Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Since 2015, I've directly helped 2,600+ professionals in Malaysia choose careers around the lives they actually want - without chasing passion or starting over. I work with mid-career professionals who feel stuck - not because they lack skills but because they've been fed terrible advice. At 25, I was one of them. Strong credentials. Burnt out. Hundreds of applications, zero offers. Everyone said: "You just haven't found your passion yet." That advice kept me paralysed. I tested a different approach: → Start with the lifestyle you actually want → Work backwards to careers that support it → Build skills with market value → Make moves based on reality, not feelings I pivoted through five industries. At 28, I became chairman of a Malaysian government agency. Not because I found my calling. Because I stopped chasing passion and started designing for the life I wanted. Skip passion. Think lifestyle-centric career. Passion is a by-product of doing good work, not a prerequisite. What matters: designing a career around the lifestyle you want, then building the skills to make it possible. This isn't for everyone. If you're still waiting to discover your calling, keep soul-searching. But if you're done waiting and ready to design your career around the lifestyle you want - let's talk. I help mid-career professionals choose the careers they actually want in 90 days - without starting over or chasing passion. I'm certified in Designing Your Life from Stanford. I serve as Senior Director at KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific and Co-Chair of the Inclusive AI Association, focussed on AI literacy in Malaysia. Free career clarity workshop every month. Check my Featured Section. Full profile: www.zaim.my
At Nation Building School, I focus on helping professionals in Malaysia and ASEAN prepare for the AI wave while building purposeful careers. I run hands-on training for non-technical professionals, showing them how to apply tools like ChatGPT without needing to code. As Malaysia’s first certified Designing Your Life (DYL) coach, trained by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans at Stanford University, I combine AI literacy with proven career design strategies to support emerging leaders and mid-career professionals. My certifications include AI Trainer (UK), ChatGPT Prompt Specialist (Singapore) and ChatGPT Expert (India). Nation Building School itself has grown from a bootstrapped NGO in Bukit Tunku into a social enterprise empowering the next generation of leaders. 🏆 Awards and Recognitions (organisational & founders): ➡️ Best Perdana Fellow Award (2023) ➡️ Dalai Lama Fellows (2022) ➡️ Youth Advisor to Prime Minister of Malaysia (Kumpulan Penasihat Anak Muda kepada Perdana Menteri - PM2PM, 2021) ➡️ British Council Future Leaders Connect (2021) ➡️ Acumen Academy Fellowship Malaysia (2021) ➡️ Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Ambassador (2020) ➡️ Founding Chairman, Impact Malaysia/Impact Integrated (2018) ➡️ The Edge Inspiring Young Leaders Awards (2019) ➡️ Professional Fellows Program, U.S. Department of State - American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) (2018) ➡️ ASEAN Youth Fellowship (2018) ➡️ Associate Fellowship, Royal Commonwealth Society (2017) ➡️ NGO/Youth Advisor - ACTYVATE/Blue Ocean Youth Movement, Ministry of Finance Malaysia (2017) ➡️ NGO/Advisory Chair, AIESEC in Malaysia (2017) ➡️ NGO/Community Ambassador, Impact Hub Malaysia (2016)
We started our journey with a mission to build the next generation of civic warriors in Malaysia. But as we spoke to young people, we realised there was a bigger problem at hand: youth not in employment, education or training (NEET). The statistics validated their anxieties: youth unemployment is above 12% – triple the country's national unemployment. No thanks to the pandemic, there are over 400,000 unemployed youths and over 2.4 million underemployed Malaysians. In response, we have run career workshops and leadership programmes, especially for the urban poor, single mothers and youth at risk. During the pandemic, we have launched virtual career workshops to support the people most affected. Since August 2015, Nation Building School is a social impact organisation that has engaged over 10,000 youths in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
• Engage Prime Ministers, Presidents, and senior policymakers across ASEAN on strategic policy matters • Lead ASEAN Economic Club and World Digital Chamber to drive regional economic and digital cooperation • Built KSInsights into a regional platform, publishing 30+ articles on ASEAN, technology, and geopolitics • Founded KSI Visiting Fellowship, bringing in 10+ regional experts to strengthen policy and research • Lead KSI Academy, delivering AI training programmes for corporations across ASEAN
KSI is an independent think tank with the vision to build better nations. Led by Tan Sri Michael Yeoh, a prominent public policy leader, we are the leading curator of impactful and innovative conferences and forums. KSI has engaged over 2,200 policymakers, business captains and NGO leaders through over 60 high-level events since late 2018. Our focus areas are Education, Economics, Healthcare, International Affairs and Politics & Governance. We are ranked 109th of the 2020 Top Social Policy Think Tanks according to 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.
Asia House is a London-based independent think tank and advisory service. We work with companies and governments in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, facilitating high-level dialogue, providing business and market intelligence, and driving commercial outcomes. Asia House enables commercial, political, and economic engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe. I've worked on a couple of advisory projects involving Malaysia's political landscape and tech ecosystem. - Asia House Advisory briefing: Malaysia outlook (2 December 2020): https://asiahouse.org/news-and-views/asia-house-advisory-briefing-malaysia-outlook/
As the Founding Chairman - and one of the youngest appointed - the Board of Trustees and I oversaw the transformation of Impact Integrated from a reputationally controversial government agency to a sustainable and impactful one. By fully empowering the management, we have strengthened corporate governance, re-anchored our True North and extensively engaged the youth ecosystem. We have engaged over 10,000 youths through various strategic projects, most prominent the #BeliaBerkeja (Youth Working) Virtual Career Fair. Impact Integrated is an agency under the Malaysian Ministry of Youth and Sports that envisions a sustainable and measurable social impact ecosystem driven by youth to bring meaningful and lasting change to their communities. To understand our youth impact work further, visit https://impact.my/ To understand an overview of our organisation, visit https://impactintegrated.my/
Chevening is the UK Government’s global scholarship programme that offers future leaders the unique opportunity to study in the UK. These scholarships are awarded to outstanding professionals from all over the world to pursue a one-year master’s degree in any subject at any UK university. I was #ChosenforChevening as part of the 39 scholars from Malaysia, cohort 2019/2020 to further my postgraduate studies in MSc International Strategy & Diplomacy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).