Iman Gadzhi | On a Mission to Reform the Education System

so I I just send the first payment the first school what a many that we're building in Nepal in collaboration with hard trust and I guess it kind of feels real now you know all my friends my friends and you know the team and you know people on my social media stuff like that they've all been super excited for this and I guess I know I'm just not very like things don't ever really seem like a big deal to me I'm guess I'm just very level-headed most of time but I'm honestly so excited to go

visit Nepal with the team bring the team out to Nepal and just look at all the incredible work that we've done and know that next year there are thousands moving into multiple thousands of students that are gonna have the opportunity and have the education that they deserve as at than a day like I am all for self education but what about the people who just don't have a seat at the table at all and that's what we want to do between the agency between education company and now the clothing line as well as we want

to make sure that every single human on earth has the best education they can possibly have education they can possibly have [Music] very very agency we believe that every child deserves an educator you know I'm gonna cut the corporate [ __ ] I'm just gonna get straight to the point because it is true here a very agency education means more to us than anything else it is woven into our company's DNA into our psyches and this more new mental mission that we have is gonna take us many many lifetimes and we don't know how we're

gonna accomplish it but in 2019 we took the first step in doing so and over the space of short-movie I want you to join us in Nepal where we actually built our first few schools and really where we start to see a small ember to see the smaller fire of our vision burning [Music] [Music] [Music] so Danny Kyra and I land in Nepal and for both Kiran and Danny this really was uncharted territory and the moment think we stepped out of that Airport that intensity of the city really hit us we were in Kathmandu no

debate so we end up meeting Fabian at the hotel we sit down for dinner and we talk about our expectations for what's about to ensue and I think all of us had this idea or this perception of what the Nepalese culture would actually be like and you're about to find out that we grossly grossly underestimated the generosity and the displays of appreciation that we're about to come our way [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] alright starting the trip in style you get up there so if I am late even a minute late to the team call

which happened once so far last month I have to give Kieran ten phone five poems and I could have to get Danny plant moms and daddies laid to the call he has to give care at five pounds which would eat him alive like would kill him more than anything else on earth and then if here in his late then he has to give Danny five homes which once again with you have my life so ever since then it's news so it's day two or on our way to airport and it was actually really really cool

there was a member of the community who actually recognized us at the airport I found out Tyler IP supply oh yes always one of our favorite is my age nice to meet you here - very wonderful yes name is Jack Soloff but I think they're pretty quick big motivation class as well thank you so much Jeff pleasure so we go on the flight and 45 minutes later we were in Pokhara so ladies and gentlemen we have just gotten to Pokhara I think honestly from the moment that we land in Kathmandu keep in mind that Danny

has never been to Asia before curing as the booth Tyrion has never been to Asia before so I think from all of us fabien this is I mean this is totally normal he lives in Bali but for me this actually reminds me a lot where I'm from in Dagestan so this isn't too much of a culture shock these cars this is exactly what I grew up with but right now we're off to go see Allen he's a chairman of our trust which the organisation of the work with he is waiting for us at the hotel

you can take it easy gonna take a chill tonight and then tomorrow we start trekking up and we start visiting some of the current projects some of the some locations for upcoming projects that we're gonna be funding in 22 and yeah all in all one thing that I have to say about Nepal everyone is so goddamn happy and seemingly for no reason and I think especially for me someone who's so hyper driven it just it's honestly such a good reminder like I look it I look at all the happy faces I look at all the

smiles it just makes me feel like such an idiot sometimes anger just four things really puts things into context and you just you come to a place like this and I know this is gonna sound cliche I know that everyone says the goddamn same thing but you come to a place like this and you just wonder why those times where you're a little grumpy you look back with regret at the times when you were improper you're upset or you let the little things get to you you know even through years of self-development meditative work and

all that other stuff coming to a place like here this is humbling and this is to me is real education and I feel so you know just even people who I have 10-15 second interaction with and they have a smile your to here to here and they're just like so happy and so grateful to me like that's that's education to be that you know I said that really gives me contact with education for me and it inspires me [Music] [Music] Danny we're going round did nice to meet you welcome to thank you beautiful what's that

