Syed Ahmed (businessman)

Background

Ahmed was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh. When he was nine months old, he moved with his parents to the United Kingdom and was brought up in East London in a devout Muslim family. He attended the Sir John Cass Redcoat School in Stepney from the age of 11 to 17 achieving 7 GCSEs. He then attended the Hammersmith College, where he achieved a BTEC in business and finance. He later managed restaurants, including the Titanic, part of the White Starline Group, owned by Marco Pierre White. He was in the Air Training Corps and dreamed of becoming an RAF pilot but decided to go into business instead.

Ahmed is currently the CEO of SAVortex, which specialises in high-speed, energy efficient hand dryers. Ahmed's development of the SAVortex technology was shown in an hour-long documentary, Hot Air, broadcast on Sky. Ahmed initially financed the business himself. Ahmed was a director of the IT recruitment consultancy firm IT People until May 2006, and a director of Magenta Partnerships Limited from June 2006 until February 2007.

He has made speeches to the young business enterprise community, and the more general enterprise community in Britain.

The Apprentice

Ahmed appeared as a candidate in series two of The Apprentice, a British reality television show hosted by Lord Alan Sugar. The series was broadcast from February to May 2006. On the show Ahmed was a member of the "Invicta" team. He was a notable candidate on the show, but was fired in week 10.

One of his quotes on the show was a "£100,000 salary is not enough but it's a good place to start."

Post Apprentice

Ahmed appeared on Sky News as a paper reviewer – reviewing current and forthcoming newspapers in a celebrity panel. He also has appeared on interviews, at BBC Breakfast with candidate Jo Cameron on the BBC, and also at GMTV on ITV. He appeared on Sky One's program called The Match, where 80 celebrities take part to win a place in a celebrity football squad. Ahmed again appeared on another Sky One show, called Cirque de Celebrité (from October 2006), featuring celebrity circus acts, and he was voted off in the second week. He subsequently returned as a guest judge.

A Sky One documentary (from June 2007) called, Syed Ahmed - Hot Air?, featured Ahmed attempting to launch a new company which specialised in hand and body dryers, with £20,000 of his own money, to develop in three months. The program followed the launch of the SA Vortex's hand dryer products.

In December 2010, Ahmed was a host at the Spice times Restaurant Awards in Romford, Greater London.

Charity work

In 2008, Ahmed organised and led a race in support of a breast cancer charity. He also sends money to families and charities located in Bangladesh. Ahmed was one of the four contestants with Secret Millionaires, who attended the Geared for Giving campaign to help promote the Workplace Giving, on May 2009. Ahmed also took part in a charity relay to raise money for children in Gaza. Gaza100, was held on 24 May 2009 in Mile End Park, east London, attracting over 1,500 people, which included also Apprentice candidates, Ghazal Asif and Tre Azam. He has also raised money from climbing a mountain and sent that money to Bangladesh villages water pumps for clean water

Awards and nominations

In January 2015, he was nominated for the Entrepreneur of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.