Zulfi Hussain is a man with many missions.

The man with a senior role at BT is the kind of guy who gets things done. If he can’t do it, you can bet he will find someone who can.

On Boxing Day five years ago, Zulfi and the rest of the world watched in horror at the devastation caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

“I woke up and thought, ‘this is terrible. I really should do something about it other than giving a bit of money’. The idea I came up with was an extensive network of friends and influential people with different types of expertise.”

With £100 of his own money, Zulfi, who came to Bradford as a child from Pakistan, launched the Global Promise charity.

Through his friends and acquaintances, and with the support of charities such as Islamic Relief, he was able to prioritise lists of needs for items such as medicine and equipment and set up a website with a Just Giving link to assist in raising money for the tsunami survivors. “Every-body was working flat out,” says Zulfi, who received the MBE last year for his services to business and charity.

Within eight weeks the charity, in collaboration with other organisations, had raised a staggering £2m in cash and goods.

Global Promise co-ordinated a similarly swift response following the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, raising £500,000, and the charity has mobilised once again to support victims of the Haiti earthquake.

“Each time we have gone with the flow. Each time we do this we get businesses involved, partners and sponsors and obviously a lot of very dynamic people who are generous with their time.”

Zulfi explains the latest campaign is to raise £1million.

“What we are very good at is we are very nimble, very flexible and very reactive and proactive.

“This campaign will last a minimum of six months. It’s extremely moving and it is very sad, and yet miracles are happening every day,” says Zulfi, referring to people who were feared dead yet pulled alive out of the rubble.

“There is always hope and I think that is the key, because without hope there is nothing.

“The great thing is how people are responding in such a huge and positive way. We forget all our differences. It is a common cause and it’s amazing how everybody comes together.”

Anything is possible in Zulfi’s world – his frustrations are born from not being able to change it for the better.

His dogged determination stems from childhood. Growing up in a small village in Pakistan, Zulfi left the community he knew behind to live in Bradford. “I came here as a young child and went through all the trials and tribulations of resettlement and culture change.”

Zulfi’s father, a military man, instilled in his son that education would be his escape. “He often said, ‘You are not stupid, learn the language and get yourself an education’. That made me more determined and very passionate about going out and succeeding.”

Zulfi studied systems and engineering at university and worked at the military research centre at Porton Down.

From there, he worked as a systems engineer for Vauxhall Motors, and 20 years ago arrived at BT as a senior design engineer. He is now one of the company’s board members for Yorkshire and Humber.

“There were three goals I wanted to achieve. One was to come back to the North to be close to family and friends; to become a project manager in a large corporate environment; and triple my salary, and I did it within five years.”

One of his earlier assignments with BT was managing the computerisation of the international directory inquiry service.

The company sponsored him to do further management qualifications. “I have a lot of history of getting things done, being a bit of a maverick, very much a serial entrepreneur and a philanthropist, and all the things I learned in the corporate world I applied to Global Promise.”

As well as delivering aid and support to disaster-struck countries, Global Promise is also promoting education and enterprise within local communities and focusing on Fairtrade. “We have been working with around 4,000 young people in Bradford and inner city schools in partnership with Laisterdyke Enterprise College.”

Handing me his business card, Zulfi emphasises the words ‘People, Planet, Profit,’ aren’t simply a slogan. Proving he means what he says, he tells me he’s swapped his three-litre luxury saloon for a small, no-frills eco-friendly runabout. “People, Planet, Profit. It is always the triple bottom line, in that order,” says Zulfi.

For more information about Global Promise visit the website globalpromise.org.uk