Reviews

The most important words…

…are those of the entrepreneurs that join Assim’s classes, seminars, and coaching sessions. So here is a selection of comments from some of great people who have attended:

I recently had the chance to attend a workshop that Assim ran with just a small section of what he usually covers within his sessions. And even within just those few hours he helped changed my mindset of what networking means, how I can start those conversations and also see the impact this can have for everyone but especially for business owners who are so passionate about their brand. My big takeaways were talk about something that you love, there is opportunity in every situation to have that one conversation with that one person that either you could make a difference to their business or how they can impact yours. Your biggest selling point is you so don’t be afraid to talk about why you enjoy what you do this will shine through to the people you talk to. A great session and this was only a very small section so I can only imagine how I would feel after attending one of Assim’s full workshops.

I recently took part in one of Assim’s Breakthrough group coaching sessions at NatWest Entrepreneurs Hub and I honestly can not recommend this enough!There was no nonsense, we got stuck straight into the crux of matters and wasted no time in brainstorming options to solve the problems being faced. I’m not going to lie, there were a few tears, but I promise it wasn’t Assim’s fault 😂 It was overwhelming to dive so deep into the business to assess what challenges and difficulties we were facing but then also being very honest and real about the impact those issues were having on us as individuals. This forced us to confront the reality that enough is enough…we have to find a solution and establish a better way forward because otherwise, the consequences would have direct implications on us as business owners, our personal lives and the future we are trying to create. We worked collectively to share insights and ideas and I can honestly say this really was a ‘Breakthrough” session in the truest sense. If you have the chance to arrange a Breakthrough session with Assim, don’t think twice, go for it! Trust me it will be worth it.

As well as clearly having a wealth of knowledge and experience to offer, I found that Assim was genuinely interested in learning about me and my business. This meant that Assim was able to offer relevant and actionable advice for me to take forward into my business. I really enjoyed working with Assim and feel that I now have clarity on the next steps for me and my business.

I wholeheartedly recommend Assim as a coach. I had the privilege of engaging in a conversation with him about a business idea that I am considering, and it was an enlightening experience that provided me with a clear and invaluable perspective. I felt heard, understood, and supported. He has a remarkable ability to listen actively and empathetically. He asked insightful questions that encouraged me to reflect deeply on my goals and challenges. His guidance was not only about finding answers, but also about uncovering my own insights and solutions. What I appreciate most about Assim is his dedication to helping others grow and succeed. He has a wealth of knowledge and expertise to share. The approach is both professional and personable, creating an environment of trust and open communication. Thanks to his guidance, I gained new clarity and direction and I am more motivated to pursue my goals.

I had a pleasure hearing Assim delivering a talk at UK Business Forum event. His talk about investments was both educational but also entertaining. His insight was thought-provoking and at the same time engaging. I took lots of notes, but one thing that really resonated with me, was his encouragement to be resilient. Thank you and I look forward hearing more of your talks.

Following an introduction through Natwest Business Accelerator I was introduced to Assim for some guidance. He was truly amazing, giving the right knowledge and advice with me having the confidence that because he has done it all before, it was all sound advice. He was looking to build my confidence up, with me coming off the call with the "can do it" artitude that others sometimes don't.

Assim was super-friendly and took great care to speak to me about how to elevate my business. We talked on a few point how to increase in sales, what options I can create to be in front of stockists and how to lower my cost in supplies. He understood my needs and gave great advice on what steps I could take forward.

Entrepreneurial, Inventor, Visionary, Practical, and Determined – Assim is all these and more. I am delighted to express my sincere appreciation for your leadership and management skills. Since the start of our work together, and under your supervision, I have been consistently impressed by your dedication, professionalism, entrepreneurial skills, and ability to inspire others to achieve their best. I had the pleasure of meeting Assim when he volunteered to speak during an accounting analysis and valuation seminar. The level of insight demonstrated by Assim in firm valuation and financial analysis was noteworthy. I immediately knew I had to connect with him to learn more.

