By JULES LAVALLEE
Sofia (Sophie) Azam is an ex-Government Education Regulator with a passion for alternative learning and training that is accessible for all sections of society. Having spent nearly 5 years within education regulation and over 8 years in education consultancy regulating vocational courses, Sofia went onto set-up three start-ups that provide cutting edge educational initiatives and products to equip young entrepreneurs, new start-up founders and innovators with the right skills, knowledge and traits to succeed in their business aspirations. Sofia is the Founder of Skills4Startups® (S4S) – UK’s first mobile business school that produces high-impact roadshows and interactive skills-centric workshops to give founders the best chance to grow their businesses and remain financially sustainable. Sofia believes that key skills underpinned by educational standards can truly empower the start-up community to fulfill their business ambitions.
Sofia is on a 10-year journey to advocate for ALL start-ups to dare to innovate without the risk of failure at early inception, by learning from each other as a circular economy. Finally, Sofia has also set-up a new digital network hub for start-ups (EduEco+) that will be providing on-demand learning tools for new and experienced start-up founders in 2025. This virtual system will help start-ups to progress successfully in their business journeys.
Sofia has big plans to take her Skills4Startups® Roadshows globally in 2025. She has partnered with Kevin Jackson, CEO of AI Forge, an intensive 12-week incubator programme in London and Latam designed to accelerate the creation of AI companies that solve real-world problems.
Kevin Jackson is a seasoned leader in the fields of communication, business development, and artificial intelligence. As Chairman of AI Forge, a premier AI incubator, Kevin is at the forefront of innovation, guiding startups and corporations through the complexities of AI-driven growth. His career began at Saatchi Group and expanded through roles at Grey Worldwide, Jack Morton Worldwide, and George P. Johnson, where he honed his skills in helping businesses achieve both corporate and personal growth objectives.
With a wealth of experience across diverse brands and industries, Kevin has spoken at prestigious conferences worldwide, including a notable presentation to 9,000 attendees in Austin, Texas. His approach to business is grounded in the belief that corporate growth is inherently linked to the personal growth of the people within the organization. This philosophy is central to his work at AI Forge, where he assists a variety of professionals—from startups to CEOs—in harnessing the power of AI for innovation and market expansion.
How did you get involved in startups?
As a child, I valued education and the pursuit of education as a means to changing my circumstances and that of the people I love. Education is a powerful tool to shape and support your drive for consistent success. It was a natural move for me to pursue a career with the UK Government in education regulation specialising in vocational learning from a compliance and standards angle. It is this training that gave me the ability to create an enterprise that is underpinned by quality and standards. I knew that my expertise in education put my educational enterprise head and shoulders over others in the market. I was also very passionate about helping more and more young people with their aspirations and careers and I found that many young people had the gift to be successful entrepreneurs due to their appetite for building their practical skills.
The Covid-19 pandemic changed the landscape for educational consultancy work and this gave me an incredible idea to build my own alternative educational establishment with a single focus on building and launching new start-ups for the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs through robust soft and business skills. I wanted to create an enterprise where start-up founders have the important life-line to really excel in their respective ventures and innovations through the power of specialist education and skills. Our future economy depends on purpose-led start-ups and inventions that change the world for the better. Ignite Quals, Skills4Startups® and EduEco+ are on a mission to support 100 000 start-ups, young and new entrepreneurs and founders by equipping them with the right tools and core skills to deliver products, systems and services effectively to their consumer base as well as investors. This is not just about communicating and negotiating across the complex business landscape, but the ability to understand the risks and markets in sectors that a start-up is hoping to trade across. I believe there is a modern success formula for winning in start-up business growth and that is why Skills4Startups® is a unique concept.
Tell us about Skills4Startups® (S4S) Roadshow UK to be held on Oct. 24th and your partnership with Kevin Jackson, CEO of AI Forge.
