“I have worked with Rizwan on a number of occasions, as he has provided extremely high quality consultancy, advice and support both to the organisation that I run (The Hackney Pirates), and also to several leading social entrepreneurs, which I brokered during my role as a Fellowship Manager for Ashoka UK. Rizwan has a quite exceptional knowledge of social enterprises and the challenges they face. He has worked with a broad range of organisations across the world, and at many different stages of organisational growth, meaning he is able to provide a unique perspective for many different types of organisations. He is extremely quickly able to get to grips with the challenges that organisations face, and help you tackle them. His analysis is always extremely accurate, and he quickly moves to practical and useful strategies for organisations to overcome their barriers. He engages with you at the level that makes sense for you. I fully recommend Rizwan for any type of work, as his range is extremely broad. He is a pleasure to work with!”
“Rizwan has served as a critical strategic consultant to Ashoka Peru and also as a consultant on scaling impact for several leading Ashoka social entrepreneurs around the world as part of the the Ashoka Globalizer program. Rizwan is an incredibly skilled advisor. He is extremely knowledgeable, strategic, creative and patient. His work with with numerous Ashoka Fellows has had tremendous impact on their organizations and their ability to scale the impact of their social innovations. He is truly a gift for any social entrepreneur looking for skilled and strategic guidance on a wide range of organizational issues.”
“Rizwan puts more onto one page what others would put in a 50 page report. Insightful, fast thinking, intelligent and challenging..it is fantastic and refreshing to work with Rizwan.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative
“Rizwan is one of a kind. He knows his subject matter very well. He's generous with ideas, helps with practical implementation and delivers messages in a personable way that makes you feel you can do it easily. He simplies complex concepts, making them accessible. Challenges you in an eloquent, yet direct manner. The one key pointer about Riz, is that he really cares about people and is a generous person with his ideas, time, knowledge and friendship. If you have the opportunity to work with him, grab it! It will be life-changing.”
“Rizwan volunteered his pro bono services to our Institute to improve our networking communication skills. He is a skilled, patient, highly knowledgeable and professional advisor, dedicated to improving the skills and performance of efforts to improve social conditions.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative
“Rizwan and I first met when he was traveling through South America during his several-year research trip during which he provided pro bono support to social entrepreneurs. When we first sat down and Rizwan began probing me about our organization's history, challenges and successes, I felt the power of his intuition and attention to detail. By the end of the first session he was already providing invaluable insights into our development and how we might reconsider things. A sense of clarity and relief began to set in as I "re-perceived" challenges through his acute perspective which paved the way for significant and fundamental changes to our organization's development. I am very comfortable saying that Catalytic Communities' increasing success since 2009 has much to do with Rizwan's ongoing acute analysis and recommendations. And equally impressive--something I have rarely seen over the years--when Rizwan commits to helping, the quality of his support does not hinge on the scale of payment. The fact he has provided support to us on a pro bono basis has not affected the quality of that support. I recommend his keen insight to anyone developing any sort of social enterprise. You will not be disappointed.”
“Rizwan is a strategic thinker and deeply committed to social change. I had the privilege to attend one of his social change design workshop and his solution-oriented attitude make teams to think out of their comfortable zone. Rizwan is an entrepreneur himself, and a blend of professional skills makes him an outstanding candidate to any venture, sector and industry. I hope that many more people have a chance to meet and work alongside Rizwan.”
“Rizwan is an incredible advisor for non profits, citizen sector and non-governmental organizations. He is extremely knowledgeable, strategic, creative and patient. He has worked closely with leading social entrepreneurs throughout the world helping them to dramatically improve their organizations for better results. I would highly recommend him for any type of consulting. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert
“Working with Rizwan for whatever little time I got opened my eyes to the way I looked at social problems. His deep rooted and grounded thinking, ability of problem solving from the roots, his practical experiences of working with organizations world over make him one of the most knowledgeable and intelligent experts in the social sector I have met. It is a privilege to know him and have worked with him.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Good Value
Catriona Maclay, Founding Director, The Hackney Pirates, UK
“Rizwan has served as a critical strategic consultant to Ashoka Peru and also as a consultant on scaling impact for several leading Ashoka social entrepreneurs around the world as part of the the Ashoka Globalizer program. Rizwan is an incredibly skilled advisor. He is extremely knowledgeable, strategic, creative and patient. His work with with numerous Ashoka Fellows has had tremendous impact on their organizations and their ability to scale the impact of their social innovations. He is truly a gift for any social entrepreneur looking for skilled and strategic guidance on a wide range of organizational issues.”
