After matriculating at King Edward School in 1974, completing two years of military service, and then graduating from Wits University with an Honours degree in Industrial Psychology, Aki has worked for companies in a number of industries, including life insurance (Liberty Life), civil engineering (The SA Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors), and pharmaceutical manufacturing (Adcock Ingram).

He spent much of his initial working life developing and presenting numerous courses for managers and supervisors in these various organisations, but in 1987 became involved in the implementation of strategic Quality Improvement activities aimed at enhancing the way in which companies do business (Crosby’s Quality Improvement Process). This gave him exposure to many different aspects of the organisation. By the time he resigned in 1989, he was the “Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager”, which included a number of activities related to the enhancement of relationships with customers.

In 1989, Aki started his own small Management Consultancy. Amongst other consulting work, he is actively involved in assisting companies to implement "Delight Your Customers!"TM - a Customer Satisfaction Improvement strategy, which he developed in South Africa for the local market. The company has now grown to the point where every day Aki and his associates run seminars and workshops around the country, and even beyond our borders.

He is often invited to give motivational talks to groups, conduct seminars, workshops and training courses, and to carry out both in-house and external surveys for his clients. More recently, since 1997, he has helped companies to develop their corporate strategic plans. The client list includes companies like Liberty, Nando’s, Dimension Data, SA Breweries, Nedbank, SA Eagle, Netcare, Mauritian Commercial Bank, Afrox, Alexander Forbes, Chubb Security, Standard Bank, Early Bird Farms, Origins, Investec, Adcock Ingram, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, National Brands, Sasol, Land Rover, Johnnic Publishing, PG Glass, and many, many others.

He also lectures on executive development programmes for three English universities operating in South Africa: Henley Management College, London Business School, and Manchester Business School. He lectures on Strategy, Marketing, Customer Care, Operations Management, and occasionally on Human Resources Management.

Aki is passionate about the subject of customer care and at one stage co-hosted his own weekly radio talk show, on Radio 702, "Aki's Consumer Line", with Mike Mills. He often writes articles for various management journals, and has published a book called “Reflections on Delighting Your Customers.” His second book, “Reinventing CRM” will be published shortly.

His interests include astronomy, wildlife and reading, and he is also a part-time counsellor for one of the crisis centres in Johannesburg, although many of these interests have taken second place to the MBA with which he is currently busy.