Welcome to my blog!
Our world is a noisy place. We’re flooded with information on an hourly basis and are often struggling to make sense of it all. My blog is at the intersection of business, finance, and technology. Providing genuine insights and sharing my experiences to help you improve your understanding of the digital world. I hope it will benefit you both personally and professionally.
Who am I?
I’m an entrepreneurial leader with 20 years of experience in financial services and technology. An experienced company director, I’m passionate about value creation and leveraging technology for good. Don’t like to call myself a social entrepreneur as I believe all entrepreneurs should be driven by purpose rather than profits. A defining characteristic of great entrepreneurs versus business or corporate leaders who are maximizers.
What do I do?
Driven by purpose, I’m a passionate speaker, aspiring author, experimenting vlogger, and a trusted mentor, adviser to senior executives and entrepreneurs worldwide. I focus on my areas of success and failure. Strong believer, you should take advice from people that have “been there done that.” Hence I concentrate on business strategy, sales, development, financial advisory as well as helping organisations leverage digital and financial technology to accelerate business growth and improving customer experience.
What are my qualifications?
MBA, Masters in Business Administration (with Distinction) – Edinburgh Business School (UK)
CIM, Chartered Investment Manager – Canadian Securities Institute (Canada)
BA, Bachelor of Arts in Economics – University of Calgary (Canada)
What am I most excited about?
With a wealth of knowledge gained by two decades in financial services and technology, I’m leveraging my experience to lead a blockchain project, the myD.Network (myD). A self-sustaining decentralised distributed ecosystem that will securely connect entrepreneurs and small-medium businesses to qualified professional advisers and technology solutions in an affordable rewarding manner. The first platform on the ecosystem will be dFinancial.Network helping entrepreneurs solve financial challenges such as capital funding, taxation, pensions, regulation, and financial technology.
What’s my story?
As a creative problem solver at heart, I’ve been thinking different from an early age. Born and raised in Calgary, Canada I become an unknowing entrepreneur at the early age of 12 years when in about grade or primary 7 I started collecting and reselling hockey cards to local shops and students. It allowed me to build a formidable hockey card collection for a little or low cost. Instead of getting a part-time job I started selling promotional products (pens, caps, t-shirts) from catalogues to shops literally door-to-door.
Although I loved numbers and math, I didn’t really get into computing till Windows 95 when the family got is the first desktop computer as I entered University. It didn’t take me long to “crazy” and spending most of my spare time on the computer and two years later in 1997, I created the FinancialGuide.com to become one of the world’s first online financial portal. It was eventually sold to a Fortune 500 company as I focused on developing my career and other business interests.
My career
After five years representing RBC Financial Group as pensions and insurance adviser, I joined a boutique private equity firm and later become the Chief Executive of its Islamic investment banking subsidiary, Ittihad Securities Inc. based in Toronto.
In 2010, I left the industry, moving to the UK and pursuing my passion for fintech. I co-founded Infinnet Technologies in 2012 and developed the SiAlpha quantitative investment analytics system which helps investors make more money with less risk. The SiAlpha IP was sold to a private Canadian investment company and as the co-founder, I regularly share my “market calls” with their investors and clients.
In 2015, I launched the Financial Network Limited, a financial technology and management consultancy. . In 2017, after several years of research and development, we launched dFinancial.Network public beta as the first professional advisory platform under the myD.Network project.
I’m also co-founder of ImpactChain Limited, a social enterprise dedicated to supporting purpose driven blockchain projects worldwide with access to financial and human resources. In addition to my adventures in the blockchain, I’m also a Partner and Head of digital and financial technology with Gateway LLP where we advise a range of organisations from start-ups to sovereign wealth funds in the Islamic economy.
I’ve had the privilege to speak at numerous international conferences sharing my insights on the blockchain, fintech, impact investing and Islamic finance. I’m committing to blogging and vlogging more regularly to share my experiences and expertise for the benefit of all.
Let’s connect
Thank you for visiting my blog and make sure to subscribe to the weekly newsletter (below) in which I share my best posts/articles of the week. If you’d like to explore Non-Executive Director (NED), board advisory, mentoring, and speaking opportunities with any of the companies I’m involved with or would like me to work with you, please contact me for a candid chat.
All the best,
Suhail Ahmad, MBA
suhail@trustfn.com
Direct Line +44 131 208 2786 (UK)
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