Assim has a unique and infectious energy! I recently bumped into Assim at a Chamber event where I talked about wanting to achieve something but feeling stuck. Assim kindly offered to have an hour coaching session with me - and what a great experience it was for me. Assim presented my goal back to me in ways I hadn't seen or appreciated previously and provided me with the tools to put in place to move myself forward. I always enjoy catching up with Assim, even if its brief as he always leaves me with a nugget of wisdom to ponder over!

If you are interested in widening your career options (e.g. as an entrepreneur, business consultant), Assim is the person to talk.

If you are feeling a little lost in life, I highly recommend Assim’s seminar on finding your IKIGAI! I attended from Australia so the session was in the middle of the night for me. But as soon as I logged on, I was inspired and energised! The session was interactive and Assim’s facilitation skills in guiding us through our journey of self discovery was extraordinary. I loved how Assim was able to build psychological safety for the group to make us comfortable to share with each other. Thank you Assim! You genuinely helped me discover a little more about myself, my purpose and my IKIGAI !

Assim delivered an amazing webinar on “The Art of Trust” at LaunchX ! The combination of his experience, energy, patience, and passion taught me valuable lessons about interpersonal relationships and team dynamics, especially in a startup setting. I highly recommend Assim as a speaker!

I had the chance to meet Assim during Ikigai seminar in collaboration with the Change Management Institute. He was very informative and more importantly he was fantastic at how he facilitated the conversation among the attendees. It was truly a great seminar to attend and definitely hope we would have another opportunity in the near future. I would highly recommend him as a speaker and business coach.

Had a wonderful opportunity to participate in an IKIGAI virtual workshop led by Assim which was hosted by the Change Management Institute. Assim's approach was engaging, high energy and informative, and created a terrific balance of information shared and ideas facilitated. Thank you for your contribution Assim to my learning journey !

Wanted to thank you for your inspiring presentation. Your focus on Trust is both thought provoking and something that many people under estimate. Thank you for giving it the attention it truly deserves.

I had a fantastic experience during Assim’s Entrepreneurial Seminar which he delivered at Keele University. Assim has a wealth of experience as a successful entrepreneur. He delivered a very valuable lecture that helped attending entrepreneurs question their assumptions, better understand their business environment and the forces that act in it, as well as challenging the attendees to develop a more concise and focused strategy.

At the end of my coaching session with Assim, in my notebook, I had written the best plan for my future that I've ever had! We had a delightful conversation, a meaningful discussion and a shared vision about opportunities and future possibilities for me and my future career. More than that, we set deadlines and made connections. In this specific and uncertain moment, it's hard to make plans, but thanks to Assim, now I have something real and interesting to work on. Thanks for the boost!

I was taking part in Assim's workshop on "winning investors for business models" at the Brainstorms Festival in Vienna. It was a great experience since he is an experienced and entertaining speaker, who did a really good job at motivating the participants to actively take part in several tasks and rethink the taught knowledge. Because of that I could not only gain insights in business and investment stategy, but also found myself motivated for my upcoming work. Thank you for that!

These valuable lessons helped me grow in confidence as an entrepreneur” Twingz is a B2B learning platform for the insurance and power industries. We have created systems to carry out analysis of energy flows, from consumption meters where energy-using devices in home/commercial environments are recognised in real time – in a cost-effective manner. The “Stronger and Wiser Entrepreneur’ Masterclass will be beneficial to me and my role within the company. When we discuss critical topics in the company, we were missing tools to ‘express’ or measure our scepticism. The topics covered in the masterclass have given me very simple, yet useful tools to assess such situations, which will become very valuable in the future. I am very happy to have attended with course. Assim led us to understand how much power and influence we have in our relationships with buyers, sellers and the competition which will help set reality in our approach when dealing the market. I now feel more confident in own abilities to handle the challenges that might come in future. This Masterclass is different from the those that I typically attend. It covers a domain where most entrepreneurs are afraid of or shy to talk about. But failing is part of being a founder, and you have to deal with it. So this masterclass can give you some great tools to avoid failure and also give some awareness regarding what you have and what you don’t have as a startup. I would be keen to have this masterclass with the rest of my colleagues in my company.