like a skewer yeah now Allen mess up the hotel and we went for dinner and I think we must have talked for 3-4 hours and we really just took some time to understand Allen and why he got into this whole thing and Allen has been involved in charitable work for over a decade and you would think that after a decade you get desensitized and when we spoke to Alan that night it became clear to me that there is still a long long way to go the balut buildings is in general is it's great but for

publicity sake it's very dramatic what we're doing so just to follow him that way because that will be too [Music] - I think four and costs sake it's easier to do more good here and with less interference before fifty thousand pounds in Sedalia me psalm UK that would be gone within five or five smartboards well it's exactly exactly yeah not achieve anything and not have that lasting impact I can't have do struggle with it okay again I get past it because we shouldn't be coming Aaron film we gotta make the big deal alphabet but that

will then lead to greater good so I'm okay with that but it does make me stop Realty but again from your perspective as well is someone who's boost in government from and had that very personal impact and again it's so much easier meant to go kind of there but for the grace of God go I it's a very very similar services yep you've ended up in that one yeah it's a drive away rather than base but it's a quarter shop you can always just find those cultural differences yeah the thing is the everybody has a

right to an education yeah this country cannot afford they do not have the resources in order to offer that to everybody I think without getting too deep and depressing the UK should be able to help everybody in its country we shouldn't be in a situation with the fifth largest economy we shouldn't then you the whole system in the UK is broken which is why we have that decoration but just because we've broken the system doesn't mean that we should then not help exciters Thank You foreign countries not mentioned actually the impact we can have here

making this this country more self-sufficient we're making a change we're building sustainable development we're actually trying to make it so that this country can bring itself up to the level of development that we have it will never happen because it's really possible but we are just trying to help we've already got there giving something back is important I'm really pushing for not only the community putting money in for the local government putting money in as well because then that from a donors point if you're I do take the point that there's an argument of well

why aren't they helping themselves yeah this they don't have the money a lot of problems but actually if we're bringing money from the UK I'm trying to work with the government so that the government will bring some money to the table as well and the community at a figure RCD anything changed after you came to the very agency party no I was I was I was absolutely blown away by it I was amazed by how I was kind of expected wasn't sure what to expect when I kind of threw you into the deep end but

as soon as I walked in that front door everybody that I spoke to was fantastic and everybody took shared that mindset and we're on board really kind really supportive really stood behind what you were trying to do and honestly everybody I spoke to and I said introduced each other I said hi I'm Alan I build schools in the fall oh you've been the pool guy and so it's lovely to sort of like you know everyone was so supportive of what we were doing and lots of really great ideas and I think if anything it it

kind of just reaffirmed what I'd already thought it's it's not you're not doing this as a vanity project it's there's something more underneath it [Music] fool over the space the next few days we spent hours and hours and keeps going over the bumpy roads you ever see in your life but that is the real testament and that's real visual representation of what happens in a ball it is this constant cycle of growth demolition growth demolition and I guess that comes with the frequency of earthquakes that they have there it's woven into the DNA of Nepal's

country heading off now to the first project that a man and grow your agency are supporting at Arthur we've got Chandra founder of ptn driving hour-and-a-half maximum okay we're a little behind schedule I don't know I think you man had a little bit of a lie in this morning but that's alright we're running a party time it's all easy we take things easy now so we are off to the first project this is going to be the first ceremony I hear that there's dancing involved and what can I say I'm just incredibly excited just a

real moment I think Allen am i laying the foundation here Kieran is laying foundation saying this school the foundation stone at this school which to me is like I think I might as well reveal now basically the first school is in you know we need to flesh out the details for the first is basically gonna be in recognition of Gouri agency and just all the incredible work that our students do very agency as well as IG media you know every single one of our clients every single every single one of our clients for the agency

every single one of our students you guys have all helped to build this school and the second school is actually in recognition of all the hard work that Kieran's been putting in so actually the plaque for the second school as said it's it's in recognition of cure and just because the past two three months i'm i'm dead i'm so tired i spent the you know q4 of 2020 has just drained me in undescribable ways and i can't even begin to imagine how Karen's been feeling so this has just been a you know this is a

