About Imran Savas
Multi-Award-Winning Entrepreneur | Speaker | Founder of Tape UK
Imran Savas built Tape UK from nothing in 2019: no clients, no funding, no partners and no team. Today it is a multi-award-winning national business giving small businesses accounting, websites and marketing under one roof.
Along the way, he has turned down major investment twice, told clients not to pay during COVID, and used two Entrepreneur of the Year stages to speak for the people of Palestine. He has been recognised more than 25 times since 2019.
His story is about more than business success. It shows what values-led leadership looks like when it is tested.
"My goal is simple: to become my own hero, and if I'm blessed with more time, to become him again. No one inspires me more than the person I'm still becoming. Be the good you want to see. That's the real success."
Where it began
Imran was born on 24 June 1988 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where his grandparents worked. His mother was travelling from London to visit her parents when he arrived. His family had roots in both London and Chester for over fifty years.
Chester has never forgotten him. In 2023 he was honoured with a LEGO tribute at the New Chester Market, and he has since been gifted an original artwork celebrating his impact on the city.
He grew up in Bounds Green, North London, attending Bowes Primary School and then Broomfield School. He was raised by his mother alone in a single-parent Mauritian household. By the age of five, he already understood bills, sacrifice and pressure.
He turned down free school meals, not out of pride but out of dignity. With no roadmap and no role models who reflected his world, he learned to stay calm, solve problems and build.
"My childhood wasn't playful. It was marked by early maturity and an awareness of how the world worked. I knew things other children didn't, and I often found myself leading. Where you start never has to define where you finish."
Seeing the gap
Imran began his career in accounting and corporate finance, working closely with start-ups and small businesses. He kept seeing the same pattern: talented founders stuck in survival mode, trying to do everything themselves.
Nobody starts a business because they want to do their own accounting, build their own website or work out marketing from scratch. They start because they believe in a product, a service or an idea. But that dream comes with extra jobs they never signed up for.
When these owners looked for help, they found expensive agencies, unreliable freelancers and providers who didn't understand small business. Each service came from a different place, and the gaps between them cost owners time and money.
The idea behind Tape UK
Imran came up with a simple but innovative idea: one platform where small business owners could hand over accounting, payroll, tax, websites and marketing to a single expert team. He researched the market and couldn't find anything like it, with every service done in-house by experienced people.
He built it around one principle: small business owners shouldn't have to take risks with money they work so hard for. That meant hiring quality, experienced staff rather than relying on freelancers or outsourcing. It also meant offering every service a business needs, from starting up to growing, so owners never have to piece together different providers.
Clients don't have to take everything. They pick what they need and leave the rest to Tape UK.
Even the branding has a meaning. Imran chose black and white for Tape UK to represent black-and-white pricing: clients always know exactly what they will pay, with no surprises.
Giving back was built in from day one. One per cent of every client fee goes to charity, funding four clean water projects, a tree-planting programme and a newborn baby support incubator. Tape UK has never been about making huge profits; its growth is designed to change lives, both for its clients and for communities around the world.
Tested from the start
In 2019, Imran left a stable career in accounting and finance to launch Tape UK. Within months, a major corporation saw the company's potential and offered a substantial investment. Most founders would have accepted. Imran said no, because outside money could have compromised the mission. His vision wasn't for sale.
One year in, COVID-19 hit. While most companies focused on protecting themselves, Imran told his entire client base not to pay Tape UK during the lockdowns. The company kept serving them until they could reopen. It was the right thing to do, and it built lasting loyalty when recovery came.
That same year, the Black Lives Matter movement pushed many companies to showcase their diversity. Tape UK didn't need to change anything. Its team, a mix of backgrounds, cultures and religions, had been diverse from the start. For Imran, values are something you live every day, not something you perform when it's convenient.
What Tape UK has achieved
Under Imran's leadership, Tape UK has grown into a fully in-house, UK-based team with no freelancers, no outsourcing and no gaps between providers. Its results speak for themselves:
- A 99.6% client retention rate
- More than five national awards
- Consistent growth, entirely self-funded
- Business owners across the UK getting their time back to focus on the work they love
Imran is the youngest person in his own company. He leads a team of experienced professionals who chose to follow his mission rather than his age.
A platform used differently
Less than a year after launching Tape UK, Imran was invited to give a TEDx talk without even applying. His talk, "Leaders of Tomorrow," was later promoted to TED.com, where it sits alongside talks by Bill Gates, Simon Sinek and Mel Robbins. Its message was for everyone told they weren't enough: leadership isn't about titles or privilege, but about unlocking potential in yourself and others.
His Instagram, @byimransavas, grew into a community of more than 400,000 followers, including celebrities, politicians and changemakers.
The obvious move would have been to use that following to promote himself and Tape UK. He chose a different path. Imran uses his voice to challenge injustice and raise awareness for humanitarian causes, even when it goes against conventional business advice and even when it costs Tape UK. To him, influence isn't a marketing asset; it's a responsibility.