Skills4Startups® (S4S) Roadshow UK is coming to London on Oct 24th, to hold a day of empowerment for the London Start-ups space teaching them the necessary insights, critical practical solutions to problem areas of launching an idea, core skills across a plethora of subjects from client retention know-how and customer loyalty to securing long-term financial sustainability and mitigating financial risks. The heart of the S4S concept is to inspire and empower current and new start-ups and drive their appetite ‘to dare to innovate’ and fight to achieve business success. S4S is supporting and defending the innovations of 100 000 start-ups and entrepreneurs by 2034 through its cutting edge ‘mobile’ business school using the roadshow approaches.
Due to our ambitious 10-year roadmap to success, I needed to make a strategic decision to appoint a very experienced business leader as my Chairman, who had the same drive to unconditionally support the start-ups space and execute my 10-year vision to support as many young and new start-ups across the spectrum including those founders with minimum funding. Kevin Jackson and AI Forge came to my attention by my Board Advisor who sits on S4S’s sister company, EduEco+. There was incredible synergy and alignment between S4S and AI Forge and thus Kevin was the front runner as the best person with the skills and knowledge for the role. Kevin has the right values and credibility to make S4S financially sustainable while we support start-ups across the UK and International territories.
Kevin, tell us about AI Forge and the importance of AI for start-ups.
AI Forge is a hybrid global incubator creating AI start-up companies, combining both in person training together with delivering virtual masterclasses benefitting from the economies and efficiencies of digital delivery.
That’s what we do in terms of what AI means for start-ups. There are so many advantages := Faster ideation, get to market speedier, more corporate involvement, POCs quicker, revenues more rapidly, less reliance on VCs for funding, scale sooner and finally data driven funding decisions . It’s a long list and AI Forge is proving every single one of those advantages,
Kevin, How important is it to support women in tech?
Its vital to support women in tech, the arguments are all well known but for the sake of clarity and completeness I’ll repeat them. Having women in tech brings an obvious different perspective and unique problem-solving approaches, leading tomorrow’s innovative solutions. Encouraging women to enter and thrive helps us to address any historical pay gap and promotes equality. A more inclusive tech industry will lead to increased productivity, as diverse teams perform. Finally, it’s important that successive generations have role models to follow. If you can see it you can be it.
As far as my partnership with Sophia is concerned, we both have a burning desire to change people’s future by providing alternative education opportunities. We all are aware that the education system was built for a different time to meet the needs of the time. Those needs have changed, and we want to help bridge the educational needs gap. It’s a bridge ambition to solve a huge problem, but one we are ready to take on.
Sofia, what does EduEco+ offer?
EduEco+ is going to be the number 1 digital membership app for start-ups and is set to transform the efficiency of fast-paced start-ups growth to create a healthy global economy. Although the new business model will be launched in 2025, what we can disclose is that EduEco+ will be an important education hub for startups growth and on-demand support. There will be tailored sessions designed to address the specific needs of start-ups, from enhancing skills to solving challenges, ensuring practical solutions and actionable insights for start-up’s success.
Share your vision for Skills4Startups®️ Roadshow and your expansion in the Middle East, US, and Malaysia.
The international start-up markets face the same start-up failure rates as the UK. Our methodology for supporting UK Start-ups will be hugely beneficial for our key international territories. I believe S4S is the driving force to positively impact the global economy through its unique education and skills agenda that will be rolled out to the Middle East, US and Malaysia. British education is already world renowned and it is the go-to country for many international students. It makes sense that S4S, a unique British school, to embark on this ambitious international journey supporting thousands of start-up ventures and innovations to thrive and succeed.
What are the initiatives that you would like to see to forge new pathways for startups?
The good news is that over the last 12 months we have launched some of the most innovative purpose-led initiatives to support the 1.2 million UK start-ups for the foreseeable future through S4S, EduEco+ and IgniteQuals Group. We have partnered with universities, entrepreneurial networks and established businesses. The new partnership with AI Forge, has given my enterprise more credibility and energy to attract the next generation of AI Founders and AI innovators who need the relevant real-life soft and business skills to build and grow their start-up business for a financially sustainable business model.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofia-a-empowering-startups
