Faisal Javed
CEO/Principal Consultant
An ex-S&P Analyst, Faisal has been advising start-ups and early stage businesses, especially in the UK immigration sector, to create and build innovative and sustainable products and services.
Faisal Malik is a seasoned business planner, strategist, and financial analyst with nearly two decades of experience across global finance and business consulting. He began his career in 2009 at S&P Global—an Inc. 500 firm—where he analysed market trends and financial performance of top European banking institutions. While his early career was marked by high-level financial analysis, Faisal’s passion lay in creating businesses, not just analysing them.
In 2012, Faisal left the corporate sector to pursue his entrepreneurial vision full time. He founded what would later become Aceplans, a boutique business planning consultancy focused on supporting global entrepreneurs with a wide range of business plans. Later, he went to set up his UK immigration business plan consulting company Tier 1 Plan Writers (TOP Writers) in 2014. Since then, he has helped hundreds of foreign entrepreneurs develop credible, investor-grade business plans to support their UK visa applications, funding rounds, and growth strategies. Faisal is now widely recognised as one of the most trusted consultants in the UK immigration business planning space.
Key Career Highlights
- Seasoned Strategist & Business Planner: Nearly two decades of experience in business planning, strategic consulting, and financial analysis across diverse industries and international markets.
- Global Finance Background at S&P Global: Worked between 2009 and 2012 at S&P Global, a Fortune 500 and Inc. 500 company. First major international assignment included analysing performance of top European banks including HSBC, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, and Deutsche Bank, while maintaining close interaction with the IR departments of these banks.
- Founded Aceplans in 2012: Transitioned from corporate finance to launch his own consulting firm — Aceplans, building a reputation as one of the leading specialists in investor-grade business plans.
- Founded TOP Writers in 2014: Addressing to the growing needs of the visa applicants of the then UK’s premier entrepreneur visa, he established a separate division of Aceplans — TOP Writers, building a reputation as one of the UK’s leading specialists in immigration business plans.
- Led 1,000+ Business Plans & High-Value Projects: Personally, led the development of complex, high-investment plans for UK entrepreneur visa, including:
- £8M 4-Star Seaside Hotel in Kent.
- £30M Luxury Hotel in Mayfair, London.
- £1.7M Mining Advisory Firm in Central London.
- £1.6M Investment Management Company in Mayfair.
- Pioneering in Innovation-Led Visa Business Planning: After the major shift in UK immigration policy towards innovation-based start-ups in 2019, personally overseen creation of business models featuring cutting-edge technologies like SaaS, AaaP, artificial intelligence, Fintech, blockchain, virtual reality, and data-driven platforms — tailored to meet the Innovator Founder Visa.
- Holds an MBA Degree: Holds an MBA with specialisation in Finance, equipping him with a strong foundation in strategic analysis, financial modelling, and business planning.
What Clients Say About Faisal Malik’s Work?
Faisal Malik’s work has been recognised by several leading law firms in London, UK, with their partners leaving strong recommendations on his LinkedIn Profile. A couple of them are provided below for reference.
Faisal is a leader in his field, his experience in developing formidable business plans, product research and understanding of local and global market knowledge really impresses us as a firm. We have been instructing Faisal routinely and highly recommend his services.
— Jayesh J., Partner at Quastels — a Legal 500 Firm
Our firm has regularly worked with Faisal and his team to research and prepare business plans/related financials for the Tier 1 and Overseas Rep category and I can say with utmost confidence that the plans are very well written, comprehensive and of a very high quality.
— Sheryar K., Partner at Connaught — a Legal 500 Firm