I’m better prepared for my journey in business – highly recommended this class!” InsacktM is company developing protein fit for human consumption, derived from insects. With the financial and environmental costs of traditional meat rising, we believe that alternative sources are needed. As the CEO of a startup company, I wanted to attend this masterclass to help with my development for the commercial aspects of the role that are very new to me, where I have some natural anxieties for someone new in the world of business. I found the Masterclass useful in understanding how the my suppliers and customers view me and my business – great preparation as we progress our company strategy. The lessons in assessing which business people I should and should not work with helped me as the leader of my company. The lessons learnt opened up my thoughts on further skills that I need to bring into the business, and the additional skills to strengthen my own entrepreneurial skill set – which will help me in future growth. For example, I feel that I now understand a little more about the negotiating business deals, but also that there’s a lot more to learn, and that I should sometimes bring in specialist help such as good commercial lawyers; before this class I have tried to do everything on my own, and badly. As a person with a non-business background, this masterclass has better prepared me for entering business and knowing that there are particular skills that I need to acquire and how best to work deal with commercial partners. I have greater clarity and confidence of my future in business.

This masterclass is a ‘disruptor’ in the entrepreneurial education – bravo Assim!” Wego is an app based on the most innovative technologies: blockchain, big data and AI that allows people to share their vehicles with the community, in a simple, reliable and sustainable way. We are a game-changing, market disrupting technology, starting in the personal transportation sector. I decided to attend this masterclass, aiming to improve my 360-degree vision about the entrepreneurial world. As I am new in my journey as an entrepreneur, I know I have to transmit confidence to my collaborators, showing them the right way – and that there is more I need to know! This seminar seemed to be a good route to gain the benefit of an experienced business person willing to share the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial journey. I have learned many things from this masterclass that were invaluable, one of those is that I should rely less on fate, hope and good wishes, but more on my own new skills and capabilities to select the right partners to work with. Assim has instilled in us ‘the right to be more confident’ based on his skills, experiences and lesson that he was able to teach us. This masterclass was a great choice. The subject was a ‘disruptor’ in the field of entrepreneurial education – Bravo Assim!

For a more secure and confident business future, take the masterclass from Assim” My co-founder and I are developing a new form of biodegradable material as replacement for plastic and coatings for packaging. We believe this could be a game changing product that could help improve the sustainability of the food industry. I selected this masterclass to sail the business ship to our desired destination, whilst avoiding the dangers along the way. As a relatively new business there are many fears – so I welcomed the opportunity to learn from Assim’s experience as entrepreneur. This masterclass has given me lots to think about: that I can directly implement structures to secure my business today. My co-founder and I will discuss the lessons learned to strengthen our strategy, ergo allowing our business to progress. I feel that I have much greater confidence in how I will deal with suppliers and potential customers in the future. I enjoyed the awesome energy within the group that Assim fostered. I would be really grateful and excited to get an invite to meet again in the future as ‘stronger and wiser entrepreneurs’. If you want to be sure on how to do business right, with greater security and confidence then I recommend the masterclass from Assim Ishaque.

I’ve got clearer on seeing business weaknesses and more confident the fixes” I manage the product development and focus our business on new products that meet our customers needs. Our company uses our proprietary biochemical process to product absorbent granules, optimised to efficiency capture specific pollutants from wastewater. The Stronger and Wiser masterclass was really useful as it gave me insight into evaluating the potential weaknesses in the business – but more importantly it taught me processes to tackle those issues. These are so relevant to my business objectives; I will be using the new models presented in the sessions, specifically in being more objective in the way I evaluate potential business relationships in the future. Overall, I found this course to be really interesting and useful – especially the tools discussed to address potential weaknesses and put in place solutions.

