Press Release
Jeremy Packman: Before Adding Another School Program, Fix the System You Already Have
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California education leader Jeremy Packman says schools should examine implementation, ownership, and existing workflows before assuming another program will solve an old problem.
SANTA ROSA, Calif., Sep 10, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — When a school faces a persistent problem, the response can be predictable: find a new program.
A new behavior framework is introduced. A new intervention is launched. Staff attend professional development training. New procedures are added to calendars and meetings. For a while, the initiative receives attention. Then daily demands take over, implementation becomes uneven, lacking fidelity, and another solution eventually takes its place.
After 25 years working in public education, Jeremy Packman believes school leaders should challenge that cycle.
“Before adding something new, I want to know why what we already have isn’t working,” Packman said. “Is the program actually the problem, or did we never create the structure needed to implement it consistently?”
For Packman, the distinction matters. Schools can have strong ideas on paper and still struggle to turn them into everyday practice.
New Programs Cannot Fix Unclear Systems
Packman has worked as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and Administrator on Special Assignment. Across those roles, he has seen how school improvement efforts can become harder to sustain when responsibilities are unclear.
A program may require a true cycle of inquiry, with teachers to document interventions, administrators to review progress, specialists to provide support, and teams to meet regularly. If nobody knows exactly who owns each step, or if each participant isn’t following the program with fidelity, the program can quickly become another item competing for attention.
“One of the first things I look for is ownership,” Packman said. “If five people are involved but nobody can tell me who is responsible for the next step, that’s where I expect the process to break.”
He encourages leaders to map existing workflows before purchasing a new product or introducing another initiative. Who starts the process? Who follows up? Where is progress recorded? How often is it reviewed? What happens when something is missed?
Those questions are basic by design.
“You can have an impressive program and still have a weak process underneath it,” he said. “Adding another layer doesn’t repair the foundation.”
Initiative Overload Has an Operational Cost
New initiatives also compete with existing responsibilities. “I remember taking over a principal position, and in my first week I was directed to apply three new initiatives before I even walked in the door”. This level of change was overwhelming for the staff and led to major concerns with my leadership approach
Teachers still have lessons to prepare. Administrators still have student and staff issues to address. Support teams still have meetings, interventions, and follow-ups to manage.
Every addition asks people to divide their attention further.
Packman believes leaders should therefore ask what will be removed when something new is introduced, and why.
“If you’re asking staff to start doing three new things on Monday, what are you telling them they can stop doing?” he said. “If the answer is nothing, you’re not really prioritizing. You’re just adding. Instead, a good administrative approach would be to see how any new initiative can be built into what teachers are already doing. This requires adding teaching voice to the decision process”
Packman’s preference is to simplify first.
“I’d rather find the point where the process breaks than throw out the entire process,” Packman said. “Sometimes the fix is a clearer handoff, a shared tracker, or a meeting that actually ends with someone owning the next action.”
This reflects a broader principle in his leadership approach: implementation deserves as much attention as planning.
An initiative does not become part of a school’s culture because it appears in a presentation. It becomes part of the culture when people understand it, use it consistently, and know what to do when it stops working.
School Leaders Should Ask Better Questions Before Saying Yes
Packman suggests that leaders pressure-test new initiatives before introducing them.
What specific problem is this supposed to solve? Is there evidence that the existing approach has failed, or has it simply been implemented inconsistently? What type of data is being used as evidence, and Who will own the new work? How will staff know whether it is working? What existing responsibility can be removed to make room for it?
There is another question that can be harder for leaders to ask: Do we need something new at all?
Schools operate in an environment where improvement is often associated with addition. A new initiative can feel like visible action. Fixing an existing workflow can appear less ambitious.
Packman argues that the less exciting option may sometimes produce the better result.
“There’s nothing flashy about getting the same basic process right every week,” he said. “But consistency is what makes a system dependable.”
Better Implementation Starts With Listening
Packman’s approach does not mean schools should resist change. His career has required him to lead through significant change, including school closures and reopening during COVID-19.
Instead, he argues for more disciplined change.
He has described active listening as central to his leadership style. That becomes especially important before asking educators to adopt something new.
Teachers and support staff often know where an existing process is failing because they work inside it every day. That said, they may still be very resistant to the change. Their experience can reveal unnecessary steps, conflicting expectations, duplicated work, and responsibilities that were never clearly assigned.
“You have to meet people where they are,” Packman said. “If you’re changing a system, understand what people are already doing before you tell them what they need to do next.”
