Syed Ahmed is a
British-BangladeshiA British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
entrepreneurAn entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
,
businessmanA businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
and
television personalityA celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
. He is the founder and CEO of the hand and body drier company SA Vortex. He is best known for his 2006 appearance in the second UK series of the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reality televisionReality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show
The ApprenticeThe Apprentice is a British reality television series in which a group of aspiring young businessmen and women compete for the chance to win a £100,000-a-year job as an apprentice to the British business magnate Lord Sugar in series one to six...
, in which contestants compete for a £100,000-a-year job working for British business magnate Sir Alan Sugar. He was renowned for kicking up quite a stink in the boardroom and for finishing statements with the phrase "as I say."
Background
Ahmed was born in
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. When he was nine months old, he moved with his parents to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and was brought up in the
East End of LondonThe East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
in a devout Muslim family. His father worked as a
tailorA tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
, and his mother a
housewifeHousewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
, raising Ahmed and his five sisters at home. He attended the
Sir John Cass Redcoat SchoolSir John Cass Redcoat School is a Church of England School in Stepney, in the East End of London. The last Ofsted report in 2008 classed it as outstanding.-Catchment:...
in
StepneyStepney is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in London's East End that grew out of a medieval village around St Dunstan's church and the 15th century ribbon development of Mile End Road...
from the age of 11 to 17 achieving 7 GCSEs. He then attended the
Hammersmith CollegeEaling, Hammersmith & West London College is a college of further education based across four campuses located in Acton, Ealing, Hammersmith and Southall districts of London, England. The college provides education for over 25,000 students, and it is a member of the 157 Group of high performing...
, where he achieved a
BTECThe Business and Technology Education Council is the British body which awards vocational qualifications. Such qualifications are commonly referred to as "BTECs"....
in
BusinessA business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
and
Finance"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
. He worked as a waiter and managed restaurants, including the Titanic, part of the White Starline Group, owned by
Marco Pierre WhiteMarco Pierre White is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is noted for his contributions to contemporary international cuisine, and his exceptional culinary skills....
. He was in the
Air Training CorpsThe Air Training Corps , commonly known as the Air Cadets, is a cadet organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is a voluntary youth group which is part of the Air Cadet Organisation and the Royal Air Force . It is supported by the Ministry of Defence, with a regular RAF Officer, currently Air...
and dreamed of becoming an
RAFThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
pilotAn aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
but decided to go into business instead.
Ahmed is currently the CEO of SA Vortex, which specialises in high-speed hand dryers and body dryers. Ahmed's development of SA Vortex was shown in an hour-long documentary,
Hot Air, broadcast on
SkySky is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E. The service was originally launched as Sky Digital, distinguishing it from the original...
. Ahmed initially financed the business himself. Ahmed was a director of the
ITInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
recruitment consultancy firm
IT People (claimed to have a
turnover of
£The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
1.6
millionOne million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...
) until May 2006, and a director of Magenta Partnerships Limited from June 2006 until February 2007. He is currently a director of Get Launched Limited.
Ahmed has made speeches to the young enterprise community, and the more general enterprise community in Britain.
The Apprentice
Ahmed appeared as a candidate in series two of
The ApprenticeThe Apprentice is a British reality television series in which a group of aspiring young businessmen and women compete for the chance to win a £100,000-a-year job as an apprentice to the British business magnate Lord Sugar in series one to six...
, a British reality television show hosted by
Lord Alan SugarAlan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar is a British entrepreneur, media personality and political advisor. From humble origins in the East End of London, Sugar now has an estimated fortune of £770m , and was ranked 89th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2011...
. The series was broadcast from February to May 2006. On the show Ahmed was a member of the "
InvictaInvicta may refer to:*Invicta , a British make of car*Invicta , an Italian outdoor equipment manufacturer*Invicta , an early steam locomotive*Invicta , motto of the county of Kent, England...
" team.
For the first week the task was to sell fruit and vegetables, Syed was one of the three brought back into the boardroom. Ahmed was chosen as
project managerA project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, architecture, computer networking, telecommunications or software...
for Invicta in week 3, and led the team to win. He was brought into the boardroom again in week 4 for ordering too many
chickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s, but was lucky enough to be given a chance. In week 8, Ahmed was chosen again as project manager for Invicta, but was part of the losing team, however not fired, for having impressed Sir Alan with his
sellingSelling is offering to exchange something of value for something else. The something of value being offered may be tangible or intangible. The something else, usually money, is most often seen by the seller as being of equal or greater value than that being offered for sale.Another person or...
talent, and brought into the boardroom again in the next week again surviving. For the week 10 task, Ahmed organised an above-deck fun day on a
cruise shipA cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
. The teams were told they would not be judged solely on sales, but also on other criteria including
marketingMarketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
,
originalityOriginality is the aspect of created or invented works by as being new or novel, and thus can be distinguished from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or derivative works....
and
customer satisfactionCustomer satisfaction, a term frequently used in marketing, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation...