good lesson in terms of company culture the fact that myself and the team yes we have a company that's incredibly successful and incredibly profitable but you know we're doing it for good reason and we're doing it for a good cause then it all comes down to that full circle approach that I talk about all the time it's one thing to say it it's one thing to say it to the teams but it's another thing to step up to the plate and you know really demonstrate that this is something that means something to our to our

companies so this is a our first step in doing so tomorrow in the morning early with we will begin with same route not say this way other way down I mean bumpy no room ladies [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] do you think you man speechless [Music] [Music] I'm at a point in my life where I'm not stunned by a lot of things but that first ceremony I think myself and the rest of the team we were we were very very unprepared for Alan and I know this is intention here told us very little I'm not gonna

lie as a company we genuinely believe that we will go visit the projects there we made 10 15 kids who took the time another day maybe show some appreciation maybe some of the elders etc etc when no one prepared us for was that an entire village was about to go on standby [Music] we're really stunned me was the appreciation from the elders those is one older gentleman and from the corner of my eyes I kind of tracked him moving kind of shifting through the crowd trying to get some fun came to the front and showed

a level of deep gratitude that I've never seen in my life [Music] [Music] [Music] but amazing an incredible [Music] [Music] [Music] at that point I realized that a school is really the center point of a community the success of the community's future is built around the quality of education and I knew that we were changing kids lives well what I didn't really internalize until that moment was what it meant for the rest of the community for some of the holders some of the wiser generations in the corner even just the fact that like you don't

have as a company we don't have an office and you get to work you see your computer you're isolated keyring gets to work he sits his computers I say I get to work and obviously there's the part-time people to serve dividers well my point is you know like we don't realize from from being isolated alone in our rooms for this it just feels a lot of time we don't give ourselves enough credit then hope yeah I hope you give yourself credit for this Danny [Music] [Applause] [Music] so students about lay the foundation stone want everyone

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] now after the largest display of appreciation I've ever seen in my entire life once we finally sat down and finally just take a deep breath and kind of take it all in keep mind we're a company that works remotely I'm used to sitting in front of my screen working for hours and hours on end in isolation so is the rest of the team so to go from that to be sitting on these what to be quite frank felt like Thrones in front of an entire community I think at that point we

realized what was actually happening very very agency we believe that every child deserves an education Iman Ghazi they both units are a democracy Ziggy and we've made it our life's mission to make sure that happens [Music] sorry buddy but you see our budget will approach manipura on behalf of myself and the rest of the team we just want to say that we are extremely honored and humbled by your hospitality and your generosity you are God and used to make lucky and we're already counting down the days until we come back next year thank you so

much daddy how are you Kuzma on apollo-era 15 career and Ragusa in this Maggie Valley era thank you so much for your I see [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so just finished up the ceremony and I am left speechless I have never seen that many and you can tell what a smile is genuine I've never seen in my entire life that many genuine smiles before and just the salt and care that went into that I think all of our expectations were literally we would come to the school maybe there be five

or six kids there just to thank us shake our hand we didn't realize that it would be an entire village I think the ceremony was about three four hours they took the time out of their day and not even just the children the elders and everyone a part of the community everyone took three four five hours out of their day to sit there watch the ceremony thank us read us it was and what can I say I'm speechless yes this country has so much so much hard so much character so much passion really uh I've

never felt I've never felt better or coming here now as I said is finally making it real and now that I see what this has all come to it's just it warms my heart like you can't even imagine [Music] [Music] so ladies and gentleman this is the view that we have to wake up to I don't know how well they'll show I mean however well it shows on camera it'll never do it justice but yesterday for myself and the rest of team was one of the most profound and I'd say probably not apparent to us

right now but will be very apparent to us looking back at it one of the most profound and one of the most life-changing days of our entire lives and one thing that was very very ironic was we were just sat inside just around this sort of like wood stove just heating up and we were talking about happiness and what happiness is to us and fabian asked me point-blank he's like what is happiness to you and i started going on about you know for me it's a blend of making sure that I have amazing friendships relationships