Nadine Freeman, Director en Ashoka Globalizer, Peru
“Rizwan puts more onto one page what others would put in a 50 page report. Insightful, fast thinking, intelligent and challenging..it is fantastic and refreshing to work with Rizwan.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative
Vik Anderson, Running Mix Fits, UK
“Rizwan is one of a kind. He knows his subject matter very well. He's generous with ideas, helps with practical implementation and delivers messages in a personable way that makes you feel you can do it easily. He simplies complex concepts, making them accessible. Challenges you in an eloquent, yet direct manner. The one key pointer about Riz, is that he really cares about people and is a generous person with his ideas, time, knowledge and friendship. If you have the opportunity to work with him, grab it! It will be life-changing.”
Melanie Maritz, Marketing and BD Consultant at Persell Ewart and Co, UK
“Rizwan volunteered his pro bono services to our Institute to improve our networking communication skills. He is a skilled, patient, highly knowledgeable and professional advisor, dedicated to improving the skills and performance of efforts to improve social conditions.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative
Richard Webb, Director en UNIVERSIDAD DE SAN MARTIN DE PORRES, Peru
“Rizwan and I first met when he was traveling through South America during his several-year research trip during which he provided pro bono support to social entrepreneurs. When we first sat down and Rizwan began probing me about our organization's history, challenges and successes, I felt the power of his intuition and attention to detail. By the end of the first session he was already providing invaluable insights into our development and how we might reconsider things. A sense of clarity and relief began to set in as I "re-perceived" challenges through his acute perspective which paved the way for significant and fundamental changes to our organization's development. I am very comfortable saying that Catalytic Communities' increasing success since 2009 has much to do with Rizwan's ongoing acute analysis and recommendations. And equally impressive--something I have rarely seen over the years--when Rizwan commits to helping, the quality of his support does not hinge on the scale of payment. The fact he has provided support to us on a pro bono basis has not affected the quality of that support. I recommend his keen insight to anyone developing any sort of social enterprise. You will not be disappointed.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative
Theresa Williamson, Founder & CEO at Catalytic Communities, Brazil
“Rizwan is a strategic thinker and deeply committed to social change. I had the privilege to attend one of his social change design workshop and his solution-oriented attitude make teams to think out of their comfortable zone. Rizwan is an entrepreneur himself, and a blend of professional skills makes him an outstanding candidate to any venture, sector and industry. I hope that many more people have a chance to meet and work alongside Rizwan.”
Elenice Tiemi Tamashiro, Manager, Community and Localization Team, Ashoka´s Changemakers, Bazil
“Rizwan is an incredible advisor for non profits, citizen sector and non-governmental organizations. He is extremely knowledgeable, strategic, creative and patient. He has worked closely with leading social entrepreneurs throughout the world helping them to dramatically improve their organizations for better results. I would highly recommend him for any type of consulting. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert
Nadine Freeman, Director en Ashoka Globalizer, Peru
“Working with Rizwan for whatever little time I got opened my eyes to the way I looked at social problems. His deep rooted and grounded thinking, ability of problem solving from the roots, his practical experiences of working with organizations world over make him one of the most knowledgeable and intelligent experts in the social sector I have met. It is a privilege to know him and have worked with him.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Good Value
Pooja Taparia, Founder & CEO, Arpan, India
“Rizwan is a power-house of knowledge, information and deep insight on the development space. He has spent significant time in getting a first hand experience of global development challenges across the world, immersed himself in deep learning and understanding of institutions attempting to solve complex problems. He is a deep and analytical thinker and is able to simplify complex problems and bring in a completely fresh perspective into organizational thinking. He is brilliant at strategic planning, organization change facilitation and group facilitation. He is truly inspiring and committed to supporting organizations and social entrepreneurs with their next big challenge and as a deep sensitivity to help with respect and care. Rizwan, while being a brilliant thinker and doer is also a very sensitive human being and that's what makes him so remarkable.”
