Izzati Syahirah

Name:
Izzati Syahirah Bt Ahmad Fuad — fondly known as Coach Zati
Founder & CEO, T&L Group
Nouvator — Creativity, Business Systems & Entrepreneurship

Izzati is a Malaysian entrepreneur, creativity coach, and builder of meaningful brands. She brings together creativity, business strategy, and hospitality to develop businesses and experiences where people feel welcomed, discover possibilities, and grow.

Her approach begins with listening: understanding where someone is, what they hope to achieve, and what is making it difficult to move forward. Through practical questions, shared experiences, and opportunities to apply their learning, she helps people recognise their potential and take their next step.

Education Background:

• Studied Accounting and Finance at Monash University, Melbourne.
• Undertook a one-year Fashion Design course at the International Fashion Training Centre and participated as a designer in two fashion shows.
• Completed the Certified Trainer Professional programme.
• Continuous professional development in creativity, leadership, business processes, personal branding, marketing, and practical business management.

Professional Experiences:

Founder & CEO — T&L Group
Leads an ecosystem of businesses and initiatives spanning hospitality, food innovation, learning, and entrepreneurship. Her portfolio includes T&L Bakery Café, T&L Coffee, Jeda Cafe, Makanlab, and Acik Vegan.

She develops brands with attention to both the customer experience and the processes needed to deliver it consistently.

Creativity Coach & Facilitator — since 2016
Developed Creativity in You to help people recognise their strengths, explore possibilities, and apply creative thinking to real challenges.

By 2026, the module had reached its tenth major version, shaped through research, practice, participant feedback, and continuous improvement. Its development began with helping interns turn their potential into confident, creative work and grew into coaching for professionals and entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur & F&B, Event Practitioner
Built experience across home baking, cafés, hospitality, catering, and events.

Her earliest lessons came from helping Mama prepare traditional kuih in their home kitchen. While studying in Melbourne, she worked in a Vietnamese family café, learning coffee preparation, baking, cashiering, café management, and the importance of remembering and caring for customers.

She started her home bakery in 2012. By 2016, the business had evolved into T&L Bakery Café in Bandar Kinrara—a place for families to celebrate milestones and for entrepreneurs to connect and exchange ideas.

Customised Business Processes Consultant & Systems Designer
Helps organisations understand their operational challenges, clarify responsibilities, improve workflows, and develop systems that support efficiency and growth.

Her work connects process improvement with people development, helping teams take greater ownership of their responsibilities and delivery.

Branding, Marketing & Business Development
Practical experience in developing business concepts, meaningful brands, customer experiences, marketing activities, and sales approaches.

She has also conducted branding workshop for Master’s students at Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Coaching, Mentoring & Community Learning
Conducted free two-hour Creativity for Entrepreneurs sessions to help aspiring entrepreneurs gain clarity about their ideas, business models, and direction.

An active BNI Beacon member, she values the learning, relationships, and collaboration that develop when practitioners share their experiences.

Trading & Home Renovation Project Management
In 2014, together with her partner Athirah, she ventured into building materials trading and home renovation project management. Through 2014–2015, she developed experience in sourcing, sales, project coordination, and relationships with suppliers and clients while continuing to fulfil cake orders.

Founder — Nouva Experiential Learning & Community Platform
Building a community where people learn from practitioners, explore real situations, and develop their capabilities through experience, reflection, and collaboration.

Awards & Recognition:

• Sustainability Champion Award — Asian Pacific Sustainability Conference & Awards 2025, recognising her commitment to businesses that create positive community impact.
• BrandHack Best Brand Award 2024 — awarded to T&L Coffee for its resilience, performance, and growth.
• Grab 5-Star Award 2023 — recognising consistent customer satisfaction within her F&B business.

Media Appearances:

Her work and insights have been featured across Malaysian media platforms, including:

• RTM1 and Selamat Pagi Malaysia.
• Bernama News Channel.
• Nasional FM.
• Malaysia Gazette.
• Kosmo!
• Perspektif Komunikasi Warna.

