15 July 2025
Imran Hakim described the foundations of the Hakim Group and the core values around which it operates during Independents Day (29–30 June).
A session titled Back to the future... saw Sarah Morgan, staff development consultant at Eyecommunicate, joined on stage by the CEO of Hakim Group, for a conversation that journeyed back through his entry into practice ownership and explored the challenges facing independent practice today.
Key learnings across the journey
Hakim described growing up in Bolton and his early forays into entrepreneurship, through selling laptops to peers and tutors.
After graduating with an optometry degree, Hakim opened his first practice, and six months later had the opportunity to take on another local independent practice.
It was through this experience, Hakim said he learnt the value of “taking something with good ingredients, building on that, re-energising that, and resourcing that.”
Having taken on four practices, Hakim was headhunted by Vision Express to take on one of their joint venture practices, which became a top performer.
“The biggest thing I learned from the Vision Express set up was the power of having a back office infrastructure that supported you in different areas of your business, leaving you to focus on the day job and what was going on locally,” Hakim noted.
After a short stint of boxing training in Thailand, Hakim also appeared on Dragons Den with the iTeddy, a children’s toy that went on to be sold in 45 countries around the world within 18 months.
In 2010, life changed when Hakim’s father passed away. Hakim said: “He was my mentor, who I went to when I wasn’t sure about making a decision. Up until that point it seemed like everything was easy.”
“As somebody who likes to solve problems, his was a problem I couldn’t solve,” he said.
Reflecting on his father’s legacy of helping others, Hakim said: “He left having made a difference to the lives of many, many people. I realised what I want to do for the rest of my life is to make a difference to the lives of as many people as I can so that my kids feel the same way as I do about my own father.”
Hakim took his learnings from Vision Express, as well as his experiences of independent practice, to develop an approach that gave independent practices autonomy and enabled them to retain their heritage, whilst benefiting from the economies of scale and skill.
The Hakim Group has now surpassed 500 practices. Hakim reflected: “It really resonated and provided a solution to a future way of working, without losing that independence and autonomy at a local level.”
The Imran Hakim episode
In the eleventh episode of The OT Podcast, we speak to CEO of Hakim Group, Imran Hakim
Culture first
Asked to share his thoughts on building high-performing teams, Hakim emphasised the role of culture and relationships. He said: “For me it comes from culture. A culture that’s all about having fun, making a difference, and making sure we look at that in every area of what we do – coupled with values that you are ruthlessly consistent with.”
When Hakim Group are considering partnering with a practice, the values of the business are the most important consideration to ensure alignment.
A sense of belonging is also important, with Hakim describing the culture of the business as “a whole bunch of people whose glass is half-full.”
"We don’t always get everything right,” he acknowledged, but added: “We never stop trying and we make sure we’re pushing the boundaries, with the right values, the right culture, and whilst having fun along the way. I think when you’ve got that, that’s when something special happens.”
Hakim shared: “We’re learning, we’re contributing to each other’s journeys through life and business, and it’s really enriching one another – lifting each other to greater heights.”
“That positive mindset, surrounding yourself with people who are doing the same and running their own independent practice the way that they want to, whilst making sure they can do exactly what they need to do for the patient that is in front of them and tailored for them, without having to adopt a rule book – I think that’s what is really successful,” he added.
Market change
When planning for the future, Hakim explained that he has a five-year vision, which is then broken down into a plan for the next 12, 24, and 36 months.
He shared: “We have a unique perspective because we have independent practices across the UK and Ireland, serving different demographics in different locations, with their own individuality. So, we get a read on trends on a weekly basis.”
“You almost need to be a mini-economist these days to navigate volatility, inflation, interest rates, and pricing strategies,” he acknowledged.
Looking forward for the next five years, Hakim suggested the marketplace will see ongoing consolidation and rationalisation in distribution, licensing, and manufacturing, as well as retail.
He explained: “That will continue to accelerate because that is the way the market is evolving globally, and that will have implications for independents because you’re working now in a world where the constituents of the industry are changing on an annual basis.”
Distributors and licences have been moving around more now than 10 years ago, he suggested, and this will continue.
In independent practice, Hakim questioned: “How do you deal with such challenging, exponential change? When you’re running a team, in practice or the test room, and you’ve got all these things to deal with anyway, how do you deal with it all?”
One avenue, he suggested is: “Having the right mechanisms, communities, and forums, in which you can extract what you need to help you navigate exponential change.”
Loyalty and attracting footfall
A key challenge for independent practices is attracting new customers as footfall trends down.
Hakim shared: “What independent practices are really good at is, when somebody walks in through your door, doing a great job. We see average order values grow every year, and conversion continues to improve. There is a real focus that independents have to grow loyalty, and they do that well.”
The marketplace is also growing as the population is ageing and growing, with a greater onset of myopia and presbyopia, and newer technologies emerging to meet patient needs.
Hakim explained: “The thing that is the biggest challenge for independent practices is that they do have a real competitive disadvantage when it comes to attracting new customers and footfall.”
This marks a challenge but also an opportunity for independent practices to embrace and leverage new tools.
He said: “You can become hyper-local and counteract the competitive advantage that the larger guys have with tools that allow you to compete in a hyper-local way.”
Providing value to the individual in the chair
Asked to share his perspective on what it really means to be an independent, Hakim suggests this is the wrong question to be asking, instead posing that from a patient’s perspective: “All they care about is what value can you add to them to help them see better and live better.”
He shared: “I think ultimately it comes down to an ethos and philosophy. Are you able to do whatever is in the best interest of that person who is sat in front of you?”
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re wearing a uniform, what hours you do, or whether you have the same name above the door or not. It just matters what difference you’re making to the person in front of you and to the team you are leading. I think that is what independence is all about,” Hakim concluded.
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