Vishal Talreja, Cofounder & Executive Director, Dream A Dream, India
“I was very fortunate to have Rizwan engage with me on a social innovation project I was developing for Equilibrium. Rizwan was generous with his time and insights, and was able to provide truly thoughtful comments right away - a testament to the depth of his experience and knowledge, sharp understanding of the social innovation space, and compassion for those working to advance the field. I recommend him highly, would happily provide further comments on our work together, and would be lucky to have the opportunity to work with him again.”
Lauren Ryder, Director, Equilibrium Partnership, United States
“If you are starting or running a social enterprise or a non-profit and you need some really sharp advice, Rizwan would be your go to go guy. He has a keen insight into happens in the real world and he can give you practical and no-nonsense advice on many things ranging from what you need to do to raise funding to how you need to refine your offering or very simply how to improve the messaging on your website. It is rare to come across such practical wisdom.”
Bhalchander Vishwanath, CEO and Founder, UnitedProsperity.org, United States
“Rizwan has experience consulting more business models with social impact than most people have even started to think about.
His Design Thinking and Shared Value approach proved really useful while analyzing online user experience and business model of my social venture.
I recommend him with any project that requires the very best in business development with social impact.”
Pepe Villatoro, Founder, Revolución con Letras, Mexico
“Rizwan offered consulting service on a website project designed to showcase social enterprises in West Africa in a fun and interactive way. He provided invaluable insight and advice -- helping me reshape the website's message, content and design for more impact -- and the project simply wouldn't have been the same without his contributions.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert
Phil Paoletta, Founder, How To Draw Camels, Mali
Top qualities: Expert, High Integrity, Creative
“Rizwan worked with us at a time when we really needed someone to help us think about how best to promote ourselves, and what we do. Rizwan was a fantastic listener, extremely focused, objective, and provided the clear thinking we needed to get our answers. TIE is a better organization following Rizwan’s direction, and I will be forever grateful for the time he took to help us with our mission. I can’t recommend him enough.”
Top qualities: Great Results, High Integrity, Creative
“I met Rizwan just as he took time off to help social entrepreneurs across many countries of the world improve their projects. His input into PIN's strategy was extremely helpful and now that he's finally settled down in South East Asia, I can imagine that he'll be able to help more social entrepreneurs inch closer to their mission.”
Top qualities: Personable, Expert, Creative
“Rizwan has a wonderfully strategic thinking process that he can apply to things ranging from organisational development to programme design.Undoubtedly a self-starter and an inspiration to other people of his age, Rizwan took volunteerism to a different level during the short time I knew him, bringing value to several organisations and programmes as he travelled around the world. Rizwan is committed, focussed and analytical person and exhibits the ability to work across cultures and countries and issues. I am sure he will be able to build a great practice for the social sector in his new surroundings.”
“Rizwan is the kind of advisor who pays attention to details and is able to come up with creative solutions to social issues and organizational structure that I faced at my organization. He also follows up on sessions. Really good person to have on board and hire”
Top qualities: Personable, Expert, Creative
Lorena Garcia, Director, Ashoka Miami, United States
“Rizwan worked with us at a time when we really needed someone to help us think about how best to promote ourselves, and what we do. Rizwan was a fantastic listener, extremely focused, objective, and provided the clear thinking we needed to get our answers. TIE is a better organization following Rizwan’s direction, and I will be forever grateful for the time he took to help us with our mission. I can’t recommend him enough.”
Top qualities: Great Results, High Integrity, Creative
Philippa White, Founder, TIE, Brazil
“I met Rizwan just as he took time off to help social entrepreneurs across many countries of the world improve their projects. His input into PIN's strategy was extremely helpful and now that he's finally settled down in South East Asia, I can imagine that he'll be able to help more social entrepreneurs inch closer to their mission.”
Top qualities: Personable, Expert, Creative
'Gbenga Sesan, Founder, PIN, Nigeria
“Rizwan has a wonderfully strategic thinking process that he can apply to things ranging from organisational development to programme design.Undoubtedly a self-starter and an inspiration to other people of his age, Rizwan took volunteerism to a different level during the short time I knew him, bringing value to several organisations and programmes as he travelled around the world. Rizwan is committed, focussed and analytical person and exhibits the ability to work across cultures and countries and issues. I am sure he will be able to build a great practice for the social sector in his new surroundings.”