in my life it's a it's a blend of making sure that for me happiness is is self-control and discipline over oneself I started going on about how it's really just a conglomerate of all these different things and that was my definition of happiness and I told him I was like look I don't have one key phrase you know like for example someone asked me what's your purpose in life it always has been and always will be to reform the education system that that I have nailed down if someone asked me what is my definition of

happiness I you know I haven't lived life long enough to to really accurately give a one-sentence statement so it's very interesting the fact that he asked me that and I gave sort of the long-winded answer and then once we finish up dinner the locals invited us to have some drinks with them around the campfire we started seeing some songs you started dancing we started joking about some football banter and I you know I reach over to Fabian and I just go point-blank I go I'm so happy right now and I think that really summed it

up for me and when I tell you guys that yesterday and I'm sure this entire trip was one of ethanol the most profound and life-changing days for myself and the rest of team that's really paint a picture of what this trip is doing for us it really was one of those moments where you forget who you are you forget where you're from you forget you forget about status you forget about color you forget about religion beliefs and you just feel so connected to each other and that was a really special night for me tonight Directorate

Directorate do it right right no unique isn't [Music] it doesn't look this is a four-hour drive today on a curious roads but people are absolutely incredible really really welcoming everyone's already so I went to like a little village party last night with a bathtub whiskey and dancing and traditional drinking songs which is great fun and it was really reassuring to know that even in like the Nepalese mountains are still got cool that a scouser they still have a concept of that anxious which is nice reassuring dirty those dirty little scouser which i am it's true

[Music] yeah places though my back's broken verses you see the baby goats [Music] [Music] so apparently weed is legal in this area so yeah this even do anything Donny what's the street value of the Helen vanishing [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] now when we got the second project that we funded this year the school was already there but the entire first floor was just inaccessible it was simply too dangerous to be teaching and to be learning in the entire table classrooms on the first floor which was Allen rightly pointed out is quite scary that

that they deemed the ground floor to be too dangerous yet learning was still going on for years in that second floor now at the second project I actually had the honour of laying the foundation stone in there was just something special to me about knowing that I had laid that first stone down just something metaphorically for me it struck a chord [Music] [Laughter] and it's a memory that I will take with me till the day that I die [Music] [Music] thank you so much a really warm welcome thank you for coming out and seeing so

many of you here to support the foundation stone laying today I visited this school back in March or April of this year and I'm so honored that with the help from grow your agency I can come back six months later and we will be starting the building hopefully before the end of this year and I look forward to coming back again in nine months time when I can see it open I hope that you make full use of the school we have been building schools in Nepal for nearly 30 years about 160 schools are being

built today and I'm glad that we will be welcoming you into the PTN family Daniel MSA the use of this village are your future and your future is dictated by the quality of education that you have and I just want to say on behalf of myself and the rest of our agency we just want to thank you for giving it giving us the opportunity to make sure that your future is bright and prosperous I also just want to say a big thank you to Alan and the entire team over at our trust for just being

so gracious helping support us through this process and really just for dedicating their entire life to this cause and lastly I just want to thank the entire grey agency community the none of this would have been possible if it wasn't for our incredible students and our incredible customers thank you so much [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] you now as we left the second project Fabian threw the drone up in the air and that definitely causes a bit of a scene and everyone gathered round to

say their goodbyes and in all honesty I think everyone just found the drilling super cool I have never seen kids more excited in their entire life [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so we're about to go over the highest and longest suspension bridge in Nepal there's something with his skin just won't come off I'm staying right for sure Fred you're gonna come back to learn we're gonna be on client onboarding calls and this is just like this is our Fulbright French so the next school that we visited wasn't actually one of

our projects it was a school that was requesting funding and I have never seen a more disciplined or well-educated group of kids in my entire life now let's quickly were wined because before we got to that school we have to go over a little bit of suspension bridge and I'm gonna let you guys in on a little secret Fabian is really scared of heights damn does this high man huh this is high yeah you scared of heights yeah well I'm just looking into the display of the camera in your pants like but all jokes aside

