It is easy to feel overwhelmed just listening to Nadir Zafar (BBM 2004) share his many roles. The list of roles and achievements is rather impressive, perhaps made more so by the humility he exudes as he openly admits that he has not fully mastered this balancing act.
One of his strategies, he adds, is not just to set aside a certain time for each role, but to achieve consistency in values in whichever role he undertakes.
A member of the pioneer batch of undergraduate students from SMU, Nadir is a father of 4-year old twins, an employee in an education technology company, and a leader who has served (and continues to serve) in many organisations. In January this year, as if there was not enough to do to fill his daily routine, Nadir signed up for a Doctor of Education in Leadership & Innovation at the New York University. He is quick to attribute all that he has and does to a very supportive wife who has been by his side in all his endeavours.
More recently, Nadir embarked on another role – that of being a social entrepreneur - to empower learning in the real-world via an online platform, directly from corporate boardrooms.
Called Real School, Nadir teamed up with one of his childhood friends, Shehzad Mirza, to launch this social venture in October 2020. Its purpose is to help adult learners gain access to real-life business lessons from real-world professionals; online, and in real-time. The idea came about when Nadir was doing some research on education as part of his Doctorate. He started thinking of ways to reinvent the local school curriculum, realising that what is learnt in the classroom was not always relevant to the real world.
With the motivation of revolutionising learning, Nadir created a platform to empower learning, one where anybody can access practical tips and insights from relevant experts. Running purely on volunteerism, the Founders launched Real School to provide practical and relevant lessons to all adults for free.
“Joining SMU as an undergraduate was a transformational experience, and it was where I grew exponentially as a person.
It was at SMU which further propelled my thought process; that a practical education should be directly related to matters of the real world, and not just concepts and examples found in the pages of a textbook.” He continued, “Skills such as effective presentations and communication are essential ingredients for success, which are far more important than memorising or regurgitating theories.” During his time at SMU, he had also honed his leadership and entrepreneurial skills, and travelled widely as part of the SMU program, doing a business study mission, exchange program and overseas internship.
Over the years, Nadir has sharpened his perspectives on learning, education, and the true benefit of these intricately tied to real-world experiences. And he also believes that such an education should be made available to anyone who wants to learn. In spite of the busy life he leads, bringing that belief to life through the creation of Real School is indeed testimony of his big-heartedness and of the consistency he speaks of.
Find out more about Real School here: https://www.realschool.com/
