The Get Families Talking Model

At Get Families Talking, we are passionate about transforming people’s lives through learning. Be this, learning as an adult or learning together as a family.

The excitement and joy as they both discover new skills and find new ways to extend the learning together is the fuel that drives us.

The people we work with face many challenges resulting from poverty, culture, a lack of language, literacy skills and low digital and financial literacy skills. In turn, children struggle with language, literacy, digital and numeracy skills. This leads to parents having low aspirations for themselves and for their children.

At Get Families Talking, we strive to change this by improving parents’ skills and aspirations through finding innovative ways to engage and then to keep them engaged.

In the Press

Hear about our work as reported on BBC Radio WM on the Daz Hale Morning Breakfast show. Fast forward to 1:44:50.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09dmsst

Half the world is living without the internet. Read about what this digital divide is doing to families and communities:

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/07/world/internet-inequality-coronavirus-intl/index.html

Even though COVID-19 has seriously disrupted educational systems, it’s an opportunity to radically reform the educational system on a whole. More thoughts and insights here:

https://www.bbc.com/arabic/world-53065622

We bring families and communities together through powerful parental and community engagement services

In The News

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Lloyds Consumer Digital Index Conference (2020)

The UK’s largest study of transactional, behavioral and attitudinal research, including the essential Digital Skills measure, which is the nation’s largest measure of digital capability – We were invited to participate as Keynote Speakers.

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People With Passion Community Awards (2020)

We were granted this prestigious award for helping families understand the impact that lack of literacy can have from generation to generation. We were determined to help adults with underdeveloped literacy skills and those suffering from social exclusion, to help them build self-esteem and social mobility, as well as find equal opportunities for employment and learning.

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Nursery World Award Winners (2018)

Smartlyte sucessfully ran a literacy campaign for isolated, underprivileged and marginalised families to help improve parents’ skills, raising their aspirations and engaging parents in their child’s learning, education and development.

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Nursery World Shortlisted Finalist (2017)

Shortlisted as a finalist in the Nursery World Awards, an honour given only to the most dedicated professionals who help people and families with early years education, childcare, and particularly the social development of young children and their families.

Meet Our Team

Hafsha Dadabhai Shaikh, MBE

Hafsha Dadabhai Shaikh, MBE, is Director of Smartlyte, a national thought leader, advocate, and strategist in digital inclusion. Her work spans grassroots delivery to shaping national frameworks, including contributions to the Good Things Foundation, NHS England, WMCA, Birmingham City Council, Mastercard’s Nobody in the Dark campaign, and the Minimum Digital Living Standards framework. Hafsha is an accomplished public speaker and presenter, regularly representing community voices at national conferences, political fringe panels, and media interviews. She was awarded an MBE in 2025 for services to digital inclusion.

@Smartlyte

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hafshadshaikh/

Salim Shaikh

Salim Shaikh is Director of Smartlyte and a passionate advocate for using technology to improve lives. He leads on innovation and digital strategy, with a focus on improving health outcomes, inclusion, and skills development. Salim is Chair of the Midland Medical Partnership Patient Engagement Group, Digital Lead for the Birmingham Financial Inclusion Partnership, and currently studying for a Master’s in AI and Data Science. He enjoys creating AI-powered tools and content to make digital transformation feel personal and impactful. Salim is currently developing several innovative platforms to tackle health inequality, digital exclusion, and community empowerment.