That does not mean every concern should stop an initiative. It means implementation should reflect the environment in which the initiative must survive.
About Jeremy Packman
Jeremy Packman is a California-based Administrator on Special Assignment with 25 years of experience in public education, including 14 years in school leadership. His background includes classroom teaching and administrative leadership, with experience in student services, MTSS, restorative practices, special education systems, and education law. His work focuses on building practical systems that create clearer expectations, stronger follow-through, and better support for students, families, and educators. Learn more at JeremyPackman.com.
About Author
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
Press Release
Zamanat Targets GCC’s $250 Billion SME Financing Gap With Up to $100 Million Tokenized Private Credit Fund
Dubai, UAE, September 10th, 2026, Chainwire
Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited is the company’s first live proof point for regulated fund tokenization on ZIGChain focused on GCC private credit.
Zamanat today announced its sponsorship of Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited (the “Fund”), a DIFC-domiciled tokenized private credit fund with a target size of up to USD 100 million. The Fund targets the GCC’s estimated $250 billion SME financing gap, with only 11 percent of SMEs across the region having access to credit.
Closing a $250 billion structural gap in GCC SME credit
Across the GCC, SMEs are central to economic growth yet remain significantly underserved by traditional financing. In the UAE, SMEs generate more than half of GDP and employ the majority of the private-sector workforce, yet receive less than 10 percent of total bank lending.
The Fund will invest in private credit across the region, directing capital towards strong homegrown companies whose financing needs are not fully met through traditional lending channels. The strategy supports national ambitions to expand SME participation, private-sector growth and access to alternative financing, including priorities set out under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE Centennial 2071.
“Strong businesses across the GCC still struggle to access growth capital despite sound fundamentals. Zamanat sponsored the Fund to create a credible route between those businesses and institutional capital. With a target size of up to USD 100 million and interests issued as Investment Tokens, it is our first live proof point for bringing GCC private credit into a regulated digital structure for Professional Clients,” said Umair Tariq, Founder and CEO of Zamanat.
Bringing GCC private credit into digital markets
Tokenization expands the infrastructure around traditionally hard-to-access private-market assets without changing the underlying investment or credit profile.
The Fund combines a regional private credit strategy, a DIFC fund structure, institutional administration and digital issuance on ZIGChain. It provides a first live demonstration of how regional private credit can be brought into a DFSA-regulated tokenized structure for Professional Clients.
The Fund is a DFSA-regulated closed-ended fund registered as an Exempt Fund and classified as a Credit Fund. It is managed by Truleum Venture Partners Limited and administered by Apex Group. Fund interests will be issued as ZM1 Investment Tokens on ZIGChain within a regulated, whitelisted environment.
As sponsor, Zamanat brings its regional private credit, investment structuring and institutional partnership expertise to the Fund’s development. Truleum retains responsibility for all regulated fund-management activities.
The ZM1 Investment Token structure provides a blockchain-native ownership and settlement layer within the Fund’s regulated framework. It also allows qualifying investors who meet the DFSA Professional Client criteria to participate alongside institutional investors.
Zamanat is backed by Disrupt.com, a MENA-based, operator-led AI-native venture builder and lead investor in the business.
Building the global market for Digital Shariah Assets
Global Islamic finance assets are projected to reach $9.7 trillion by 2029, yet demand for digital and Shariah-aligned assets is growing faster than the institutional infrastructure connecting them with global capital.
Zamanat continues to build the global market for Digital Shariah Assets. Its wider operating model combines investment structuring, Shariah expertise, regulated partner routes and digital distribution to bring real-world assets to market through traditional and digital channels.
The DIFC-domiciled Fund evidences the regulated fund-tokenization, digital ownership and partner-orchestration capability within that wider build. Zamanat is progressing a separate pipeline of Digital Shariah Assets across private credit, receivables, real estate and other asset classes.
Institutional partnerships
Apex Group acts as Fund Administrator, providing institutional fund administration and controls from the outset.
“Zamanat is supporting the creation of a new category in Digital Assets. Bringing institutional structure and digital distribution together within a DFSA-regulated framework sets the standard for how this market should be built, and this fund shows the model working at institutional scale. We are proud to support the infrastructure behind it, and we look forward to partnering further on the projects Zamanat already has in motion,” said Peter Hughes, Founder & CEO, Apex Group.
The global market for Digital Shariah Assets does not yet exist as an institutional category. Zamanat is building it.
