"[7] In July 2021, The Scheherazade Foundation launched a crowdfunding appeal[8] so that they could repatriate Ethiopian artefacts looted by British troops from Ethiopia in East Africa in 1868, following the Battle of Magdala.

[9] The crowdfunding enabled the foundation to purchase several items, including an imperial shield, handwritten Ethiopian religious texts, crosses, and a set of beakers, from a UK auction house and private dealers in Europe.

[9][10] On 8 September 2021, the items were presented to the Ethiopian Ambassador, Teferi Melesse Desta by the foundation's chief executive officer, Tahir Shah, at a ceremony at London's Athenaeum Club.

[12][13] In a report in the Smithsonian Magazine, Dr. Alula Pankhurst, a member of Ethiopia's National Heritage Restitution Committee expressed hope that The Scheherazade Foundation's efforts would lead to further restitution initiatives, "especially at a time when retaining artefacts, notably human remains such as those of Prince Alemayehu in Windsor Chapel or sacred objects such as the holy Tabot Arks of the Covenant in the British Museum is becoming increasingly anachronistic, irrelevant and embarrassing.

"[16] On the basis of this new legal opinion, a letter was drawn up by the Scheherazade Foundation and sent to the trustees of the British Museum asking for the return of the eleven wood and stone tabots held there.