Speaking truth on the winner's stage
Recognition followed, though it was never the goal. In 2024, Imran was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the MBCC Awards, ahead of finalists including Gymshark founder Ben Francis MBE.
Wearing his Palestinian keffiyeh, he used his acceptance speech not for himself but for humanity:
"This year, I have found it hard due to the conflict in Palestine. I know it is controversial to say in front of all of you, but for me, humanity is more important. To speak on their behalf means more to me than this award. Keep everyone in our prayers and let's work for humanity together."
The room gave him a standing ovation. He continues to speak for the children of Palestine on his platforms.
In 2026, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year again, this time at the British Zariah Awards. Once more, he used the moment for something bigger than himself:
"Thank you so much for this opportunity to accept this award. I just want to say: believe in yourself. We can change the world together. I believe that we can work together and create something special, to create a positive change and, ultimately, free Palestine."
For the second time, on one of the UK's most prominent business stages, he chose to put humanity first.
Staying true when it costs
In 2025, Tape UK grew more slowly than in previous years. Imran believes this was partly because of his outspoken activism, which made some people uncomfortable. He wouldn't change a thing. Integrity isn't what you stand for when it's easy; it's what you refuse to abandon when it isn't.
That same year, another corporation approached Tape UK with an offer most founders would have signed without hesitation. For the second time, Imran declined. Tape UK's purpose, its community and the trust it has built are not for sale.
Meanwhile, Tape UK's work continued and Imran's speaking calendar became busier and more prestigious than ever.
A loss that changed everything
In 2026, Imran's beloved mother passed away. She had raised him alone and was his first teacher and his first example of strength. Her sacrifices made every opportunity that followed possible. As an only child, with no father, siblings or grandparents to share the loss, Imran felt it in a deeply personal way.
Alongside the support of his wider family, he was surrounded by community. Friends, followers, clients and people who had never met him came together to fund a clean water well in his mother's name, so her memory now gives life to others. Their donations also enabled Umrah to be performed on her behalf in September 2026.
Imran continues to honour her through acts of ongoing charity. He has had the Qur'an completed on her behalf, continues to give in her name, and hopes one day to build a mosque in her memory.
"My mother gave me everything she had, which was often nothing, and somehow it was always enough. Everything I have built, every award I have accepted, every stage I have stood on was possible because she was there first, doing the harder work with less recognition and more grace than I will ever manage."
Her passing has deepened his sense of urgency: to honour the people who made his life possible, and to spend his own life making things better for others. She shaped a leader, and the leader he has become is her legacy.
2026 so far
In 2026 alone, Imran has spoken at events across the country, including the main stage at Co-op Live, the UK's largest indoor arena. He has won Entrepreneur of the Year, given an hour-long interview on BBC Radio Manchester, appeared on podcasts reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners, hosted community events and spoken at universities. Tape UK was also a finalist for SME Business of the Year at the Islam Channel Business Awards.
None of it was planned as a brand strategy. All of it came from one consistent decision: to show up fully, speak honestly and use every platform for something bigger than himself.
What drives him
"I don't measure my life by awards, income or media appearances. I measure it by whether I remained true to what I believed, how I treated people and whether I left the world better than I found it."
Imran knows what it means to start with disadvantages. He was raised by a single mum in a council house, was entitled to free school meals, and grew up Muslim in Britain. His mission is to help people who start where he did to rise above their circumstances, become leaders in their own right, bring hope to their communities and change the narratives told about them.
Through entrepreneurship, mentoring, speaking and philanthropy, his goal stays the same: unlock human potential, remove unnecessary struggle and create access to success, whatever someone's background or starting point.
From a child who understood bills before play to a nationally recognised leader, his journey proves one thing: where you start never has to define where you finish.
Accolades
- Entrepreneur of the Year 2026, British Zariah Awards
- Entrepreneur of the Year 2024, MBCC Awards, ahead of finalists including Gymshark founder Ben Francis MBE
- TEDx speaker: "Leaders of Tomorrow" was promoted to TED.com, alongside talks by Bill Gates, Simon Sinek and Mel Robbins
- Judge at the MBCC Awards 2025 and 2026, alongside representatives from The FA and The King's Trust
- Featured in the official MBCC 10-year publication alongside Annie Lennox, Levi Roots and Benjamin Zephaniah
- Nominated for the Positive Role Model Award for Race, Faith and Religion at the National Diversity Awards 2020, alongside fellow nominee Marcus Rashford MBE
- LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Leaders 2022, The Sunday Times
- Honoured with a LEGO tribute at the New Chester Market, 2023
- Media coverage across BBC, ITV, Islam Channel and national publications, and featured in the Anthony Walker Foundation and M&S "See Me, Be Me" campaign
- A community of 400,000+ followers, including politicians, celebrities and cultural influencers
- Adviser, mentor and speaker for entrepreneurs, leadership teams, charities and public organisations
Get in touch
For speaking, hosting, mentoring, advisory work, media or brand partnerships, email imran@imransavas.com. Every enquiry is read personally and receives a considered reply, including fee and availability.