Interviews with Our Founder - Akhmet Ishmukhamedov

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Akhmet, Nov 2019 LIFE2 alum shares his inspiring story of overcoming obstacles and challenges in building his life in Singapore and his journey of self-discovery that ultimately led to his personal vision of fighting the gap between rich and poor through high quality affordable education.

My name is Akhmet Ishmukhamedov, a citizen of Kazakhstan and also a son, brother, husband and friend. I currently live in Singapore with my wife and two young children. Since my children are young (daughter – 4 years and son – 1 year old), my wife is taking care of them, and I am working hard on weekdays and weekends to make sure we have a decent life in Singapore. I run my own management consulting company – Sauwat Strategy Pte Ltd. Together with my team, we support SMEs to enter markets in Central Asia and Southeast Asia. At the same time, I am also working on a breakthrough EduTech start-up that will support schools / universities in developing countries to find high quality teachers from any part of the world.

My journey to incorporate a company in Singapore was not easy, and quite challenging with a growing pandemic. It is not easy to run a business as a foreigner because I do not receive support from the Singapore government. I am fully on my own. I am also a part-time online lecturer in a top 5 university in Kazakhstan – KAZGUU University.

PART 1: PRE LIFE2 STORY

You might ask: how did I move to Singapore and why? My journey to Singapore started from being accepted to the NUS MBA full-time program back in 2016. The main reason I pursued an MBA in Singapore was because I felt the opportunities in Singapore are amazing for growing something big, global, and valuable. It is a real Asian hub, and Asia is a future dominant international power. Moreover, NUS is a well-regarded institution in Asia and that makes the alumni network a very strong powerhouse. I also enjoy that Singapore has stable, warm (maybe hot) “weather”. In comparison, the city where I was born –  Karaganda city –  the temperature changes from -30 C to +30 C, with extremes going to -50 C and +50 C. I would say that such extreme weather conditions built a unique character in me from childhood. In particular, adaptability. 

My NUS MBA experience has a direct connection with the LIFE2 program. My academic journey started with an intensive 5 day Management Communication Camp (MC Camp) organized in cooperation with LinHart Group. I got a unique opportunity to become more self-aware, learn from prominent industry faculty, and “engineer” myself to further understand my drivers. Who am I? What is my personal vision?

MC Camp program created an atmosphere of high challenge and, at the same time, high support, where each student, including me, could open up, be vulnerable, trust they will not be judged and go “deep inside” to understand themselves. Wow, believe me, that program gave me a strong “push” for personal development. My key takeaways were that it is okay to be vulnerable, frequent high-quality feedback provides growth opportunities for everyone around you, reflective learning keeps you grounded, and better self-awareness leads to better performance. 

At the end of the program I saw a video about LIFE2 and thought being a part of it would further “open doors” for self-awareness. However, I thought I was not ready to go through the program because of a lack of senior management experience and budget to pay for it. The seeds of the LIFE2 opportunity were laid during the last day of MC Camp. 

Long story short – together with my family, the NUS MBA journey exposed me to diverse highs and lows: starting from meeting new people and becoming friends, acquiring new technical knowledge that would benefit my future skills set, searching for internships to get hands-on exposure of working in Singapore, going through days when there was only 20 USD for the whole week for our entire family. Those experiences tested my personality, character and life values. My final question after the MBA was – shall I continue running and developing my small boutique consulting company, Sauwat Strategy, or move to the corporate world and continue my career there. I decided to move to a corporate and based on the recommendation of my mentor and after going through a rigorous interview process, I joined an executive search company based in Singapore. 

My first year in a new corporate environment and new industry was very difficult and when faced with challenges, I often questioned whether I was in the right place and using my talents to their best potential. I received positive and negative feedback at work that I had not heard before. I felt there was something wrong going on inside me because I was perceived by the external environment so differently than what I felt inside.

PART 2: LIFE2 Program

The overall situation started to affect my well-being and home atmosphere because I came home late, did not spend enough time with family or participate in sports and was not smiling. I was strong enough to share my feelings with mentors and seek their independent advice. While going through these “internal emotions” I received an email from Huijin, co-founder of LinHart Group and developer of the LIFE2 program that the annual retreat for alumni of various LinHart related programs, including MC Camp was going to be held in September 2019. I eagerly accepted the invite and came closer to the conclusion that, as a 32-year-old, I had to step back and look around and understand where I am going. How would I make a powerful impact in the world? 

I am a believer that if you are a good human-being that wants only prosperity in this world, to give back to society, and to support people in need, you will receive signs and sudden positive surprises that will help you. It seems like I am a good human-being, because I received a message from Huijin about the LIFE2 program. It did not take me long to decide whether I should join, the only concern I had was my limited financial budget to pay for the program. However, the financial issue was resolved, and I became a LIFE2 participant.

My LIFE2 cohort included approximately 10 participants from Singapore, France, Hong Kong, Australia, India and me, from Kazakhstan. It was a diverse group of young leaders from various industries: wineries, oil & gas, telecommunications, banking, FMCG, fintech. Each of us shared the same challenge – we don’t know what to do next in our life journey. Who are we? What is our personal vision? What are our strengths and weaknesses? 

In preparation for LIFE2, I had the opportunity to have a one-on-one open discussion with a LIFE2 faculty about how I could grow further as a leader. From that conversation, I was surprised to learn that I tend to over-judge people due to my strong value system.

I would say my LIFE2 self-discovery started from that point. I became attuned to discovering things that I did not know about myself or I did not pay attention to. With the help of my group, I was able to articulate my main fears, my strengths, and my personal vision: Fighting the gap between poor and rich through high quality affordable education.

Part 3: POST LIFE2 Life

Within 3 days of LIFE2 I was able to fast track my previous experiences, go deep in figuring out who I am and how to go further in my life. I found out that I am very idealistic person who does not consider pragmatic world views. Therefore, in my future I will always partner with pragmatic business partners to bounce idealistic views/ideas to make them implementable. Furthermore, my idealistic view can have a negative external impact because I am optimistic about finishing 100 tasks a day – however, actually, it is not possible and that is frustrating for others.

My post LIFE2 journey is a journey of further discovery for me, while being aware of my deeper personality. I mustered the courage to quit my corporate job earlier this year and incorporated my company in Singapore under the same brand as before – Sauwat Strategy (in Kazakh “Sauwat” means intellectual, wise). Of course, early this year no one expected that a pandemic would have a severe impact on the world economy, but I had to go forward.

My business is growing very slowly, but steadily. I am also working on a new EduTech start-up that is focused on my personal vision. I am going to launch it first in Kazakhstan in August and then in other Southeast Asian countries.  

I will keep you posted! Thank you for the invitation to share my story!

Sincerely yours, Akhmet