Ahqenza home Discuss your situation

Connected expertise for the matters that reach the boardroom.

See the whole picture. Strengthen what happens next.

Ahqenza is a specialist advisory practice bringing together Board & Governance Advisory, Independent Investigations & Reviews, Board & Leadership Development and Executive Facilitation.

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We work with Boards, Chairs and senior leaders when governance needs closer examination, a sensitive matter requires independent scrutiny, senior leaders are preparing for greater responsibility or an Executive Team needs help moving a difficult issue forward.

These situations rarely sit within a single discipline. Governance, leadership, culture, conduct and organisational risk are often connected. Ahqenza brings those perspectives together to help clients understand what is happening, identify the wider implications and make better-informed decisions about what happens next.

Founded by Amna Zaidi FCA CMgr MCMI, Ahqenza draws on more than 20 years of executive, governance, transformation and regulatory experience.

Where we workBased in Mayfair, London, working with organisations across the UK and internationally.

Georgian townhouses on a Mayfair street in London at dusk

Over 20 years of experience advising and leading in complex and regulated environments, gained in and alongside organisations including:

NatWest Deutsche Bank Lloyds Banking Group AIB ICAEW ICAP, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan Deloitte Oxford Centre for Leadership KPMG Serco Pleo
The Institute of Leadership Approved

Institute Approved Provider

Ahqenza is an Institute Approved Provider, providing independent professional recognition of the standards underpinning our learning and development provision.

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The challenge may begin in one place. It rarely ends there.

  • A governance concern may expose a leadership problem.
  • An investigation may reveal something deeper about culture, accountability or what people have learned is safe to say.
  • A difficult executive conversation may expose questions of trust, judgement or decision-making.

Complex organisational issues rarely stay within neat professional boundaries. Addressing them effectively often requires more than one professional lens.

Ahqenza brings complementary disciplines together within one specialist practice, helping clients address the immediate issue while recognising the wider organisational conditions that may be shaping it.

Each service can be commissioned independently. Where an issue crosses boundaries, our connected perspective helps clients see connections that a narrower lens may miss.

Board papers, a fountain pen and reading glasses on a walnut table

Specialist expertise. Connected perspective.

Services Overview
A Board meeting in progress in a panelled London boardroom
Board & Governance Advisory
Indexed evidence files and an interview transcript on a desk under a lamp
Independent Investigations & Reviews
Senior leaders in discussion during an executive education session
Board & Leadership Development
An executive team in a facilitated discussion in a country house library
Executive Facilitation

Board & Governance Advisory

How would your governance hold up if it were examined tomorrow?

Good governance is not demonstrated simply by the existence of structures, policies, committees and Board papers.

The more important question is how those arrangements work when judgement is contested, challenge is uncomfortable or the consequences are significant.

Ahqenza undertakes independent Board effectiveness reviews, governance and committee reviews and Board advisory work, helping Boards, Chairs and Committees understand what is working, what requires attention and how governance operates in practice.

Best suited to

Boards, Chairs and Committees examining effectiveness, governance, accountability, significant decisions or areas likely to attract scrutiny.

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Independent Investigations & Reviews

When independence is non-negotiable.

Sensitive matters require more than a process.

They require confidence that the right questions will be asked, evidence will be examined without a predetermined conclusion, and findings will be capable of withstanding scrutiny.

Through Resolve, Ahqenza’s independent investigations practice, we undertake independent workplace and executive investigations and reviews involving conduct, culture, governance and organisational risk.

Careful fact-finding. Rigorous analysis. Clear conclusions.

Best suited to

Boards, Board Committees, General Counsel, Chief People Officers, HR Directors and Employee Relations leaders handling sensitive matters where independence, evidential rigour, confidentiality and confidence in the process are critical.

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Board & Leadership Development

Your next difficult moment will be handled by the leaders you are developing now.

Senior leadership is not tested by how confidently someone can repeat a framework.

It is tested when information is incomplete, interests compete, challenge is required and there is no obvious answer.

Ahqenza designs Board development, executive education and leadership programmes around the capabilities that matter in those moments: judgement, challenge, influence, confidence, accountability and leading under pressure.

Best suited to

Boards, Executive Teams, Chief People Officers, HR Directors, L&D and Talent leaders, and organisations developing senior leaders for greater responsibility, complexity, scrutiny or change.

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Executive Facilitation

When the conversation matters as much as the decision.

Sometimes the issue is already understood.

The difficulty is getting the right people to say what needs to be said, challenge assumptions constructively and reach a decision they can stand behind.

Ahqenza facilitates difficult Board and executive conversations where competing perspectives, strategic tension, sensitive relationships or high stakes have made progress difficult.

