We interviewed Shaik Fazil Saleem this week. He is the Group CEO & Founder of Maverick Business Academy London, UK & UAE and Hali Management UAE. He is a passionate entrepreneur who started his company Hali Management Consultancies UAE, at age 22. With exceptional experience in team management, direct marketing, business development and business strategy, Fazil is leading the industry as a young icon striving to bring grassroots level change in the education sector.
He aims for MAVERICK to become the most revered, trusted and reliable brand globally in the transnational education industry within a decade. This got us curious to know more about his ideas and business ways. So we started with the interview. Learn more about Fazil and his business below.
UAETimes: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Shaik Fazil Saleem: Tracing the timeline to 2012, when the journey commenced establishing an entity that was into corporate training, workshops, seminars and conferences at a micro level, I was intrigued by the fact that these knowledge-sharing sessions lacked soul & energy, and it was only executed for the purpose of a routine exercise, a tick mark on the KPI’s and not actually tapping the hidden potential amongst the talents. As a young & vibrant team, we were able to bring the much-needed transformation solely attributing to our core values and ethos.
2 years down the line, I was able to gauge the pulse of the market by exploring its dynamics and meeting people from all walks and talks of life. I mentored school & college students with whom I spent a considerable amount of time assessing the need of the hour. This is where my aspiration tilted towards serving the higher education domain in the UAE, GCC & MENA Regions. The motivation stemmed from the necessity of offering skill & knowledge-based courses backed with globally accredited qualifications at one-fifth of the cost without compromising the quality & learning experience.
From 2014 onwards, we were hellbent on the fact that the academia & industry interface needs to be bridged, and with our collaborations at the regional & international front with many reputed organizations, we partially achieved this objective. The mission is still ON, and we are striving to make education borderless, accessible, affordable, impactful, inspiring & thought-provoking.
If education revolves only around fancy certifications & exorbitant qualifications without any tangible benefit to our people & our community, then it becomes mundane and futile. It will not happen overnight, but we are taking baby steps in impacting the lives of our learners from 15+ countries in a positive way.
UAETimes: What are the various services provided by MAVERICK Business Academy London, UK & UAE?
Shaik Fazil Saleem: As an organization pioneering in the field of transnational education Domain, our forte includes:
- Transnational education offering universally recognized qualifications from High School Diploma, Bachelors, Masters, PhD, DBA & EPD from 8 Different Prestigious Universities belonging to Switzerland, the UK, the USA, Germany, Cyprus & Togo.
- Articulation & Validation,
- Edutainment,
- Satellite Campus Establishment,
- University Franchising.
UAETimes: What makes MAVERICK Business Academy London UK & UAE different from hundreds of other similar service providers?
Shaik Fazil Saleem: To summarize in a simple line ”We are more Human & Compassionate.” Transparency, delivering service excellence, happy & conducive learning ecosystem, focused on our ASK (Attitude, Skills, & Knowledge) teaching mechanisms, emotional intelligence enabled courses & their ROI has been 150% on the amount invested in terms of career prospects, skill upgrade and knowledge gain.
Choosing MAVERICK as your learning partner gives you a wider reach in terms of creating opportunities, broadening your horizons and skill proof yourselves in this disruptive era which can be sensed from the following:
- Affordable Euro Tri-City & Dual City Study & Settle Abroad Programs
- Accredited WES, UK NARIC, NZQA, MARA Approved Dual Degrees & Diplomas from the UK, USA, EU, & ASIA in the fields of Business Management, IT, Healthcare, Education, & Psychology.
- Borderless education blended with Passion – Online, Onsite & Hybrid.
- Credit Transfer & Credit Mapping Expertise
- Fly-In Faculty from UK, SWISS & SINGAPORE
- Business Networking
- Customized Corporate Trainings & Workshops
- Open, Integrated & Peer to Peer Learning delivered by Modular Specialist Faculty
- Projects & Presentation-Based Assignments
- International Conferences & Seminars
- Bridging Academia Industry Interface Through our Accredited European Professional Doctorate Business Qualifications.
- Alumni Meet with Business Boot Camps in Europe & GCC
- Eccentric Young Student Support Team
- Inclusive, Happy & Conducive Workplace
- Comprehensive Academic Guidance, Personal Coaching & Mentored Learning
- Building ASK (ATTITUDE, SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE) in our Students & Staff
- Student Exchange Programs
- Summer work Internships
Our core ethos has been TBL which is the Triple Bottom Line laying emphasis on the order of the PPP (People, Planet & Profit) Formula and deploying our DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Metrics across all our verticals and deliverables made us reinforce the belief in our roots and staying people-centric in challenging times.
UAETimes: What were your struggles and challenges, and how did you overcome them?
Shaik Fazil Saleem: When you start your entrepreneurial journey at the age of 22, you are bound to face insurmountable challenges, and it continues to date. The reason I say to date is that such scenarios bring out the best in you as we rely heavily on delivering service excellence to our clients, partners, associates & staff alike.
During the initial days, my mindset used to be to sustain the business with limited resources and ensure cash flow by following ethical business practices, which is reflected in our decade of existence. With Almighty’s grace, I never allowed temptation to get the best of me by seeking Bank Loans, Investors, or any inheritance from my family. It was purely my blood-sweat equity along with my team which, to date, is the driving force.
Being thankful for all the failures and accepting them with a sense of gratitude played a major role in shaping our institution steadily with grit and determination. Fine-tuning my mind on a daily basis, shutting the chaos outside & inside, being empathetic with my clientele & network, serving my family & society, being curious like a kid and adapting to the needs and transforming gradually allowed me to wither the storm and I can do it all day all night long without any regrets and complaints.
I owe this little-earned success to my Family, Team, Partners & Associates, the Soil of UAE & its Visionary Leaders & our ever-growing global community of learners who have invested their trust in us. Their trust is our capital 🙂
UAETimes: How do you plan to grow in the future? What do 5 years down the line look like for MAVERICK Business Academy London UK & UAE?
Shaik Fazil Saleem: Being an ardent practitioner of servant leadership and always establishing the needs of our people & learner’s community at the forefront, we envision having MAVERICK International University registered in Poland & USA by 2024 and be known as the most reliable and revered brand in the transnational education sector by bridging the academia and industry interface and create a community of learners, thinkers, doers and create a sustainable business ecosystem which will allow our learners to thrive and succeed in their chosen area of expertise.
UAETimes: If you had one piece of advice for someone just starting out, what would it be?
Shaik Fazil Saleem: Embrace failures & change by being bold and do not focus too much on stats and numbers. They can perish any day. It’s important to keep your head low and be a catalyst for others’ growth, be it your team, your clients, or your family. What matters most is addressing a key issue in any business sector with panache, passion, patience & persistence. Got to do business with an emotional drive, not just a purpose. Believe & constantly invest in yourself and keep reinventing by travelling.
Do not fall prey to the theory “BIG IS BETTER.” Remember, the tiny ANCHOR holds the ship at the shore. You grow & attain a zone of happiness when you help others grow around you. As simple as that. Hitting millions of dollars should not be the only objective. You should also focus on impacting millions of lives through your innovative ideas and solutions. Trust me, a smile from the people who you serve will catapult you a long way than the sms which cites the amount credited. Work towards that!
Connect with Shaik Fazil Saleem on LinkedIn.