Sohini Bhattacharya, Senior Change Manager and Director, South Asia Partnerships, Ashoka, India
“Rizwan is the kind of advisor who pays attention to details and is able to come up with creative solutions to social issues and organizational structure that I faced at my organization. He also follows up on sessions. Really good person to have on board and hire”
Top qualities: Personable, Expert, Creative
Tini Zainuddin, Founder, Chow Kids, Malaysia
“Rizwan has a truly unique and inspiring approach to what you may call "development". His spirit and the rigor with which he pursues his Globo Social project is something our world needs desperately.”
Kamiel Verwer, Traveler, Charity Travel
“Rizwan's clear thinking and patience was a key part of us reworking the way we run Alchemy Employablility program - he helped us focus our thinking & raise our margins.. his wide experience is a great asset in generating options for growth.. Thanks Riz.. you've made a big difference to us and our challenge of tripling our growth to 1000+ unemployed people in 2012!”
Akshay Cherian, Co Founder, Meta Results & Alchemy Career Solutions, India
“Rizwan dedicated a ton of time to brainstorm Sankalp's strategy for achieving our goal of raising awareness of the issue of injecting drug use and HIV, and simultaneously the organisation goal of organizing our current and future following/audience to increase volunteering capacity and raise funding more easily.
Furthermore, he inspired us to redesign and build-up the Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust's website, www.sankalptrust.org. He even put me in contact with another NGO, OSCAR, and motivated me to help them create their 1st website, http://oscarfootballclub.blogspot.com/.
We're all impressed by his socially-minded travels, and specifically thrilled with how he was able to share a ton of internet-related information to implement a super-manageable new website using blogger.com. He's a impassioned and patient teacher, and assiduously encouraging. He provides rapid feedback, even while traveling. If you're looking to increase your internet exposure, Rizwan is your mate.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, Creative
David Weinreb, Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust, India
“I met Rizwan in November 2009 when he traveled to Brazil as part of his global social enterprise consulting trip. Since then I've spoken with him on a continual basis, and he has joined the Advisory Board of Ayllu. I rely on Rizwan for all kinds of advice related to Ayllu's strategic direction and his input is among the most valuable and critical to our development. Rizwan's eclectic professional experiences allow him to excel in recognizing big-picture trends. At the same time he has an uncanny ability to comprehend a new business model, analyze it, and deliver unexpected advice that is incisive and true. Rizwan is a disruptive innovator - his input requires us to reorder our thinking and, sometimes, change direction - and afterwards I always ask myself 'what would I do without him!?' Rizwan's uncanny, utterly unique opinions and ideas make him indispensable. I'm impatient for him to start his own consulting firm, as there is such a need to challenge industry norms and guide social enterprise in such a way that this field can mature.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Good Value, Creative
Melissa Richer, Founder & CEO, Ayllu, Brazil
“Rizwan was brilliant with us. He was clear and cut straight to what we needed. He explains things simply and yet produces great results. He did much more than we asked of him and was really thorough. We would happily work with him again.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity
Amy Barbor, Founder, Living Lens, UK
“Rizwan has been mentoring several of UnLtd’s social entrepreneurs on a pro bono basis, including Amy and Rose from Living Lens and Ian Ratray of Digi Talk. His interest and passion in the social enterprise sector is clearly evident and the feedback on the quality of his support has been overwhelmingly positive. Just to give you an example :
‘’ ......Rizwan is so brilliant on everything not just social media and is really keen to help us consolidate all our learning on the marketing and branding work we've been doing in order to develop our use of web 2.0 and social media. We learnt so much and came away feeling really motivated and inspired – and I reckon he’s saved us hours of time, energy and money. The advice he gave was so clear and practical, and he really listened to our questions and guided us through the whole process.......’’
Rizwan has delivered one to one mentoring support as well as workshops to groups of social entrepreneurs. Rizwan’s expertise in on line marketing and overall business strategy makes him a highly valuable asset to a social entrepreneur in need of support during the crucial first few years of starting up.”
