The Business Hour: Recent Episodes
Omar Rashid
The Business Hour is a show where I discuss all things business. Whether you are a business owner, entrepreneur or an employee, this show provides you with expert knowledge and insights within businesses. The guests provide their expertise and experience through their business journeys.
This episode we have Amina Hussain, owner of SME Outsourcing and the first Bengali women to be Vice President of the Asian Business Chamber of Commerce. Amina shares her journey from leaving school, to working at one of the Big 4 Accounting firms to starting her own business whilst tackling family and society pressures.
In this episode I speak to Adris Tariq a social media influencer in comedy creation, he tells us what it is like to be an influencer, get into influencing and how businesses can collaborate with influencers for their to create brand awareness
Whilst working in retail, Gurdas discovered a passion to pursue a career in Marketing & Advertising. With no relevant experience or qualification at the time, he quickly learned that job prospects were limited. Today he is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Marketing Manager for leading logistics service provider OnLogistics and supports marketing activities for other organizations. In this episode we explore the marketing basics for businesses, shed light on common misconceptions and talk routes tp entry for professionals
Dr Samara shares advice and tips on how to get the best health benefits as well as remaining productive in the workplace. Dr Afzal also shares her journey and love for cricket and why young people should get into sport
This episodes guest, is Dr Khalid who shares his entrepreneurial journey and launching Support Muslim Business Forum (SMBF), a platform for Muslim Businesses and professionals
In this episode we explore how Shani tackled through life with a rare disability which motivated her to make a change for people with disabilities, not just in the workplace but in society.
Dr Jason Wouhra OBE will be sharing the journey of the great East End brand and how it was sold and bought back under Lioncroft Wholesale Ltd. Jason shares how the brand and business went from strength to strength.
Zafran Khan joins me on this episode to discuss all things sales. Zafran has nearly 30 years of sales experience, both in B2C and B2B and will be sharing his tips and expertise
On this episode we go through the journey of successful entrepreneur Jag. With a keen interest in engineering, Jag started a training company which changed the landscape for the BAME community getting formal qualifications which led Jag to meeting the Queen. Jag now runs a successful non-chemical based cleaning products & sanitizer business
This episodes guest, Zoheb Sadiq who is a qualified graphic designer and a brand specialist. We will be exploring how business can create and promote their brand to their target audience.
For many SMEs business networking is a must. However, for many business networking is daunting. In this episode, we go over the basics and how business networking can open up many avenues and opportunities.
We hear the journey of a qualified RE teacher, who got into boxing, then to enhance his business began networking and is now embarking on making a difference through politics.
All of these opportunities from the power of business networking!
Are you a business investor? Business investment is not all that simple if you are not sure what you are looking for either from an investor or from the business you are looking to invest in.
When you make a business investment you want to ensure you get the best value from your investment?
If you are looking for investment, do you know where to look and how to manage expectations? All these questions and a whole lot more will be answered by Akmal Saleem, experienced in the world of Investing and Islamic Finance!
Flexible and hybrid working became much more prevalent during Covid-19. Businesses and employees have had to adapt to working from home and the introduction of hybrid working.
However, moving out of lockdown more businesses and employees have wanted to keep working from home and come into the workplace less - hence the introduction of hybrid working. Implementing such practices are not straightforward especially when there is a mismatch between the employer and employee needs.
Neelam explores the steps both employer and employees should take to ensure problems do not arise for flexible and hybrid working
Neelam Afzal is a Partner at Wildings Solicitors, which is an award-winning legal firm based in Birmingham.
Even now, racism in the workplace is rife. The Yorkshire CCC racial scandal demonstrates businesses still have a lot to do when bridging the gap inequality.
Safia has a wealth of experience as an Independent Investigator into discrimination claims and outlines how investigations are conducted, how society plays a part within the workplace and how businesses can do more in being more diverse
A big fear of humans is public speaking. But to communicate effectively you need to learn the art of public speaking.
Public speaking isn't just at a TedX talk or to a large audience, Public Speaking can be in the workplace to your team or the management team
Maz Ifzal is a Public Speaking and Communication Skills specialist and she covers the skills and tips to be able to communicate effectively, not just for adults but children also!
Saving Tax - that's what we all want, not just start-up businesses.
Ruzwan Boota and Salman Anwar are Tax Specialists and they provide advice from start-ups to those who have businesses with a profitable turnover to make sound tax savings. The key is to have a tax-saving plan in place and a plan that is mainly long term.
The key to implementing strong business values! Zhagum shares his incredible story from starting his business with £200 selling items online from his loft to having a multi-million-pound business ten years later employing over 50 employees. The key is his employees buying into the values of the business!
After many years of being in business, Zhagum also found his purpose, which involves a portion of his business turnover going towards charitable projects, locally and internationally.
Listen to how important having a mentor is and how he inspired his employees to buy into his vision.
Marketing. What is Marketing? Has it evolved, or have the basics remained constant? On the first show of the Business Hour we delve into what Marketing is, how to implement plans, how start-ups or businesses with limited budgets can market themselves effectively and how to use marketing to take your business to the next level.
Rehan Iqbal is the CEO of Arren Marketing, a digital agency based in Birmingham. He is also an ex-employee of Google.
Rehan shares the importance of having a marketing strategy and how you should focus on no more than two marketing channels