Strategic consultation
Strategic consultation
Advisory engagements drawing on more than twelve years of operating leadership in international student recruitment across the Middle East and South Asia.
More than twelve years operating in international education across the Middle East and South Asia.
Formerly Country Manager for a major international IELTS provider across the Middle East.
Founder is a current MSc student at Oxford Saïd Business School.
What we help with
Operating experience, scoped to your question
We advise institutions, operators, and edtech businesses entering or scaling across the Middle East and South Asia. The work is shaped by direct, in-country experience running international student recruitment, examination operations, and partner-channel programmes.
Market entry
Setting up an in-market presence across the Middle East and South Asia, including positioning, partner mix, and a realistic activation plan rather than an optimistic one.
Agent network design
Network shape, commission models, quality gating, and conversion improvement. Where the funnel leaks, where the margin sits, and which partners actually convert.
Test centre operations
Candidate funnel, examiner integration, cohort management, and capacity planning. How to add or expand AI-assisted marking without breaking the operational rhythm of the centre.
University partnership development
Positioning for the Middle East and South Asia, application volume planning, and intake quality controls that hold up under scale.
Recruitment strategy
Cohort sizing, channel mix, cost-per-enrolment, and retention modelling, written down with the assumptions visible so the work survives the engagement.
Founder and operator mentorship
Santander-style mentoring for early-stage edtech founders, with the local context that every founder entering the region underestimates.
Engagement shapes
Three formats, agreed at the start
One-off review
One week. A scoped, written diagnostic on a specific question, with recommendations and the reasoning behind them. Useful when the brief is narrow and the timeline is short.
Project engagement
One to three months. Fixed scope, agreed deliverables, named owner on each side. Useful for market entry plans, network reviews, and operational redesigns.
Retained advisor
Monthly fractional engagement. Regular sessions, a single point of contact, and access between sessions for the questions that do not fit in a scheduled call.
Who this is for
Institutions, operators, and founders
Universities entering the Middle East and South Asia
Institutions building, or rebuilding, their recruitment footprint across the Middle East and South Asia, with a need for grounded local context rather than a deck.
Test centres scaling operations
Centres growing test volume, adding examiner capacity, or layering in AI-assisted marking, and needing a partner who has run the operation themselves.
Agent networks needing realignment
Networks where the funnel has stopped converting at the rate it used to, or where the commission model has stopped fitting the business it was designed for.
Edtech founders
Early-stage founders building products for the Middle East and South Asia, who need buyer mapping, pricing reality checks, and an honest read on what works in market.
Accelerator programmes
Programmes looking for mentor capacity with direct, in-country operating experience in international education.
Scholarship leaders
Public and private scholarship programmes designing intake, evaluation, and partnership models, who need a partner that has sat on both sides of the table.
The founder
Shabaz Syed
More than twelve years in international education, with operating leadership across the Middle East and South Asia.
Formerly Country Manager for a major international IELTS provider across the Middle East, responsible for recruitment, examination operations, and partner-channel performance.
Currently an MSc student at Oxford Saïd Business School. Sole founder of Colab Ventures Ltd (UK company 16246472).
Questions we get
Honest answers, before the call
What is the engagement model
One-off written review, fixed-scope project, or retained monthly advisor. We pick the shape together in the first call rather than push you into a standard package. Every engagement has a written brief, agreed deliverables, and a named owner on each side.
How is the work priced
Project engagements are priced against the written brief. Retainers are a fixed monthly fee, agreed at the start, with a clear cadence of sessions. One-off reviews are priced per review. We size the deal in the first call rather than publish a fixed number, because every situation is different.
Which geographies do you cover
Primary coverage is the Middle East and South Asia, where the founder has more than twelve years of operating experience. We work elsewhere in collaboration with local partners on a case-by-case basis, and we will tell you honestly when a market sits outside our core experience.
How is confidentiality handled
Mutual non-disclosure agreements are standard. We do not name clients in marketing without explicit written permission, and we do not act as a recruitment agent on behalf of an institution we are also advising on agent network design. The conflict is obvious, so we pick one role per engagement.
What will you not promise
We do not promise specific student-volume numbers or specific conversion rates, because those are a function of the institution we work with as much as the work we do. We will model what is realistic, agree the assumptions with you, and write the assumptions down.
Can we talk before committing to anything
Yes. The first twenty-minute call is free and there is no obligation. We will tell you whether we are the right partner for the work you have in mind, and if we are not, we will point you toward someone who is.
Book a discovery call
Twenty minutes, free, no obligation. No deck, no sales pitch. We will tell you whether the work you have in mind is something we can usefully take on.
Talk to us