the suspension bridge was just incredible feat of Engineering and one thing that most people don't realize is it's not enough to build a school the kids have to get to that school and with a lot of these projects some of these kids genuinely risk their lives going over rivers on suspend the suspension bridge was expertly done it was done to perfection but there are large suspension bridges in Nepal which are extremely dangerous and kids literally risk their lives every single day just so they can get to school to educate themselves [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the last game there were so many cracks in the wall but now they will repair [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] now once we finished up visiting what was as I said in my opinion the most well educated most disciplined group of kids I'd ever encountered in my entire life we then went on to start trekking and ended up at Australian base camp and once again just an amazing night of sitting around the fire talking about our dreams and aspirations talking about what education means

that each of us individually and collectively as a company and as an organization and potentially having a drink or two so we have wrapped up the day looking at the next possible project what an incredible school that village holds 5,000 and I can honestly say I've never seen such disciplined polite and well-educated kids in my life want to say but now we're on our way up to Australian camp we are camping in tents out here for the night I was just having a quick chat with Danny about over the next few years automation AI and

how that's gonna affect us as agency and how that's actually gonna make us a hell of a lot better as an agency but one of the cool things obviously we're here for our philanthropic efforts to see the schools but there's a lot of time you know even yesterday we had four hours in the Jeep sat next to Kieran we're basically able to map out all of 2020 what things we should do less of what things we should do more of we will get really realistic about how much we can accomplish in 2020 and really streamline

our focus so that's been another amazing aspect of this trip is not only for the flan to be how fulfilling it is you know for the team to see all the work that we do what actually just giving us time as a company to look towards 2020 and make sure that we become better as a company in 2020 we do more for our clients at IAG media we do more for our customers agro agency you know we really just take the company to another level in terms of service provided and in turn we make more

money and we make more money we get to build more schools in it where are you looking at next year how we can assign our budget for philanthropy next year and all in all just what an incredible year our water and [Music] [Music] [ __ ] scout [Music] the flat today yeah we had a very fun night I had a drink for two maybe we'll put up some other Polaroids there's no video I had a drink or two went to bed sensible time I think around 11:00 and then I woke up I think all of

us will have a three and law disturbances then woke up again at 5:30 and all in all I'm not gonna lie I thought was pretty nice the fact that we got prebuilt temps to me now is glamping but now we're about to visit another potential project that the heart rust is looking at this won't be a little bit more calm because the Saturday so no children so Alan won't be so overwhelmed this time but just having breakfast now with a beautiful view and I think that's pretty much about the update just trying to revive ourselves

okay so this is Dan for school it's a previous PTN project we can check on the black actually recently a Mustang can show you the plaque that you'll be getting on each of your schools for this one was funded by the art of my own government 2017 and as you can see the quality is just fantastic and down to fantastic construction team now last project that we visited was actually one of the completed projects by heart rust and that was really just so we could see with our own eyes the quality the precision and the

attention to detail that goes into every single one of their schools we also provide furniture in every room need but new desks knew the schools that you've seen that we're going to be replacing the size of the room is so important and there's light on both sides it's a light and airy it's actually the walls being used and it just brings that education to life children actually in some rooms you'll see work up on the walls separating I've seen about a classroom yes yeah now the heart trust as an organization they don't only build schools

they were compartment with other organizations and there's actually another organization that they work with to put really high quality libraries in place in a in some of their schools and and if you know me out of every single room in the school that was where I spent most of my time that day that we we work with can trust and they install this community library and they run a five-year training program with the community to make sure it's operated effectively and again I mean it's an amazing it's an amazing facility for the local community [Music]

