The Big Leaf

Please describe your company and your position there.

As the CEO of Concordia Ontario Ltd., our goal is to make full use of Ontario's high-quality educational resources to establish a new Ontario private high school, mainly to open up the high school international student market in China, South Korea, Japan and other Southeast Asian countries.

For what projects/services did your company hire The Big Leaf?

In order to ensure that the private high school's:

1. qualification process is smooth and efficient
2. target market positioning is accurate
3. development strategy is correct and precise
4. Cost-effective

What were your goals for this project?

1. The internal quality can be improved as soon as possible to meet the audit requirements of the education authority.
2. Market strategy does not deviate from the target.
3. Maintain good social relations
4. Cost savings

How did you select The Big Leaf?

Recommendations and introductions from friends

Describe the project in detail.

The Big Leaf appointed experienced consultants to provide services for us, quickly put into work, reduce our work pressure, and ensure that there is no deviation in our application process. It also provided timely suggestions for some details that we did not pay attention to.

What was the team composition?

The several consultants who serve us are still very professional.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We successfully passed the examination of educational qualifications in a relatively short period of time and also have a clearer understanding of the future market positioning and development. At the same time, we have effectively controlled expenses.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our communication is relatively smooth. The Big Leaf is able to respond in a timely and effective manner to the problems we find.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The consultant can provide very professional opinions and suggestions. Their understanding of the market is relatively in-depth and the suggestions provided are very instructive. These have helped us achieve the goals we initially set.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I do management consulting, and I work with companies located in Israel. I look for companies that need some strategic help with different things. It can be things like help with marketing, help with finding clients, or help with anything that management will need.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Big Leaf?

The Big Leaf has a good presence in Canada, so we wanted to try and leverage their expertise. We wanted to screen companies to see if they are ready to go to another country or if there is an opportunity in Canada and other things like that.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They mainly do consulting services for us. We wanted to identify market opportunities and any regulatory issues that are different across countries. We also wanted to find strategic advisors like advisor board members to see if there are any key people they could bring, and try to find any kind of specific clients that can be a good start or even a partner.

I sent them information about the company to review and then got their comments. After that, we had a phone interview with their management consultants and got their input to see if there would be a good fit for them to find partners in Canada. I would leave it with them and see if they can find a company that would want to partner or key people that can help the organization in Canada.

What is the team composition?

I have worked with Rahi (President & Lead Strategy Consultant) and Agostino (Management & Strategy Consultant) so far.

How did you come to work with The Big Leaf?

I knew Agostino previously and he referred me to use them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them at the beginning of this year in 2020, and the work is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

From every meeting that we've had, I get good comments from clients that engaged with them about their process and questions.

How did The Big Leaf perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is pretty good. There is good communication every time I need something. We communicate through emails and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is personable and are good people to work with. They have a specific niche already.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t really say. I think maybe higher education, but that would be more emphasized on their niche and their capabilities.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think it is a matter of communication. Keep in touch with them all the time and try to see what they can do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-owner of OTE Studios. We’re a fashion startup.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Big Leaf?

We needed consulting for our marketing strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rahi (President and CEO) sketched out some plans and encouraged us to determine our target audience by providing market and industry research websites. He helped us write our supply chain and figure out how to reach them as well as create a financial process and explain how it works for our business.

He worked with us to create a survey with the right questions in order to gather information. This helped us determine that we needed to make some changes in design to make our product desirable to our potential customers. The Big Leaf also performed A/B testing.

What is the team composition?

Rahi is our only point of contact.

How did you come to work with The Big Leaf?

I searched on LinkedIn and at our local college’s fashion department. I found Rahi there, reached out to him, and we met to discuss the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in January 2019, and our partnership is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Because time is a key factor in business — especially in a competitive industry — one of the best things is how quickly this project has been moving along. Rahi’s knowledge and expertise allow us to learn and understand our business. It also allows us to work quickly to figure out marketing and piece our efforts together. The survey was also very helpful because of the effective questions Rahi helped us formulate.

How did The Big Leaf perform from a project management standpoint?