Notes to Editors
Sources
LSEG and ICD, 2025 Islamic Finance Development Indicator Report, 14 October 2025 (global Islamic finance assets projected to reach $9.7 trillion by 2029); World Bank, Competition in the GCC SME Lending Markets: An Initial Assessment (estimated $250 billion GCC SME credit gap; 11 percent of SMEs with access to credit); Kearney, GCC Retail Banking Radar 2024.
Investor notice
This communication as related to Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited is approved by Truleum Venture Partners Limited in the DIFC (DFSA License Number: F008013).
This release is for information only. It is not an offer, invitation or recommendation to subscribe for interests in Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited or acquire ZM1 Investment Tokens. Any participation will be made only through the Fund Manager, final offering documents and applicable Professional Client eligibility requirements. For avoidance of doubt, this communication is intended for and directed only to investors who meet the requirements to be considered Professional Clients as specified under the Dubai Financial Services Authority Conduct of Business Rulebook, Rule 2.3.3. The Fund is an ‘Exempt Fund’. Accordingly, the ZM1 Investment Tokens are available only to Professional Clients.
This release and the information contained herein does not constitute, and is not intended to constitute, a public offer of securities in any other jurisdiction and accordingly should not be construed as such. The ZM1 Investment Tokens are only available to a limited number of investors from the DIFC. The ZM1 Investment Tokens have not been approved by or licensed or registered with any other relevant licensing authority or governmental agency. No transaction will be concluded in onshore UAE outside the DIFC.
The Fund is not an Islamic Fund and is not marketed as Shariah-compliant. References to Shariah in this release relate to Zamanat’s broader platform and market ambition and not to the Fund.
About Zamanat
Zamanat is building the global market for Digital Shariah Assets. The company connects asset originators with global capital through investment structuring, Shariah expertise, regulated partner routes, tokenization and distribution across traditional and digital channels.
Zamanat also sponsors and develops institutional investment products through appropriately licensed partners. Each product follows its own legal and regulatory framework and, where presented as Shariah-aligned, its own product-specific Shariah review and governance process. Website: www.zamanathq.com
Contact
Global Head of PR & Communications
Katarzyna Kosior
disrupt.com
info@zamanathq.com
About Author
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
Press Release
Zamanat Targets GCC’s $250 Billion SME Financing Gap With Up to $100 Million Tokenized Private Credit Fund
Dubai, UAE, September 10th, 2026, Chainwire
Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited is the company’s first live proof point for regulated fund tokenization on ZIGChain focused on GCC private credit.
Zamanat today announced its sponsorship of Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited (the “Fund”), a DIFC-domiciled tokenized private credit fund with a target size of up to USD 100 million. The Fund targets the GCC’s estimated $250 billion SME financing gap, with only 11 percent of SMEs across the region having access to credit.
Closing a $250 billion structural gap in GCC SME credit
Across the GCC, SMEs are central to economic growth yet remain significantly underserved by traditional financing. In the UAE, SMEs generate more than half of GDP and employ the majority of the private-sector workforce, yet receive less than 10 percent of total bank lending.
The Fund will invest in private credit across the region, directing capital towards strong homegrown companies whose financing needs are not fully met through traditional lending channels. The strategy supports national ambitions to expand SME participation, private-sector growth and access to alternative financing, including priorities set out under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE Centennial 2071.
“Strong businesses across the GCC still struggle to access growth capital despite sound fundamentals. Zamanat sponsored the Fund to create a credible route between those businesses and institutional capital. With a target size of up to USD 100 million and interests issued as Investment Tokens, it is our first live proof point for bringing GCC private credit into a regulated digital structure for Professional Clients,” said Umair Tariq, Founder and CEO of Zamanat.
Bringing GCC private credit into digital markets
Tokenization expands the infrastructure around traditionally hard-to-access private-market assets without changing the underlying investment or credit profile.
The Fund combines a regional private credit strategy, a DIFC fund structure, institutional administration and digital issuance on ZIGChain. It provides a first live demonstration of how regional private credit can be brought into a DFSA-regulated tokenized structure for Professional Clients.
The Fund is a DFSA-regulated closed-ended fund registered as an Exempt Fund and classified as a Credit Fund. It is managed by Truleum Venture Partners Limited and administered by Apex Group. Fund interests will be issued as ZM1 Investment Tokens on ZIGChain within a regulated, whitelisted environment.
As sponsor, Zamanat brings its regional private credit, investment structuring and institutional partnership expertise to the Fund’s development. Truleum retains responsibility for all regulated fund-management activities.
