Brand of the Year - its the people who make and are the brand

Pathway Group is honoured to have been recognised as ‘Brand of the Year’ at the Pakistan Achievement Awards 2016. This is a celebration of the collective efforts from each of our team members and as I have said before its the people who make and are the brand.

In addition in theapt words of author and keynote speaker Brian Solis: ‘We live in a time where brands are people, and people are brands’.
And without our ‘people’ at Pathway Group, this highly-esteemed accolade would not have been within our grasp.

We pride ourselves in creating value for trusted business communities. Our Pathway2Grow forums are testament to this as they enable business owners to connect, and build long-lasting professional relationships. We manage our networking groups on a ‘no strings attached’ basis, so members are never asked to ‘sign up’ or pay any form of a subscription fee- All we ask is that our affiliates share their advice and expertise, and participate in online and off-line engagements where appropriate.

We have successfully launched our networking platforms in various cities across the country. Our most recent debut event was the launch of Bromsgrove ‘Coffee & Natter’- a monthly business event which takes place on a weekday afternoon. For those who prefer to network during the evenings or at the weekends, we have set up ‘Chutney and Chat’ regionally, as well as ‘Samosa Saturday’ a networking forum open for ladies only.
Our regional directors have advanced greatly through managing our networking groups, as they have built and raised awareness of their own brands and businesses. We are currently looking to launch our Pathway2Grow groups in other areas of the UK. Not only will this encourage further professional networking, but it will also allow us to create mutually beneficial partnerships with like-minded entrepreneurs.

As leading apprenticeship training providers, Pathway Group has paid particular attention to the upcoming government changes for 2017. The most fundamental transition being the ‘apprenticeship levy’. With the concept of educating employers and apprentices firmly in mind, we have collated useful information about the levy and relayed it in print documents, and at various events. In the run-up to the apprenticeship levy being introduced, we will focus on advising companies on how to prepare for the changes, and take full advantage of them.
In addition to this, Pathway Group is proud of having hosted the ‘Asian Apprenticeship Awards’ in Birmingham, and being able to successfully highlight the achievements of the younger generation. Although this inspirational event was the first of its kind, we are keen to make it the first of many and have plans to relaunch the awards ceremony towards the end of 2017. We look forward to welcoming even more keynote speakers, and celebrating the plethora of opportunities, that apprenticeships provide.

The Brand of the year was presented to myself on behalf of Pathway Group by Baroness Warsi with audience members from the Pakistani Business Community across the UK there on the night. A heartfelt thank you to the supporters of Pathway Group, and to those who share our aspirations. We approach the new year with our continued belief in recognising potential, encouraging teamwork, and of course, the celebrating the value of ‘people’.

Proud moment with The Asian Apprenticeship Awards

THE very best in apprentices from the British Asian community have taken a bow at a very special awards presentation. The first ever Asian Apprenticeship Awards took place on the 10th November 2016. These awards aim is to celebrate and showcase the best of British Asian Apprentices and the people that employ and train them.

Background and context

Apprenticeships provide value for individuals, businesses, and the economy. Over the last 5 years, more than two million apprenticeship courses have been delivered; the government is now aiming for another three million recruits by the year 2020.

For those who are involved within this particular field, the ultimate goal is that the prospect of higher education, no longer outweighs the opportunity to embark upon an apprenticeship. And with the expansion of Higher, and Degree Apprenticeships available, this seems more likely than ever before.

The opportunities for apprenticeships are rapidly increasing every year. With an immense rise in specialised and highly skilled apprenticeship courses being offered. The government has also put employers in the driving seat – groups of employers, large and small are working together to design apprenticeships so that they respond to the needs of their industries. Current apprenticeship frameworks are being replaced by standards. The aim is to increase the quality of apprenticeships- introducing more rigorous testing at the end of the apprenticeship to ensure that the apprentice is fully competent and grading to challenge and stretch.

There is also the additional change to apprenticeship funding with again the employers being in the driving seat with funding shifting towards them and for employers taking a central role of their own budgets. The first of these changes is planned to take place in May 2017 with these additional changes there is no doubt that apprenticeships will shift into main stream language and culture.

There is a universal commitment in the UK of being able to extend opportunities for everyone, regardless of their race, gender, or religion. In this respect, a number of government targets have been placed to improve the labour market chances for all. These include increasing the quantity of apprenticeships taken on by young people deriving from BME backgrounds by 20%, and then increasing BME employment by another 20%, by the year 2020.



