Founder & Leadership
Sanctuary’s leadership model brings together business building, project execution, technology and R&D, urban and spatial thinking, people development, finance, investment and growth.
Founder & Director
Farzad Momeni is a UK-based entrepreneur, researcher and business-development strategist. His background spans retail development, international business, urban planning and project management, with a particular interest in sustainable urban regeneration, entrepreneurship, SME growth and place-based economic participation.
His public LinkedIn profile lists MBA study at Canterbury Christ Church University, together with PRINCE2® Foundation and Practitioner and AgilePM® v3 Foundation and Practitioner credentials.
Sanctuary was created to close the gap between advice and implementation. The group’s operating philosophy is that strong ideas need more than a report: they need validation, delivery structure, people, systems, finance, measurement and the willingness to stay involved long enough to make the model work. That is why Sanctuary combines business development with urban regeneration, high-street resilience, employability, entrepreneurship and community-led economic participation.
For Farzad, sustainable growth is place-based. Businesses, high streets, councils, charities and community institutions are not separate systems; when they are connected intelligently, local trust and entrepreneurship can become long-term economic capacity.
View LinkedIn profile ↗Publications & media archive →Projects & delivery →Patents & inventions →Operating model
Sanctuary uses a quantum-inspired organisational model as a design metaphor: interconnected, adaptive and non-linear rather than a rigid command pyramid. Specialist functions remain accountable for their domains, while major decisions are strengthened through shared intelligence, cross-functional challenge and collaborative decision-making.
Decisions are not treated as a one-way chain of command. Expertise moves across the network, with accountability retained at function level and important decisions strengthened through collaborative review.
These are Sanctuary’s key leadership functions within an integrated operating model. Each function contributes specialist expertise while working across shared priorities and delivery.
Core responsibility: programme planning, PMO, project coordination, delivery governance, risk, milestones and implementation control.
Contribution: turns strategy into a coordinated delivery pathway across projects, workstreams and operating teams.
Core responsibility: product architecture, automation, AI, data, prototyping and cyber-by-design.
Experience profile: digital products, SaaS, hardware/software integration and applied R&D.
Core responsibility: spatial analysis, GIS, site strategy, catchments, geo-marketing, high-street activation and place-based growth.
Contribution: connects location, demand, community context and market geography to better site, regeneration and growth decisions.
Core responsibility: workforce design, capability, employability, talent development and learning pathways.
Experience profile: HR transformation, L&D, skills systems and community employability.
Core responsibility: startup finance, investment-opportunity assessment, financial modelling, management accounting, cash-flow oversight, funding readiness and capital planning.
Contribution: evaluates startup and investment opportunities, strengthens financial control and helps projects move toward credible funding and investment decisions.
Core responsibility: brand strategy, market entry, partnerships, customer growth, commercial development and stakeholder engagement.
Contribution: converts a strong proposition into market visibility, partnerships, demand and scalable commercial opportunities.