The ZM1 Investment Token structure provides a blockchain-native ownership and settlement layer within the Fund’s regulated framework. It also allows qualifying investors who meet the DFSA Professional Client criteria to participate alongside institutional investors.
Zamanat is backed by Disrupt.com, a MENA-based, operator-led AI-native venture builder and lead investor in the business.
Building the global market for Digital Shariah Assets
Global Islamic finance assets are projected to reach $9.7 trillion by 2029, yet demand for digital and Shariah-aligned assets is growing faster than the institutional infrastructure connecting them with global capital.
Zamanat continues to build the global market for Digital Shariah Assets. Its wider operating model combines investment structuring, Shariah expertise, regulated partner routes and digital distribution to bring real-world assets to market through traditional and digital channels.
The DIFC-domiciled Fund evidences the regulated fund-tokenization, digital ownership and partner-orchestration capability within that wider build. Zamanat is progressing a separate pipeline of Digital Shariah Assets across private credit, receivables, real estate and other asset classes.
Institutional partnerships
Apex Group acts as Fund Administrator, providing institutional fund administration and controls from the outset.
“Zamanat is supporting the creation of a new category in Digital Assets. Bringing institutional structure and digital distribution together within a DFSA-regulated framework sets the standard for how this market should be built, and this fund shows the model working at institutional scale. We are proud to support the infrastructure behind it, and we look forward to partnering further on the projects Zamanat already has in motion,” said Peter Hughes, Founder & CEO, Apex Group.
The global market for Digital Shariah Assets does not yet exist as an institutional category. Zamanat is building it.
Notes to Editors
Sources
LSEG and ICD, 2025 Islamic Finance Development Indicator Report, 14 October 2025 (global Islamic finance assets projected to reach $9.7 trillion by 2029); World Bank, Competition in the GCC SME Lending Markets: An Initial Assessment (estimated $250 billion GCC SME credit gap; 11 percent of SMEs with access to credit); Kearney, GCC Retail Banking Radar 2024.
Investor notice
This communication as related to Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited is approved by Truleum Venture Partners Limited in the DIFC (DFSA License Number: F008013).
This release is for information only. It is not an offer, invitation or recommendation to subscribe for interests in Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited or acquire ZM1 Investment Tokens. Any participation will be made only through the Fund Manager, final offering documents and applicable Professional Client eligibility requirements. For avoidance of doubt, this communication is intended for and directed only to investors who meet the requirements to be considered Professional Clients as specified under the Dubai Financial Services Authority Conduct of Business Rulebook, Rule 2.3.3. The Fund is an ‘Exempt Fund’. Accordingly, the ZM1 Investment Tokens are available only to Professional Clients.
This release and the information contained herein does not constitute, and is not intended to constitute, a public offer of securities in any other jurisdiction and accordingly should not be construed as such. The ZM1 Investment Tokens are only available to a limited number of investors from the DIFC. The ZM1 Investment Tokens have not been approved by or licensed or registered with any other relevant licensing authority or governmental agency. No transaction will be concluded in onshore UAE outside the DIFC.
The Fund is not an Islamic Fund and is not marketed as Shariah-compliant. References to Shariah in this release relate to Zamanat’s broader platform and market ambition and not to the Fund.
About Zamanat
Zamanat is building the global market for Digital Shariah Assets. The company connects asset originators with global capital through investment structuring, Shariah expertise, regulated partner routes, tokenization and distribution across traditional and digital channels.
Zamanat also sponsors and develops institutional investment products through appropriately licensed partners. Each product follows its own legal and regulatory framework and, where presented as Shariah-aligned, its own product-specific Shariah review and governance process. Website: www.zamanathq.com
Contact
Global Head of PR & Communications
Katarzyna Kosior
disrupt.com
info@zamanathq.com
About Author
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
Press Release
Alessio Vinassa Unveils an Emerging Technology Investment Approach Shaped by Financial Challenges
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, September 10th, 2026, Chainwire
Tech entrepreneur and angel investor Alessio Vinassa today announced the expansion of his investment framework focusing on the convergence of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, applying strategic risk-mitigation model lessons derived from managing high-pressure financial turnarounds to emerging enterprise technologies. Before he began investing across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, Web3 and innovative finance, he faced a financial collapse that changed how he understood risk.
Alessio reached a point where approximately €180,000 was due while only about €2,200 remained in his bank account. The situation left him facing the possibility of bankruptcy and forced him to confront the consequences of growth without sufficient protection, diversification or structural discipline.
