Welcome
My blog is a collection of my works, insights and research to help my clients, partners, and associates create value and better understand the fast-evolving digital world. I trust it will be of benefit to you both personally and professionally.
Quick Intro
I’m an entrepreneurial leader with 21 years of experience in financial services and technology. An experienced company director, I’m passionate about value creation and leveraging technology to make our world a better place. Don’t think of myself as a social entrepreneur. I believe all entrepreneurs and business owners (and shareholders) should be driven by purpose rather than merely profits. A defining characteristic of great entrepreneurs versus profit maximising corporate leaders. We actually want to build great things and solve big problems.
What I do
Driven by purpose, I’m an entrepreneur and a trusted mentor, an adviser to senior executives and entrepreneurs worldwide. Strong believer, you should take advice from people that have “been there done that”, I provide candid and honest insights from my direct experiences and knowledge of starting, developing, investing in and selling businesses. I personally enjoy working with entrepreneurs and investors on business strategy, finance, sales and business development. But happy to parachute into larger organisations to help teams leverage digital and financial technology to accelerate business growth and improve customer experience.
I’m most excited about
With a wealth of knowledge gained by two decades in financial services and technology, I’m leveraging my experience to lead potentially breakthrough blockchain project to create the largest professional financial advisory firm without a single employee. Imagine a self-sustaining decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) that will securely connect entrepreneurs and small-medium businesses (and eventually consumers) to qualified professional advisers in an affordable, fast and rewarding manner. This is exactly what we’re developing by moving our existing business dFinancialNetwork.com to blockchain technology and help provide easier borderless and frictionless financial solutions to solve capital funding, taxation, pensions, regulation, and financial technology issues.
My background
As a creative problem solver at heart, I’ve been thinking different from an early age. Born and raised in Canada I become an unknowing entrepreneur at the early age of 12 years when in about seventh grade 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 no cost. Later in high-school, instead of getting a part-time job I started reselling promotional products (pens, caps, t-shirts) and business card printing services from catalogues to club and shop owners 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 long for me to go “crazy” and spend most of my spare time on the computer. Two years later in 1997, I created the FinancialGuide.com to become one of the world’s first online financial portals. Being still in university and missing the peak, I learned a great lesson; timing is everything. The website was eventually sold to a Fortune 500 company as I focused on developing my career and other business interests.
My career
After finishing my undergrad studies, I joined the financial advisory industry and over the next five years represented an RBC Financial Group company as pensions and insurance adviser. In 2004 I joined a boutique private equity firm and two years 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 spun out FASaaS Ltd. our dedicated software development company to build and grow the dFinancialNetwork.com platform.
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.
I know my stuff
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)
Let’s connect
Thank you for visiting my blog and make sure to subscribe to the weekly newsletter (below) which will share my best posts/articles of the week. If you’d like to explore opportunities to work together or I can help you or your business in any way, welcome to contact me directly for a candid chat.
All the best,
Suhail Ahmad, MBA
suhail@trustfn.com
Office +44 131 208 2786 (UK)
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