support and uplift one another:
“What we try to create is a culture where women do not pull the ladder down behind them. Instead, we leave that ladder up so other women can climb too.”
Bana’s compassion extended far beyond words. During the ceremony, she reflected on the origins of MWC’s community soup kitchen project after witnessing people searching through bins for food outside the organisation’s office many years ago. Through fundraising, grants and community support, Muslim Women’s Council later went on to distribute more than 100,000 meals in a single year to people facing food poverty.
The award recognised not only Bana’s achievements, but also the humanity, integrity and sincerity that defined her leadership. She believed deeply in the power of women, the strength of community and the importance of leaving behind something meaningful for future generations.
Today, we honour Bana not only as an award winning leader, but as a mentor, visionary and compassionate soul whose impact continues to live on through the countless lives she touched.
Her legacy remains alive in every woman empowered through MWC, every family supported through its projects, and every future generation that will benefit from the vision she worked so hard to build.
The video from the awards ceremony can be viewed below.
