Cllr Abdi Aden was born, grew up in and was educated in Somalia.
He moved to Brent in 1990, and has lived and worked here ever since – in fact, he has worked for Royal Mail for the last 22 years.
Cllr Aden became interested in community development and cohesion, and worked for Stonebridge Somali Centre as a volunteer for several years. This deepened his interest in local politics, and he first stood in the local elections in 2010. He was then elected as the Councillor for Stonebridge ward in 2018, and has been the Deputy Mayor since 2021.
Since become a Councillor, Cllr Aden has served on different committees, including Planning; Alcohol and Licensing; Housing Scrutiny; Health and Wellbeing scrutiny; and Public Realm Scrutiny.
Abdi prides himself on cultivating good relationships with residents, working with the police and with council officers to tackle issues around anti-social behaviour, street cleaning, and fly-tipping. Abdi has listened to residents’ concerns and is committed to working tirelessly to ensure the continuous improvement of services available to the local people of Stonebridge.
Cllr Aden said “I am very proud to say I have managed to serve the London Borough of Brent and its residents in different capacities and roles from a voluntary basis and up to elected councillor.” He added that “I will be delighted and honoured to serve our borough as its mayor. I will do my best to help and support to make Brent a magnet of opportunity for young people and families, and everyone who lives works, or visits our Borough.”
In his spare time, Cllr Aden is a keen Manchester United fan, likes to read books on history, especially on Middle Eastern history, and he enjoys travelling to new countries and continents. His best trip abroad was to do the Hajj (pilgrimage) in Saudi Arabia, and his last holiday was in Somaliland – where he was lucky enough to get the last plane out of the country before the country locked down for Covid-19 in early 2020.