Master of Human Resources Management • Acharya Nagarjuna University

Bachelor of Business Administration • Osmania University

Bio

Why doing good is good for the business?!

To know the response, Get in touch with Imran: imran.syed@mail.utoronto.ca

 “Real success comes from empowering others; I am no one on my own” - Imran

Imran may have an advantage over other would-be business sustainability leaders: he feels very comfortable with the unknown. He welcomes grey areas. “In business, sometimes there’s no black and white- you may have to take the decisions with the incomplete information. You need to be flexible – you have to get the best possible outcomes within the context of your situation” he says.

Born and raised in a small town in India, Imran has always been interested in exploration of the world and its cultures and of the opportunities to accept the new challenges. “As an eldest son of the Orthodox and Conventional family, Imran says, “I learned to speak truth to power at the dinner table. My parents emphasized the development of perspectives, to listen and learn from other points of view. I grew up surrounded by the issues I cared about, and there were many opportunities for contributing to the conversation.” His inquisitive disposition coupled with a strong desire to ingrain fundamental principles and working knowledge has helped in achieving a commendable academic record where he graduated with Masters of Human Resources Management and Bachelors of Business Administration with two Gold medals from India.

Visionary Leadership at the age of 18 with CSR & Sustainability initiatives of Amazon, Inc.

As a Business Graduate with Leadership and Change Management as specialization, at a very early age he took his first career assignment with the largest e-commerce company in the world – Amazon, Inc.  He had a commendable growth trajectory where he undertook various country-level initiatives and become a part of coveted projects that cover various areas of social impact. He led various large-scale CSR (Community & Employee Engagement Initiatives involving around 90k+ employee) & Sustainability projects across India. He was responsible for the innovative fundraising and charity campaigns that included the development and implementation of social impact strategies including being responsible in the communities, creating opportunities for partners and undervalued populations towards strengthening the company brand positioning in the community. While taking about his journey with amazon, – Emotionally, “It’s been a roller coaster in so many ways, the experience to create positive impact is energizing and incredible! Imran says. “The achievements that we managed to contribute toward as a part of the CSR team together working synergistically to provide for the underprivileged has been a transformational journey of immense learning and gratitude which helped me to understand the need to prioritize my goals to take decisions that are not just self-driven but society-driven”, He adds!  Impacting lives is undeniably a substantial accomplishment and this is principally what he aspires to do every step of the way- be it at the personal or professional level.

You build up personal capital by sharing common experiences and by expanding the impact.

Imran is an expert in creating the long term Social and Sustainable value for the firms. A Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability professional with a demonstrated history of working in the corporate world with an immense passion to the responsible strategic business practices. He is highly passionate about the need for the Organizations to look beyond the traditional way of doing business and the need to recognize a wider group of stakeholders and their business issues including environmental, social and economic sectors. Above and beyond he has a tangible appreciation for the interrelationship between business, communities and the environment on how can a business can be used as the force for good. As a pragmatic strategist, he is committed to advancing the industry leadership through a collaborative multi-stakeholder approach and he firmly believes that when people share the value with the firm they stay loyal to the brand.

Outside of his professional life, he enjoys travelling and reading. Besides, he is a Hatha & Ashtanga Yoga Instructor, a Vegetarian Activist, Public Speaker, Mediation enthusiast and an Amateur writer.