British Asian community is under represented

Most of us recognise that for the success of businesses and therefore the economy and the country as a whole we have to be able to draw upon a skilled and motivated workforce.
It is also clear that our apprentices are vital to providing those skills. But it is also clear that there are not enough of them and especially not enough of them from the British Asian communities.
So the challenge for us is how to help address this issue.

The Asian Apprenticeship Awards are all about doing something practical to make a positive difference and we will continue to do so by highlighting, recognising and celebrating apprenticeship success both with individuals, employers and learning providers that support them.



As the Founder and Chair of the Asian Apprenticeship Awards I stated that “Apprentices are vital to our future but the British Asian community is under represented and “The best way to raise awareness and to encourage others is to show what can be achieved and we have been delighted by the response from apprentices, employers and sponsors.” “Without the support of our apprentices, the people who employ them, our sponsors, judges and ambassadors this event would not have been possible.”


It is envisaged that the Asian Apprenticeship Awards which had representation from across the country and industries will become an annual event.

My meeting with Rami Ranger at the offices of Sun Mark in London

On the morning of Saturday 22nd October, myself and my team of five went down to see Dr Raminder Singh Ranger commonly referred to as Rami Ranger at his offices & Distribution centre in London. Rami is genuinely a truly inspiring and a very down to earth person. We met for over 2 hours and discussed his participation at the Asian Apprenticeship Awards for the 10th November 2016 amongst many others. A video interview was shot where we discussed many a thing including his views on the economy and the future of entreprenuership.

Background to Rami:

Rami heads a business empire with an annual turnover of in excess of £200 million and operating in 130 countries.
Rami has a remarkable story of a man whose father was assassinated before he was born at the time of the partition of India.
Rami came to the UK in 1971 to study law expecting the ‘streets to be paved with gold’ but when he found that he could not take forward his ambition he took the only job available which was cleaning cars.
His philosophy with that job like, everything else he has done, was to make sure he did it well in order to ‘stand out from the rest.’

“If you cannot do a small job well then how can you be trusted with a big one,” said Rami.
Other jobs followed including working for Kentucky Fried Chicken, the electrical retailer Dixons and running a family convenience store, off licence and Post Office.
But the big change came in 1987 when based in a shed and armed with only a typewriter and £2 he started to help customers export electrical appliances.
A seconding marketing business ‘Sun Mark’ followed along with five consecutive Queen’s Awards for Enterprise as well as one for Exporting.
Still working hard and with no plans to retire, Rami Ranger spends more time on community based work including a leading role with the Princes Trust helping young people.
He is a Government Ambassador for Apprenticeships and also advises the Prime Minister on the subject that is close to his heart.
“I am not a believer is high flyers but want people who can learn and work their way up from the bottom growing with the business as it grows,” said Rami.
“Apprenticeships offer a great opportunity for people to earn and learn.”
But he believes that there is a huge job to be done ‘educating’ young people, their parents and employers about the value of apprentices.
In particular he wants to help to address the under representation of young Asians when it comes to apprenticeships.
“There is a view that apprentices only work in manufacturing and that it is in some way a second class qualification and this is totally wrong,” he said.
It is in order to help spread the word that Rami Ranger is supporting the Asian Apprenticeship Awards and coming to Birmingham to speak.
His story ‘From Nothing to Everything’ is truly inspirational and shows what can be achieved with qualities that include hard work, vision, empathy with others and a desire to work in partnership with suppliers, employees and customers.
“I work with my customers to help them succeed because if they are successful then I am successful,” he said.

Thank you Rami for your support and assistance.

Under pressure: How to be a confident leader, originally published on Medium 01 July 2016

This was my article that I originally poseted on my medium account here: https://medium.com/@SafarazAli/under-pressure-how-to-be-a-confident-leader-88f36be5d969#.49dw4qarz and I am reposting on this platform to get additional reach. The full post is as below:

Amongst all the political chaos of the past week or so, Jeremy Corbyn has come under mounting pressure to resign as Leader of the Labour Party. Despite mass resignations amongst the Shadow Cabinet and a vote of no confidence from the vast majority of his Labour MPs, Corbyn says:
"I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning."