Stephen Covey undresses it's good make the undesirable desirable design rewards and demand accountability to the corner the conference region social dynamics they're the support that we get from the can trust provides means that we have this is run as a proper a library with a full inventory and librarian so that they're checking books in MA then you can see color-coded in all the books are in great condition which is just fantastic to have access to these and they are you able to be things that we take for granted really yeah I mean actually think about

how many public libraries are right in the UK we're losing them all the time yeah and also more likely in this area you know like me the affect a lot almost every year people who killed and more we killed and suddenly these practical things goes off one had said file top roof of that building in on their computer when they had a computer my piping put all damage and fire so they lost in computers around 12,000 British Pound is that how much dad that's the roughest of roughest look in the Russians around roughly 12,000 pounds

to build the solar panels that could then power your entire IT department and what about what about issues would like the solar panels like decay maintenance of solar panels they're high maintenance cost mmm they need a little for battery rather than for penile inverter battery and need to be changed quite frequently maybe everybody here or sometime when it met me they pass me yeah if someone can support with you know or panel we must have MOU that they will be in tasks to maintain for future okay J so for example say we build hypothetically built

the panel's cost wall cake professore Office estimates but you said every five years the barrier needs to be changed so surely if they're generating this power they could sell some of that interview and then that could pay for the upcoming I'm just like the idea but it's sending it back to the grid yeah I'm just obsessed with the idea already saw singing yeah Danny you see how many spaces are here I think that's what twenty desks here that is twenty years training to take your drum top video using modern techniques in education are they allowed

to come in here anytime I they'll have lessons it will be on their time but with some schools will they have issues with electricity as well reliability and so you end up with you know a room full of batteries so the computers don't just die when the power goes off these solar panels as well what's the average salary a verge we know 3,000 a year I think that's one of the excitement excites me the most because there's so many possibilities and opportunities even just translating yeah being a translator you could do anything online anything I've

said from VA work to making YouTube thumbnails to graphic design to video editing to translating to customer support to I mean the list goes on and on yeah it's stuff like that excites me tradesman mm-hmm engineers hmm those sort of professions because I don't know that to me that's like it's sort of a clear path through yeah 1470 before one of the things that we're trying to work towards it's more vocational training and actually producing more engineers which isn't practical practical ways of making money yeah yeah because as he said there's a lot of aspirations

to become lawyers and whatnot I think as he said everyone's everyone's allowed to have those aspirations but to then leave your village yeah move in to go down to Kathmandu mm-hmm and then from there attacks you make that success isn't always great astronomer never once said that education is a better safeguard of Liberty than a standing army and at the end a I believe that education liberates people we've all heard that expression give a man a fish he eats for a day teach a man to fish he eats for the rest of his lifetime obviously

you guys say the school is the beating heart of the village yeah and you know if you can build better schools and you incentivize people to stay but apart from that I love that you guys are not only into schooling okay we built a school great they said just trying to avoid urban migration and just trying to keep everything within the village so the village can thrive and prosper and you know more doctors you have more engineers you have more self serving and self-sustaining professions you have I think that's where it gets exciting yeah absolutely

absolutely we see the school as a stepping point into the community and they're trying to build that community to take ownership as we've already spoken to the community has to commit a percentage of the construction themselves through labor and support some some cash as well but that builds the ownership of the school so that means that parents are involved all the families involve all the local people are involved and own the building as well as us well we don't only we hand it over when it's constructed and that means that they are committed and we

can see that work they then take that ownership and they want the school just drive and we've seen results so do I think that we are gonna achieve our goal of reform the education system no but we've made it our life's mission to get as close to that point as possible we want to continue to lead the way in our industry for our students we want to continue to produce the best online programs out there for people that want to start a business and not only that but over the next 20 years I want to

have a thousand schools build worldwide in the countries and communities that need it most and when those two things combined maybe we can make a small dent [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Vinita every day it's the same [ __ ] thing Podcast its place of reggaeton either on the way the first school leaving the first school I remember seeing two kids walking and it's maybe like three minute drive from the school from my recollection and just thinking like they're probably in 12 months time once construction of them they will be on their way to the school

that we funded and they'll be waking up every morning and it it kind of brings back or swings background to what Chandra said last night which is like there's a lot of ways you can spend your money in this world but there's none that have such a long lasting legacy and it was just like the kids did looking into the Jeep the kids didn't know who we were I did two outs I didn't particularly know that they were going to the same village where the schools that we were being built are but just those are

something so pure about that moment and it just made me so happy [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]