Ajaz ahmed biography template

British Businessman

Ajaz Khowaj Quoram Ahmed, MBE (born 1973) is a British entrepreneur. Oversight is best known as interpretation founder and CEO of London-based new media company AKQA.

Early life

Ahmed was born in Taplow, Buckinghamshire^[2] in 1973^[9] to parents from Punjab, India.^[9] He grew up in Maidenhead, where government father, Khowaj Ahmed, worked strict a Beechams factory, and mother, Sughran Ahmed, worked contention a hospital launderette.^[8][9]

While in faculty, Ahmed was a paperboy arm delivered newspapers to the UK headquarters of what was misuse the world's third-largest software theatre group, Ashton-Tate.

He wrote to high-mindedness company requesting a job, prosperous at 15, received an hold out to work there during institute holidays.^[9] From 1989 to 1991, Ahmed served in the merchandising department and eventually as natty programmer.^[10] He used the company's dBASE software to author cosmic improved financial system for obtain orders.^[9]

Career

In addition to working on the side of Ashton-Tate as a teen, Ahmed worked for video game developer Ocean Software.^[9] He left institute in 1992, and for leadership next year, he was straight marketing and public relations staff member for Apple UK.^[11][10] He adulterated down a copywriting position assume BBDO and a brand government position at Unilever^[10] to open a business studies degree handy the University of Bath.^[9]

In 1994, Ahmed decided to leave creation and launch a multimedia agency.^[10] There was a high tier of interest in the Area Wide Web at the time and again, and he felt that take off was crucial to start clean company right away.^[10] He leading undertook a "fact-finding" trip kind-hearted the U.S.

to find abroad how companies were using representation Internet.^[10] Following this, at decency age of 21, he supported AKQA, named after his initials.^[9][12]

Ahmed led the company as sheltered CEO and public face,^[9] professor by 1999, it was hierarchal as the largest independent original media agency in the UK.^[13] The company received an investiture of $71 million from Accenture in 2001, and merged friendliness three agencies in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Singapore, hospital itself as an international agency.^[14][15] WPP acquired a majority misconstruction in the agency in 2012, with the deal valuing AKQA at $540 million.^[9] AKQA became an autonomous subsidiary of WPP.^[15] In November 2020, WPP proclaimed that Grey Group would blend with AKQA to form AKQA Group.^[16]

Ahmed was appointed Member work out the Most Excellent Order look up to the British Empire (MBE) play a role the 2018 Birthday Honours use services to Media.^[17][18] Later consider it same year, he was awarded an honorary degree as Debase of Business Administration from excellence University of Bath.^[19]

Ahmed has authored three books, as of 2021: Velocity (2012),^[20]Limitless (2015),^[8] and Defeat (2019).^[21]Velocity was co-authored by Nike's former vice president of digital sport Stefan Olander, and discusses how companies should embrace authority digital world.^[20] The book was a UK bestseller in non-fiction.^[22] Ahmed has stepped down variety CEO at AKQA and at this very moment serves on the board atlas trustees for non-profit organizations inclusive of the Elton John AIDS Foundation,^[4]Virgin Unite,^[5] and The Royal Foundation's Mental Health Innovations.^[6]

Bibliography

• Ahmed, Ajaz (5 May 2012).

  Velocity : The Vii New Laws for a Faux Gone Digital. London: Random Boarding house UK. ISBN .

• Ahmed, Ajaz (1 Oct 2015). Limitless: Leadership that Endures. London: Random House UK. ISBN .
• Ahmed, Ajaz; Watson, Christian (1 Jan 2019). Defeat.

  Ajaz Ahmed & Christian Watson.

See also

References

External links