We initially communicated via email, but now it’s through phone calls, texting, and in-person meetings. They’re very responsive and answer within seconds when I ask a question.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very flexible. Also, Rahi speaks Farsi, as I do, so it made communication very easy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have anything right now.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of Biolock, an IT company assisting with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Big Leaf?

We wanted a beachhead to launch in North America, because North America doesn’t have much stringent privacy regulation. We needed something to be a proof of concept for the North American marketplace, which we used in Canada.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Big Leaf is helping us with market-research, we’re helping them anonymize their platform with blockchain. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

The Big Leaf is helping us get clients and go into new markets. They’re providing research to allow us to gain a foothold. They helped us to realize that the university marketplace could be a potential target because a student wouldn’t want to leave a review of a professor without guarantees of anonymity. They helped us identify that and other markets in North America.

What is the team composition?

Rahi (CEO) is my primary point of contact. I also interact with some other members infrequently.

How did you come to work with The Big Leaf?

I’ve known Rahi for a number of years and didn’t know that this is what he was doing. We got coffee and talked about setting this up.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re probably at the $75,000 mark spent.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have worked from March 2019 onwards.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It’s confusing in North America dealing with compliance. Rahi allowed us to understand Canadian privacy laws and figure out how to refocus on overlaps between the Canadian compliance laws and European GDPR. As a result of that, we’ve retooled ourselves for the Canadian marketplace.                  

How did The Big Leaf perform from a project management standpoint?

Rahi and I have regular conversations, exchanging data and using HubSpot. That’s my primary mode of tracking things with Rahi.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re incredibly affordable for what they’re doing. They’re providing valuable work for a great price.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of any.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you’re dealing with an organization like The Big Leaf you have to wade through a bunch of nonsense to get to what you want. Rahi gives you the information with no ambiguity, providing a quick and dirty summary. That’s a lot easier to work with then most other firms.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of HandiHelp Accessible Innovations. My company deals with people that have accessibility needs. There are a few products that I created, and I also offer to consult for people with accessibility needs, primarily through recommending and setting up smart products that benefit independence and quality of life.

What challenge were you trying to address with The Big Leaf?

I primarily needed help from a planning perspective. I had an accident five years ago that led me to spend time in rehab and the ICU for about a year. While I’ve had my business, I’ve been in a wheelchair for three years.

I needed someone to help me put a business plan, product evaluation, and value proposition together.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rahi (Management Consultant) helped set everything up. He assisted with validating my apparent opportunity, creating a value proposition of analysis that went into the business plan, and researching a crowdfunding campaign that would work for my business. He also provided support and coaching while the campaign launched.

What is the team composition?

I only worked with Rahi.

How did you come to work with The Big Leaf?

I consider myself a bit old school, so I liked the fact that when I first contacted Rahi that he was available by phone. Whenever I had questions or needed to reach him, he was always available to speak to me and provide guidance. I appreciate that approach in this day & age when everyone seems to be only reachable behind a screen and keyboard.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, I believe I’ve spent roughly $4,000–$5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with The Big Leaf started in November 2018.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

My business started from zero. Throughout the engagement, they’ve been instrumental in finding new ways to draw business.

How did The Big Leaf perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, they’re extremely organized and detail-oriented. As I mentioned, Rahi is great with phone calls and following up to emails. While Rahi is very academic, he spoke to me in a language I could understand. He also created milestones and checkpoints to achieve our goals in increments, which we built upon as the engagement went on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate Rahi’s approachability and confidence in his abilities. He makes himself available to his clients like they’re his only one. That one-on-one attention is significant during projects like this.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If I thought there was something he could improve upon, I wouldn’t continue working with him. Rahi is pretty comprehensive in his consulting approach.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

In order for somebody to maximize their time with them, they should have an idea of what they want to do. Clients should have an idea of what numbers or targets they want to hit. Rahi can do a market evaluation that will determine if it’s worth it before spending the money.

A mistake I made was already spending money in different areas before reworking the business plan. The correct methodology would be doing the market validation first and then seeing if the ideas will fit what you’re looking for.