She also hosts The Creative Decode YouTube Channel, exploring creativity, entrepreneurship, and meaningful business, and has appeared on Recharge Business With Purpose, hosted by Muhammad Fadlishah.

My personality in one quirky sentence:

An introvert with a systems brain, a million ideas, a soft heart, and an unusually strong commitment to making everything simple and natural.

Values:

• Empathy: Understand the person and their circumstances before offering a solution.
• Curiosity: Ask questions, explore possibilities, and remain open to learning.
• Creativity: Find useful ways forward and give ideas room to develop.
• Care: Make people feel welcomed, heard, and supported.
• Responsibility: Follow through on commitments and take ownership of the work.
• Continuous improvement: Reflect, adjust, and keep developing.
• Collaboration: Share knowledge and create opportunities for people to grow together.

What are your goals?

I want to help people discover what they are capable of and develop the confidence to use it.

I believe creativity is a capability people can develop through practice, encouragement, and opportunities to apply what they learn.

For professionals and solopreneurs, my goal is to help them find clarity, express their strengths, and move their ideas forward. For entrepreneurs, it is to help them build meaningful brands, capable teams, and practical systems that support the business as it grows.

Through Nouva, I want to make learning a shared experience—where people feel comfortable asking questions, trying something new, and learning from practitioners and one another.

My guiding philosophy is:

Design an experience, then build the processes and systems that make it repeatable.

Your module names:

1. Creativity in You: From Ideas to Impact — Discover Your Potential
2. Creativity in You: Process Flow — Business Process, A Team & Systems
3. Creativity in You: Sales & Personal Branding — Unlock Value Creation
4. Creativity in You: Branding & Marketing — Build Meaningful Brands

Mechanism:
Proposed learning approach

Experience → Reflect → Explore → Apply → Improve

Participants bring a real challenge into the workshop, examine what is happening, explore possible approaches, and create something they can apply. Reflection and feedback help them improve their next attempt.

Sessions combine guided questions, practical activities, relevant case studies, workbook exercises, and discussion. Learning connects directly to participants’ work and business situations.

Topics covered:

• Creative thinking and problem-solving.
• Recognising strengths and developing ideas.
• Turning ideas into practical action.
• Business processes, systems, and project management.
• Productivity, efficiency, and process improvement.
• Team roles, communication, and ownership.
• Sales processes and customer understanding.
• Personal branding and communicating value.
• Brand identity, marketing, and customer experiences.
• Applying feedback and improving delivery.

Module Outline:
Proposed coverage for each module

1. From Ideas to Impact — Discover Your Potential

Explore your strengths, interests, and the challenge you want to address. Question assumptions, generate possibilities, and choose an idea to develop through practical experimentation.

Participant output: An idea developed into a clear action plan.

2. Process Flow — Business Process, A Team & Systems

Map how the business currently works. Identify bottlenecks, clarify team responsibilities, and develop workflows, operating guides, and project plans. Explore how to build team ownership and review whether processes are working.

Participant output: A practical process map, clearer team responsibilities, and an implementation plan for a priority business challenge.

3. Sales & Personal Branding — Sales Process

Understand your audience and identify the value you bring. Develop your positioning and practise communicating it through your introduction, content, and sales conversations. Map a sales process with clear follow-up actions.

Participant output: A personal positioning statement and a practical sales process and action plan.

4. Branding & Marketing — Build Meaningful Brands

Clarify the brand’s purpose, audience, and promise. Connect its identity, message, customer experience, and marketing activities. Develop a focused campaign and explore how to review and improve its effectiveness.

Participant output: A brand direction, campaign plan, and customer journey map.

Who are these workshops meant for?

• Professionals who want to develop creative thinking and turn ideas into action.
• Solopreneurs seeking clarity, confidence, and stronger positioning.
• Entrepreneurs and business owners building capable teams and sustainable processes.
• Team leaders improving coordination, accountability, and delivery.
• Founders and small business teams strengthening their branding, sales, and marketing.
• Aspiring entrepreneurs who want to develop an idea into something they can test.

Bring a challenge you want to work through, a willingness to explore, and the openness to learn with others.