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Boris Johnson unexpectedly announced he would not be running for Tory leadership, after Michael Gove decided he’d prefer to go it alone and run for leadership instead of backing Johnson’s campaign.

It appears Johnson doesn’t have the confidence to take on Gove; he buckled under the pressure and decided to take a step back. Both Corbyn’s and Johnson’s situations have got me thinking about how we can remain confident as business leaders, no matter what pressures we face.

Do you buckle under pressure?
The majority of people do, but there are ways to train yourself to cope with, and even thrive on, pressure. Pressure is inevitable, and how you react to it can be your make or break as a leader. So what can you do to become one of those leaders who appear cool, calm and collected in the face of pressure?

Put pressure on yourself
This seems like strange advice but the best leaders put pressure on themselves to always improve. Personal pressure to be a better leader can help to focus and motivate you, far more than the pressure others may put on you can.
But give yourself time to breathe
Whilst you should put pressure on yourself to be constantly improving, make sure you allow yourself free time to step away from your leadership role. If you’re constantly putting pressure on yourself, you’ll end up making bad decisions. A break can help you recharge and think creatively.

Be comfortable in yourself
Know what your strengths and weaknesses are, your values, and what you would or wouldn’t compromise on. If you have conviction in what you believe in, you’re less likely to be swayed by the pressure of others.

Delegate to the right people
If you’re feeling unnecessary pressure, it’s likely that you have taken on too much. Delegating tasks to the right people in your organisation is a sure-fire way of relieving some pressure, and will free up your time to do what you should be doing – leading. Leaders who feel the most pressure are those who feel they must do everything themselves.
How do you deal with pressure? I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts in the comments below or you can tweet @SafarazAli.
Kind regards,
Safaraz

keynote speech from Jeff Hoffman in Manchester Business Rocks earlier this year

A winning mindset digging a little deeper - a blog by Safaraz Ali posted...

Amusing video from a Self-Proclaimed 'Thought Leader’ Gives Talk on 'Thought Leadership'

IF 100 PEOPLE LIVED ON EARTH - a must watch video

THE 7 #HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE #PEOPLE BY STEPHEN COVEY - #video

A yatter about changes in the UK government funded skills funding sector…….

I think back to when I was 17, and my first work experience was working for Halfords, whilst studying at College. Training was on the job and a manual was given to us to read and we were trying to help with car bits and bobs, that I didn’t have a clue about, just like the funding rules and all the bits and bobs we have to learn very quickly.

When I look back, my two most proud moments in the industry were achieving the prime contract status for Skills Funding Agency and also becoming a subcontractor for the work programme. Looking back, both seemed impossible when I started off.

Just like the Apprenticeship Levy and the Trailblazers it looks like a big challenge! This includes changes from the Adult Skills Budget and planned changes to the New Adult Education Budget (AEB).
These new moves will see funds go over to Local Enterprise partnerships for the priority local area needs and with further education colleges taking the lead. Also the councils will also play a very large role in this area, in the initial stages it appears to ignore the special place local Independent training providers and community Interest provision can play.
This will help those furthest from learning or the workplace. For learners with a legal entitlement, the Government thinks it is right that government specify the qualification offer that will be available. They expect providers to work with a range of local partners and stakeholders to ensure that the local learning offer meets local needs.
As the head of an independent training provider I look at several things around funding and I have learned it’s not just all about the money. Although of course it is very important.

The first is of course the quality of learning for the learner’s journey, I think we need to look at how we can both improve partnership working and share resources to both add value but cut down costs and improve quality of the learning experience.

We need to look at flexibility within our own staff and look for additional training to equip the staff to move from one project to another, both quickly and effectively. We need to do this in a much more formulated way to give more security to the staff, in this ever changing landscape.

With the trailblazers changes in funding, this will probably mean staff having to be brought in with specialist knowledge where they have very much more focus on specialist industry knowledge. Along with this is managing frameworks with very little structure in terms of the old criteria format. Also I feel that many items we use need to be looked at for price reduction by buying in a collaborative way.

Additionally, the uncertainty of the costs of the end assessment’s is going to mean to some very interesting items, like the effect on cash flows as self-certification will disappear. This is an item I am sure you will need to know more about, as will I.

We have been informed early about the changes underway for 2016 to 2017, which is much better for planning than waiting until July which is the case on previous occasions.

The overall situation is one which we will all have to look at with a plan A and a plan B, I am even thinking of a plan C.