The experience became more than a difficult chapter in his entrepreneurial career. It influenced how he would later evaluate businesses, support founders and approach emerging technology.
Today, Alessio has more than fifteen years of operating and investment experience and has backed more than 40 ventures across cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, Web3 and innovative finance. His current work reflects a strategic reality that businesses can no longer afford to ignore artificial intelligence and cybersecurity are becoming increasingly intertwined.
Artificial intelligence is changing how companies interpret information, automate work and make decisions. Each capability can also introduce another form of dependence. Systems require access to data. Automated tools may influence customer interactions, financial activity and internal operations. The more authority companies give these technologies, the more important security, transparency and accountability become.
For Alessio, this is where innovation must meet discipline.
“AI should amplify executive judgment, not replace it,” he says.
Technology can increase speed and capability, but leaders remain responsible for determining how that capability should be used, which risks are acceptable and where human oversight must remain.
Cybersecurity provides part of the foundation for that trust. As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in important business processes, security extends beyond protecting networks from external threats. Companies must also understand who can access information, how automated actions are monitored and what happens when a system produces an unexpected result.
Businesses that address these questions early may be better positioned to earn the confidence of customers, investors and commercial partners. Those that treat security as an addition after adoption risk allowing operational exposure to grow alongside their success.
Alessio’s technology and investment perspective was shaped by learning what can happen when momentum is mistaken for stability. His financial collapse revealed that creating value and protecting it require different capabilities. A company may appear successful while becoming increasingly dependent on favourable conditions, concentrated decisions or systems that have not developed at the same rate as its growth.
The same lesson applies to emerging technology. A product can attract attention and investment before proving that it can operate securely, respond to failure or sustain customer trust.
Alessio evaluates opportunity through more than technical novelty. His approach considers whether a technology addresses a meaningful problem, whether customers can adopt it consistently and whether the company has the governance required to support expansion. In his published investment commentary, he has identified cybersecurity, artificial intelligence governance, identity solutions and enterprise automation as areas where technology is addressing essential infrastructure needs.
The leadership teams behind these products are equally important. Alessio has spoken about the value of founders who can identify where their businesses are exposed, explain how their systems will respond under pressure and recognise which evidence would require them to change direction.
“Good governance makes companies faster, not slower,” Alessio says.
Governance is sometimes treated as a restriction on innovation. Alessio views it as the structure that allows innovation to scale responsibly. Clear decision rights, reliable reporting and defined accountability enable companies to move without depending on one person to resolve every issue.
This perspective has particular relevance as businesses adopt artificial intelligence at increasing speed. Competitive pressure can encourage companies to introduce tools before they fully understand the information those tools access or the decisions they influence.
Alessio does not argue that innovation should slow by default. His position is that speed becomes commercially valuable only when the systems supporting it can be trusted. The objective is not to eliminate every possible risk. It is to understand exposure before customers, employees and operations become dependent on the technology.
His progression from financial collapse to investing across emerging technology also informs his broader work on leadership. The lesson was not simply that an entrepreneur can recover after losing money. Recovery became meaningful because it changed the structures and decisions that followed.
Alessio is developing these ideas further in his book, No One Is Coming: The Mental Operating System for Leaders Under Pressure. The book examines how founders, executives and operators make consequential decisions when certainty is unavailable and responsibility cannot be transferred to someone else.
As artificial intelligence and cybersecurity continue to converge, that responsibility will extend beyond technology teams. Investors will need to examine the security behind innovation. Boards will need to understand the systems on which their organisations depend. Founders will need to build trust as deliberately as they build capability.
The €180,000 turning point gave Alessio’s investment philosophy a personal foundation. It taught him that unmanaged exposure can remain hidden while confidence is high and growth is still visible. His work today applies that lesson to a new technological era: innovation creates lasting value only when the structures protecting it are built to endure.
About Alessio Vinassa
Alessio Vinassa is an entrepreneur, angel investor, technology builder and author with more than fifteen years of experience across cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, Web3, innovative finance and business leadership. He has backed more than 40 ventures and works with founders and executives on investment, strategy, organisational development and leadership under pressure. He operates between the UAE and Europe.
Contact
Alessio Vinassa
info@alessiovinassa.io
About Author
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Digi Observer journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
Zamanat Targets GCC’s $250 Billion SME Financing Gap With Up to $100 Million Tokenized Private Credit Fund
Zamanat Targets GCC’s $250 Billion SME Financing Gap With Up to $100 Million Tokenized Private Credit Fund
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