Top qualities: Personable, High Integrity, Creative
Nynke Brett, UnLtd, UK
“Rizwan and I met at the i-Genius World Social Entrepreneurship Summit, where his presentations were thought provoking and of a very high standard. His genuine warmth and generosity & openness in sharing information/ knowledge in the field are impressive and sensitive. He has an ability to get to the heart of a project or challenge with focus, clarity and valuable foresight: he has been an excellent source of knowledge, applied with wisdom and support for me setting up MonkeyTreeProjects, and I have no hesitation recommending him to anyone working in the field and beyond.”
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity
“I have had the pleasure of working with Rizwan on a number of projects in the commercial and the social sector. Whilst at Charteris, we worked together on a number of projects, centred on Digital Strategy and Cross Channel Retailing. Rizwan has the ability to analyse, develop, and implement effective business strategy in all environments. Rizwan’s consultancy experience and knowledge of market conditions enabled him to strategise, innovate and create innovative business solutions. A combination that ensured Rizwan was the first person that consultants turned to for help and advice.
However, Rizwan’s true passion lies in his work with Social Enterprises. His commitment, dedication and drive are unparalleled. Rizwan creates tremendous energy with everyone he works with. His ability to think strategically, create vision through business model innovation and drive through change ensures Rizwan always delivers on his promises, and always delivers the benefits promised.
I hope to work with Rizwan for many years to come and would definitely recommend him”
“Rizwan advised us about our branding and strategy at http://shareable.net. I highly recommend Rizwan. His advice cut through the fog. It's of the highest quality and delivered in a highly effective way. It's truly laser like! It's exact, concise, and perfectly clear. In addition, he is not afraid to say what might be hard for the client hear, though he matches his directness with an assuring diplomacy. I also appreciate that he values good dialog and authentic connection. We had a long conversation before we got to work. This fosters good ideas and a good working relationship. You can see how this all works together. If you get a chance to work with Rizwan, then take it. You'll be very glad you did!”
Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert
Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity
Sara Haq, UK
However, Rizwan’s true passion lies in his work with Social Enterprises. His commitment, dedication and drive are unparalleled. Rizwan creates tremendous energy with everyone he works with. His ability to think strategically, create vision through business model innovation and drive through change ensures Rizwan always delivers on his promises, and always delivers the benefits promised.
I hope to work with Rizwan for many years to come and would definitely recommend him”
Imtiaz Kaderbhoy, Senior Business Consultant, Charteris plc
“Rizwan advised us about our branding and strategy at http://shareable.net. I highly recommend Rizwan. His advice cut through the fog. It's of the highest quality and delivered in a highly effective way. It's truly laser like! It's exact, concise, and perfectly clear. In addition, he is not afraid to say what might be hard for the client hear, though he matches his directness with an assuring diplomacy. I also appreciate that he values good dialog and authentic connection. We had a long conversation before we got to work. This fosters good ideas and a good working relationship. You can see how this all works together. If you get a chance to work with Rizwan, then take it. You'll be very glad you did!”
Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Expert
Neal Gorenflo, Shareable, United States
“Rizwan stepped in as trustee for a London social enterprise focused on media education and radio broadcasting I was also supporting at the time as a business coach. I found a like-minded social enterprise supporter in him, someone with a fresh outlook and able to shake up a sleeping board of trustees, with a tangible and realistic proposition, and the action plan that goes with it... He's swift and forward thinking and not afraid to sit at the same table wih Public, Private and Third sectors professionals, and bringing everybody together. An asset!”
Servane Mouazan FRSA, Social Innovation Coach, Ogunte Ltd
“Rizwan is a remarkable person, highly dynamic and focused but with an unusually well developed sense of social responsibility. When I was running Cam Sight he was a phenomenal asset in developing a website for blind and visually impaired users. Since then we have remained in touch and I have always found him to be a valuable and unstoppable source of new ideas and boundless energy. I highly recommend him without hesitation.”
Shelley Gregory-Jones, Chief Executive, Cam Sight
“Rizwan is well versed in best management practices and in strategic thinking. He has exceptionally high ethical integrity and is one of the world's true givers. I'm sure he will be a great asset to organisations that enlist his support.”
Top qualities: Expert, High Integrity, Creative
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