We create the conditions for constructive challenge, candid discussion and clearer decisions.

Best suited to

Boards and Executive Teams dealing with strategic tension, competing priorities, difficult relationships, unresolved issues or conversations that another ordinary meeting is unlikely to resolve.

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For rooms that need the conversation nobody is starting.

Some of the most important organisational questions are the ones people recognise but rarely name.

  • Who gets heard?
  • What is the price of telling the truth?
  • What happens when somebody challenges?
  • What do people learn from what happens next?
  • And who gets the opportunity to succeed?

Amna Zaidi's keynotes and executive sessions combine organisational insight, professional experience and powerful human stories to challenge established thinking and create conversations that continue long after the room has emptied.

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Organisations call Ahqenza when...

Clients do not always arrive with a neatly defined brief. Often, they arrive with a situation.

  1. The Board needs an objective perspective.

  2. Something looks right on paper but does not feel right in practice.

  3. A sensitive matter requires genuinely independent examination.

  4. The organisation needs to prepare senior leaders for greater responsibility.

  5. The Executive Team has reached an impasse.

  6. The conversation everyone knows needs to happen is not happening.

The stakes justify an external perspective.

Not every issue requires one. Some situations do.

You do not need to know which Ahqenza service you need before contacting us.

Discuss your situation

Trusted when the work matters.

Amna got to the heart of the issue very quickly. She asked questions that made us look at things differently and gave us a much clearer view of what needed attention.

ChairRegulated organisation

We needed someone independent who could come in, understand the context and give us a straight view. Amna was thoughtful, challenging when she needed to be, and very practical in her recommendations.

Senior ExecutiveFinancial services

It was a sensitive situation and there were different views about what had happened. Amna handled it calmly and professionally. The process was thorough and we had confidence in the conclusions.

Chief People OfficerConfidential client
Amna Zaidi in a dark tailored suit, smiling in a bright room with tall windows

Meet Amna Zaidi.

Founder & Managing Director

Amna Zaidi FCA CMgr MCMI brings more than 20 years of financial services experience across transformation, audit, governance, regulation, investigations and leadership development.

A Chartered Accountant and Chartered Manager, she serves on the ICAEW Audit Registration Committee and teaches with UK business schools and executive education providers.

Her experience of organisations from multiple perspectives shapes Ahqenza's connected approach to governance, leadership, culture, conduct and organisational risk.

Read Amna's story

Questions clients often ask.

Have a question that is not covered here?

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Independent external advice can be valuable when a Board or Committee wants an objective perspective on an important issue, when governance or effectiveness needs closer examination, when a matter is particularly sensitive, or when the consequences justify additional scrutiny.

Yes. Ahqenza can work directly with Chairs, Boards and Board Committees, as well as CEOs and other senior executives. Appropriate commissioning, reporting and governance arrangements are agreed at the outset.

Independence begins with clarity about who has commissioned the work, its scope, the questions to be examined and the reporting arrangements. We approach evidence without a predetermined conclusion and maintain appropriate professional boundaries throughout.

Where circumstances could reasonably call independence into question, this is considered before the work begins.

Yes. Each service can be commissioned independently. Where a situation crosses professional boundaries, relevant capabilities can also be brought together within one engagement.

The scope remains proportionate to the situation. Additional capability is brought in because it is relevant, not simply because it is available.

Yes. Ahqenza can work directly with an organisation or alongside internal teams, external legal counsel and other professional advisers, with roles, scope and professional boundaries established clearly at the outset.

Yes. Ahqenza's perspective has been shaped by more than two decades of experience in financial services, professional services and other high-accountability environments where governance, evidence, accountability and significant decisions may need to withstand external scrutiny.

You do not need to arrive with a fully defined brief. Tell us enough about the situation for us to understand the nature of the matter and the support you may be considering.

We can then discuss the circumstances, the independence required, any immediate sensitivities and whether Ahqenza is the right fit. All initial enquiries are treated in confidence.

No. Many clients come to Ahqenza with a situation rather than a defined brief. Tell us what is happening or what you are trying to move forward, and we can help determine the most relevant capability.

When the situation matters, start with a conversation.

You may be examining how effectively your Board is working, dealing with a sensitive matter that requires independent scrutiny, preparing leaders for greater responsibility, or trying to move an Executive Team beyond an issue it cannot resolve internally.

Whatever the starting point, you do not need to have defined the solution or know which Ahqenza service you need before contacting us.

Investigations (Resolve)
020 7871 6941
Media enquiries
media@ahqenza.com
Office
11-12 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4PN, United Kingdom

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