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Who is Sandra Farid?
I would say I am a good thinker and I strive to be a good leader, I am also an economist with interest in management consulting. I am now a co-owner of a boutique management consulting firm focusing on empowering Small & Medium Enterprises. I try to team play and I think I am known in the market for win-win collaborations and for the ability to orchestrate efforts towards a common goal. Other than that, I like to call myself a musician and composer, a professional basketball player for the vast majority of my life, a reader, and an aspiring writer.
How would you describe Acumen Consulting in two sentences?
We are a boutique consulting firm operating in the field of economic policy formation and management business consultancy for SMEs. We partner with the policy makers for the development of nationwide strategies, entity specific strategies as well as sector specific strategies. We also work in a very hands-on fashion with start-ups through a mix of consulting and training. We also support SMEs with their growth strategies, institutionalization, planning and coach them through the implementation.
What were you doing before you started Acumen Consulting?
Both founding partners were working in competing consulting firms in Egypt and were managing mega projects nationwide and in the region.
What motivated you to create your own business?
My business partner and I were generally unhappy with the way our previous employers approached consulting. We believed there was little tailoring for companies with a one-size-fits-all model. Hence we built a business on the notion of tailoring solutions for the uniqueness of each client case. Furthermore, we coach them into the solutions we propose.
Becoming self-employed is a bold step requiring you to take risks. How did you approach this move?
It did not come all of a sudden. I knew since my undergraduate years that I would be one day running my own consulting firm, it was clear to me since the sophomore year of university. It is tricky to do it in the right time though where one has gathered enough experience and created a big enough network of potential clients. We started off with a very big network, so our challenge was not the lack of business but rather ‘too much’ of it. We faced a very hard time hiring good calibre, but once this was in place, the operations got smoother.
Could you describe the feeling you had the moment you secured your first customer/contract?
We did not land the first proposal we wrote but the second one. At the beginning, I felt alienated to the company name as I was used to signing in my name and all of a sudden I was signing and stamping with a name that is only a couple of weeks old. We signed our first contract three weeks after the company was established and it felt weird. The love for our company as our entity grew with time, at first it felt weird but then with every contract we signed and with every time I saw our company’s name and logo posted or presented somewhere I felt pride and happiness. I would describe it the way I would describe fatherhood, the bond between the baby and the father doesn’t happen automatically from day one but grows with time. A year and 2 months later, I feel extremely proud of the company, as if it is my own child.
How has your journey been afterwards? What have you learned so far?
I have learned not to take people for granted, people are the real asset, they are what matters, not the reports and not the assignments. I have learnt that client management plays a big part of consulting, clients need to be involved and need to be coached into the process not just dictated. Now, I would rather make a valuable small impact than a huge one that does not impact people’s lives and its quality. I have learnt that small changes matter more than big ones.
Have you hit any big obstacles? How did you deal with them?
One of our field research team was arrested because he was walking around doing a survey without his ID or research permits. We felt responsible for not making sure he had the needed documents on him while doing his job. Since then, we have decided to put people’s welfare first, The welfare of the people that work for us or the people we work with is number one priority, it comes before the quality of work we produce.
Where do you see Acumen Consulting going in the next years?
We are thinking about establishing a market research and a training arm to complement the consulting practice. We are also writing our first business book titled “Pivot”. We aim it would become the first of its kind start-up manual in Egypt and the Middle East. We want to help start-ups have a smoother ride given all the uncertainties and hardships they face setting up.
Is there anyone whom you would like to send a message/ thanks?
I would want to thank my business partner, Inji Amr, I have learned a lot about myself and about how to conduct the business from her, she is my work inspirer.
Contact:
Sandra Farid
Acumen Consulting
www.acumenconsult.org
sandra@acumenconsult.org
00201223851912