I’ve just had a very enlightening coaching meeting with Assim Ishaque. I felt totally at ease to discuss my ideas, which he helped focus to a laser sharp point in just one hour. Assim is very candid about the pitfalls that can appear along the way of developing and commercialising a product, which, to me, is a refreshing and welcome attitude. He is also intent on insuring that money is invested in a safe way. Having a flexible, open mind is what he has asked of me, and he has inspired me to keep working and progressing my ideas. Therefore, I would definitely recommend Assim’s Coaching services.

Assim is such a fantastic speaker! Our students at LaunchX entrepreneurship program for high school students loved this session. In fact, here are some of the comments where students shared how impactful this was: - Great session, really interesting! Liked how he talked about his past mistakes, and the trust in politics was also interesting. - This session was very interesting and gave some important information that I have not learned about before. - Thank you for your great presentation, Assim! It was very easy to understand, especially the explanation of the triangulation model of trust with many examples! - It was so amazing. I found the session to be very informative. Thank you so much again, Assim

Assim delivered a clear and engaging talk today at the Keele University Business Base Camp. He taught us important lessons from his past business experiences which will save learning them the hard way! He also gave some sound, valuable and actionable business advice to grow my business! Highly recommend Assim!

I met Assim through a virtual Funding Bootcamp on MS Teams held by the University of Wolverhampton. Of the speakers on the day Assim stood out from the rest with his unique style of delivery and communication through the virtual platform. I say unique, as captivating the audience remotely where you can instantly gain their undivided attention is a gift. Assim did not share an obligatory slide deck. Instead, he chose to converse with the audience using a confident, self styled technique that seamlessly delivered a detailed, extremely informative, enlightening and, at times, humorous presentation on grant funding and the many pitfalls that are there ahead of all SMEs. At the end of Assim’s presentation I found my self wanting more. As a result I have made contact through LinkedIn and his web address where I look forward to meeting Assim again, soon. Albeit I have only met Assim once, virtually, I already have a great deal of respect and acknowledgement of his business acumen, and dedication to others. Thank you Assim.

I joined a webinar on 11 June 2020 organised by Keele University Smart innovation Hub Business Gateway about “Developing A Mindset For The New Norm”. Assim was one of the panellists The discussions and questions revolved around what positive adaptations businesses had made as a result of the pandemic and lockdown. Assim, in particular, made some great observations around the fact that “younger” businesses had adapted better (digital adoption, new online service deliveries etc) and that many businesses were more conscious of their environmental impact – the last three months having seen that impact reduce dramatically due to the temporary closure of many businesses. I particularly liked his purchase of a Brompton Bike (Google it!) to keep his personal impact down! He clearly has a passion for helping SME growth and is well worth a listen to! He also wears a very impressive tie…

I had the pleasure of hearing Assim speak at the Keele University -‘ Developing A Mindset For The New Norm ‘ – Business Webinar on the 11th of June. I really enjoyed the clarity and experience he brought to the debate. His experience as an Entrepreneurial Speaker, Business Coach, and Innovation Consultant comes across really strongly. Following that, I arranged a 121 with him online and gained so much insight into the latest business and entrepreneurial thinking. I’d strongly recommend any business looking to develop in these unusual time gets in contact with Assim for a chat

Great Business mentor. Had a session with him and he was kind enough to offer his professional guidance on enterpreushership especially when it comes to making a decision on the business directions. I am at a point in my life where am trying to reinvent myself and decide what to do after working as a professional accountant for close to 8 years. I feel that business is the way for me as am a spirited individual and prefer being my own boss and defining my own goals. He reminded me that whatever I settle for the key thing is focusing on my WHY which makes the decision easier and looking at an area where I can use my vast experience. Thank you so much Assim for your insight.

There are many events offered to an entrepreneur but, there are few that provide concise strategic direction that, supports real know-how on what investors are looking for. Assim takes you through the reality process to highlight where you need to direct your focus. Part of this step by step direction includes, a review of your value proposition and, the Total Accessible Market. Changing your thought direction so that you pinpoint the bigger investment opportunity and, scale the opportunity in a way that is investible. Thank you Assim.