Our guest today is Dr Nasser Siabi OBE of Microlink PC.

Nasser talks about his early years, growing up in Iran and how his eyesight impacted on his learning, and how he lacked confidence because of this. However, when he came to England and began to study at college, he quickly grew in his confidence when he realised that it was his sight and not a lack of intelligence that had held him back.

Importantly for him, his father who didn’t go to school yet had an entrepreneurial mindset encouraged his children to work hard, and they all reached a high level of education. Nasser says his resilience comes from his father.

The other thing that helped him was his memory, because whereas he couldn’t see the blackboard, he could remember things well. He was once asked by his teacher after a mock A level exam how many of the 150 questions he could remember, so that they could make a note of them for the next years students to practice – and incredibly, he remembered 130 of them!

Nasser is passionate about how we education young children. Instead of holding them back in education because they are dyslexic, or have a disability that means they struggle with maths and English, we should focus on the abilities that they do have. Many people who have had learning issues as children have gone on to become great scientists or doctors – they have potential; we just don’t unlock it.

He shares how he set up his company Microlink PC and how he completely changed the way that students with disabilities were given computer equipment by the Government system. He realised that they weren’t actually being supported at all. The changes he made had a huge impact on many young people, which he talks about with, not surprisingly, great pride.

He also talks about how he thinks that for everyone, across all generations, ethnicities and backgrounds, - working or being involved in something that gives your life a purpose is what makes the difference – not just making more and more money. Helping others, even if only in a small way.

You can contact us at the following:

Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/

Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/