Introduction

Ali unwittingly founded the online sharing economy in the UK from his student bedsit in 1998, when he put his student car sharing noticeboard onto the web via Liftshare.com. This online tool helped his fellow students to find others travelling the same way at weekends so they could share cars. There have since been over 30 million shared trips on the Liftshare network. Set up as a social enterprise, Liftshare is on a mission to solve transport poverty by ensuring that everyone has someone to share a car with. Ali is passionate about the wonders of sharing and its potential to overcome many of the real issues we face. He has received many national and international awards for his work in helping communities, innovation and sustainability.