. At the end of the task, Invicta had made £191.50 and the opposing team, Velocity, had made £507. Ahmed was subsequently fired for not performing very well in the task, mainly for the handling of raffle tickets, where customers had to write their names down behind the tickets which caused confusions between the team, Sir Alan explained
"Syed, despite some flashes of genius, you're too much of a risk for me", as he was fired. It is notable that during his 'Walk of Shame' sequence, a different and soft background music was played, which was due to the fact that he was a very notable candidate throughout the series.
On the show, he was the least successful project manager of Series 2, with a 1-2 record.
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
After the appearance on
The Apprentice, Ahmed has received some media attention due to various newsworthy activities.
He appeared on
Sky NewsSky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
as a paper reviewer – reviewing current and forthcoming newspapers in a celebrity panel. He also has appeared on interviews, at
BBC BreakfastBBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
with candidate Jo Cameron on the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and also at
GMTVGMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
on
ITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, where he has said he is "trying to protect" Dewberry from the media. He appeared on
Sky OneSky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
's program called
The Match, where 80 celebrities take part to win a place in a celebrity football squad. However, he was not picked for the team after the trials, due to disappointing performance, as he explained: "I ran out of steam." Ahmed again appeared on another
Sky OneSky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
show, called
Cirque de CelebritéCirque de Celebrité was a celebrity reality TV show broadcast on Sky One. The show features celebrities training for and then performing various circus acts. The winner of the 2006 series was Grace Adams-Short....
(from October 2006), featuring celebrity circus acts, and he was voted off in the second week. He subsequently returned as a guest judge.
In July 2006, Ahmed pleaded guilty to
driving under the influenceDriving under the influence is the act of driving a motor vehicle with blood levels of alcohol in excess of a legal limit...
and failing to provide a specimen at Thames
Magistrates' CourtA magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
. Ahmed was banned from driving for three years, fined £500 and was given a two month
suspended jail sentenceA suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
. Ahmed has been accused of drunk driving on four occasions. According to the
Daily Mail, Ahmed described the incident as "unfortunate" and added "I don't drink at all now."
On 14 August 2006, the Police questioned Syed, in connection with complaint made against one of his former business partners, Afted Ahmed (no relation). He was arrested for procedural reasons, after voluntarily reporting to the police station, with regard to money-laundering legislation and was subsequently questioned regarding a £400,000 property loan from former Portsmouth Football Club director, Terry Brady. Brady had complained that Ahmed's business partner, Afted Ahmed, had misled him regarding the loan. Aftab Ahmed allegedly used the money to buy a home in New Providence Wharf in London Docklands. Syed Ahmed was released on bail until 20 October 2006. Ahmed's solicitor Mr Ewing said, "
this should never have been dealt with as a criminal matter. It is simply a straightforward dispute." The only involvement Ahmed had, was to transfer the money to Aftab Ahmed's wife, while he was on holiday. Ahmed was not charged and was released without further questioning.
At the end of the year 2006, Ahmed was voted third as one of the "
ArenaArena was a British monthly men's magazine. The magazine was created in 1986 by Nick Logan, who had started The Face in 1980, to focus on trends in fashion and entertainment. British graphic designer Neville Brody, who had designed The Face, designed Arena's launch appearance.The magazine featured...
Anti-Icon" of the year, which also included
Pete DohertyPeter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...
,
Russell BrandRussell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
,
Gordon RamsayGordon James Ramsay, OBE is a Scottish chef, television personality and restaurateur. He has been awarded 13 Michelin stars....
and others. A Sky One documentary (from June 2007) called,
Syed Ahmed - Hot Air?, featured Ahmed attempting to launch a new company which specialises in body dryers, with £20,000 of his own money, to develop in three months. The program followed the launch of the SA Vortex's body dryer products, owned by Ahmed.
Ahmed was a host at the
Spice timesSpice Times is a quarterly business to business magazine that is distributed to South Asian restaurants across the UK. The magazine published its first issue in 2006 with news and features that are pertinent to the restaurant trade.- Regular features :...
Restaurant Awards in Essex Romford in December 2010.
Charity work
In 2008, he 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 MillionaireThe Secret Millionaire is a reality television show which originated in the UK, in which millionaires go incognito into impoverished communities and agree to give away tens of thousands of pounds . Members of the community are told the cameras are present to film a documentary...
s, 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
GazaGaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
. Gaza100, was held on 24 May 2009 in
Mile End ParkMile End Park is a park located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a linear park of some , and was created on industrial land devastated by World War II bombing...
, east London, attracting over 1,500 people, which included also Apprentice candidates, Ghazal Asif and Tre Azam.
External links